I know. I know. I said I was going to take a few weeks off to focus on my family this summer. And I AM. But I’ve got one child at summer camp and four asleep right now — so I think it’s be OK for me to sneak over to the computer and tell you:

THE WOMEN OF FAITH CONFERENCE WAS AWESOME!!!!!

You’ve got to go … just got to. If there is ever a conference in your city, I hope you can get there. Here’s the link that lists all the upcoming conferences left in 2006. Next month, they’ll be in Chicago, Cleveland, Washington D.C., and Calgary, Alberta. In August, they’ll be in St. Louis, Hartford, Ft. Wayne, and Dallas. (To my blogger friend in Phoenix, they’ll be coming to Glendale Arena Nov. 17-18!)

The theme for this year’s conference is “Contagious Joy.” Oh, how God knew I needed to hear the music and great speakers at this time in my life. This whole conference was a gift from my mom. She invited me and my sister several months ago — before I knew we’d go through a sad family time and have two of our extended family members pass away within a few days of each other.

So this! This conference gave us something to look forward to! I really had no idea — there were 15,000 women packed into Philips Arena in downtown Atlanta, right across from the CNN Center. Most people came in groups, and lots of these ladies wore matching colorful T-shirts. They came from all over besides Georgia: North and South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, and more. The youngest attendee was a newborn swaddled in her new mom’s arms; the oldest was in her 90s.

The hostess of the conference informed us we had a surprise — Sandi Patty was there! She sang for us!! I’ve never heard Sandi Patty in person, but I’ve listened to her CDs for years. Anyway, you ain’t heard nothin’ until you experience Sandi Patty singing “How Great Thou Art.” Her voice echoed all over the arena — I’m sure you could hear her for miles around — it was incredible.

I was so overwhelmed, it was all I could do to keep from crying in front of my mom and sister — I did NOT have on waterproof mascara and I didn’t want to look like too much of a raccoon.

We also heard music from talented Nichole Nordeman, who has the most beautiful voice — she played several songs that I’ve heard on the radio but didn’t know who she was. What’s really interesting to me about Nichole is that a few weeks ago on our trip to the beach I was reading Madeleine L’Engle’s book, Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art, and Nichole wrote the introduction to this book. She described how L’Engle impacted her life and writing, so it was pure joy to hear Nichole sing.

The other group was Avalon. Wow! They sounded amazing as well — and had the whole place rocking. And there was also a Women of Faith Praise Band that played all of my favorite praise songs. I brought their CD home with me and have discovered that my 3-year-old enjoys singing and jumping around the kitchen with me while this music is on.

I’ll tell you about the speakers in a different post — because I hope you’ll have time to follow the links here.

We did find out one piece of amazing news — the speaker for next year’s Women of Faith pre-conference in Atlanta will be:

BETH MOORE!!!

Editor Darlene Schacht of Christian Women Online has reprinted Ann Voskamp’s award-winning essay, A Shepherd’s Mother, incorporating gorgeous photos. Please go read it on the magazine’s site! What a lot of encouragement is going on out here in the blogosphere!

Thank you to a certain someone who sent me a letter from her mother, in response to her reading her daughter’s essay for this contest. I ruined another pair of contact lenses crying through that note — but it’s something I’ll always treasure. What a thrill to know I made somebody’s mom feel special because her daughter wrote a story that blessed her!

Other news: Holy Mama! has blessed MY socks off today with her post about my book. Wow — Thank you!

Here’s a must-read funny interview on Sally Apokedak’s All About Children’s Books site. She caught up with Dr. Jonathan Rogers, author of the Wilderking trilogy. Book 3, The Way of the Wilderking, was released last week, just in time for summer reading. If you want to know what a young boy reads to grow up and become a children’s novelist, go read this interview. (Just watch out for those screaming hairy armadillos.)

And me! I’ve been offered a position to become a professional blogger! I don’t know what to do and am giving this much prayer. It’s on a topic I feel quite passionate about — but do I feel passionate enough about it to write six posts per week? I must say, there’s something to be said for earning a little income doing something that I love.

My high school reunion committee has been asking us to find old pictures to send for a slide show, and I ran across this VERY OLD picture from my college days. Can you figure out which one is me? [Hint: top left corner, wearing ivory.]

I asked my husband if I could post this picture, and he said it might provide an interesting cultural study — here’s what it was like to be a freshman at a state university in the Deep South in the late 80s.

I was 19 years old in this picture.

