The month of April started with a little weekend getaway to the booming metropolis of Gatlinburg, TN. Well not so exactly booming, but what could be better described as a little bit of Six Flags mixed with Branson, MO with a splash of Dolly Parton. It is a beautiful place to visit right at the edge of the Smokey Mts. And there is sooo much to do there! There's attractions that you'd see at a Six Flags (and if you're in need of an Old Timey Photo or an air-brushed tee shirt, this is the place to be!), shows like in Branson, and then of course it's famous for being the home of Dolly Parton and Dollywood. We mainly stuck to the shopping/eating areas this trip but did venture out to the Titanic museum.
It was actually in the shape of the Titanic. You go inside like you're a passenger and get to see stuff from the ship, and of course the movie. The coolest part was where you get to go in this room that's dark, like you're on the deck of the boat at night and there's an actual wall of ice and you can stick your hand over the side and feel water that is 28 degrees which was the temp of the water that night. I couldn't keep my hand in for 5 seconds let alone have to stay in there for hours. It was quite "chilling". (ha! ok i know that was in bad taste. too soon?)The biggest adventure of the last few weeks was getting to go home for a few days. (and then barely getting back to TN thanks to a highly inconvenient cancelled flight) Home to good ol' Rockford, IL. The church my dad is at does a Women's Conference every year for the last 5 and I've never gotten to go. Well this year, thanks to a case of home-sickness and an extremely loving mother, I got to go home for a few days and attend the conf. It was so good! Not only did I get to hear some amazing Women of God speak but I got to spend a few days with one of my best friends in the whole world, Mrs. Kristin Nicole Holdeman (shout out!) This is the first time since she got married that we spent more than a dinner out together. Loved it!
Oh, side note #1: Kristin's sister Amber was there also. She's ok I guess ;) Side Note #2: I got bangs! Very big day for me since I'm a bit of a hair-aphobic. Bad haircut the day before my 16th birthday, I really can't open that wound up yet. But I'm loving the new style. Even threw in some pink again :)
If you ever get the chance to be in or around Rockford in April, I would highly recommend looking into the Original Women's Conference at Rockford First Assembly (http://www.originalconference.com/). We got to hear some amazing speakers that are on staff there at the church who started the women's ministry. Absolutely anointed and admirable women! The "head-liners" were Lisa Bevere and Nancy Alcorn. I've, of course, heard of Ms. Bevere before but not Ms. Alcorn. Lisa had a lot of good things to say but I really enjoyed hearing Nancy Alcorn speak. She started Mercy Ministries, a girls rehabilitation home that is all over the world. She is based out of Nashville which is so close to me! Def thinking of a way to do some sort of missions trip there. (http://www.nancyalcorn.blogspot.com/) I wish she would have gotten to speak more :( The last day they do something called "Original Gives" where they surprise deserving women in the community. They gave a family 40 bags of groceries and paid 2 months rent, they sent a girl to prom all decked out, honored a women who's heart is in missions. The most touching was a family who found out that both of their small children have a disease and they most likely won't live past their teens. Heartbreaking. (if you get a second, send up a prayer for the Boyce family)
But over all, great weekend! The team they have there put together an amazing experience! It was decorated so cute too (the theme was Country Fair), all very hand-crafty. They are so talented! I took home a lot of ideas for the girl's ministry I'm starting soon. 
To wrap up this very wordy post is Lifepoint's first annual Easter Egg Hunt outreach that we did on Friday for the surrounding community. It was so fun and a huge success! Almost didn't happen due to weather though. But through the power of a few little prayer said in the car driving through the rain to get there, the sun literally broke through the clouds the second we opened the car doors to get out. We had about 300 peeps come out! (the human kind, not the yellow, sugary kind) We had 2,700 eggs that got hunted in the form of a human egg lawn mower. The kids literally moved in one big formation that left a clean path behind them. If you ever need a large piece of land weeded or anything, employ about 150 kids and they'll be done in 5 mins flat. With that and then busting through our goal of 100 in Sunday AM attendance with 124, I really felt blessed this Easter weekend. I know it's not November, but it reminded me that I have so much to be thankful for. Jesus dying on the cross, redeeming me from my sins, my wonderful husband, my amazing family and friends... I hope everyone had an equally awesome weekend!
And I promise to keep future posts a little less blah, blah, blah :) But thanks for letting me share! I'll try to stay more current. Love ya'll!