My Weekend!
 

I had a blast last weekend!!! As you all know I went to Branson, Missouri. It was a Women of Joy Conference, which I didn't know. My Mom left a LOT of details out about what we were doing! Anyway, it ended up that there were lots of speakers there and most of them were really wonderful to hear. We had some awesome praise and worship singers there as well. I have several pictures but some of them are blurry because we were always too late to get the closer seats.

The YouTube video is Travis Conttrell who led our praise and worship. This isn't from our conference.


1. Travis Conttrell and his Praise and Worship Team--Awesome!!
2. Priscilla Shirer- Christian Author -She was a wonderful speaker!!
3. Liz Curtis Higgs-Christian Author-Very funny!!!
4. Kay Arthur- Writes Bible Study books

There were a lot more people than I was expecting too! Between 3,500 and 4,000 were there!

My Mom had a birthday while we were there so her sisters brought a cake and gifts and we had a little birthday celebration for her. My Mom turned 70 but you'll see that she sure doesn't look like it. I also have a picture of my Mom's sisters that were there. One didn't come.

We also had Kim Hill come in on Sunday morning and lead Praise and Worship. I was excited to hear her because I sing one of her songs at church. Her picture was taken from a projector screen because I just couldn't get a good picture of her. I still didn't but this is the best one I got.

1. The Crowd
2. Mom's cake--The bow is made of chocolate!!
3. My Mom and her sisters--from left to right- Marva, Carol, Joyce, Joan, Lucille (My Mom) Marva is the aunt that I go and visit once in a while.
4. Kim Hill

Now for the highlight of our whole weekend!!! We got to meet Karen Kingsbury and have her sign a book for us!!! My Mom was so excited to meet her. She has almost all of her books! I was wanting to sit up a meeting with her for my Mom's birthday but the conference was a lot bigger than I was expecting. It worked out well and we didn't have to wait in a long line to meet her. Karen gave my Mom a big hug before I could get a picture but I still got a good one of her and Karen. Karen Kingsbury is the top seller of all fiction books, not just Christian!!! She also gave a speech and she was wonderful to hear too!

1. My Mom with Karen Kingsbury
2. Me with Karen Kingsbury

You had a full weekend! It sounds wonderful, and how nice that your Mom's birthday was celebrated there and your aunts were there too!

I love the photos - they're good.

Welcome home, and I'm so happy for you and your family that you got to share such a wonderful event.

Wow, It looks and sounds like you had a great time, good for you. I enjoyed all the pictures, yuo look great and that cake looks delicious.
I enjoyed the video very much, thank you for sharing with us. :coolpics:

The cake was absolutely as delicious as it looked!!!!

Diana, I loved all your pictures!! Looked like you had a great time. As much as I read, I don't recall Karen Kingsbury. I really need to get out more...LOL. I'm so glad you had such a great time. Your Mom and Aunts look like a fun group!

You can find Karen Kingsbury's books at Wal-mart and in all of the book stores. She is a great writer and really gets you tied up emotionally into the stories. I highly recommend her books. The first book that I read was Oceans Apart and I was hooked! I recommend that if you look for her books to find one that's not in a series. Then you don't have to buy the rest of the books. You might check in your public or church library for her books.

Wow, Diana, looks like you had a wonderful weekend!!! How special to get to go to something like that with so may ladies who are so special to you. I can't believe your mom looks sooo young. If my mom was still alive, she'd be 94 this year, and of all my aunts and uncles, there is only one uncle living and he's in his 80's. I have three aunts by marriage living, but they are all in their 80's or 90's and are scattered across the country. I haven't seen my only living uncle in 8 years. I hope to see him this year, after the dust settles from the wedding. My mom came from a family of 7 and my father from a family of 6, but they are almost all gone. Enjoy them while you can!!

My Mom is the next to oldest. Joyce is a couple of years older than Mom. The youngest sister, Marva, is only 7 years older than I am so she's a lot like a big sister to me. I'm also pretty close to Joan too. When the three of us get together it's so much fun!!! They all like to laugh and have fun!

We're all scattered out with Mom and I in Kansas, three of them are in Texas, one in Oklahoma, and one in Arkansas. They get together every year and have a "Sisters" vacation but the husbands get to tag along. Then every other year we go to Carol's house in Texas and have Thanksgiving. We usually have a pretty good crowd with aunts, uncles, and cousins, plus the kids! We're a pretty close family!

Sounds like you really had a wonderful weekend!

Hey, if three of them are in Texas, do you think they would adopt me???:p

I'm sure that they would love to adopt you, Marilyn!!! They're some distance from you though. Two of them are in Mt. Pleasant, east of Dallas, and the other one is at Van, which is southeast of Dallas!!! Want me to give them a call for you? You would really enjoy being with them!

Wow, sounds like a great weekend. I'm glad you had such a good time. you deserve it! and ...can I order one of those cakes? :D

Wasn't that a gorgeous cake? One of my aunt's brought it so you'd have to talk to her to find out who made it. It was delicious!!