This event was called “Old South,” sponsored by the Kappa Alpha fraternity. I’m realizing with a bit of embarrassment that I worked just as hard at getting that invitation as I did on my grades that quarter. I was “networking” even in college!

I really wanted to go to Old South — everybody talked about it. So I started asking around, and a friend who was dating a KA knew a friend who didn’t have a date yet. I think we met for a Coke at Mcdonald’s and he asked me to go.

I lived in a women’s dormitory all four years of my college experience, and the first year my dorm was all freshmen. The Old South buzz was wild that last weekend of April — we giggled, traded dresses, and sunbathed on the front lawn trying to get a quick tan for the “ball.” Then the rumor started.

“They’re coming. Today. This afternoon. Be here.” (Everyone whispered.)

They came, a dozen or so young men on horseback, wearing gray Confederate soldier uniforms. They stopped their horses in front of our white-columned dormitory.

The squeals down my hall were rampant. “They’re here! They’re here! Let’s go!”

Everyone rushed down the wide stairway, through the grand lobby, and outside. I had no idea what they were going to do, but gradually, each Confederate-clad young man slid off his horse and walked over to the girl he’d invited to attend.

My date got down on his knee in front of me and handed me a rolled-up parchment, tied with a bow. It’s in my scrapbook, so I’ll type here what it said, in black calligraphy:

“You, as a Belle, must rise whenever ‘Dixie’ is played and do whatever is necessary to preseve the honor of Lee, Davis, Jackson, and the Southern States and Cause. Your intimate charm and affection will reflect the tradition of Southern hospitality in the presence of those poor, less fortunate, and unreconstructured ‘D— Yankees.’

So it be known to you, fair Belle, that the right honorable (his name) being a member of Kappa Alpha Order has publicly expressed the pleasure of escorting (my name) to the Old South Ball, and who will give her reply by adorning the above said Southern Gentlemen with a gentle kiss.”

After that, all of us doubled on horseback and rode all over the President’s lawn. I’ll never forget that spring day — it was too funny to be riding horses, emitting rebel yells, on the pristine grass of the university’s most important resident! I think we had permission. I hope we did.

I’ve kept up with some of the girls in this picture, and hear about others through the grapevine. We’re all approaching our 40s now, most or all of us married with children. Those were exciting days in the spring of our youth, but I wouldn’t go back there for the world.

I’m happily married now to a man whose ancestors fought for the Confederacy, and we even have a picture of him dressed in a Civil War uniform when he gave a school book report on Stonewall Jackson.

My looks have changed, but I’ll always put sugar in my tea and be a true Southern Belle.

Grab your tissues and head on over to She Lives. You do NOT want to miss today’s Carnival of Beauty. Carol has pulled together 15 essays on “Aging Gracefully,” complete with grouchy ol’ Maxine cartoons and pictures of the participating bloggers. (You get to see what I look like on a good hair day — hee! hee!) No matter what age you are in this aging process, you’ll find something to connect with in these poignant entries.

Maxine cartoon from this site.

There are a whole lot of blessings going around today that I wanted to share with you.

First of all, we’ve had a big celebration over at Susan’s new blog — she has been searching for answers to some spiritual questions lately and finally found the ANSWER! After communicating with some members of our Beth Moore Bible Study, Susan is beginning a new journey! (Thanks, Jeana!) You can read more about this on Carol’s blog — but please visit Susan and wish her a note of encouragement. Isn’t this awesome news? What better reason do we have for blogging than to help lead someone to a relationship with Christ?

The Carnival of Beauty is up at MzEllen & Co on the topic of “technology.” If you have a chance, there are some thoughtful essays on how technology has brought many blessings to our world today.

Be sure to visit the new April edition of Darlene’s Christian Women Online magazine. I’m always amazed at how pretty the photos and graphics are that accompany the stories. If you’re in need of a positive place to read a few minutes, this magazine is full of inspiration. I’ve also joined her new webring.

Darlene is too funny! I had to laugh while reading her Letter from the Editor about how life changes as we head into our 40s.

So, if she happens to be reading this post, here’s something I saw in an author’s autobiography last week:

They say “life begins at forty.” A certain phase of mine certainly did, for I was just forty when my first novel was published.

(Does that make you feel like you’re in good company, Darlene?)

I’ve given this some thought. Do any of you out there agree that life begins at 40? Those of you who are over age 40, did anything happen to you in this new decade that you could share with us?

I’m looking forward to turning 40 — which is only a few years away for me. I started thinking about how I’ve spent the last few decades:

Ages 0-5 — Infancy. Learned how to walk and talk … and haven’t stopped since!

