Mon-Wed...

My parents came in on Sunday evening. I hadn't seen them in over a month, so I was excited they were coming for a few days. On Monday evening, we met up with most of my brothers & sisters to have dinner. We had Mexican food. I haven't had Mexican food in FOREVER. It was good.

I took Amelia to her 15 month well-visit on Tuesday afternoon. She had to get 3 shots. As soon as I put her in the car - she went out. Shots always make her tired. Well...they make her cry and then they make her tired. Poor thing.



Tuesday evening, my Dad had a Conference to attend. My Mom, Joy, and I went to a prayer event for the upcoming Beth Moore Conference in our area. I seriously sat and cried through the promotional video. If you've been to a Beth Moore Conference, you know why I would cry through that video. If you haven't...I urge you to find an event near you and go. I left wishing April 15th were tomorrow. Can you imagine wanting tax day to be here tomorrow!?? It's just always a wonderful conference! Beth always brings it and to worship with thousands of other women is an awesome experience. They gave us goody bags filled with stuff and this was in mine. I've never been through this study, but look forward to it!



My S-I-L, Elaina took care of Amelia for me and I very much appreciated it! Amelia wasn't in the best mood since she had shots and no nap. Poor Aunt E. Amelia cried off and on for the first hour. Yet Aunt E said she would keep her again in a heartbeat. That's true love. :)

Today we've stayed at home in our pjs. My hips are killing me. I'm going to have to start back to the chiropractor next week. I felt like mother of the year, laying on the couch watching Amelia play today. Not cool. It's all I could do though.

Tomorrow we have home group. I'm making one of my favorites - tamale soup. My meal planning/cooking every evening is going really well. I look at the pie chart on the computer and the piece of the pie that was SO VERY LARGE and marked FOOD/EATING OUT has shrunk significantly. YAY!!

Oh, and look at what Amelia started saying this evening! She was named after her Aunt Joy and I have no doubt my sister will LOVE THIS. :) We've been working on it for a while and she started saying it all of the sudden tonight.

Love to all,

Atlanta - Day Two

We woke up Saturday morning and grabbed a Starbucks. This is a MUST when waking up at the crack of dawn! After making a coffee-run, we went back to the hotel to meet up with the girls.

Here's sweet Faith. She was gracious enough to be our driver on Saturday. I love this girl. I wish she lived next door to me, so we could have coffee and chat it up, daily. How cute is she in this picture!?



This is Amanda. She was so honest and funny. I loved that about her! She had us all rolling in the car!



And here's Laurie. This girl made me laugh SO HARD. I'm not kidding. I wish these girls lived closer so that I could just sit with them and laugh. Laughing is my most favorite thing to do, so I'm drawn to funny people. All of the girls on this trip were a hoot!



Me, Mom & Joy at the conference. I'm so glad they were able to make this trip with me. They're two of my best friends and we always have a good time together. :)



I'm sure you all know these two. :) Caroline & Jenna...oh how I love these girls. I wish that I had two more brothers, so these girls could be my sisters. They are precious!!



Mandi & Jennifer. Mandi had such a sweet, quiet voice. I got to spend some time with her and her PRECIOUS boys at the hotel...loved her. Jennifer is pregnant with her second baby (I'm guessing it's a girl!). She was so cute and funny!



Kelly, Laurie, Me & Hillary. Hillary and I had met up for lunch the week before this trip. She too makes me laugh and is so much fun to be around! Bless Kelly's heart, everywhere she went, there was a line of people to meet her. In my opinion, a line worth standing in. :) She's a sweetheart.



Me and my girl, Faith. We laughed, cried, and worshipped together. Our time together was so special. I've waited a very long time to meet her and this will not be the last time we hang out. :)




Betsy & Ashley...they were so nice. I've heard Betsy's name around blog land, but didn't know her blog. Until now. :) I love their faces in this picture...they were so adorable!



Me, Mom, and Joy with Caroline. Don't you love her flower? I can't look at her without smiling. Even at the end of the day, when she was exhausted and had very little sleep, she would still give you that beautiful smile!



Me and Trina. I was so happy to meet her. She is one of my newer blog friends. I want her to come to my house and teach me how to put on make-up. Because I'm 33 and don't know how. Her skin and eye make-up were so pretty! She was so stylish and such a sweetie.



Erin & Megan. I wish I had been able to spend more time with these two! I've been reading Megan's blog for quite some time...she is so funny. I found Erin through Megan and love her blog as well. Aren't they both so pretty!??



Me & Kim. I can't believe this girl has four kids...she is so cute and SO TINY!! You can see how tiny she is in this picture...I was a giant compared to her. I felt like I could just pick her up and carry her around on my hip! (LOL) She's also incredibly talented. I'm looking forward to when she starts taking more orders. Kim, I want to be at the top of the list! ;)



After hanging out with all of these wonderful ladies, the conference started! We were in the OVERFLOW, so we were actually watching on big screens.



I only made it a few chapters into the book, but after going to the conference, I really want to finish it. I'm so ADD when it comes to reading - I really should have bought it on cd! :) Beth pointed out things about insecurity that I've never heard/thought of before.

Some of the things that really stuck out to me:

1. Insecurity is not a weakness it's UNBELIEF.

2. Insecurity is a form of PRIDE. When we're insecure about something, we're always focusing on ourselves. If we would stop trying to manage our strongholds and be FREE from them, we would be able to focus our attention on others.

3. It begins with our thought life. Make the decision in our mind and act secure - even if we don't feel it yet!

4. I love when she said "grace takes up the space in a secure woman." We're to GRACE others the same way Christ GRACED us. We're to forgive! And if we pull our insecurity out of the mix - how much more likely would we be to forgive! We're to imitate our Heavenly Father.

5. Death to the old me - Life to the new!!

I could go on and on. God spoke directly to my heart on some things and I'm extremely thankful that I was able to attend this conference.

After lunch, Beth came by to visit us in the OVERFLOW and did a little Q&A!!



After the conference, we all went to Copeland's and had some dinner. It gave us a chance to visit before heading back to the hotel.



Once we got back to the hotel, I visited with some of the girls a little more and then found my way back to my room. Once my head hit the pillow, I DIED. I was so tired. I wish we would've had one more day, but I had to get up early the next morning and head home!

More to come...

Love to all,