The Liberty Ladies Spectacular is unbelievable! It is something that we have looked forward to since last April. This was Rebecca's third year and Emily's second year in being able to go. I am not sure as to how many years I have gone to this particular one, I just remember that the first time I went, I was pregnant with Emily.
Long story short, it's amazing seeing God at work in the lives of the ladies at our church. Three years ago, it was myself, Rebecca and 3 ladies from our church who attended. We had all been there before and knew what to expect. My friend and I became burdened for the ladies of CBC to join in on the fun and blessings. Last year, we had a total of 14 (I believe) from our church. This year, we had a total of 27 in our group. We had only 4 juniors, 5 teens and the rest ladies. Many of those from last year were unable to attend this year. We had 9 new girlies (ladies, jrs. and teens included) come. We were blessed with several ladies who had previously been but are now apart of CBC. All that to say, it was a great group of ladies. I can't wait to see how many more are able to come next year.
Below are a few pictures of those who were on the bus going down with us.
They look bored but were chatting when I took the photo. Guess I got them at the wrong moment.
I love this age! They are so cute together.
As per our annual tradition (just started last year), we gather for lunch at the Cracker Barrel near the host church. Yummy food, sweet, sweet tea, and fabulous fellowship!
A newcoming to the spectacular is having FUN! Although it was a bit disappointing that we could not stand on the pews. They said the pews were just too old.
The first afternoon/evening had some fabulous speakers. I have a renewed great respect for Mrs. Cindy Schaap. She is the pastor's wife of First Baptist Church in Hammond, IN. She reminded me so much of a lady that I have despised disliked and it's taken years for me to get over that. By reading her books and listening to her cd's, I realize her infinite wisdom and that I truely respect her and her position as the wife of the great Jack Schaap. Her first message was about Job's wife. Often, Job's wife is thought of in a negative way yet we do not consider how discouraged she must have been in losing her children, her husband's employees, their money... To say curse God and die...she had to be at her wits-end! Through her life, we need to learn to have gratitude for our husband's integrity, realize the oppertunity we have to show Jesus in our actions, have prayer and praise daily, and lastly, silence. Know when to be quiet.
Mrs. JoJo Moffitt spoke on be a caretaker by being concerned, attentive, reaching out and eager.
Mrs. Hyles, in all her southern grace, spoke on Walk and Faint Not. I could just listen to her all day. I have admired this woman for my entire saved life and she continues to amaze me year after year.
Lastly, Mrs. Loretta Walker spoke on Open Communication in the Home. She gave the 6 levels of comunication and talked about our emotional bank.
After the meeting, we all headed to the hotel, some finding it easier than others :o) Unfortunately, the hotel was packed and the rooms were not bunched together.
The rule is that you must jump on hotel beds. It's a must and can be great fun. My rule is that you must have clean feet. :o)
This isn't the picture I thought I was uploading but it will do... Emily and her friend enjoying the "Must Jump on Hotel Beds" rule.
I'm not sure why but there were 2 phones in each room. Our happened to be between the beds and at the desk/living room area- which was quite nice-. Some of the other rooms had their phones in the split bathrooms. Emily and her friend loved calling each other from room to room and while in the same room asking if room service would come and fluff the pillows.
Pillow Fight!
Here are some of our ladies with Mrs. JoJo Moffitt. She is Rebecca's favorite speaker. She even has a treasured dollar bill that Mrs. JoJo gave her.
Of course, you can't come and not love Ron and Shelly Hamilton. Patch the Pirate and Sissy Seagull are simply the best. When Mrs. Hamilton spoke, I don't think there was a dry eye in the room. She gave a personal testimony on perserverance that takes my breath away. I have absolutely no right to think that my trails are so bad in the whole scheme of things. I have been truely blessed!
All pooped out!
And awake again!
I had a picture of our awesome bus driver but accidently deleted it. Our pastor told us to take the small bus and a 15 passenger van to the spectacular since neither of those require a CDL. Well, our original bus driver was hurt at work on Wed. and was unable to drive it. I was intending on driving down but our van driver was talked into driving the bus. After a few spins around the parking lots, she agreed. We still had other drivers for various reasons, but it was nice to simply ride this time and enjoy being with the other ladies.
Through lots of prayer, she was able to bring us home even with the threat of tornados. We waited the storm out and didn't hit a lot of rain, saw some beautiful rainbows and a few trees down. There were several tornados that did touch down but God's hand was on us and all was good!
Oh, I could just go on and on about the speakers, the trip, the blessings, and God's sovereignty! He is so good and this weekend was just what I needed.
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