Elementary school — Early academics, spiritual awakening with a sincere child-like faith. Prepared for middle school.

Middle school — Began to realize I liked some subjects better than others. Developed hobbies. Prepared for high school.

High school — Prepared for college. Started thinking about my future husband … and began looking for him! (Why, oh why, was I even thinking about that when I was 16? I should have been doing more volunteer work in my community, helping others. There’s no rush to hurry on to college and marriage!)

College — Prepared for a career by narrowing down the subjects I studied. Began seriously trying to figure out if I would be single for the rest of my life or if God had other plans for me. Constant focus was on the future. Time of amazing spiritual growth for me.

20s and 30s — For most women, these are the busy foundational years of marriage and childbearing/ childraising. I’m sure you moms agree — things ain’t the same with your body, mind, and spirit after you go through the transformation of becoming a mother. During these years, the constant demands of small children are first and foremost on our minds.

40s — OK! Does life begin now? These are the years when our kids might be older and more independent. We might even be able to have time to take a shower and put on make-up! Our husband may be more settled in a career. I don’t know — I’m not there yet. I’m just thinking it might take my mind off getting older if I could look forward to the excitement of having a little more “me-time” than I do now.

What do you think?

Many thanks to a Mom 2 Mom reader, Luanne, who visited us from the Philippines and left a message in yesterday’s comments. I’ve added this map and picture. What a lovely place!

Luanne writes:

“I live on an island! Maybe not the sort you have in mind, but a tropical island nevertheless. I live on the island of Mindanao, in the Philippines. We are missionaries and have lived here for 18 years. The weather is usually warm humid and sunny, or warm and humid and rainy.

The best part for me is that there is green everywhere I look! I can’t hear the ocean from my house. We live in the city, and the sound of traffic is what I hear most of the time. But we have a nice yard and in the mornings I hear exotic bird sounds, and in the evenings, our local geckos sound off, as well as the occasional frog.

It is April, summer in the Philippines, and the neem tree outside my window is in bloom! The wonderful smell of those flowers will be floating through the house for over a month! I look forward to April all year!

We can drive about an hour and go to a white sands beach. It is in a bay, so there are no big waves. Big shady trees grow practically to the water line. The water is warm and blue, and the snorkeling is amazing! It is like flying over another world, a world of strange shapes and flashing colors. Amazing to think there is a world like that under the water that God made, and so few have seen! What other wonders might there be that are yet undiscovered?

We buy most of our food at the open market. The fish is fresh and smells like the ocean. We love the fruit here, lansones, marang, durian, rambutan, mangosteen, mangos, pomelo, guavas, nangka, guyabano, atis, to name a few! The sad and battered tropical fruits you see in the grocery stores in America for such high prices, are nothing like the real thing we have here!

At the supermarket we can find the more familiar vegetables, many of which are grown in the mountains; broccoli, asparagus, lettuce, cauliflower and even zuccini along with things like ferns, fresh bamboo shoots, taro roots and bitter gourd. We like to cook with coconut milk, lemon grass and ginger.

We have a large house and two guest rooms… wanna come? :-)”

My answer: YES! Now I have at least two people I want to visit in the Philippines!

I’ve been noticing that my Travel category in this blog is a bit wimpy. I mostly focus here on books and parenting issues. But if you’re like me, blessed with little ones at home, you may have to do a lot of your adventure-seeking from your armchair (or should I say rocking chair? Or maybe I should even say laundry room, after seeing a picture of a mom tapping away on her laptop a la washing machine over at the recent contest on Mommy Net).

Did you know people all over the world are writing travel blogs? This technology did not EXIST when I did some international traveling in my late teens/early 20s. As I mentioned once, when I lived in Japan, I spent every evening writing letters, one by one, BY HAND telling my family and friends (and my special pen pal who later became my husband) all about my adventures living overseas.

But now the technology is here to be able to update everyone instantly — with words and pictures. This is also useful for anyone preparing for a trip somewhere. I mean — why read a guidebook that was written like two years ago when you can read about a traveler eating in a trendy bistro this morning?

The best site I’ve found so far is one called Travel Blog: Live Travel Journals. Have you heard of this site yet? I recently went to Rome — and before that, I climbed a mountain with a traveler somewhere along the coast of South America! The pictures are stunning. Of course, since the blogs are not edited, you never know what you might read. But for the most part, I’ve been interested to hear people’s fascinating stories.

