Just when single life among me and my (likewise) single girlfriends seemed to be continuing on it’s ordinary, pleasant way this year…one of my dear friends goes and falls in love. Not that she actually did it on purpose, mind you. Sometimes these things have a way of sneaking up on you when you least expect it.

Love is a funny thing. I used to think I understood it… that I knew how it worked… that it could never take me by surprise. I was levelheaded, I was logical, I was cool, I was calm, I was collected. I was in no danger of falling. Yes, I certainly would have liked to, but I didn’t think I had what it took. I wasn’t among those so lucky.

But you know how God loves the unexpected…and I’m pretty sure he had his finger in this one. Wow.

I’ve been saying that a lot lately. Each time my friend has called – first to tell me of the beginning relationship, and the second time to tell me she was engaged – my first response was something akin to a series of wide-eyed “Wow”s. And when the wedding invitation with her name on it arrived in my mailbox this week…Wow again. If it’s this surreal for me I can’t imagine what she feels like!

As girls do, we often shared our dreams of the future “someone” together over wordy emails and late night chats. We encouraging each other to trust God and wait on His timing. But still we wondered… “Will it ever REALLY happen?”. Now that the fog  has suddenly cleared away and the dream really IS reality for my friend, it’s truly amazing. And SO HAPPY.

Things like this sure do prove God’s faithfulness – He has been oh so good! I am truly excited and blessed for Britt. Watching God write her beautiful story only affirms in my heart that He will do the same for me…and for YOU.

:: Read the rest of “Our Love Story” ::

Plenty of books, excellent speakers, and fun “reunions” with other homeschool alums!

(trivia: if you did Math-U-See, you have the dad of the tall dude to thank)

I bumped into Brett & Alex Harris, promoting their new book in the vendor hall

I tried to get a copy signed, but oddly enough they just stared right past me…it was so unlike them…

My nomination for cutest couple of the weekend – Woody & Gina Robertson. They had a session sharing their courtship story (www.woodylovesgina.com) and Woody also spoke on accelerated distance learning. Sweet people!

Best session moment:
HSLDA attorney Chris Klicka was relating a story about a truant officer making a call on a homeschool family. The dad answered the door and the truant officer informed him that he would have to place his children in public school. The dad replied, “Over my dead body.” Mr. Klicka continued the story with…”and the truant officer pulled out a gun and shot him.”

The entire auditorium, including myself, GASPED in horror!! (Nearly sucking Mr. Klicka out of the room in the process.) And then he said, “no, no, that didn’t happen!” It was hilarious! He had been so serious up to that point that we believed every word! (Truant officers don’t even carry guns.)

Long weekend? Find a friend (in this case “little bro” Sam) and a table to sit on…

Running has always been one of those things I wanted to do. I can’t count the times I’ve seen someone jogging down the sidewalk and thought “Man, I wish I could do that!”. Within the past year, I have slowly been working to turn that dream into reality.

There is something very personal about running that I love. God has let the process help me see some things about life. I’ve had some physical ups and downs that almost discouraged me altogether and sent me back to “start”. But thanks to some prodding encouragement and more patience and hard work, I have made steady progress the last 3 months. It may seem tiny to others, but to me it is huge. So, I decided it was time to celebrate with a race!

My first 5k – 3.1 miles. The big day arrived at 8:30am this Saturday. I pinned on my race bib, strapped a timing chip around my ankle, and took off from the start line with over 200 other runners and walkers. It was GREAT!!

Of course there were way more people ahead of me than behind me, but the game plan was just to have fun and enjoy the experience! And I did, keeping a steady pace on my merry little running/walking way through the pleasant neighborhood. I was amazed and inspired to see the lead runner come pounding past on his way back to the finish while I was checking off mile 1. *smile*

Approximately 43 minutes later (I am unsure of my final time until the results are posted) – surprisingly under my “wishful” time of 45 and expected time of 50, I had the exhilarating feeling of crossing THE FINISH LINE!! What a thrill. *grin*

I’m already planning my next one…

Above and below: my support team! my brother & dad

The race staging grounds

Ready to go

And we’re off!

