Per the complaint ... uhm ... I mean request of my wonderful Mother-in-Law, I'm finally getting around to updating our family blog. We've been busy and distracted this summer, which has made me not in the mood to blog, but I'll try to do a better job.
The middle of July took Spencer and me to our church's national youth convention. This was my sixth year sponsoring youth from our church. It was Spencer's fifth year attending convention week, but his first year attending the youth portion of convention rather than the kids club. He was so excited to be a part of the fun youth stuff all week long. (Rick didn't go with us this year, which was a huge bummer.)
This year's convention theme was "set(F)ree" and gave us the opportunity to look at different areas of life that God wants each of us to be set free: brokenness, self, religion and the world. We always have awesome worship twice a day at convention. Here we are enjoying the worship band, Attaboy, who rocked the house all week long.
Above is a picture of my special guy chilling out at the Student Center. Now, I just want to take this opportunity to say how proud I am of this young guy. He's growing up, maturing, and is a joy to be around. As I mentioned briefly on Malia's blog, I've had to do a lot of letting go this summer. And, I'm not afraid to admit that I had a major break-down moment in early July the night before he left for a week of church camp. But I've learned so far on this letting go journey that my God truly is mighty enough to take care of Spencer all Himself. And, I'm thankful for the situations, circumstances, and lessons that have brought me to this realization. It's been a very freeing experience. But don't think I'm naive enough to not know that there are still plenty more letting-go experiences still ahead of me. One step at a time. But I'm so glad to be feeling excited about his future again, rather then hesitant and nervous.
Okay, now I'm going to brag on our church's national convention. Each year the staff for our BYIC Convention puts on one awesome week of worship, learning, service and fellowship. We have churches from all over the United States that attend, as well as some churches from other countries like Ireland. The daily speakers are incredible and each evening there are optional activities for the kids that are really fun. Below are a couple pictures of a husband and wife team called "Living Illusions." They do magic and escape tricks with lots of humor. I encourage you to go to their website and check them out. They hung around with us the first few days and one evening put on a full show. Just notice the wife in the water chamber. She was never hidden behind curtains and was in there for over three minutes without a single inch to take a breath!!! I was squirming in my chair that whole time. And talk about loving and down to earth people. They loved hanging out with the kids and were so friendly and approachable. (In fact the band and all the other speakers throughout the week were exactly the same way, which really gives the kids the opportunity to get to know them and want to hear what they have to say.)
The guy below is Doug Herman. He was our Monday evening and Tuesday morning speaker and currently one of my favorites of all time in my history at BYIC Convention. He spoke about purity and relationships, and did it with a lot of honesty, love, energy and humor. And get this --- he's adopting from China!!! I don't know what his LID is, but he mentioned from the stage that he and his wife are hoping to travel in January. The picture of him with Spencer was taken Monday evening and he didn't mention that he was adopting until Tuesday morning. And since he had to rush off to the airport after his message Tuesday morning, I didn't have a chance to talk with him about our shared adventure. I was bummed. Anyway, if you are looking for a great speaker for a youth event, this is your guy!
Even though I didn't get to talk with Doug about adopting from China, I did get to talk with two other adoptive mommies of beautiful Chinese daughters. I talked with them last year, too, so it was a painful reminder of just how long we've been waiting. Anyway, back on to a more enjoyable topic. Next year our BYIC Convention will be held in North Carolina. It's usually on the Ashland University campus in Ashland, Ohio where our national office is. I still hope to be able to sponsor youth next year, but I' m not sure how this will work out since WE WILL have Malia home by then. I'll be sad if I can't go, but I'll be just fine if it's because Malia is home. Kudos and props to Tony, Ryan, John and Tim - this year's BYIC staff - for all their hard work putting this great week together! (FYI: BYIC stands for Brethren Youth In Christ.)
I have lots of great pictures of the girls that I sponsored during the week - most notably their "bend and snap" pose (think Legally Blonde) and the action photos of them trying to klick their heals in the air like yours truly - but, I haven't gotten their parents' permission yet to post them on the web. And I'm a stickler for privacy. But I will say that they are five TERRIFIC and BEAUTIFUL young ladies who made the week extra special. I care for each of them a great deal and felt it a privilege that they let me hang out with them all week.
Check back soon. I'll be working on some vacation and school posts. God bless!
