Time Out!!!!

This past weekend I attended 'Time Out for Women' in Cincinnatti with my Mom and sister, Amanda. This was my third year going, and I would say so far the best!! Every year there is a theme for the presenters and the whole conference and this year the theme was 'Sweet Assurance - the certainty that comes when you know life's truths'. It was absolutely amazing. The past 2 years that I have gone, it has been just a Saturday thing, but this year it was a Friday night and all day Saturday. For those of you who are not familiar, it is run by Deseret Books, a book company that is affiliated with the LDS church. The presenters are people who have published books or CDs through Deseret Books.

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of Friday night (forgot I had the camera!!!). But the presenters were Sherri Dew (CEO of Deseret books), Wendy Watson Nelson (a marriage/family therapist and wife of apostle Russel M. Nelson), and an amazing violinist, Jenny Oaks Baker (daughter of apostle Dallin H. Oaks). Jenny Oaks Baker truly has a gift at the violin! She started playing when she was 4 and was performing solos at the age of 8. She went to the Juliard(sp?) school and performed for years as the first chair violin in the National Symphony Orchestra. She resigned from that position when she was pregnant with her 4th child. The fact she was able to tour the country with 3 little ones at home amazed me!

Saturday the presenters were Emily Watts, Kris Belcher, Kim Nelson, Michael Wilcox, and music by Hilary Weeks.

This is the 2nd time I have heard Emily Watts speak and let me tell you what - whenever I have heard her speak, it's like she's speaking right to me!! A favorite quote of hers this year for me was 'What if the fruits of your parenting is in YOU?' - this was in reference of the scripture 'by their fruits ye shall know them' and women wondering if it means they were a bad mother if their children go astray, or make some wrong choices. She was trying to convey the idea that just as important as it is to cultivate our children's testimonies, it is just as important for us to become softer, more loving, more giving, etc - all of which are attributes we work on as parents.

Kris Belcher I found quite interesting too - she is completely blind after battling eye cancer all of her life, but she didn't lose her sight until she was in her 30s, when her son was only 1 year old. She underwent many painful and horrible surgerys, but she spoke of how she overcame her challenges and became a better stronger woman and servant of the Lord.

One thing I found interesting in Kim Nelson's presentation was how he was trying to convey that we are truly children of God. When we think of our own children, God loves them just as much as we do, and God loves us just as much as we love our children. On of his quotes was 'if you saw a woman treating her daughter the way you treat yourself, what would you think of her?' How true is that? How many of us tell ourselves how ugly, fat, worthless, etc we are on an every day basis? Kim was trying to tell us that we are daughters of God and we are of infinate worth - how do we think God feels of us talking ourselves down the way we do? Yes, we all have flaws, but would we go to our own children and say - you are fat! you are ugly! Why do you even try?? Then why do we do that to ourselves? He said 'I'm not telling you to put on the rose colored glasses, I'm just telling you to take off the garbage colored ones!'

I truly enjoyed listening to Hilary Weeks sing. She is amazing!!! My favorite song by her is 'If I Only Had Today' someday I will post the lyrics to that song because I dearly love it - it really speaks to me. What I like the most is she writes most of her own music. I think that makes it more personal.

Here are some pics from the weekend fory our viewing pleasure...

My sister Amanda, my Mommy, and me.

The Saturday presenters (L to R) - Kim Nelson, Kris Belcher, Emily Watts, Hilary Weeks, and Michael Wilcox.

Hilary Weeks performing one of her songs - I love that dress! She is just too gorgeous...

Here is a picture of the 1400 women that attended filing in. It's a tremendous undertaking! And to imagine they do 20 of these 'Time Out for Womens' around the country per year and all of them average about 1400 attendees!

All in all, it was an amazing weekend and it was great to have my own little 'Time Out' and get away from everything for a while. I was soooo thankful my mother-in-law kept my children because Kris had a business trip to San Diego on the same weekend! It was my first time leaving Savanna over night and she did just fine. I have such wonderful family! I am so grateful everyone is so willing to help out with my crazy monkeys!