Happy Camper's: November 2011

Good Evening Everybody!

I am home from Women of Faith Oklahoma City and I had a BLAST! My sweet friend, Lynnette from Dancing Again and I headed to Oklahoma City Thursday so we could check in early to our hotel and enjoy a little girl time before the conference began Friday morning. After getting lost (there's a vlog at the end that explains it all!) we got all checked into our beautiful hotel, Holiday Inn Quail Springs Parkway. The hotel room was clean and pretty! What an additional treat.

Friday morning brought us fabulous music from the Women of Faith singers and speakers Patsy Clairmont and Andy Andrews. Patsy was her usual dynamic self and Andy NEVER STOPPED MOVING!

Patsy hit the stage first and she had an assignment for us all. We were to work on three words in our life:
1. Yes. Say yes to God!
2. Thank you. Thank you Jesus for the life you have given me and thank you for all that I can do for You.
3. No. We are to carry around a pocketful of No's.

With our new tools we learned so much but my favorite was this statement. "Thank you for thinking of me for this opportunity, but no." How powerful is that statement for the over committed woman? Do you ever feel trapped by commitments? I do sometimes! Patsy taught us it was okay to say no. Thank you for that!

Another sweet "little" tip was that we need to learn to "shut up in Jesus name!" She even gave us the shut up scripture, Proverbs 17:28.

"Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue."

Next up was Andy Andrews. I can not believe how much he moves around! I don't think he stood on the stage for more than 30 seconds before he was off, running around the stage! But, it did keep us interested as he shared his testimony and how people that God put into his life changed him. Andy encouraged us to read. Read ourselves, read to our children, just read and keep our minds sharp. The books his friend "Jones" gave him were biographies of Winston Churchill, George Washington Carver, and Will Rogers. After Jones convinced him that they weren't biographies at all but adventure, mystery, romance...Andy's passion for reading blossomed.

Another statement Andy made was "we are either going into a crisis, in a crisis or coming out of crisis" as we live our lives in this world. But through those crisis we have a choice to make in how we spend our time, what we watch, read and do. We have to remember that we are to live our lives to honor God. If we keep that in the forefront of our minds, it will be easier to figure out what we do and not make poor choices.

Saturday brought a full line up with more Patsy Clairmont who shared with us that forgiveness is a decision not an emotion and we are not to let our history control our destiny.

Lisa Whelchel hit the stage next! I was so excited to hear her speak because she focused in on adult friendships. As a stay at home mom, this is an area that I struggle with and it felt so good to hear how even someone like Lisa had issues with this. Lisa taught us about what a "safe friend" is and how to find and keep them. From my notes, how to find a safe friend requires us to pay attention to the women around us.

Pay attention to how your friend speaks of others. If they are "gossipy" and tear other people down, chances are very good that is exactly how they are speaking of you when your not around.

Find a woman who has it all together and then RUN! If she is so worried about the perfect hairstyle, the perfect house, the perfect children, chances are you will never be good enough to be her friend if you come into crisis.

Look for the woman who exhibits uncondition love and grace to others. She'll show the same to you.

Realize that imperfect = real.

Isn't that fabulous advice?! I was so thankful that I sat beside a woman who is my imperfect, forgiving and grace filled friend! I will definitely be picking up Lisa's newest book, Friendship for Grown Ups.

Brenda Warner and Marilyn Meberg finished out the speakers and they were fabulous! Brenda was transparent and shared about the trials of her life as a single mother with a special needs son. I love her "realness". Marilyn reminded me of a kind school teacher who lovingly taught us about life and how to embrace our need for "more" because in our hearts all we desire is the Kingdom of Heaven.

Sandi Patti came on and shared her heart about her journey through weight loss and how she realized that each pound she carried was a protective barrier from the hurts in her life. I could so associate myself with what she spoke about and it her words were like a salve on my soul as I work on my own body and mental health. Sandi has a new album out and her song Edge of the Divine has got to be one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard! I already had tears in my eyes as she finished the song and then her husband joined her on stage to sing The Prayer. Absolutely beautiful!!!!

The whole event was very inspiring and enjoyed! If you notice the stark nothing-ness of pictures its because we weren't allowed to bring cameras into the event! I saw some women there with their cameras that they had snuck in but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. We are supposed to be Christian women after all. So I apologize for no pictures. I tried with my Android and the pictures came out blurry and horrible. Anyone want to send me an iPhone? No...seriously! Just tell me what to do and I'll (almost) do anything to get one! Lynnette took some pictures on her's and though they weren't fabulous, they were BETTER than anything I could even get close too!

I want to thank Book Sneeze for the tickets to Women of Faith! If I was to offer any suggestions to make the experience better as a blogger, I was say to have a place for the blogger you send to get together so we can get to know each other. On Saturday we sat in a row and I met a couple of bloggers, but it would have been great to have actually met in one of the suited and actually got to meet! Also, get us press passes or something so we can use our better camera's! Just a couple of things to think about!

Alright, here is the much anticipated vlog from Lynnette and I! Taped from our hotel room...Enjoy!

P.S. We did not vlog in the van! After getting turned around all weekend, I was terrified we'd crash or something! Our daughters will be interviewing us about our experience and I'll be sharing!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of American Family Insurance for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

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