Putting Myself in Time-Out

I consider myself to come off as a pretty happy person in general. But maybe I've only been fooling myself. Things lately have been SO stressful around here due in large part because of the happenings at the college. Not only in our own home but this whole town seems to have a dark cloud of doom hanging over it while people work and wait for the decision of the Board of Trustees regarding their future employment. I thought I was keeping things together pretty well and not letting my own stress drag us down even further, but Kalen commented to me that I "just haven't seemed very happy lately." I think I really am happy. I have a great husband and kids and a roof over our heads, a fantastic branch and two callings that I am genuinely coming to love, the Gospel of Jesus Christ that blesses me in so many ways, it's springtime and so beautiful I can't help but cheer up just looking out the window or walking around the neighborhood. But sometimes I think I am letting my burdens get to me more than I should. And so I was VERY ready for a trip to Time Out for Women in Indianapolis a couple of weekends ago. More than anything I just wanted to get out of town for a night. Who cared who the speakers were!

I traveled down in a van with 6 other ladies including my mom. Spending time with all of them was wonderful and the program was absolutely fantastic. If you ever get a chance to go, it is totally worth your time and money.

On Friday night with a crowd of about 1600 other women we got to hear messages from Michael McLean, Chieko Okazaki, and Mark Mabry. The theme of the program was "Infinite Hope" and the talks and music were really remarkable. (Just a side note: If you aren't familiar with Mark Mabry's photography, you should check it out. I am in love with his work! He has a DVD documentary out called "Another Testament" that is so amazing and will leave you with a deeper testimony of the 3rd Nephi chapters of the Book of Mormon).

On Saturday we had another full day of speakers including Emily Watts, Richard Holzapfel, Mariama Kallon, Merrilee Boyack, Kris Belcher, and the musical group Mercy River. I can't even describe how inspiring their messages were and how insignificant my problems were compared to Mariama who told about her African village being attacked by rebels who murdered her parents and raped and tortured her and her sister. Or Merrilee Boyack, who got breast cancer right in the middle of several other major trials, or Kris Belcher who lost her eyesight (and her eye) and still maintains such a positive attitude in spite of the fact that she can't see the faces of her sweet little boys or her husband. Yeah, the stuff I'm going through seems far more manageable after that. It was the perfect "girl" program with lots of tears one minute, and fall-off-your-seat humor the next and all with a great big dose of the Spirit mixed in.

We all spent money in the Time-Out bookstore there too buying books and music, etc. We stayed up late on Friday talking and laughing and took our time coming home on Saturday evening. It was so wonderful and so far the effects have been staying with me and giving me a sunnier outlook even though things with the college seem to be spiraling more out of control since my return. This too shall pass, I guess. Just hopefully soon.

It was a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful experience. Here is the great group of ladies I came down with.

And here is another great group that we ran into who are from our stake as well.

It was a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful experience. Did I say that already? You get the idea.

Look for a new MAJOR catch-up post in the next couple of days. I have been really terrible about blogging lately and I have a ton of pictures and stories to share. Hopefully I'll be able to remember even a fraction of them.