Mommy convention

My friend Amanda and I went to Grand Rapids this weekend for the Hearts at Home Convention. I went last year too. It is so fun to be encouraged as a mom. To swap stories. To get advice and training. And this year, I laughed so hard I was crying and had a stomachache. Two of the speakers were hilarious. Sally Baucke and Ken Davis made me laugh harder than and longer than I have in years. If you click on their names, you can see a clip of them speaking, but the Ken Davis isn't something I saw at the conference (just a flavor for you--the conference was better). I don't think you can duplicate watching comedy about being a mom with 1400 other moms. I swear the minivan music video was 20 times funnier at the conference than it is in my living room and I don't even have a minivan. It's so fun to laugh at the all crazy, predictable, and monotonous things we do/manage as a mother.

Sally shared an acronym that I loved. MOTHERS: Making Other Time Here on Earth Really Special. The conference exists because many moms are like me, more prepared to be a high school English teacher, or nurse or doctor, or engineer, or whatever, than we are to be moms. So there were workshops about organizing, about marriage, about helping your kids learn about God, etc. And there was the constant reminder...what you are doing moms, is really important, it's really hard, and you can't do it alone...but Christ is there for support and guidance through whatever trials you find on that mommyhood road. All my issues haven't disappeared, but I feel a bit more filled up, more ready to tackle the training and behavior issues in my kids that I have been ignoring because I am too tired or lazy to deal with. And that is worth so much.