Texas Revisited

I'm back from MOPS Convention in Grapevine Texas (basically Dallas)! It was a lot of fun, had great speakers & music and I am really glad I went. Here's just a few highlights and of course a couple of pictures from the trip.

I went on the trip with my co-coordinator, Cara Bothun. It was a great time to get to know each other and dream about MOPS. We got there no problem but started out a little rocky as we were unable to get supper before the evening session (long lines, unsure where to go, etc...) so we were thankful to have cliff bars & granola bars to eat!

The Gaylord Texan is HUGE and beautiful with a river running through it and it's almost as if you are outside (although you're not) as you walk through it. Eventually we found a great restaurant for breakfast and a little coffee shop where we could get sandwiches, muffins, ice cream, huge chocolate chip cookies and so forth. We never had to eat cliff bars again after the first night if we didn't want to!

We also went out both nights to see a little bit of Grapevine Texas. We ate Texas steak (oh so delicious) on Friday night & tried out a place called Love & War in Texas on Saturday night. The atmosphere was great. There was a country western band that played all kinds of western songs including one of my favorites by Marty Robbins - what's it called dad? You know, "on a hill overlooking El Paso..."? Only problem was what we ordered (BBQ Brisket) was WAY spicy, at least it was true Texas food! :-) The dessert made up for it! :-)

Oh, as for the MOPS convention... we went to 4 main sessions as well as 4 workshops, walked around and saw numerous vendors, bought fun stuff at the MOPS shop, met some other MN MOPS moms & watched improv one night.

There were 4 general sessions and they were all great! (of course I took no pictures of the general sessions!) They started out as a circus so we got to watch 2 women from Cirq le manze (not sure how to spell it) do acrobatic maneuvers on silks & later a trapeze from up in the air. We got to listen to Jaci Velasqez & her husband, Avalon, Plumb & my favorite, Go Fish. My friend Cara thought it was hilarious that 4500 women were rocking out to music for preschoolers - you can't help but dance along to "Ten Banana Boogie" & "If you're happy & you know it!"

Great speakers, Erwin McManus who is the author of Wide Awake (asked questions such as "if your dreams became reality, would it make a better place? What dreams are waiting on the other side of fear?) as well as Patrick Lencioni who wrote a book called The 3 Big Questions for a Frantic Family & (asked questions such as What makes our family unique, what is our top short-termed priority? & using those questions to help your family run better). And Elisa Morgan (CEO of MOPS) talked to us about doing what we can by using an acronym all weekend for us to figure out SDWSC - "She did what she could" based on Mary, Martha's sister when she poured oil over Jesus.

Overall, the conference gave me a better idea of what MOPS is all about - bringing all moms one step closer to Christ. The gist I took away from the conference was to think about what passion God has put inside of me & how to pursue that passion, making the world a better place (basically not to feel like you have to wait until the kids grow up before you can pursue your passions). It's hard to write down exactly what struck me during the conference but it was good and I'm still thinking about it...

I also went to a workshop on learning my husband's language. :-) It was very reminiscent of a Love & Respect conference Gregg & I went to several years ago but it was such a good reminder and brought into focus ways I can show respect to Gregg & some ways that maybe I haven't done a great job of showing respect. Really glad I went to the workshop.

Overall it was SO good to get away. I didn't get to do a lot of "relaxing" (most relaxation I did was probably at the airport on the way home) but I find myself coming back refreshed and with a renewed sense of patience & joy with my kids. I really saw this on our plane ride back from Texas. On our way there we sat by this woman with a 6 month old little girl (she was not going to the MOPS convention but was a MOPS mom). My first thought on the way there was, "I don't want to sit with a baby, I'm going to Texas to get away from that!" Fortunately Cara actually sat next to the mom & the baby was an angel. Interestingly enough, on our way home we sat by the SAME MOM and her baby! This time I sat by her and I found myself actually happy to sit by her (okay, yes she was a really good traveller & that helped!). I held the baby at least 3 times and I would've held her more! Definitely a change from the way I was feeling on the way to Dallas! :-)

This is "Hank" the stuffed longhorn at the resort. One last comment. We wore home t-shirts that said "My Husband Rocks" - to show our husbands we loved them, of course! In the airport, the lady at the security station asked Cara (in her Texas accent), "Are your husbands in a rock band?" Ummm, no...