Back from the land of the Hoosiers..

You can see that I did not get the chance to update while we were out of town. We had a wonderful trip and stayed rather busy. We arrived in Indianapolis on Wednesday and drove to a suburb called Noblesville to stay with the Williamsons. It was wonderful to be among old friends again! Thursday we headed to Fort Wayne. After Larry's meeting with the hotel staff to discuss the conference we were able to break away to see Fireproof. It was a wonderful and much needed date! On Friday we got started on a full weekend. Friday is Larry's busiest day. He is on the go from about 6:30 am to about 10:00 at night. He spent the whole day setting up the ballroom and preparing for our conferees to arrive that evening. Friday night's conference went great and we quickly realized that we were in for a treat because we had 3 great speakers!
Saturday Larry was up early again to prepare for the day. While the conference is happening I usually stay with Larry and sit with him back by the sound table. I usually bring something to do or read and also listen to the speakers. I never tire of hearing these talks, and come away with something new each time. I also run some errands for Larry throughout the day. Saturday night is date night for our conferees and we go to dinner with the speakers and some other members of our team. That is a fun and relaxed night.
On Sunday morning we have a staff opportunities meeting to tell people about joining the staff of FamilyLife. It was a very nice size group which we were very excited about. Many of them felt led to pursue this opportunitiy and will be contacted by one of our HR staff soon to get the application process rolling! On Sunday morning the men and women split up for their sessions and these are often the most powerful sessions. It is not uncommon to find men very emotional after their talk. Larry has seen men leave that session and in tears apologize to their wives and commit to being better husbands. I can speak from experience when I say that the women's talk at our first WTR altered my thinking about what it means to be a wife and mother. At the end of the day on Sunday, which ends right before lunch, the conferees have an opportunity to share what they took away from the weekend. One man said "I am leaving with a wife that I didn't have when I came here." Before leaving they renew their wedding vows:

After the conferees leave we tear down and also look through their evaluations to see what God had done with the weekend. At this particular conference we heard many stories of couples who were separated before this conference and are committed to trying again, couples with affairs in their marriage who are looking forward with hope, and couples who came with a great marriage and have been strengthened with the tools needed to stay strong for the long haul. The thing that was most amazing to us; however, was the number of salvation decisions. 47 people indicated first time commitments to Christ which was about 10% of the conferees in attendance! We were all celebrating big time!
After tear down was complete and Larry finished some paperwork we drove back to Noblesville to spend another night with the Williamsons. Monday morning we got to meet with our friend Scott, who is on staff with Keynote. Keynote is the music and performing arts ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ and is located just about 15 minutes from the Williamson's house. It was great to visit with Scott, tour Keynote's facilities, and get a better vision of what God is doing through their ministry. After many goodbyes it was back to the airport. We arrived back in Little Rock around 8:00 Monday night and it has been non-stop since! In fact my typing time is over...it's back to school for my kiddos!