FaithWalkers Conference

Faithwalkers 2011: Blessed

We had a wonderful time at Faithwalkers this year. We got to learn several truths about how blessed we are as believers in Christ. Our boys sat quietly on a blanket and played with quiet toys for a few of the messages, allowing Luke and I to listend intently. (The others, they did not! But for how young they are, they did a decent job in a difficult situation for a young child.) One of the messages I got to hear was about how we are blessed to be able to know God! It really truely is a priviledge to know God, seek God, pray to God, learn from God through his bible, and expereince God as we step out in faith and see him come through for us. This faithwalkers, I contemplated how much Luke and I desire to endure and persevere in following Christ. I think that one of the most important elements in thriving spiritually and having success in accomplishing that, is to know God in a personal, experiential, and daily way. Knowing God definately is a blessing.

This picture is the only one of us actual doing something that related to 'faithwalkers.' Luke held Brooks and McCabe while singing worship songs. The rest of the pictures show us trying to keep the boys entertained inbetween the sessions!

Our days started out in the room with milk and breakfast. McCabe is enjoying his breakfast. This is the closest you can get to breakfast in bed, without actually being in bed.

Some mid-day wrestling to keep themselves entertained in confined and relatively toy-less spaces. They also did a lot of hide and seek behind the curtains.

On a particularily wild afternoon I let them watch TV for 15 minutes as they winded down for nap. They voluntarily jumped into bed and snuggled right beside each other!I got to spend about an hour in the hallway every afternoon reading to Leighton, or helping him do puzzles since our room was dark and silent for the other two babies to finish their nap.Some afternoon escalator riding on the huge escalator with daddy after enjoying a meal at the conference center! Brooks was so excited to watch daddy approach him as the escalator descended.

Some other noteworthy highlights from the conference include:

1. A great conversation with Kathleen Nelson from our sister church in El Paso, TX.

2. A great conversation with Dawn Bourland who lives in Des Moines with us, but I don't regularily get to pick her brain or see her every day.

3. Lots of conversation and meals shared with dear friends from 3 of the Des Moines congregations, and Nikki Hinton from Cedar Rapids.

4. I got to have great quiet times, while sitting on the toilet seat in the bathroom while my boys napped in pure darkness in the room.

5. More meals than usual with daddy! I must add hear that I didn't prepare or clean up after a meal for almost 4 days.

6. Going to look at the Eagle that hung from the ceiling of the conference center multiple times per day. A few times, we even raced up the stairs to see it, and then caught our breath during an escalator ride back down.

7. Lots and Lots of elevator rides.

8. Ordering Pizza the first night was fun for me because I haven't had delivery pizza in a long time. I can't even tell you the last time. It has been so long, that I even had to google what you were supposed to tip the delivery man!

9. This would be a good place to confess that I took a nap everyday! That was delightful!

10. Watching the boys enjoy their new christmas toys was fun to see. Plus I think having these new and novel toys helped them keep their attention and remain quiet for at least one session per day.

11. Luke spoke at one of the mini seminars! I am a proud wife! I mean I don't want to brag, but I have a remarkable and wise husband! He and Dan Rude got to share with several young people about dating. That brought back many delightful memories from our dating days from just 5 years ago! He was a great leader and a very disciplined man during this time.

12. The ride there. I always enjoy uninterupted time to talk with Luke!

13. And I will close with one of my favorite moments from the whole conference. The first night Mark Darling always leads the crowd in several 10 minutes prayer sessions on different topics. One of the sessions he asked all of the families to stand up. So Luke, Leighton, McCabe, Brooks, and I stood up. He proceeded to talk about how the next generation that is being raised up in the chruch is in a critical spot because more and more kids who grew up in the church are walking away from Christianity as they grow up and don't hold to a biblical worldview anymore. He asked all of the other people there so stand up and go surround one of the young families that was already standing and pray over them. We had 5 guys from Purdue, Indiana whom we had never met, and Kayla Poucher from our WestTown congregation, surround us and pray over us. They prayed for the salvation of each of our children by name, they prayed for Luke and I as parents to endure in training them up in the way they should go, they prayed for our relationships with one another, with our church body, and with God. It was amazing to be a part of that and to be the recipient of prayers that I long for. I'm so thankful for those prayers. There could never be enough of them.

Overall, it was an encouraging conference and a great trip to Nebraska!

Faithwalkers 2010: The Disciple

Faithwalkers was an ecouragement!

