"and then... we went to the 'vention..." (a pictorial)

The convention center in Atlanta was ginormous!! We walked miles and miles all weekend long. (Bring on the junk food! We have a way to counteract its effects!) There were opportunities to buy Starbucks about every two feet. That place makes a killing!

The nat'l youth workers' convention has 3 main parts: the elective seminars, the exhibition hall (where different missions and ministry organizations promote themselves to youth leaders), and the general sessions (with concerts, speakers, comedy, drama, worship, and the like). This is what our view looked like during most general sessions. That's the first day, and that's convention director Tic Long welcoming us. This year's theme was "Storyline" (finding ourselves in God's grand story; we all take part in it).

We got to reunite with our dear brother and friend Jake (fellow youth pastor). It was like no time passed at all. Don't you love friends like that?

Jake and Beth, his lovely wife.

Dave & me.

Loree, Darrin, Dave (and Eli!) going through the exhibition hall, signing up for freebies & collecting information. That lady was just like, "Can I hold him?"

We walked through the Olympic Park on the way to/from the hotel every day. It was beautiful. The Christmas decorations are already in full swing, while the trees still had "fall" written all over them! (red leaves, Christmas bow on the lamppost). That's our hotel in the background, the tall round one with the white lights.

Worship time during the general sessions was pretty great. We got to worship with Chris Tomlin twice and David Crowder once (and all three times were wayyyyyyyyyyy too short). We had other worship leaders for the other sessions and they were just "okay".

Last session, worship led by Steve Fee. Not too shabby!

Darrin & Lorree had a great time. They loved it.

I will be posting more thoughts later... It's such a fun getaway for me every year. Yay God!

didja miss me??

i'm back!

we just returned from atlanta several hours ago. blissfully reunited with our daughter, whom we missed sooooooooooooooo much. she actually squealed when she saw us. then... "mommy!" "daddy!" "eli!" "mommy!" "daddy!" "eli!!" (you get the idea)... it was so great. plus, my mom & dad are here and tomorrow we're celebrating t-giving! great family, great food, who could ask for more?

yes, it's true, i was doing great with nablopomo until i left town. the convention had a digital lounge with about 6 computers. you can imagine how motivated i was to stand there in line while folks caught up on youtube videos and facebook comments. each time i stood there i thought, "what are they gonna do to me if i don't post? absolutely nothing! whatevs!" and went and did something else. i'll more than make up for it in the next few days, of that you can be sure.

it was fun. it was tiring. it was loud. it was powerful. more later.

and i'll do a Best Shot Tuesday tomorrow, if i have time!

how have y'all been?

Thursday's Theme: Giddy!

Not much time, but wanted to contribute to the theme: Giddy! We are leaving in less than an hour for the Youth Specialties' National Youth Workers' Convention in Atlanta. Our fifth time. So much fun. We're going with another couple from our church, Darrin & Loree, and we're going to meet up with Jake & Beth, old friends from R-mond who have since relocated to that area. Yay! Plus, we're in these swanky digs for the next four nights. It's not that often I get to live like that. Excuse me now as I go pack like a movie star. Where are my sunglasses?

TAR starts tonight!

We received this Bumbo baby seat from Matt & Gina after Eli was born, and he is just now getting old enough to use it. But it's taking some time to get him interested in it. (It's the only thing he sits in that encourages him to sit up completely straight, which is a new idea for him.) Right now, he enjoys it for a few short minutes before getting upset and arching his back to get out. I hope he'll grow to enjoy it more & more as he gets bigger, because I'm told it's a lifesaver! Dave put it on his head last night and that was the funniest thing I've ever seen, so it's certainly meeting a need for me at the moment!

I didn't remember to change our clocks last night before going to bed (thankfully, Dave remembered to do our alarm clock). So when I woke up in the middle of the night to check on Eli, it occurred to me. And it was the BEST feeling to know that I could have an extra hour to enjoy! Yay for falling back! It'll be strange to see it get dark earlier tonight.

The colors are changing on the trees here in H-ville. It is gorgeous. Everywhere you look, more red & orange & yellow. It's lovely here in the fall. I love November. It's the beginning of sweatshirt weather, which means everyone will see me in my Harvard hoodie more often than they probably care to. :) Sweatshirts & jeans, my favorite outfit ever. Plus, I'm back in one of my pre-pregnancy pairs of jeans! Whoo-hoo!! We have a busy month ahead: my brother in law is coming to visit this week, and the high school retreat this weekend (the whole fam is going, yikes! I'm going to be very harried!) and then Dave & I (and Eli) are going to Atlanta the weekend after that for our fifth go-round at the Nat'l Youth Workers' Convention. We are totally stoked. I'm sure I'll be mentioning it more as the month zooms on. Lucy is going to have great two-on-one care as Gramma & Grampa are coming to look after her. After that, Thanksgiving is upon us, and the joys of the Christmas season right around the corner!

Fun fact: Anytime Lucy sees a body of water, she gets all excited and shouts, "BATH!?" because she loves taking baths. Like when we went to the lake, she saw the lake and thought we'd bathe her in it. So last night, she sees 10 seconds of Cast Away on tv, you know, where Tom Hanks is stranded on a deserted island, and she points to the water and says, "Bath?" It's one of many words we now have to spell, because baths are like her favorite thing in the world, and she'd seriously take one ten times a day if we let her.

I don't know how I'm going to post anything for NaBloPoMo on Saturday. I won't have access to a computer. At least at the 'vention, there's a digital lounge where I'll attempt to log on for five minutes or so each day.


As you can see, Lucy likes her brother's Bumbo just fine. Thatta girl!

Oh, just so you know, I put up a new album of pics, so all you Goose & E-ster fans check it out!

More tomorrow!

NaBloPoMo day 4