I won't tell you (right now) what has kept me from blogging, but will try my darnest not to be absent for such a long time!
I had a fantastic weekend at the Women of Faith conference this past weekend in Tampa. I serve at our church with the College and Career ministry and was blessed to be able to accompany a group of 10 young women to the conference. This was the first WOF conference that I have attended where I really didn't know much about the speakers, however I knew it would be worth attending.
Let me start by saying that it was a difficult and stressfull week for many of us, including me. I was so behind and overwhelmed. This was not a good time to head out of town for 2 days. To top things off, Q, my 4 year old.....decided to jump off of his bunk bed steps on Thursday night. After we determined his foot wasn't broken, we iced his foot, and put him to bed. He woke up on Friday morning, and was crawling. Couldn't walk.
I had a small window where Steve was going to be out on his long run and L would watch the kids for a few minutes until he got back because I had to leave. I panicked, because I couldn't send Q to school not being able to walk! He needed to go to the doctor and have x-rays!
I didn't have the girls numbers that I was meeting so I could say I was going to be late. I headed out to see if I could find Steve finishing up his run. I didn't know if he could take Q to his appointments, I knew he had work to do. While I was out, both girls texted me. (A little answer to prayer.) I was able to call them and tell them the situation. I didn't find Steve, he came home shortly. He agreed to take Q to the doctor. It turned out, he hyper-extended his foot. (Another answer to prayer.)
We get to the arena just as they are starting. The first session was from 10-3 and the speakers were Henry Cloud and Sheila Walsh. I had never heard Henry. I think I heard Sheila a while back. Henry is a psychologist and just finished writing, "The Law of Happiness." Basically, happiness is 10% based on your circumstances. If you say, "When I get ______, I will be happy." That may be true, but just temporarily. Science and the bible say alot of the same things about happiness. I can't wait to read his book.
One of the things that Sheila said was a prayer she says every morning. (Psalm 143:8) "Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul."
Henry also talked about characteristics of happy people. 1. Happy people are givers. Not in haste, but because they want to. 2. Happy people are connected. There was a study done of a monkey in a cage, put under stress. There was noise, and shaking of the cage. The levels of cortisol were very high. Next, they added another monkey to the cage. The shook the cage again and made noise. The levels of cortison were not nearly as high. This is because the monkeys are connected. We, as humans, should be connected to other "monkeys". Who's your monkey?
