Women of Joy Recap

I had such a great time this past weekend at Women of Joy!
Friday night's session was with Lori Salierno. She spoke about what is going on in her life right now, and how she is getting through it. This year, she found out that her husband of 29 years has been unfaithful, and has filed for a legal separation. She spoke about going through the valley, and about the darkness that has come over her in these past few months. Hearing her story just broke my heart. I could not imagine what she is going through. But God is using her to minister to other women who may be in a similar situation. I will post more about what all she said in another post.
After the session on Friday night, we went and grabbed a quick bite to eat, and went back to the cabin for some time in the Hot Tub!!
Saturday morning, Anita Renfroe and Kay Arthur spoke. Charles Billingsley lead the worship all weekend long and he did a great job. He is a little cheesy, but very good.

(Crystal, Sarah, Elise, and Kelly)

Anita Renfroe was Hilarious! Here is a video of one of the songs she did. If you go to YouTube and type in her name, tons of videos will show up. If you need a good laugh, check them out.

Kay Arthur did a great job. She is so passionate, and really isn't there to impress anyone. She is just there to share the word of God. (Me, Carol, Joy, Lori, Becky, and Danette)

(Kelly with a sleeping Elise)

Saturday afternoon we went back to the cabin for lunch and relaxation. I ended up taking a two hour nap while the others drove around Sevierville. That night, everyone came to our cabin for dinner. Mom made lasagna, and the other cabins brought garlic bread, salad, and dessert. Everything was so yummy.
(Mom and Me)

Saturday night was the Steven Curtis Chapman and Michael W. Smith Concert.

Steven Curtis Chapman was great! He spoke about adoption and about his adopted daughter that was killed a couple years ago. I don't think there was a dry eye in the place. We left before Michael W. Smith, but I saw him a few years ago at this same event.

I was most looking forward to Sunday Morning, because my favorite author, Karen Kingsbury, was speaking. She did a great job! She spoke about living our life and making it count. We only get one chance to write the story of our lives.She also read her children's book "Let Me Hold You Longer" and again, there was not a dry eye in the place. If you have children, or ever plan to have children, I would highly recommend you get this book. You can get it on Amazon new for about $10. When she was done speaking, her son, Tyler, got up and sang a song he wrote, based on one of her books. It was a great song, with a great message, There's sunshine, just beyond the clouds. After that, I went and got in line to meet her. This is what I had been waiting all weekend for. Here are some pictures of my progression down the line.

(Just starting out)

(Woo Hoo!! I made it to the roped off area!)

(Almost There!! You can see Kelly, Sara, and Becky waiting for me to finish. By the time I got to the front of the line, everyone was so excited for me.)

(Crystal was nice enough to wait in line with me)

(Here I am with Karen Kingsbury)

I waited a total of 2 hours to meet her, and it was worth every minute! She was so sweet, and spent time with every single person in line! She makes you feel like you are best friends!

I had a great time over the weekend, and am already looking forward to next year!

** By the way, most of these pictures my Mom took. Thanks Mom for letting me use them.**

Women of Joy

This weekend is Women of Joy and I am so excited to be going!! It is going to be a great weekend with friends and family. There will also be come of my favorite speakers/performers there! Karen Kingsbury! Kay Arthur! Steven Curtis Chapman! Michael W. Smith! There will also be two ladies there that I have never had the opportunity to hear speak, Lori Salierno and Anita Renfroe. I am most excited about Karen Kingsbury! I have read all of her books, and absolutely love her! Hopefully, I will get the chance to meet her, and will have pictures when I get back.

I am excited about what God is going to do this weekend. Last year, all of the speakers talked about the storms in life. One speaker said, "You are always in one of two places in your life, Just coming out of a storm, or about to go into a storm." I remember thinking to myself, "My life is going so well, so I guess that means that I'm about to go into a storm." God was definitely trying to teach me something last year, and prepare me for what was about to happen. This past year has been one storm after another. And Andrew and I are both going through them. Andrew, with his job, and me with infertility. I know God will use the speakers this year in a big way. And I'm hoping and trusting that this year, God will bring us out of these storms.

