Conference re-cap

Well friends I did indeed survive the conference last Saturday.  :)

Not only survived, but enjoyed.

I came away refreshed, encouraged, inspired and challenged.

It was so fun listening to, and meeting, Kimberly Hahn.  I have enjoyed her books, and her husband's books, for the past couple of years.  (Scott Hahn is a formerly-Protestant-but-now-Catholic-apologist.  Kimberly Hahn is a formerly-Protestant-but-now-Catholic author and speaker.  You can read about their reconciliation to the Catholic Church in Rome Sweet Home.)  We are regularly saying, "I read such-and-such in Scott Hahn's book".  SO, it was pretty neat meeting Kimberly in person, and she was so nice and gracious in spite of my blathering on about how I appreciated her book and how she and her husband have been helpful to us on our spiritual journey, yadda, yadda, yadda.  She even was willing to take a picture with me.  (Don't mind the ladder in the background--I assure you we weren't doing home repairs!)

I also really enjoyed the session led by a local priest.  His talk was excellent.  All about Jesus entering into our mess.

And I'd never actually heard the "Hail Mary" recited before.  It was said several times over the course of the day.  And it was beautiful.

In spite of my social anxiety fears :) , I was incredibly blessed by some wonderful, friendly women.  A huge THANK YOU to Cynthia, a sweet blog reader here(!), who went out of her way to connect me with her friend Marie who was attending the conference.  I'd no sooner gotten my coffee and muffin and was wandering around (awkwardly, I am sure) looking for a seat when I heard someone, Marie, calling my name!  She and her sweet friends squeezed me in at their table and spent the day with me.  They made me feel so welcome.

AND I met someone that, along with her husband, we are planning to have dinner with soon.

All in all, an incredibly encouraging day.  To be surrounded by so many women who are completely and utterly devoted to their vocation as wives and moms, to hear practical wisdom from Godly people, and to see the sheer number of sweet babies and pregnant women, it was really quite wonderful.  I'm sure I'll share some of the things I took away soon.  I feel a little like I'm still processing it all!

(My enjoyment of said conference may or may not have been enhanced by the fact that I arrived home at the end of the day to a completely vacuumed house, happy, clean kids, and a pristine backyard.  Best.husband.ever.  He's so good to me!)