More about the MOPS convention

I am returning from a girl's weekend in Dallas, Texas for the MOPS convention. I was so blessed to spend 3 days with 13 friends from Iowa (and 5,000 other MOPS moms), and attend the convention where God so clearly ministered to, guided and blessed me immensely!! This is the 5th MOPS convention I have attended and they are always a blessing, but never moreso than this one. I was given a gift of sweet fellowship that my thirsty soul drank DEEPLY of and I was refreshed. Refreshed is much more appropriate to use, because "rested" certainly wouldn't fit this weekend's description! Sleep was minimal. Too many other things to do! I could have slept all day Monday if I wanted. My trip was prayed over in my weekly prayer time with my mom that we have initiated recently as a way to keep our hearts in touch and unified in petition to God. One of my requests for the trip was that God would place someone nea me on the plane for me to share my faith with. I have NEVER prayed this prayer before (I also have never flown by myself either), so I was expectantly waiting. I boarded the plane in Sarasota and found my seat in the back. It was a row next to the service kitchen and only had 2 seats. Seated at the window seat was a gentleman near my age who was obviously flying for business. I did not want the appearance of flirting since we were alone in the row, so I plugged in my (borrowed) IPod and got out my bracelet making things and started tying knots. At some point near the end of the flight, as snacks were passed out we struck up a short conversation. I was able to relay that our family had recently moved to Florida as missionaries and we talked about fun, family things to do around Sarasota, then got off the plane and said goodbye. Okay, maybe the next flight, it’s longer anyway. I boarded the plane and found my seat (in the back again), I was the first in my row of three to arrive. As the plane filled up, no one joined me in my row!! There was a family of mother, father and infant son who were split up and I overheard her ask the gentleman directly in front of me (and on the aisle as well) if he would trade seats with her husband up about 10 rows so they could sit together across the aisle from each other. He agreed. But, didn’t switch immediately. As we headed toward the runway, I got her attention and asked if he had agreed to switch, offering her my entire row. She declined, stating that the gentleman had agreed to switch. But, after we had been in the air about 10 minutes, he showed no signs of ending the conversation he had struck up with another passenger in his row, so she traded me seats. I thought, okay, now maybe there will be someone to share my faith with. I find my new seat and there is an older lady sitting at the window. I say hello and sit down. It is immediately evident that she speaks no English!! Okay Lord, did I miss my cue??

We went to the Convention Center (the Gaylord) and got all of our nametags and "tickets" to our workshops, then spent the next few minutes organizing ourselves and figuring out who had chosen the same workshops and would keep us company and accountable! This is Amy and Deb getting organized:

I usually attend workshops focused toward parenting at the MOPS convention, but this year was different. God divinely planned my curricula this weekend. I found myself bombarded with teaching regarding my marriage and was led to a fabulous resource for our marriage conference next month. I am being led to completely redo my presentation that I give on rebellion (I hold an advanced degree in that area of study by the way). He placed the resources in my hands, and I even got them autographed by the author! I am excited to see how this turns out and what I learn from it because it always ends up being me that benefits the most from this ministry God has called me reluctantly to.

The music as usual was amazing. Go Fish performed first and did their new song just for dad’s called “Its hard to look cool in a mini-van”. I told Paul about the song, and he declared that he is pretty sure our minivan is his best accessory!! We really had fun during their performance and were even able to be right up front! Nic Gonzales (of Salvador) and Jaci Velasquez performed together and introduced their son. They bantered back and forth performing to only his guitar accompaniment and endearing themselves to everyone. Plumb also performed, bringing the entire house to tears with her many songs written for her kids and also introducing her 9 week old daughter Clementine. The final performance was from Avalon. They also introduced their children (they have 4 between the four of them and they are all under the age of 3 or 4 years (just guessing), but they sang a quartet and even harmonized!!!! They obviously have the right genes!

And, this time together was made extra special by our time of sharing and prayer Saturday night. The Holy Spirit moved so powerfully as I mentioned in another post. I just can't imagine not returning next year. We will just have to see if He provides for that, or if I am to just move on with my life! I better wrap this up, check out more photos in the sidebar!

By the way, the stomach virus stayed away all weekend and I thought we were in the clear...until Gabriel started vomiting Monday morning. I told you he ALWAYS gets this thing! So far the others are avoiding it! It truly is a miracle they were not sick while I was gone!