Weekend in Atlanta

This past weekend, Jennifer and I took off to Atlanta for her Birthday. Jessica couldn't come this time. She is 35 weeks pregnant and she had a baby shower with family on Saturday. We missed her so much! The drive down was uneventful, until we got about 5 miles from the Georgia line. Apparently, there is a sink hole in the right hand lane, and traffic starting backing up and we ended up sitting in traffic for close to an hour and a half. I found this picture on wspa.com. We finally arrived in Atlanta, and met Julie and Steve at Babies R Us. They had to pick up their crib, but it wouldn't fit in either of their cars, so I drove my suburban down, to transport the crib. After trying for a little bit, it finally fit very tightly in the back. I wish I had taken a picture, but I forgot. For dinner, we went to Olive Garden, and I got their new pansottis with sausage. It was so yummy. After dinner we went to Julie's condo and made brownies for Jennifer's birthday. That night, we stayed up late talking, and just hanging out.
Saturday morning, we woke up with one mission, to take Jennifer to get Chicken and Waffles. After driving around downtown Atlanta for 30 minutes, we finally found the restaurant, and there was a crowd of people waiting in line, so we decided to drive to the other location in Lithonia, GA and hoped it wasn't as crowded.
Well, we did have to wait, but only about 20 minutes. Jennifer and I ordered the "Midnight Train" which is 4 chicken wings and a waffle. Julie ordered chicken fingers and mac and cheese. She wasn't brave enough to try the chicken and waffle.

Here is the Birthday girl, enjoying her chicken and waffle.

Here's my plate...yummy!!

After lunch, we went shopping for a little bit.
Then it was time to go back to Julie's to pack our bags, and head home. The drive home was a lot better. There was hardly any traffic, and we made great time. We had such a good time in Atlanta, and am so glad we could go. Not sure how many more girls weekends we will have, since Jessica's little girl will be here in a month, and Julie's little boy will be here in 4 months. I am just grateful for the time we do get to spend together.

Weekend with the Girls

This past weekend, my friends and I were able to get together for a mini girls weekend. Jessica cooked a wonderful meal for us on Friday night.We also got to open our Christmas gifts from Jessica. She made us all matching aprons. How cute are these. Dessert was Apple dumplings, and they were so good. Saturday we had a great brunch at Cracker Barrel, and then did a little shopping at Target. Jessica and Julie are both pregnant, so we mostly looked around the baby area. We also stopped by a children's furniture store, and Jessica may have found a crib for her new baby girl. She is due March 30th, and Julie is Due June 30th.

Was it hard for me to be around my pregnant friends? Yes. Did I wish it was me picking out baby items? Of course. Am I bitter? A little. Does God have a plan? Absolutely. That is the only way I get through tough days, remembering that God has a plan for me. I love my friends dearly, and I am so excited for them. It's just hard to be around all of the excitement and not hurt, just a little.

Girls Weekend! - Recap

Well, I am a bad blogger. I didn't take a single picture all weekend long. I can't believe it. Even without any pictures, we had a wonderful time.
Friday night, my friends arrived at almost 8:00pm. The lasagna that my Mom made (THANKS MOM! It was delicious) was heating in the oven,and was supposed to be hot when they got there, but it wasn't cooperating. I didn't want it to get too hot, too fast, so I had it on a lower temperature (300 degrees), but after 45 minutes in the oven, it still wasn't hot. So, I pushed it up to 400 degrees, and it didn't take long to heat up after that. After dinner we made brownies, and sat around and did what we do best, just hung out and talked. It's been a couple of months since we have all been together, so we had a lot of catching up to do. The brownies were yummy, and then we headed to bed. Jessica and Julie fell right to sleep, but Jennifer and I stayed up talking for a few more hours.
Saturday morning came early, but we all got up and got ready pretty quickly. I guess we were really excited about the Christmas Show. After a quick trip by Hardee's for breakfast and Starbucks for coffee, we were on our way. It takes just a little over an hour to get to Charlotte, so we had some great conversation in the car. By the time we got parked and in the show, it was around 11:30. We hit the ground running. So much to see! After 4 hours, we had been through all three buildings, and thousands of vendors, and we were beat. We called it a day and went to find some food. We stopped at Chili's on the way home and some yummy food. I guess the food revived us, and we were ready to shop some more. We hit up the outlets in Gaffney for a couple of hours, and then it was time to say goodbye. They all left around 8:00 pm on Saturday night, and I went right to bed. It was a great 24 hours with my friends, but I was exhausted. Every year we look forward to going to the Christmas show, and I'm sad that it is over.

Girls Weekend!

I am so excited about this weekend. Tonight, my three best friends are coming over and spending the night. And tomorrow we are going to the Southern Christmas Show in Charlotte, NC. This is our 4th year going to this, and we look forward to it all year long. It is such a neat show to go to. I will post some pictures from our weekend on Sunday. I've said it before, and I'm sure I will say it again. God has blessed me with some wonderful friends, and I am so grateful to have them in my life. I love you girls!