Time Out for Women

I have just had a jammed packed life lately. That's both good and bad, I guess. But that also means that I have a lot of blogging to do.

A mere 14 hours after getting home from Hawaii, Court and I were on the ferry heading for Seattle to go to Time Out for Women.

I've had a lot of people ask me what Time Out for Women is. It's hard to explain, for me at least. It's a two day event with a bunch of speakers who talk about church-y things. But it's fun. Not like General Conference, which is great. But fun. Laugh out loud, crying, thinking fun. I love to go. And, since I didn't take any pictures this year - it was in a hall that didn't allow flash photography and I'm not good at keeping the camera steady, and I forgot the camera in the hotel - I'm just going to go through and give you some of my favorite paraphrases (I would say quotes, but I'm not that fast of a writer).

The theme of the whole conference was "Choose to Become."

John Bytheway
-If we marinate in the filth of the world, what will we become?
-Is there a guilty pleasure that I can swap out for something good?
-The sacrament prayers promise us that we will never be alone because He will always "be with them."

Michael McLean
-Be thankful for those moments of joy

Mariama Kallon
(By the way, Marcela served with Mariama on Temple Square. Small world.)
-We often ask Heavenly Father for things and then we just sit there. We need to run. (She told a story about when she was serving her mission. She is a survivor of an atrocious war in Sierra Leon. She prayed that she could teach someone from West Africa. She said she would be at the South Gates of Temple Square. So she ran there. And waited about 5 minutes until a man from Ghana came through the gates. Still makes me choke up.)

Dean Hughes
-Life is not a contest - there's plenty of sugar water out there. (He told the story of how he feeds the hummingbirds at his home in Midway, UT. There are two feeders with 4 flowers in each feeder. But if there's a hummingbird at one feeder and another hummingbird comes to the other feeder, they fight. They just don't realize that there are 8 places to eat and that he will always fill up the feeder.)
-It's ok to be average at some things - just do your best. We can't all be great at everything.
-Isn't it better to be meek like Jesus Christ than to be like a woman of the world?
-He also talked about his life being a little like spiritual wack-a-mole. He stamps one thing down, then something else pops up.

Mercy River (This is a singing group.)
-It will be ok eventually, but how lucky are we that we have a Savior to carry us now.

Deanne Flynn
-Her definition of motherhood is the selfless offering of someone's heart to another living thing.
-When we hurry less, we notice more.
-When we talk less, we hear more.
-We can choose to become less complicated.

S. Michael Wilcox
- learning and knowing is the secret to becoming.

Merrilee Boyack
B - Bold
E - Eternally Minded
C - Creative (we were meant to create, not to conform)
O - Outward Focused
M - Meek
E - Enlightened
U - Unique

Emily Freeman
- We can't be almost committed. We need to be completely committed to Christ.
- What is the signature in your life?
- What would someone know of the Lord through you?
- What is the sermon of your life?
- Remember, you are His

So, that about wraps it up. It was a really fun weekend. There was laughter, there were tears, there was staying up way to late. I'm glad I went. And I'm glad I got to go with Court!

If you want to see some more stuff about Time Out for Women, go here. And if you ever have a chance to go, go. It will be worth it! It's coming to Denver in October and Salt Lake in November. Just putting it out there. :)