A Woman of Faith

This past weekend I attened a Women of Faith conference in San Antonio. I'd been to one before with a dear friend. This time I attended with a total stranger. Both were great experiences.

I had gotten an email from the organization back in September and decided I wanted to go. I figured why not see if some of the ladies who attend the church we've choosen wanted to attend. Due to a multitude of reasons, only 1 other woman could make it. She and I are about 20 years apart in age and had met once...literally in passing. So through emails and texts we made plans to attend this weekend of women celebrating all aspects of being a woman and giving praise and worship to our God.

Let me say...this was a HUGE step for me. I might teach speech communication, but I am not that great at (and highly uncomfortable with) meeting new people and making small talk. It is 100% out of my comfort zone. I've learned to do it out of necessity, but it is a big area of speaker apprehension for me.

So on Friday morning before the crack of dawn, I hop in the car of a woman I do not know to share a 2 hour ride down, two days of conference, a room (and a bed) and a 2 hour ride back. I told The Husband, "as long as she doesn't turn out to be crazy, I should be back on Saturday night."

I have to say, God is good. Even with the age and life experience differences of my travel companion. Even with the lack of comfort in knowing each other. Even with the apprehension I carry with me through things this like this, I came back refreshed and renewed.

The conference was wonderful.

Let me revise that...once I checked my bias/anger about the commercialization of my faith at the door, the conference was wonderful.

If you have never been to a Women of Faith conference before, let me tell you a few things.

1. They aren't kidding about the fact that you will laugh - HARD. It is one of the things I love most about the conference. It is good for your body and soul to have those big gut laughs (I use the word gut because when I have a good laugh it is way more than just a little belly laugh for me). These speakers are a hoot! A few in particular are practically stand-up comedians. I believe what makes it so funny is that they are really speaking truth. The stuff we all live with everyday and sometimes really need to just laugh about - out loud.

2. They aren't kidding that you might cry some. Every women needs to be able to release. The first time I went I found myself crying at things that I wouldn't have even thought I had a connection to, but I needed to release other stress and tension, and in all reality joy that I was being able to spend that time with my dear friend. This time, I didn't cry a lot, but the times I did get a little teary-eyed were in response to my inward cries for social empathy throughout the world in all situations. Regardless of the reasons, it is a good thing to allow your body to release those feelings and thoughts. It will refresh you.

3. They aren't kidding that you might be touched in ways that you never thought you would be. Many of the speakers told stories of serious struggles and how they had to walk through those to get where they are now. I thought at one point, "These women are amazing and praise you Lord that You have given them the strength and grace to walk through their situations and now be able to share with us...BUT...this is not really directed to me at this point in my life."

Give God a little time...

Just a bit after thinking that, one speaker/singer made this comment (paraphrased): "Some of you may be going through the darkness right now. Some of you might not be there. This weekend reminds us that if you aren't in the 'bad' right now, you've probably been there or will be there in the future." Amen! I don't know of a single woman who hasn't "been there" at some point in her lifetime. Some "go there" more times than others, but we all hit the darkness from time to time. An underlying theme I took away from this weekend was the idea of connection. Being connected is often how God leads us through the darkness and back to the light. Being connected is the human experience.

4. They don't say this, but you will be bombarded with opportunities to buy, buy, buy. I know that this is part of the gig. I know that this is a career for these women. I know these events cost a ton to host (production, crews, salaries, venues, travel, etc.). However, I cannot help but be frustrated when every time I turn around I am pushed to purchase something. Even the speakers manage ever-so-lightly to mention their books in each session. I mean really. You give us 30 minute breaks. Like there is anything else to do but check out all the things to buy in the hallways. Do you really have to mention it all the time? Like I said before, this is a thing I had to deal with and push past me to be able to let God in and enjoy the blessings of the stories, worship, and beauty of women connecting. Once I did that and gave God the weekend, it was wonderful.

I will leave with this clip. Amy Grant performed (let's face it, who doesn't love her?) and something she said about this song touched me - one of those social empathy moments. She said, "During a signing, I watched a family waiting in line. They looked so perfect. Put together, well-behaved, smiling. When it was time to go, the oldest daughter (about 16 or so) touched my shoulder and said, 'Thank you for putting this song on your cd. It means more to me than I can tell you.'" Wow. Just another reminder that while we think "she" must have it so good, we never really know what is going on in her world.

