"Spring Break," part two

Well, I just wrote this post and my computer just cut off, twice (why is this happening, Matt?!?)! Supposedly there is a 'recover post' feature, but I can't make it work!

So...

On Friday morning, after what seemed like an eternity packing for our crew, we left for Abingdon, VA and the Conference at the Highland Study Center (which I discovered is in RC Sproul, Jr's basement, we actually met at the Higher Education Center).

(Yes, Kim, I like to link!!)

Anyway... the HSC conference was great. The three sessions I was in on were encouraging. There were no planned children's activities; the children all sat in for the entire thing. A big part of their focus is the blessing of children, and the importance of families worshipping together. We like that, it's just a little challenging...

We were glad the children were welcome and ours did fine, (notice I didn't say great, we have some things to work on...). I gave them each a notebook and a couple crayons. At one point I gave them candy (ooooh, twice this week!). They each had a book to look at and B snuck in a matchbox car. During the breaks we took them outside and had them run as fast as they could. Baby E (who is now officially 18 months; can I still call her baby?), however, was not going to quiet down enough to sit through even one session. So, we took turns going out with her.

Matt felt a special kinship to three of the four speakers. The three were about his same height, and all made short jokes about each other. This, of course, gave them an extra measure of spirituality in Matt's eyes.

At lunch on Saturday, we ate at BK with Amy and her family, Valerie, and another couple from FL (and their two week old baby!). Since we've been home, I've read a little bit of Valerie's blog, and especially liked the post about hospitality on April 14 and her acronym, EGEATP.

We met Doug Phillips of Vision Forum and his daughter, Jubilee, at his book table. He has many people in his family named Elizabeth, and told our baby about all of them. He also correctly guessed that H gets called "banana." Jubilee is 7, and H enjoyed talking to her for a few moments. Our little socialite also got to know Darby and Lauren and some other girls from the church there. They were very friendly and invited H to play "British Bulldog" with them. They must learn well from their very hospitable families.

After the conference was over on Saturday, we found a Kroger, and then took a drive through the beautiful country until we found the perfect spot for a picnic (I really wish I'd had my camera b/c I would love to post a picture here) -- it was in a little valley, in a grove of trees beside a river... just idyllic. The boys rolled up their pantlegs and threw their crusts to the fish and then threw rocks at them. B found a stick and a string and a worm and went "fishing." H sat and finished her book... all too soon the sun started to go down and we headed back to the hotel.

On Sunday we worshipped with the congregations of St. Peter's and went to the 3rd Sunday covered dish lunch (a "pot providence"). Oh my! I have never seen crock pots as big as the ones there -- one was big enough to fit an entire turkey and the fixins' (which was very good, I had some)! I need to find out where to get a crock pot that big, I already checked at Wally World, they didn't have one.

Anyway... we ended up sitting across from Dr. Sproul himself; I sat next to his 4 year old daughter who will be 5 in four weeks and has a green dress she likes to wear on Sundays (and was quite a conversationalist!). When I actually talked to her dad I found out her b'day isn't 'til August, but she was close! I felt like a doofus telling him how much I liked the book, When You Rise Up and finally shut up when I realized I was gushing. It's a good thing Matt had already told me I couldn't ask him to sign my copy.

Things I came away from the conference with:

• Some books (Including one I bought especially for Matt: Drinking With Calvin and Luther)
• Encouragement to live "Biblically," to Fear (believe) God
• Admonition to love my children, to delight in them
• A challenge to pray for whatever God would send my (and my family's) way in order to make me (us) more like Jesus (a scary prayer that I can not honestly and unconditionally pray... but I am praying for the ability to pray it)
• More thoughts about living a "simple, separate and deliberate" life
• A stirring story about a solder, killed at Iwo Jima, who had written many, many pages to his then five-year old son... Illustrating the importance and impact of a father's influence in a child's life
• Encouragement from talking with other moms also walking the halls with little ones
• Amazement at large families with children who cheerfully sat together and helped each other and their parents...
• Instructions from another mom about how to make a baby "pocket" sling, should I ever need one...
• etc., etc., etc.

Okay, there's much more I could say, but I think my family needs to eat tonight. The children are decorating T's b-day cake so I should go check on them!

(By the way, in case anyone is wondering if we ever have "real" school: today we actually did math in the workbooks, read our history, did our Bible, worked on memory work and language arts, read aloud two chapters in Caddie Woodlawn, practiced music... "spring break school" is officially over!)