a couple weeks ago (okay, a month) my sister and i found ourselves in dallas for one of my favorite weekends of 2015 so far...
Hope Spoken. it's a women's conference started by three of my favorite bloggers, "celebrating the hope we have in Jesus and sharing our stories for His glory." i had dreamed of going, as did many others, because the tickets sold out in a ridiculous, under 24 hours amount of time + i wasn't one of the lucky ones. BUT, what felt random, but was obviously so meant to be, a giveaway came about for two tickets and we got them... i mean, i never win anything, but this was gold.
the weekend was wonderful. i left my babies for the first time EVER in the history of being a mother, and it was so hard + i thought i might not get myself to pull out of the driveway, but i prayed and asked God to help me let go + have open hands, and trust Chris as my partner to take the best care of them... and as expected, he did. (we're talking videos as he went into their room when lucy woke in the mornings, pictures galore + even updates on the diaper rash i had left behind... :) he's a good daddy + husband.) i was thankful to have left them in good hands, and to have taken the weekend for myself and for my own spirit to be rejuvenated.
we met wonderful people, listened to some of the most wonderful speakers, ate and ate, saw some family, tried our first Sprinkles Cupcake ATM + bonded as sisters even more than i thought we were capable of. it was truly a wonderful weekend. i naturally took a couple billion photos + so here we are! our weekend in dallas for hope spoken, in pictures...
our first day in town we had a few hours to kill before the event started, not enough time to venture to our hometown to see any of our family unfortunately, but enough time to grab an uber and find a place we had never been for lunch! we chose potbelly sandwich works... if you know me, this might surprise you that i'd even consider a place with that name... but the cute atmosphere won. two thumbs up for the food as well, and we were on our way to the event!
the decorations at the event were soooo beautiful... like want them in my home year round beautiful. we all got checked in, met our precious small group leader, ate too many sweets + heard our first speaker, jen hatmaker... she is so funny, and AMEN, i needed to hear what she had to say. we finished the night worshipping with Jason Castro, and it was truly so special + i still couldn't believe we were actually there.
^^^i'm not gluten free, but the gluten filled table had already been seriously nommed on + wasn't picture worthy anymore, so gluten free photo it is!
day two!
^^^i mean, we hardly knew what to do with ourselves without babies around
^^^got to see our aunt + uncle who lived only a couple minutes from where we were staying! SUCH a great night with them, honestly it was probably my favorite night of the weekend! lemondrop martinis, cupcakes + good conversation are always wins for me, plus my uncle greg says funny things like, "she's a teacup + saucer away from a full place setting" when referring to someone's crazy... crying laughing emojis for days.
^^^the sweetest small group around. SO happy to have spent the weekend with these wonderful women + to have had Mandy Castro leading us! Thank you Jesus!
