In November Brandon and I traveled, along with our 7-week old son, Campbell, to Atlanta, GA where I spoke at the National Youth Worker's Convention. Below is an email I sent out to the many friends and family members who prayed for our trip many months prior. It was a refreshing, encouraging time and we are so grateful that the Lord worked it out for us to go.

Hey everyone! I can't believe the NYWC is finally over. It's amazing that it even happened when I think about everything we went through last week. When the boys got sick we kept asking ourselves, "Is this the Lord telling us we should not go, that our first priority is to our family?" or "Is this Satan doing everything he can to thwart our plans and keep us from getting the Lord's message out?" On Tues, Wed, Thurs I kept thinking I wasn't supposed to go.

However, during my middle of the night feedings early Friday morning, I had an overwhelming sense of peace that I was supposed to go. Then, something confirmed that thought. Thank you so much to my sweet friend, Kim. She came to my yoga class Friday morning and shared her devo with me (thank goodness she had already had her quiet time that day because while juggling sick kids and early morning feedings, I certainly had not!). :)  Her QT was on "feeding my sheep". She encouraged me that even in the madness of taking care of these kiddos I was feeding God's sheep. Her encouragement was a blessing and a confirmation that I was doing God's will.

Further confirmation came Sunday morning while talking with a Youth Specialties guy. He spoke on getting published and said that YS only publishes about 1% of the manuscripts it receives from new authors. Further confirmation that while this timing is not what I would have chosen, I am exactly where God wants me to be. Overall the trip to Atlanta was an awesome experience and I'm so humbled and glad I could be a part of it. Many of you have asked what we did there, so here's the recap:

Andy Stanley spoke Fri morning and Francis Chan spoke Fri night but we didn't get in until Friday night so we missed both speakers. But, we can download their talks, so that's a perk. We did get to hear Shane and Shane play. They have a new Christmas CD out which is really good. And we found out they went to A&M. Who knew?

On Saturday morning we heard Perry Noble speak. He is a senior pastor at New Spring Church in South Carolina (www.perrynoble.com) but has worked in youth ministry for 10 years. He was HILARIOUS! If you get a chance to download one of his sermons, I highly recommend it.

During the day on Saturday I participated in a thing called Open Space, which was like roundtable discussions with speakers and youth workers. Not my favorite part of the weekend. I participated in two different sessions. The first session was just a bunch of youth workers whining about things and not really offering solutions. The second group was just one other guy and me. The way it was set up, he chose the topic we were suppose to discuss and he chose, "How can students help save their parents' marriage?." WHOAH!!! Hold the phone! Did you just say what I think you said? He was pretty arrogant when we first started talking. he asked me, "Have you ever been married?" "YEAH, and I got three babies to prove it!" I wanted to shout, but the joy of the Lord is my strength. HA! I kept quiet and listened to his point of view for 20 minutes before politely interrupting and telling him he was wrong, that it is never the child's responsibility to save the parents' marriage. We debated for the next 45 minutes. Brandon came in at the tail end of our conversation, and being the peacemaker that he is, he steered the conversation in a more harmonious direction. By the end we were "friends" with slightly different points of view. This guy even came to hear me speak on Sunday (once Brandon told him about my curriculum and he realized I might actually know what I'm talking about). After the talk he told me, "Don't let stuffy men tell you 'no'." I'm assuming he was referring to himself. :)

Saturday night was AWESOME!!!  Two kids spoke who are literally changing our world. One was a young guy named Zach Hunter who started a ministry called Loose Change for Loosed Chains. He began championing against sex trafficking and child sex slavery when he was only 12 yrs old! You can check him out at www.zachhunter.wordpress.com and www.youthspecialties.com/zachhunter. Another girl was named Jaime Colman. She started a ministry called Barefoot Mile. Her goal was to raise 150 pairs of shoes to send to kids in Africa who had no shoes. By the end of her fundraiser she had raised 4500 pairs of shoes!

