Timothy Barnabas

Last week, David and I had the privilege of attending the Timothy Barnabas conference in Atlanta, Georgia.  This was our very first time to attend a Pastor's conference together, and this one in particular is one we've always wanted to attend.  Frankly, I have not been ready to leave the children, and I would be lying if I told you I wasn't a hot mess during the days leading up to our trip.  And we were only going to be gone three days, ha! We are so very grateful to David's parents for coming to watch the children, so we could attend.  I trust them completely with our little loves, but it was quite hard to leave.  This was the first time we have ever flown without the children, and the first time I had been this far away from them, yikes!  We were all fine, and I am so thankful.  Baby steps, right! 

We flew from Hattiesburg to Atlanta on this baby.  I know!  I was a little unnerved at first. It had one seat, an aisle, and then two seats.  Tiny!  Thankfully, we made it safe and sound.  Whew!  During the dissent, David and I were super thankful we had not made time for breakfast, ha!  It was windy and cloudy and made for a shady landing.  You'd think all those rides from Disney would've prepared me!

Needless to say, we were starving when we landed, so we had lunch at one of our old faithfuls.  When David and I were interviewing to come to First Atlanta just after seminary, this is one of the restaurants we were taken to, and it's been a favorite every since.  

David just happened to have to go to the bathroom, and it just so happened around to be around this exit, ha!  When we were pregnant with Carter, especially, and sometimes with the girls, we would walk laps around this place.  Lots of good memories.  After our not so quick pit stop, we headed up the interstate to Lake Lanier, where the conference was being held.  After a quick check-in, we headed down to the banquet hall for supper, entertainment, and the first session.  Sadly, I did not take any pictures during the sessions, but I thoroughly enjoyed them.  The first night, an adorable girl, Kelly Ingram, shared.  She was a hoot, and David and I were both very moved by her story.  She has a child with autism and spoke very freely about having a child with special needs.  The entire time, I was thinking about my dear, dear friend and college roommate, who has a precious little girl with William's Syndrome.  I've blogged some about their story here.  We also heard from Michael O'Brien, former singer for the Christian band Newsong.  He was amazing and hilarious!  Most of the sessions for the men and women were separate, with the intention of just encouraging us and giving us a platform to share with like-minded people.  I later told David's mom that it was really neat to be in a room full of girls just like me, pastor's wives.  So there wasn't anyone in the room thinking, ohhhh you're a pastor's wife because every one of us were!  Some of the other ladies that shared with us were: Sheryl DeTellis (she shared about the 5 women you need in your life, very interesting), Rebecca Alonzo Nichols (she shared her story that goes along with the book she wrote, The Devil in Pew Number 7), and Kathy Ferguson Litton (founder of flourish.me for women, and she shared about Sacred Influence).  I enjoyed each of these women so much and was encouraged, challenged, and convicted by the things they shared.  I'm so very thankful for our church for so many reasons, but namely for sending us away on this trip.  What a great time of refreshment it was!

I would be so teasing if I told you that the talks and the treats were my favorite part of the conference.  I truly enjoyed being alone with my love.  Wednesday, we had a long afternoon of free time, and do you know what that man did for me?  He drove me to the glory land!  Athens!  We were only there for a skinny minute, but we were there long enough to see some glorious sights.  

We found my name on the alumni wall by the Tate Student Center.  

We walked across the bridge to check out all the glory between the hedges, and some adorable student offered to take our picture!  I love it!  

And we could not visit without a trip to the campus bookstore to buy some treats for the children.  Such a fun day!  Wednesday night, we enjoyed another meal and more entertainment before heading to bed.  Thursday was our last day, and the conference ended at noon.  We high-tailed it to the Atlanta airport because I did not want to miss our flight and be a second late to see my little ones.  Funny story (sort of), somehow when David booked our flights, he booked us on the morning flight back to Hattiesburg, which is crazy because he knew we would still be in a session.  We are not sure how that happened.  Nor are we sure how we missed seeing that in all the emails.  I later confessed that I did not even read the email with our flight information.  Oh the trust I must have, ha!  So, we called the airline, and I am pretty sure we were the last two on the 4:30 flight back to Hattiesburg, whew!  Can you imagine what a  wreck I would have been if we had missed the flight?  

Bye bye Atlanta.  This city holds such a special place in my heart, since all four of our little loves were born there.  We did so much life here, and it makes me quite nostalgic to visit.  However, we love our new home in Hattiesburg, and we are loving the new memories we are making here.  

Thankfully, the weather was much prettier on our trip home, and therefore, the ride was much much smoother, whew!  We landed safely and reunited with four little people who were ecstatic to see us.  I imagine Papa and Gigi were glad we returned, too, ha!  It's like my wise grandmother always says, "It's so nice to go away, but it's even better to go back home!"  I could not agree with her more.