Time Out For Women

Well, Lacy beat me to posting about Time Out For Women but I have had a lot on my plate. But that is another blog. But this will be a special blog. Normally I write my blogs and then paste them into my journal for a hard copy to pass on. This time around I'm typing out the journal entry I've already written. So it's a little more personal and probably contains more grammar errors. But sit back and enjoy.
Saturday, November 15th,2008 So at this moment I have decided that this entry needs to be written by hand before I put it on the blog. Hopefully I won't fall asleep while I'm writing, which I've done before. Anyway I just got home from "Time Out For Women" in Nashville, TN. What a wonderful experience to have. It is an event put together by Deseret Book so it is very spiritual but very fun. Mom, Kara (a sister in Mom's ward) and I went down yesterday afternoon. After a three hour drive we arrived at the conference center just as things were starting. Last night was two musical performers- Hilary Weeks and Kenneth Cope. The wonderful thing I have found to LDS artists is they don't just sing song after song without pausing like a lot of artists. They take time and tell you stories behind the inspiration of the song. And the meaning it has taken since it's writting. Hilary Weeks is a great writer and a good singer but she has a bit of country twang to her voice that I'm not found of. It was nice to hear her there but I'm not willing to get her CD. Kenneth Cop on the other hand, I did come home with one of this CDs. But he also wrote and preforms the song that got me through my mission. Anytime us sisters were down, discouraged, sick, or tired we played this song and we would all feel better instantly. (Thanks Janelle for finding it for my blog) Here are the words:

More steady, more sure

More trusted, more pure

Some say doesn’t matter

More trained and more aware

More aim to get me there

I climbed this far

You raised the bar

You want my heart

Chorus:

More fierce desire

To stand against the wind

More blazing fire

When dark is closing in

More love-inspired change within

So there’s more and more of me to give

More words to learn and know

More etched upon my soul

Some say it doesn’t matter

More tired, more true

Less me and much more You

I stretched this tall

You sound the call

You want my all

Chorus:

More fierce desire

To stand against the wind

More blazing fire

When dark is closing in

More love-inspired change within

So there’s more and more of me to give

You keep reaching out- Your calling out to me

More strengthened shoulders

To face the war with sin

More wise and bolder

To save the souls of men

A more faithful soldier to the end

You want more and more of me to give

More and more of me to give

More love, more purpose, more serve with all my might

I need more hope, more faith, more patience each day I pray for more

More and more of me to give

More fire, more zeal, more spirit to know what’s real

More courage, more joy, more and more of me to give

More grateful, more true, more humble to trust and do

You call, I hear

I’ll walk the path that’s set in stone

My heart is fixed on getting home

And what on earth could ever matter more?

More and more of me to give

More

And now that I'm having problems with my health again it was wonderful to have that song reintroduced into my life. So Kenneth Cope is kind of my musical hero. What was really cool was I got to meet him, take a picture with him, and he signed my CD.

We spent the at a hotel and went back this morning for the rest of the conference. Honestly I don't remember much of the morning session. It was a rough week, and night, and sitting on hard chairs. So I found a row of empty chairs and laid down. Of course I found asleep. I did hear a few good points that I wrote down but my notebook is over on the other side of the room.
First thing after lunch was a Q&A with the speakers. Earlier in the day people submitted for this part. What they (the presenters) did was they picked one question that all five of them answered and then each presenter picked a second question they wanted to answer personally. And would you believe it my question was picked for all of them to answer. It was "Besides the obvious of marriage and children what was the most joyous moment in your life?" The two that really stuck with me were Chris Stuart's and Emily Watts' answers. Emily Watts said it was a moment where she found peace with something and joy just rushed in. Chris Stuart's answer was about how every time he got back to the ground after flying with a certain Captain he was joyous he was alive.
There were a couple more speakers and we hall headed home. It was a good weekend.

Sorry it wasn't better but as you will read in the next blog there was something else on my mind.