Jordan Foxworthy was supposed to be there as well, but she went on a last minute trip to Siberia! Her dad, Jeff Foxworthy (yes, the Redneck Jeff Foxworthy) came in her place. He was crude and funny, just like always, but it was cool to see he has a passionate heart for God and ministering to God's children. He has gone on several mission trips with his kids and is active with a ministry called 410 Bridge (www.410bridge.com).

One of the most moving times came that night when the Daraja Children's Choir performed. This group of 23 orphans from Kenya come to America for little less than a year and tour around the country raising awareness. Most of you know I'm not the most sentimental of people, but when those little ones, so alive in Christ, ran through the crowd and up on stage, I lost it! All I could think was "They have no parents and yet they are so full of JOY. There is no one to take care of them, and yet they trust that God will take care of them."  I will never forget the first song they sang and their words constantly play back in my mind, "Our God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save." They KNOW that their God WILL save them, not from poverty or from the violence in their country, but from the depravity of sin. BIG faith from LITTLE people. After their performance we had the chance to meet some of them, talk with them and just love on them. The amazing thing is that they are taught that when they come to America, they are to love on all of us! They were enamored with Campbell, so it was fun to share him with them. If you want to check out their video go tohttp://www.410bridge.com/daraja/darajavideo.php They also have a CD available that we bought. Highly recommend it!

Sunday morning we heard Donald Miller speak. We have read some of his books (Blue Like Jazz, To Own a Dragon), but have never heard him speak, so it was a real treat. In addition to his writing and speaking he has started a ministry to address the crisis of fatherlessness in our country. Check it out at www.thementoringproject.org. After he spoke Brandon and I talked with him and he expressed interest in my curriculum! He asked me to send him a copy and one to the pres. of his organization. He said it sounds like a resource they could really use. His goal is to have 1 million mentors mentoring young boys!

Donald's mentoring program also gave us some clarity about our own ministry, Project Restoration. For almost a year we have mentored a young married couple and know of many other young couples who could benefit from this type of discipleship. We're praying through this and asking God how PR can foster a mentoring program pairing married couples married less than 5 yrs with older/wiser married couples. In an age of so much dysfunction, we think this is one way we can help others strengthen their marriages and their relationships with Christ. Please be in prayer for us as we work out these details.

After DM spoke David Crowder Band played for Sunday morning worship. How funny that we traveled all the way to Atlanta to see DC*B play! They were awesome, of course, and we're praying that Campbell does not have permanent hearing damage from their "Rock Opera."

Sunday afternoon was game time. A little stressful as i had to feed Campbell about 5 minutes before I spoke. We had some technical difficulties, which was frustrating and the tech guy didn't get there in time for me to run through it, so that added to the stress. In the middle of the talk I also had a coughing fit, so that was pretty embarrassing. But keeps us humble, right? Overall the talk went well. I spoke for 1 hr and did Q&A for 30 minutes. People stayed after for another hour to ask more questions. These youth workers have some really difficult situations to deal with. I am so impressed with their desire to help these hurting kids and families.

Sunday night we were wiped out!  Reggie Joiner, a pastor at NorthPoint Community Church in Atlanta spoke. We were really tired, so we checked out early and went back to the hotel.

We were so ready to come home and see Carter and Clarey. Missed them tons and look forward to the long weekend and some family time. Thank you to all the grandparents who helped take care of our kiddos. It really does take a village, or at least a village of grandparents, to care for these kids. We could not have done this without your help!

And thank you to everyone who has prayed for us for so many months. Your prayers are the thing that kept me going when I kept asking myself, "How am I going to pull this off with a newborn and two little ones at home?" I am so grateful for all of you!

And also, thank you to my AWESOME husband who believes in me more than I believe in myself. He is an amazing cheerleader and I am so grateful God gave him to me.

Many blessings to you all and hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!