You can choose any continent in the world, and hundreds of countries. The site owners pick different blogs to feature on the home page — I’m not sure if they’re updated daily or maybe weekly. Today’s front page features:

— On March 30th, a traveler named Keith took pictures and wrote about seeing humpback whales off the coast of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

— An explorer dubbed Honest Abe reports on sheep herding and eating curry on the island of Fiji.

— A traveler shared views of life on Penang, a large island off the northwestern coast of Malaysia.

— An April Fool’s Bike Ride through Pittsburgh (I suppose exotic to someone).

— A duo who call themselves “Cumberland Sausage” share pictures of a Holi Festival in Udaipur, India. You won’t believe their pictures. And they close their brief post with this: “No more blogs for a month I’m afraid, we’re off trekking in Nepal.” Ughhh!!

You gotta love it. I can travel the world for free via reading these people’s blogs — and you can too.

With two more months until summer, I’d love to hear back from you readers who don’t live in America. I know you’re out there! You may not realize it, but your home is very exotic to me. I know where a few of you live, but I’d love to learn more. Can you write me and tell me what it’s like? You don’t have to send a picture — I can probably find one on Google.

Do you live on an island? Anywhere near the ocean? I don’t. So in my opinion, you’re on vacation year-round. I want to know what the ocean sounds like for you. What color is the sand? Do you eat fish from the sea, and what kinds? Do you cook it at home or eat it at a restaurant?

You don’t need a blog to write — and you can email me, and I’ll use only your first name or initial. I just think it would be so interesting to use this blog technology to bring the world to my home — and yours.

If anyone else knows a good travel website, I’d love to hear about it.

(Sigh … bigtime sigh.)

Edit: (after much sighing) — If anyone reading this happens to live on an island and is in need of a family to herd your sheep for a while, we’d be happy to consider your offer. I think I’m kidding, but I might not be.

I have a cousin who once handed me her business card, a simple white rectangle, emblazoned in black letters with her name, address, phone number, and the descriptive phrase, “Domestic Goddess.” That made me laugh then, as it does now. She IS a wonderful cook and homemaker, and a world-class grandma. She sent me a letter recently with some pictures and included her new card, “Domestic Goddess, retired.” She’s a widow now.

I love her sense of humor. But I have to tell you I had a glimpse of a true domestic diva the other day when I flipped channels on our TV and saw Martha Pullen, sitting at her sewing machine, telling her audience the proper way to stitch white zig zag onto lace using the zig-zag stitch on a sewing machine.

Are you familiar with Martha Pullen? I used to subscribe to her magazine, Sew Beautiful, and she always wrote the most uplifting letter from the editor, complete with scriptures. She also has a program on public television called Sewing With Martha.

If you’re at all interested in sewing, you’ll love everything about Martha. Here’s how I first heard about her. I had a close friend a few years ago who was REALLY into heirloom children’s clothing. She talked about Martha Pullen this, Martha Pullen that every other sentence. Our first two children were the exact same age, so we spent a lot of time talking while our kids played. Finally, I admitted to her that I didn’t know how to sew — even though my mom had shown me a few simple things growing up. Sewing machines just scared me!

We saw an ad in the newspaper for sewing machines, and she said she’d help me pick one out. So we went shopping together, and I came home with a nicer one than the ad offered, but she assured me it was a good price. Then I went over to her house once a week, and she taught me how to turn the machine on and not be scared it would bite me, thread a needle and wind it around all these places on my machine so it would sew, trace and cut out a pattern, and make a little sundress for my daughter. It was full of all kinds of weird mistakes, but I took her picture wearing it, and it made me so happy that I made something!

Then we moved. Oh, how I missed that friendship. We moved to the country, and I didn’t have any friends for the first several months. So I tried to keep sewing to give myself something creative to do, and it gave me an excuse to call my old friend and tell her what I was making. Thinking back, I realize that’s what kept me trying to sew — I wanted to keep finding a reason to connect with her because the first thing she always asked was, “So, what are you working on?”

I finally discovered a store about an hour from my house that taught smocking and embroidery lessons, and I went and took a few classes. I was the youngest one in my class. It was me and a few sweet grandmothers — who were all excellent seamstresses. I kept stabbing my finger and bleeding on the fabric. I felt like I had two left hands, and I couldn’t keep up. It was so embarrassing to ask the simplest questions!

But this is all I had to do to keep myself occupied while we adjusted to our new town. Finally, we found a church where I made some friends with moms of young children, and I made a few friends who also liked to sew. One Easter, we all went a little crazy and bought a bunch of fabric. I taught one friend how to smock, and there were four of us who all made matching clothes for our kids. It was a fun time.