The blur is because I was going soooo fast…haha

And 40+ minutes later… I call this the “return of the lone runner” haha

Crossing the finish!

Tired and hot – but happy

I’m claiming this one!

It would seem that the blogging phase of my life has risen and…fallen. I don’t feel like I have much to offer in the way of meaningful posts these days. Apologies to all my friends who would rather I at least post a crazy picture or write something about local life instead of waiting for deep inspiration to hit.

So in that interest…the latest road trip of mine and my mom’s took us to Chicago for a couple nights. It was my first time in the popular town, which I found quite exciting…we won’t mention the stress of trying to figure out how to GET anywhere. I didn’t get to soak in as much of the city as I would’ve liked due to our rushed timetable, but I was able to do a few special things. And here’s the proof!

Entering downtown…

It took me 10 years, but I finally fulfilled my little girl wish!

the only place you’ll see one of these in the bathroom…

random downtown

with a friend after successfully completing another goal…

….eating deep dish Chicago style pizza! YummO!

ready for a night out with friends at the Navy Pier on Lake Michigan

inside the Navy Pier grand ballroom

special friends…

good Chicago memories!

I’ll probably be light on posting for awhile yet, but I wanted to share this video.

Some of you may know that my favorite group (ever) is Ernie Haase & Signature Sound – I love those guys! They teamed up with the Gaither Vocal Band earlier this year for a live DVD taping titled Together that was released this week and also featured on TV.

I had the privilege of being at the concert, so I was a little tickled to see that I made the cut on this acappella song, Sweet, Sweet, Spirit. Even if this isn’t your type of music, I think we can all agree that the harmony. is. beautiful.

If you liked that, also check out:

:: Together Promo (yeah, I’m in here, too…)

:: Praise, My Soul, The King of Heaven

Thank you to my family for making the day special and sweet – I couldn’t think of three people I’d rather have spent it with!

To my friends everywhere, thank you for your warm wishes, phone calls, and beautiful gifts – I feel so blessed.

Most of all, thank you Lord, for lending me life.

(*just to be clear, that’s a legal-at-any-age strawberry lemonade I’m drinking)

Here’s the HanCam view to conclude my conference coverage.

Includes special messages from Alex & Brett Harris to YOU, the readers of my blog!

Dial-up users [download here]

P.S. I really didn’t mean to leave Alex out of the session clips – apparently I was riveted to my seat. (Or conserving battery power. Sorry, Alex!)

One incredibly cool experience I had to share….

As a closing action to The Rebelution conference, Alex announced that we were going to make it rain. While I was having visions of sprinklers above and soaked people running everywhere, he continued on to explain what exactly we were to do, keeping firm that we must not do so until specified. Divided into four sections according to where we were sitting, Brett then took over. Working his way from one side of the stage across to the other, he began passing along the first motion to each section in turn.

The gentle rubbing “sprinkle” of our hands spread lightly across the room. This became the backdrop to snapping finger raindrops as Brett returned to the first section and started over. My skeptical jaw hit the floor and I tried not to laugh in wonder. I kid you not, it sounded exactly like raindrops splashing on leaves and bouncing on the roof.

The pitter-patter of snapping finger raindrops soon gave way to the harder pour of patting our hands on our legs. All across the room it grew, until you just knew water had to be rolling off the cars in the parking lot. And then, the sky let loose as we began clapping; it was a thunderous, pounding downpour of a storm from corner to corner.

As quickly as it came, the downpour began to subside as Brett worked us back down through the motions, until we were left with the gentle rubbing sprinkle of our hands. One dramatic slicing motion and all action ceased. Silence held for maybe two seconds before the entire attendance roared alive with cheering and went absolutely crazy! And for good reason.

We had made it rain.

Here’s the point – each of us by ourselves (doing hard things) is just a few raindrops, but together we are a downpour. And that is the power of The Rebelution.

Wow. I’ll never forget that.

Yeah, I think I hear it raining.

