I have been looking forward to this first ever, national, Wesleyan Women's conference for over a year and a half! From what I knew behind the scenes and the different things the leadership was planning, I had high expectations...and I was not disappointed!!!!!
I did have a small scare before we left, though...the night before Titus accidentally dropped a glass jar on my foot, and it hurt so bad that I thought I broke it. I was on crutches just to get around that night, and it was so swollen, but on Friday I was able to ice it and keep it up for most of the drive to Nashville, and I had hardly any pain or swelling and could walk all over on it just fine! I don't even have much bruising, which is just amazing. I was very, very thankful!
We left at 5:30 am on Friday, April 17th and got back at almost 1 am on Monday, April 20th (we were supposed to get back Sunday night at 11/11:30 but we were at a complete stop on the highway just south of Indianapolis for an hour and a half because of a car accident). So it was a long weekend, but VERY worth it!
Lifeway, where we had our conference
Sharon, Ashleigh, Tara, and Caroline all came with me from our church.
This place was AMAZING, and priced very reasonably
Looking at this plate of food makes me hungry for it all over again :)
Ginny Owens performed Friday night - she is pretty well known after several years in the Christian music industry. I didn't realize that she has been blind since she was just a couple years old. Her story was very inspiring!
Bianca Oltoff spoke in two of the four main sessions. She was SO GOOD.
We picked up my sister, Kara, on the way down because she was one of the volunteer counselors for the conference
Me, Ashleigh, Tara, Sharon, Caroline
This girl was an amazing violinist and did several songs during a couple of the sessions
I LOVE this picture of the 5 of us. I thought these letters were such a fun idea!
Me and Kara
They had a tree where you could write down prayer and praise requests. They had so many little areas that were so thoughtful like this. I loved the creativity and intentionality of what they offered!
My great friend Sue, who is a big prayer warrior for me, my family, and our church. I appreciate Sue so much!!!!
This couple was SO ADORABLE. She looked like she was 13 or 14 years old, so I was confused when I saw she was pregnant, but they met in college 10 years ago, so she has to be close to 30 years old. She was only a few days away from her due date, but I am so glad they were able to play. I loved them so much that I had to buy a CD. They are called Jenny and Tyler - check them out and be ready to fall in love! :)
Jo Saxton was the speaker for one of the main sessions. She was amazing, too. I loved how the speakers were a rare mix of both captivating and incredibly deep!
This is Nichole, who I met in February when I was in Nashville. God obviously wanted us to meet because neither one of us was supposed to be in the same room with each other. But we hit it off and became instant friends. It was so good to see her again!
This was by far one of the best conferences I have been to. The breakout sessions were called Life Tracks, and we could pick three. Their were three different categories - Grow, Enrich, and Thrive, and each one had SO MANY to choose from - it was hard to just pick 3. My favorites were a Grow Life Track that talked about the importance of interpreting scripture accurately, and a Thrive one where I was able to sew dresses for the organization Dress A Girl Around the World, where these dresses literally help stop girls from being taken into human trafficking situations. It was nice to be active and feel a part of something bigger than yourself, instead of just sitting and soaking in seminars.
There was just so much I loved about the conference, there is no way to even begin to write it all down - even the vendors were intentionally picked and allowed to be a part of the event!
Another bonus for me was the travel to and from the conference - spending hours and hours in a vehicle with a group, you can have some amazing conversations, and really get to know people. I loved it!
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