Halloween...sending mixed messages?

Having been raised in the generation where getting your Halloween candy x-rayed before you ate it might have contributed to my skepticism about the up coming holiday, but I really don't get Halloween. Nor do I agree with the mixed messages it sends to our children.

Over the past 10 years or so, communities, schools, and churches have come up with tons of ideas to make Halloween safe - particularly trick or treating. I get that. Going door-to-door is kind of risky and sending kids out at night by themselves is just not smart. However, is allowing kids to get their candy from the trunk of a car a good idea (Truck or Treat)? Does anyone else see the mixed message here?

The point of particular conflict is that many churches are now doing this program and specifically encouraging the community to attend. Therefore, you have tons of kids accepting candy from strangers.

By a car.

Specifically by the truck of a car.

It just seems wrong to me.

I like the big community focused events. I worked for an institution that hosted a big Halloween Carnvial for the area kids. We'd get around 600 kids each year. There were silly games like cake walks and bean bag tosses, face painting, and of course CANDY! Kids got to come in costume, get candy, play games, and have fun. It was great. I realize that not every community has a university right there so it's a little harder, but ultimately it shouldn't be.

In light of my dis-gruntled attitude toward current programming, I might have to open my big mouth and offer to help coordinate something a little different for next year. Don't make a complaint unless you are willing to offer a solution, right?

All that said, I hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween! Do you do anything special to celebrate this night?

Disclaimer...I'm not anti-Halloween. I've just never gotten that into it.

Are you a crasher?

It's on many people's bucket lists - crash a party/wedding/event. I can say, I've now crashed all three.

THE EVENT CRASH: About 8 years ago, The Husband and I were driving through a small New Mexico town called Mora. For anyone who hasn’t been through this area, let me describe it for you (at least how it looked at that time). It is quite an economically diverse town…okay not really. From the main street, it kind of looks like Juarez and Detroit had a child. My personal favorite aspect was the alarmingly high number of people who didn’t appear to have doors on their homes.

So, as we are driving through town to get to another area in New Mexico, we notice there is a large number of people on the side of the road with lawn chairs. Then we notice the emergency vehicles with blaring sirens and flashing lights. It finally occurs to us that this is some celebratory parade and we have somehow managed to get smack in the middle of it.

What did you do you ask? You guessed it…we rolled the windows down, smiled big, and waved to the crowd. I doubt we even stood out. I mean really, think about small town parades. Pretty much anything can be in it. Even a sweet 2001 Camry can make someone smile.

THE WEDDING CRASH: So we had these friends that we spent a pretty good amount of time with from 2002 to 2005. We attended the same church, we participated in the same small group bible study, we celebrated the 4^th of July and Columbus Day together. We even road -tripped it a couple of times. Suffice it to say, we knew each other well. When the time came for them to get married, we spent hours talking about the wedding plans and helping them get ready. So of course we just assumed we were invited to the wedding. On the night of the big event, we got dressed up and headed to the church to watch our good friends tie the knot. As we opened the door to the sanctuary we got that sudden feeling like something wasn’t right. There were about 7 people in the sanctuary. Seven. Total. We knew it was going to be small, but this was a bit of a shock. Turns out they had only invited their immediate family as this was a second wedding for one of them. They wanted just a small, private affair. However, once you’ve walked into a church and you are obviously dressed for the event at hand, you can’t really sneak back out – especially when there are only 7 people in there. So we sat through the wedding – which was beautiful – and then bolted for the door so we wouldn’t have to explain our arrogance at assuming we had been invited. Of course, they caught us once they returned from their honeymoon and said we should have stuck around, but we felt like total dorks. Not the wedding crash of the century for sure.

