I look back to so many wonderful Christmas memories. My mind turns to a few painful ones as well. As we are celebrating the newborn life of our Savior, our lives continue to live themselves out – and it ain’t always eggnog and candy canes. Some Christmases I’ve wished would linger and some I’ve “Merry Christmas’d” my way through to get to January. All of those Christmases and all of the memories that came with them are a part of my story.
I woke up in North Carolina. Don’t worry! That was the actual plan!! I’m at a summer camp for adult women, errrr… I mean a women’s conference – that sounds more adult right? Truly it is like a summer camp for women but I just eat better food and take better notes now than I did when I was 15. That probably has something to do with the fact that I had to pay for it instead of my parents. I also get to drink coffee and wine if I want to so that’s awesome.
I flew into Atlanta on Wednesday and my friend, Lizanne, and I drove to North Carolina on Thursday to attend the She Speaks conference. She Speaks is a conference to encourage, educate, empower and inspire speakers, writers and leaders. Today is the last day of the conference and I feel as though I’ve been drinking from the fire hydrant with a never ending flow. They are doing just as they promised. I am encouraged, educated, empowered and inspired.
I took this picture on the first day of the conference. It was the first picture I took, the first thing I saw as I wrapped my beautiful necklace/lanyard nametag around my neck (provided by Fashion & Compassion Jewelry). This quote pretty much summed up where I was at and I had to capture it. When I first looked at the picture itself I was bummed that my reflection was in it because that’s not what good photographers do. But I heard God whisper to me that this conference is for me. It’s about all of my reflections from all of my yesterdays that it took for Jesus to be able to give me today. He gently said, “Andrea, I love you. Let’s make some new stories together.”
I woke up this morning to do the hair check. You know, when you wake up to see how long it’s going to take you to get ready depending on how hard you slept. The hair could be in decent shape or it could be all wonky and in need of a do over. Will I need to wash it and start from scratch or will I only need to touch it up? Much to my happiness, I saw that it was a touch-up day. YAY! Which means I had a few extra minutes and brain cells to push out a few quick words to you through my fingertips.
So while there hasn’t been much activity here on EPFH blog or Facebook page these last couple of days, no stories to tell, there are stories being made. Because some days are for story making. I will be writing about some of these stories soon. I’ll be writing about Lizanne, Barbara, Helen, Sheena, Kai, Cindy, Kristi, and my cyber friends turned real life friends from the For the Love launch team. I’ll also tell you about a few other crazy amazing things God is teaching me. Anne from the launch team said, last night at dinner, “Sometimes God shows up and sometimes He shows off.” He is definitely showing off this weekend. I am blown away by the gifts God is giving me at this conference and I can’t wait to share them with you.
Stories coming soon to a blog near you!
~Andrea
Empty Plate . Full Heart 