Luke learned by hearing many challenging messages and engaging in some great fellowship and conversation with those who attended from our bible study.

I learned a lot too. Though I only heard two full messages, I am always amazed at how God blesses. I was able to retain little tid bits here and there and I am exciting about implementing those things into my never ending pursuit of becoming more Chirst-like. The phrase to, "make the next right choice" has been haunting me! It is so important for me to not procrastinate in prayer or put off obedience until a fresh day arrives, but rather to just start now and make the next right choice. I also was encouraged by a lot of fellowship. The mommy/kids room was full of very helpful and practical wisdom. I was challenged in my parenting by witnessing other faithful moms just being moms! And despite the confines of the single hotel room, that was pitch dark during nap time, I was really encouraged by my personal quiet times as well.

It might be wishful thinking but I think the kids learned too. I think they learned to trust mom and dad even when circumstances change. Leighton was quite confused about sleeping in a hotel room, eating meals in colapsable chairs with 1000 other people, and being away from home, but he really adapted well and learned contentment in a new environment. I think he also learned that he does indeed like being home. He enjoys all our time outside of the home but I think it was a good reminder to him that while friends and fun are well, fun, there is something profounding comforting and satisfying about being home with just the family. When we started packing to go home, Leighton started helping. He was really excited to get back his routine.

When you play hard ...

...you sleep hard ...

... and waking up is hard!

I am so thankful to God and how he blessed our faith and blessed our choice to attend this potentially stressful conference by giving a lot of grace and a lot of his wisdom in very personal ways.

Faithwalkers 2009: Changing Lives

Once again Luke and I attended our annual Faithwalkers conference. Traditionally held at Lake of Ozarks in Missourri, this year brought us a change of venue to Omaha, Nebraska. We outgrew the space that Tan Tar A resort allowed so we enjoyed a new location.

The theme this year was Changing Lives. Luke and I left incredibly refreshed and encouraged from the time. Truth, testimonies, and fellowship were all part of the wonderful expereince.

Though being a mother of 2 changes the dynamic of faithwalkers, I was greatly encouraged to attend. I tried to keep one ear open the messages from the children's room, but for the most part my encouargement came from spending much time talking with Meg Rude, seeing great examples of leaders in the faith, watching other moms raise their kids, worshiping the Lord, fellowship, eating meals together, and just being there to see the growth in size, the faith of individuals and the number of people the Lord has brought to himself in the past year.


Meg and I spent considerable time together. Leighton and McCabe played and ran around a lot. Meg did a lot of feeding the twins, Rex and Myla. And we all spent a lot of time enjoying the company of one antoher.

Quinn and Leighton liked to 'fix' the windows by using all the play tools that Leighton had.

They also enjoyed looking for buses and trucks.

Here we are in the Dining Hall. Leighton and Quinn are giving one another a 'pound'. Both of the boys spent a lot of time in their strollers with their siblings close behind.
Here are my adorable boys being good sports at the conference!
Here are a few priceless pictures of Leighton getting a little tired as nap time approached. So cute!


It was a great trip/conference for our family. Luke has continue to prove to be a great leader for our family as he has marched our family into the center of a local church, humbles himself to its leaders, and has commmited himself and our family to knowing the Lord more and more on a daily basis and through refresing conferences like this.

We look forward to the upcoming faithwalkers in 2010!

Playing Together

Leighton and McCabe really do love each other. Leighton brings McCabe toys, he tries to cuddle with him and he likes to make him giggle. At Faithwalkers we spent some afternoon time in our hotel room and the boys played so well together!

Leighton and Luke

Leighton and Luke watching the worship music.Leighton and Luke watching the water from our balcony.

Faithwalkers View

Faithwalkers Day 1

Leighton was so good and played in the hotel room so I could do my quiet time and reflect on some good messages. I couldn't resist taking a break for some cute pictures.





My 1st year at Faithwalkers I become a Christian and made some crucial decisions about living for the Lord.

My 2nd, 3rd and 4th year were about sitting front and center, taking a lot of notes, and building into women's lives.

This 5th year, was a little different. God was so faithful in allowing me to get into some great conversations, to learn, and to listen to messages, but this time I was in the back of the room, trying to keep Leighton from crawling everywhere and trying to keep him from making loud noises. Leighton was very good and I was so excited to have him there. I can't wait to see what the next several years at faithwalkers look like as we change venues to Omaha, NE next year, as we add a second child, as our family continues to grow, and as our church evolves with more and more women surrendering their lives to the Lord attending the conference.