THE PARTY CRASH: The Husband and I attended West Texas A&M University and were highly involved throughout our college careers. He was even student body president at one point. However, one group neither of us ever joined was the President’s Ambassadors. This is a really prestigious group on campus that helps the campus president with special events. Although we never applied to this group, many of our friends were members. This past year was the university’s 100^th year anniversary so, of course we all rushed up to celebrate. Our little group of friends each had things to attend, but since so many over lapped we did a lot of it together. When it came time for the PA party after the football game, the group got ready to head over. The Husband and I said we weren’t ever members so we were going to head home. The group said we should just come with them and crash the party. So we did. It was kind of fun actually because the sponsors knew both of us very well and knew that we were never Ambassadors. When we walked in the door, one smiled big and threw arms around us. The other looked at us like we were unwelcomed houseguests. The expression was classic. We had several people come up to us and say they didn’t remember us being in the group…we just said, “We weren’t…aren’t these little smokies delicious?”

Those are my crasher experiences. They may have been accidental. They may have been small events. However, for someone like me, each was a big deal (I’m a rule follower to the extreme most of the time). Big or small, I can say I’ve crashed a parade, a wedding, and a party.

So…are you a crasher or is it still on your bucket list?

Hodgepodge...almost Wednesday

Keeping up with my goal of getting the Wednesday Hodgepodge done each week, I have read the questions provided by Joyce.

1. What is your favorite meal to serve on a chilly autumn evening?
Though it seems as thought it may be a while till I see fall, I love a delicious roast with mashed potatoes and green beans. Add a slice of homemade sourdough bread and I'm happy has a clam.

2. Are you a creature of habit? Explain.
I don't realy have many habits or routines, however, I've recently come to terms with the fact that I have some obsessive tendancies. I was reading The Help this week and couldn't put it down. I had seen the movie so I knew the main story line, however, I just had to finish it. Therefore, I ended up staying up till 6 in the morning and only getting 3 hours of sleep. That made me think and I realized I do that with a lot of things. It might take me forever to get a project or idea started, but once it is going, I HAVE to finish it. The Husband has had to suffer through show after show of all the episdoes of Psych, Monk, Numb3rs, Quantum Leap because I have this thing about finishing the season once I've started it. At least I'm getting my mony's worth from Netflix.

3. What food product (no longer available) do you remember from days gone by?
Not a clue unless you count the fact that things like veggie burgers are now made in a manner that make them not only edible but at times quite tasty. The ones I had as a kid (thanks Mom) were like eating cardboard with an extra dose of ketcup. By the way, I'm not a huge ketcup fan so it was even worse for me as a kid.

4. What's something you've lost that you've never been able to find? Any theories as to what happened?
Since The Wee One's arrival 3 years ago, we have gone through about 5 thermometers. I managed to find 2 of the lost ones when we moved, but the other 3 are still in limbo. My personal belief is that The Wee One was trading miscellaneous items to the house gremlins in return for an uninterrupted night's rest. I could be wrong, but she does sleep well through the night and were else could those thermometers have gone?

5. Zoo...circus...carnival. Your favorite?
I don't know really. In theory I like carnivals. They always look fun, but when I go to one, I never really do much. I don't like the food, I hate to throw money down the drain on the games, and the rides make me nervous. Zoos can be awesome, but we usually end up at them during the hot summer months and then they just aren't as much fun. I haven't been to a circus since I was about 6 or 7, although I do remember LOVING it. At this point in time, I guess I'll have to go with zoo, but I'm keeping circus on the list.

6. What song makes you feel instantly happy?
Got an immediate answer...I'm Yours by Jason Mraz. I just love it. It makes me smile and I cannot resist singing along no matter how many times I've heard it. It has a special place in my heart because it was super popular right after I'd had The Wee One and when I would get up in the middle of the night to nurse, I would turn on Vh1 to make sure I stayed awake (never could get that laying down nursing thing going). This song was one of 3 that always seemed to play during those early morning hours. When I hear it I think of her and that always makes me happy.

7. To what extent are you an argumentative person?
Probably way too much! I get on the defensive fairly easily. Plus, I am a talker to the extreme so I feel like I have to get my point out there and won't stop until I feel it has been vocalized effectively. It is actually one of my worst traits/habits, and although I do make serious efforts to change, I struggle with this constantly.

8. Insert your own random thought here.
I had a meeting with some people at the institution where The Husband works today about the possibility of starting a peer education group on campus. Although I don't know that they have the time or resources to get it going at this moment, it was so great to get to talk about an area that I love so much and possibly plant the seed for them to get a group started. It's just so wonderful when you can share your passions with others.