[ View Complete Photo Album Here ]

“We shouldn’t be afraid of hard things just because they’re hard.”

It was an amazing event. Organized and put on primarily by young people, it was definitely unlike any conference I’ve attended before. How do you put into words a giant room filled with 2,000 teenagers and parents (and the rest of us in neither category), all gathered together to hear the challenging and inspiring – and yes, life changing – message of rebelling against the low expectations of our culture and instead living your best life for God?

Being there made everything I’d ever read on the Rebelution blog come alive. Hearing Alex & Brett articulate and expound upon “Do Hard Things” in their own voices, listening to their stories, laughing along with their jokes, and sensing their deep passion and Godly spirits, it seemed like I was hearing everything for the first time all over again. The entire day served as an encouragement and time of new resolve in my own heart.

“We will become the men and women we strive to be. Is what we are doing right now preparing us for what we want to be doing in the future?” – Alex Harris, speaking on The Myth Of Adolescence

“If you fail at something it’s not because you aren’t able, or even that you didn’t try your best – you haven’t built up the strength to succeed.” – Brett Harris, speaking on Do Hard Things

There was also the momentarily weird, but neat happenstance of being recognized by three different fellow rebelutionaries who I knew only from blogging/writing – Kristin Braun of Beauty from the Heart (along with proofreader Bethany) Sarah Greek of Regenerate Our Culture, and David Boskovic of Oneway Purpose. Meeting them definitely brought the blogsphere to life!

I met Brett & Alex during the first morning break, and they are just wonderful. It was exciting to actually have it “be real” after feeling like I already knew them. There is a humble graciousness about them, and while they’ll be the first to give God credit (which He is due), I know their commitment and hard work planted the seed that has grown so big. We were able catch a little more time to talk afterwards, and it was a blessing all around. Please remember to pray for them as their book deadline nears.

One of the most moving events of the day came during Mr. Harris’s session. After talking about how many people just go through the motions of being a Christian (so easy for all of us) he extended an invitation to those who realized they didn’t truly know Christ. A number of young people courageously stood to make their choice known, and it was incredible to know lives were being changed in that very moment. As more of us stood to renew our own commitment to living a life boldly and openly for Christ, there was such a sense of God’s spirit and awesomeness. It brought the purpose of everything full circle and Joel Harris led us in a precious time of song worship.

After one final session, we put away our notebooks, snapped more blog pictures, and gave last goodbyes. One thing is for certain, we left different than we came. I for one was reminded why hard things make a difference, how to go about getting them done, and the importance of trying again and again and again…and again. And this most of all : Knowing and loving God IS what matters above all else we may ever do.

“Cut something out, put something in, rearrange the furniture of your life, and you might find yourself living differently.”

My advice – next time The Rebelution Tour comes around, make sure YOU are there!

Still To Come :: Photos, Video, & “Rebelution Rain”

Tomorrow’s the big day! The Rebelution Tour ’07 is making its last stop in Indianapolis, IN. Lord willing and so long as nothing earth-shattering happens, I plan to be there.

Alex & Brett Harris are two amazing and incredibly inspirational young men who live what they talk about. (Read more about them in this issue of BreakAway Magazine) They have a passion for our generation, and I’ve been challenged by their blog and message of “Do Hard Things” many times over the past couple years. I’m thrilled to have this opportunity to finally meet the two of them in person!

(Yes, yes…I’m taking my camera. *smile*)

Fudge is setting in the fridge (shhh…not a word) and 4 am comes early, so I’m off to put a few things in order and attempt a few hours of sleep. Wouldn’t want to doze off in the middle of a session, now would I?

Stay tuned for a full report!

You may remember that I mentioned meeting Lew Sterret during CHEO earlier this summer. Last month he was nearby giving a live horse demonstration, so my brother and I drove over to watch. It was pretty neat to see him work with the horses – one well trained and one never ridden – all the while talking about issues relating to our lives and our relationship to The Trainer, God. What a unique ministry.

:: HannahCam [watch video]