We had a wonderful time in Dallas...well, except for Jack Henry not wanting to go to sleep that first night in the hotel...it was 11:49 when his eyes were finally closed. I think it had a lot to do with being in a new exciting place and the chocolate chip cookie he had at the Paradise Cafe and Bakery with his dinner. Even though most of my children have been very good sleepers and pretty easy as babies, something about the 2-3 year olds on trips...that always seems hard! But, we survived it and laughed about it later!

The entire reason for going to Dallas was to be present at the Rebelution conference. We wanted to go last year, but the Dallas one was scheduled for when my oldest was gone on a mission trip. We are so thankful this year worked out! The conference was absolutely excellent. These guys are so very Christ focused and it shows in their speech, facial expressions(is that possible?) and just in overall character. I have been following their blog for about 2 years now and have read a lot of their articles, book recommendations, etc. My oldest daughter has really enjoyed their blog as well...I think she feels encouraged knowing there are like minded *friends* out there. Sometimes, we can feel all alone in our little homeschool, church going world, that we forget that God has also given others similar priorities and convictions. When we find them, we are so excited about it! Besides the fact that these young men are very gifted speakers, they are very quick to give God the glory for what he has done and they try to not receive glory for themselves. I respect that so much! We learned a lot and we left there very motivated to do harder things and to be more intentional in the way we choose to do things. I learned a lot as a parent. Another mom and I were talking about how we have been guilty of accepting the culture's low expectations at times ourselves...for us and our children. It is easy to do that when we are bombarded with so much that goes against God and His Word. How encouraging it was to hear from Brett and Alex and see what doing hard things actually looks like and how to live it out. I am praying for my daughters...that what they heard would help them in their walk with Christ and that their hearts were inspired as well.

While there, we could not resist buying a few books from the bookstore! Here is what we got...I've already been reading one of them!

Worship Matters by Bob Kauflin
Roots of Endurance by John Piper
Be the Change by Zach Hunter
Living the Cross Centered Life by CJ Mahaney

I wanted Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology...but it was a major purchase, so I may get that for Mike as a gift later. We have been wanting that for a while!

We also picked up these dvds:

Unexpected News...by a 9 year old filmmaker
Do Hard Things DVD....if you can not attend a conference, you must purchase the dvd set. It is the entire conference, except for the worship times. I think it was taped at the Portland conference. I bought it so that Mike could hear the conference. It really is important for parents to hear, also. Mike wanted to be there, but we knew the younger ones could not last that long, and he did not want me in Dallas alone with them, so he stayed with the younger ones.

Here are some pictures from our day:

It was really fun to meet Brett and Alex...I wish we had more time to tell them how much we appreciate them...it was quick hello and then a picture!

Of course we loved the message of Do Hard Things, but what I really appreciated about these young men was their humbleness. Everytime they got up to speak at some point, they made sure the audience knew that this was not about them...and they wanted to give God glory for all He was doing. In a world where young men are all about self promotion, arrogance, and self love, this was quite refreshing! What an example to all the young men there!

This is the Harris crew...Alex, Joel, Greg Harris(their father), and Brett. Greg Harris delivered a powerful sermon on the gospel and many made professions of faith...with every head up and every eye open!

This is one of the younger ones that was saved! Praise God!

While in Dallas we also did some other fun things! We visited the Galleria 2 times! One time for just some fun shopping and then again for dining and ice skating. We ate at the Mi Concina that looks out to the ice skating rink. I have never had such delicious chicken fajitas! Gracie and Abigail skated for a while and actually did pretty well! Another fun place was the American Girl Boutique and Bistro! We LOVED that place! We had so much fun looking at dolls and all the fun accessories. Jack Henry especially liked the motorcycle that you could buy to go with the Girl of Today dolls. We had made plans for Evie to get a doll on our trip...so she was so excited when we told her. She shopped around for a while and could not decided between the bitty twins or Elizabeth(from the 1700s). She finally made her mind up and decided on Elizabeth...we all think she made a good choice! We also, got a nightgown for Elizabeth and a matching one for Evie! All the girls of the family had reservations at the American Girl Bistro upstairs for lunch. That was so fun...they bring high chairs for the dolls and serve delicious foods, while providing a story starter game to play while waiting on the food at arrive. We really enjoyed visiting there and plan on visiting again!

Here are some pictures from our time in Dallas:

Jack Henry in Texas Longhorn balloon hat at the Spaghetti Warehouse!

I met 2 other bogging friends at the conference. This is Connie from Practicing Theology and Lisa from Deo Volente.