Those were simpler days for me — and who knows? Maybe someday I’ll get back into it. It really is exciting to make things with fabric and thread — and it can be a joy for young women to see their creativity blossom into something beautiful to wear. Right now, I DO NOT have the patience for it. That hobby requires keeping up with so much STUFF. (Fabric, notions, patterns, magazines with ideas, crafty this and that…)

Since God has blessed me with three daughters, I don’t want them to grow up being scared of a sewing machine like their poor mom. One of the best things my friend taught me is that even though babies and little girls will outgrow their dresses, dolls never will! So one day, I’d love to make doll clothes. Maybe that day will come when I’m a grandmother. What a happy thought!

For now, I’ll sneak a peek at the domestic queen herself, Martha Pullen, and see what she’s up to. And say a prayer for my friend who is on my mind today, who I still miss very much.

Here’s a note to the other 29 ladies in the Beth Moore group — and to anyone else who’s joining along with us in our endeavor to study Living Beyond Yourself. Don’t give up! I’ve been to many of your blogs over the weekend, and we ladies have a lot of stuff going on in our lives! This is only the second week of the study, and I know some of you are already behind and feeling bad about it.

It doesn’t matter! Whatever you have going on — kids demanding your attention, a house full of company, spring break, suitcases full of dirty laundry from returning from trips, earthquakes (someone in our group blogged about an earthquake last week!) You don’t have to do every bit of the homework — and you don’t have to blog about anything profound. It’s very intimidating to be “on” every day you post something — especially when there are hundreds (thousands?) of people who are reading your words and criticizing you (good or bad).

If you can just turn on the video or audio and listen to Beth Moore’s teaching, that’s the most important thing in this study, I feel. Because she’s in the Word so much while she’s teaching, and she’s digging deeper than many of us have been in a while. Even if you can only listen to one segment, it’s still better than nothing.

We’ve got nine more weeks — we can do it! This group will go until June 2. Now what would be more fun than getting dressed up in a cute new outfit and going out with your friends to hear a speaker like Beth Moore? We’d of course go out for dessert afterward and laugh a lot, right? So that’s what we’re doing here, when we download the video onto our computers — in our own time, when the kids are napping or asleep (or crawling all over us…)

Here’s a verse for you [with my interruptions]:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses [the other members of this LBY group!], let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles [worrying that we’re behind], and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us [the next nine weeks, until June 2].

Hebrews 12:1-3

It’s all about JOY!

I needed to read this verse today — because I’m weary. There’s something funky going on in the April atmosphere around here, and I’ve lost my voice (it sounds all scratchy), and I’m behind on all the yukky, boring things I need to spend my time doing. So, I’m going to write out this verse and hang it up on the wall in three places in my house: over my kitchen sink (where I’ve got to spend a lot of time today), in my laundry room (which is not really a room, only a closet; I’ve got to spend a lot of time there too), and over my bathroom sink (because I’m feeling really, really discouraged about my weight that is never going to come off. Now that my baby is turning one, can it still be called postpartum?)

I’m looking forward to what Beth has to teach me this week — and although I may not come up with anything profound to write, I know I’ll be blessed for at least digging into the Word.

I’ve got spring fever today! Our kids are out of school for spring break this week, so we’re trying to do some fun things.

Amanda has posted the Carnival of Beauty on her site today — I hope you enjoy her garden of stories on the topic of flowers.

CONGRATULATIONS to children’s author R.K. Mortenson! He’s writing the Landon Snow series, which is a Christian fantasy series for children published by Barbour Books. Mortenson and his wife have become parents again! They’ve just brought their adopted baby son home from the hospital.

I enjoyed reviewing Landon Snow and the Auctor’s Riddle last fall. His second book has just been released, Landon Snow and the Shadows of Malus Quidam. If you get a chance, you can visit him today over at Gina Holmes’ amazing blog, Novel Journey. And leave him a comment that you’ve stopped in. (If any of you love to read or write Christian fiction, you’ll also have to check out Gina’s archive of interviews.)

Sally of All About Children’s Books has already reviewed the second Landon Snow here, and she had an interesting chat with the author in her comments section — which will give you some insight into Mortenson’s good sense of humor (which of course shows up in his books for kids.)

Here’s my poem for the day:

I can type in red.

The H-T-M-L!

P.S. I may even get brave and download the new WordPress upgrade — but every time I seriously consider it, they fix another bug. Those hi-tech smiley faces are starting to be hard to resist. Any advice from fellow WP bloggers?
🙂