Last Weekend

We’ve had a FULL two days this last weekend! I don’t even know where to start, so maybe I’ll just plough right in and we’ll see where I end up. :-)

Our busy weekend started last Saturday. About a week before that, we had heard about a conference being held in Christchurch based around holy living and, more precisely, the God-centred family. (You can read the notice on their website about it here.) So we spent the week leading up to the 1st praying about whether or not we should go! It wasn’t quite a spur-of-the-moment decision, but almost. We decided Thursday evening/Friday morning to go.

So, Saturday morning we all loaded up, including lunch and tea/supper in our list of “stuff to take”. Oh, what a Saturday that was! The schedule was for families to eat lunch there at 12:00-12:45, and then from 1:00 pm on to 9:00 pm (with a 15-minute break for afternoon tea and a hour and a half break for tea) there would be preaching.

After lunch, Mum and the boys went off to do some much-needed shopping, and they got back right after afternoon tea was over. They missed the first three sessions, but were able to get in on everything else. By doing the shopping during the first three sessions, the boys were able to not sit through quite so much church! :-)

Even though the day was FULL, I really enjoyed all the preaching, about 6 1/2 hours total! (I think—my math skills aren’t the greatest ever….) Anyway, it was a lot of brain cramming to fit everything in, because those speakers knew they were on a time budget, and they went full-on all the time! It was really, really good though. I came away feeling very blessed (and maybe a little overwhelmed?) with all the facts—even though I’m not a parent!

Then we found out that there would be another two sessions the next day, Sunday. So we had to decide whether to go or just go to our regular church! We got home late and to bed at 11 pm, so we were all exhausted and not ready to think about that yet at all.

Sunday morning, we decided to go back to Christchurch. Once again, it was another amazing day. :-) The preaching was great, and we really enjoyed all the fellowship once again. It was wonderful to connect with other families that were big—not something we’ve come across a whole lot here!

The two speakers this weekend were Scott Brown, and Kevin Swanson. My favourite one was Kevin Swanson, because the way he talked you really didn’t think about the fact that he was preaching. He’s a very good speaker, and at times even the baby was watching him! (He’s not exactly the type to stay behind the pulpit and read his notes to preach.) Scott Brown is really good, as well.

During this weekend, I was able to meet Bonnie finally! That was a special highlight. I really appreciated getting to know her, and get to see part of her family (they have nine children). She was there all the time (I think), and we first met during the afternoon tea break Saturday. It was REALLY awkward (basically, “Hi, are you Bonnie?” “Yes, are you Esther?” you get the picture… ;-)), but after introductions Saturday we were able to have a good chat Sunday. That was really nice, in the end!

I also met Rhoda while we were there! I’ve been following her blog for a while, and so it was really nice to meet her, as well! The funny thing is that I didn’t connect her with her blog until Monday, and then the puzzle pieces fitted together! It was pretty special to meet two different bloggers at the conference. :)

Okay…that sums up my last weekend (in a nutshell).



P.S. I am working on “My Trip to the States, Part 2”! :-) There were about 43 pictures, so the first week there will be broken up into two posts. I’ll try to get it finished this next week, but we’ll see. I’m feeling a little swamped in school right now, and we’ll be gone two days this next week, so I may not have time. I’ll try my hardest to fit it in, though!