The conference

Hi all

The Kindness and Caring conference is in the books. Thanks to all who prayed. I CERTAINLY felt your prayers. It is so cool to feel the presence of the spiritual realm.

It went so great and I learned a ton along the way. Here are the lessons in no particular order.

1. I need God to do everything.

2. I needed help (like my mom and my neighbor who took my kids for a couple of hours as well as Gary who had the kids all day and did so without complaint--even with enthusiasm!) in order to make these things happen.

3. It was therapeutic to talk about my miscarriage and dad's addiction. As an aside, Dad is currently doing great. I realize that this could change in a moments notice. Oh, we all have a long way to go and are not even close to reuniting as an entire family, but he continues to work and we've even had him over to our house after the kids were in bed. I'm learning that the sobriety journey is less like a line, and more like a crazy circular journey. If I think in terms of two steps forward, one step back. . . I'll be disappointed and dad will fail in my eyes. Instead, it is lots of circles. Sometimes rather that going forward, we end up stepping sideways. I continue to take classes at O.A.R. and continue to learn about addiction. We are all getting better. . . bless God. Thanks for your continued prayers about this as well.

4. If I want to continue to do public speaking, I'm going to need to get beyond my uneasiness of making small talk with strangers.

5. Don't apologize if you cry during a speech. Rev. Kok and I were talking during lunch and he told me this after I said I would probably cry at least once. I cried at least two times during each presentation and I didn't apologize. :)

6. The army of prayers for our family is bigger than I ever imagined. I met Ruth who heard my story and informed me that she has been praying for our family for over a year and a half. Friends of my parents are in her small group. Even if my speech had bombed big time, this news was worth the trip.

It went so great. I loved it! I enjoyed meeting some great people and am grateful for the folks who attended my sectional and smiled and cried with me. I got into my car (my brother let me borrow his--thanks Kevin!) and clapped for God. He did great things.