Monday, May 23, 2016

The Business Boutique experience

We all are bombarded with conference choices right and left; Mommy conferences, blogging conferences, life balance training, church weekend retreats. They all sound lovely and I'm one of the many who would like to attend everyone of them, but let's be honest. Spending the time, money and effort to attend is just plain daunting sometimes! Unfortunately, it has been difficult enough that 6 years has flown by, since I've taken a weekend to invest in myself. What?!
Well, how many years has it been for you? How long has it been since you've let your self dream, not just the small stuff, but the big, scary, exciting dreams? Do you find it hard which part of your life to nourish? Spirit, soul or body?
Fall 2015, was the first I heard Dave Ramsey speak of this conference designed for the woman/mom entrepreneur. It was so intriguing and up until the day before it started (true story) I really tried to figure out who I could just hop in the car and run away, I mean, drive to Nashville, even inviting myself to sleep on the floor of an acquaintance who lives near the venue. There was something about it that seem to resinate with my gut, but then I resolved it was most likely just another conference to get me excited about what my life was not going to be able to look like.
You know what I mean, we who are in the day to day grind. Beautiful little faces to engage with, toilets to clean, mounds of laundry to put away (not my strength), and strong(willed) minds to fill with foundational math facts. Of course, that barely scratches the surface for most of us. None of this negates the blessings, truly that fact we have children, indoor plumbing and at least clean water to wash our clothing, means we are abundantly rich. In spite of it all, to whom much is given, much is required. We have seeds of hopes planted in us and as we learn from what life needs to teach us, we can't help but wonder if there is 'something more'.
This is the year. 2016 is the year for you, for me, for our dreams to get nurished, inspired, refined and even defined. The Business Boutique conference refueled and affirmed my spirit, dreams, passions; as well as 1600 other like-minded women. It was powerful, y'all. The expectation was high, but it was met and surpassed in surprising and longed-for ways. Incredible women filled the speaking platform, not just giving inspirational words, but giving actual tools, and resources to go achieve whatever mountain we needed to climb. Every page of the conference workbook was filled in and today was spent go back over just to help digest the bulk and it will be my go-to as big changes happen these next few months.
GO! Yes, there is still a chance during the fall of 2016 to attend the best place to spend your hard earned money, vacation or whatever sacrifice you need to make to be a part of this movement. It sure would be fun to experience this together!
Christine Caine delivered the powerhouse finale Friday evening

Do you detest groupies? I totally did until I became one, once I realized the speakers would actually take a minute to talk to you!  Annie F. Downs was the Emcee for the weekend and she was HILARIOUS!

Christy Wright was fantastic. Got to admit I'm jealous about how cute she looks pregers, but she had some great content. Why wasn't I that smart at her age? Did I mention I convinced my mother-in-law to attend with me?! It goest to show, no matter what stage you are in life, this conference is for you! 



Saturday, May 21, 2016

Opportunity

There is always a story behind the picture. Good or bad.
Life is full, it is rich and it is busy. Striving to be intentional, sometimes, unintentionally, crams our schedules to full capacity. Juggling housework, homeschooling, school drop off and pick up, speech therapy for the little man, two part time home businesses, being a friend and a good sister/daughter/wife; we all have a lot. 
So, I'm guessing you can imagine my distress; after a 40 minute detour filled drive, when I found out I had mixed up the week my Bible study was meeting. It was the off week. Grrrrr!!! Completely my fault. Frustrating because I kept thinking of laundry or millions of other 'worthy' things I could've been catching up on instead of my expended effort for a nonexistent event.
 To top it off, as I was reeling from my scheduling error, the children's director at our church started talking to me, but she had mistaken me for someone else. Not sure who she had me confused with, but since I serve regularly on the team, I suddenly felt not so memorable. You know what I'm talking about. Seems a little self absorbed, but we all like to think that we are known well by people we interact with on a regular basis. Of course, I brushed it off like it was no big deal, but honestly, it stung a little. 

Thankfully, one of the sweet childcare workers sensed my distressed as I picked up my little guy 2 minutes after dropping him off. She kindly suggested that perhaps I should go do something fun with him since we now had been given this extra margin.
Granted, it took a few moments to readjust my thinking, but in the end, I decided to head to our local children's farmstead. As we drove out that way, I realized I never had taken the time to enjoy this special place with just him! We had such a simple, memorable time of course. Completely unplanned, yet exactly what we needed to do.
'Be very careful then how you live, not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity.' Eph 5:15