More than just a girls weekend!

My friend Jennifer and I were in a Bible study several months ago called "Brave". It was written by a lady named Angela Thomas...and we thought she was great! In the back of the Bible study, there was a page promoting Lifeway's "dotMom" conference. Immediately it caught our eye...and we wanted to go. Praise the Lord...we did! It was last weekend in Birmingham, AL. Our dear husbands watched the children for us so we could experience a time of worship, refueling, fellowship, and fun. Bless you, husbands. We had an amazing time! Here are some highlights...
My old roommate from Thailand, Foy, and her roomate Emily graciously opened their home to us for the weekend. We had so much fun talking and hanging out with them! Foy also came with us to The Church at Brookhills Sunday morning. We were blessed by a great time of worship there.

The first day of the conference, Jennifer and I were walking back from eating dinner and just happened to see a big group of kids and adults with red shirts on. In my mind I thought, "I wonder who they are...they sure look familiar." Then I saw Jim Bob Duggar and it hit me...it's the Duggars! Jennifer LOVES the Duggars (we don't watch it often because we don't have TLC) and was so excited. I was excited, too. The only Duggar we were able to speak to was the wife of the oldest Duggar. She was so nice and down to earth. We wished we had more time to speak with her. She did give us a stack of Duggar family pictures and asked us to pass them around and then had to rush off. We did ask if we could get a quick picture : ).

Here's the family on stage. They were working with Habitat for Humanity that weekend and happened to find out about the Mom's conference. They agreed to stop by. Jim Bob shared about his and Michelle's perpective on having children and how God has blessed them. He also mentioned that the whole family just returned from a trip to Israel and Europe. Josie got a cold while in Israel, so the doctor there recommended she stay until she got better. So Michelle, Jill (one of the older daughters) and Josie were still in Israel. I'm sure the Duggars would appreciate your prayers! The family also sang for us before they left. What a neat family!

Another highlight...worship with Michelle Greene. This lady is amazingly talented. She looks really cool, too. Check out that hair! Anyway, she had some other friends with her, including another former member of Avalon, and we were privileged to get a little mini-Avalon concert Friday night. Good stuff.

We finished the conference around 4pm on Saturday, so we planned a girl's night with Foy. We had an unexpected call from some friends from Thailand, the Firpo family, saying they had only Saturday night free for us to visit. After supper we headed over to their house. The Lord has blessed me so much through this family! When I was in Thailand I taught two of the Firpo boys and spent a lot of time with the rest of the family. They just happened to be on furlough right now so I was determined to see them!

We were doubly blessed to be able to see another family from Thailand that is on furlough the same time as the Firpos! I was equally determined to see them while we were in Birmingham. We settled the plans on Sunday morning and saw them Sunday afternoon. I was so excited to spend time with them! Melody has been a friend and mentor for several years and still encourages me even now. She is an amazing woman of God who I love and admire! John, Melody's husband, was my supervisor for years in Thailand and I respect him very much. The Hunt kids are all very gifted, friendly, and have hearts for God.

Those are the highlights of our girl's weekend! We had so many opportunities to worship and study God's Word. We also learned about how to relate to our children and understand how to be better wives and mothers. Jennifer and I also appreciated that the main speakers were mingling among the rest of us, attending breakout sessions and being very approachable. I would encourage any mom reading this to think about attending next year's dotMom conference! It's going to be Sept. 21-22, 2012 in Birmingham. It's well worth the money!! Jennifer and I are already thinking about it! God bless~Stacey