Epicenter

 

Right now I am at the Epicenter conference in Albany, New York!  Epicenter in the annual winter conference that our region puts on for the students in the Northeast.  Usually Joe would have come to this conference and I would have stayed home with the kids, but this year Joe decided to give me a bit of a break.  And I am ON MY OWN (except for the students and other staff of course) for 6 days!  6 days!!!  As my friend Steph put it earler this evening (she is also here without her husband and son)- "At dinner tonight nobody threw food at me or on the floor!"  I could add that there was no screaming and I didn't have to convince my friends to eat their dinner by promising dessert!:)  I believe that 3 days/2 nights is the longest I have ever been away from either of my little loves before so this is a BIG deal and I am oh so thankful to my husband for making it happen!  While I adore my children and do miss them- this time away is oh so good for this mama! 

So here I am at Epicenter working on physical arrangments (basically getting some things ready before the meetings), conducting a staff interview with a student later in the week who wants to join staff with Campus Crusade, meeting with our students and coaching them, and now as of last night I was assigned as one of two photographers for the event!  This last part I wasn't expecting (and only brought one camera and one lens) but I am really excited.  This will be the first real chance in a setting like this to use my photography skills in ministry.  After the first couple of hours photographing I can already tell that it's going to be way more work, time, and effort than I was initially expecting, but I'm still looking forward for this chance to serve.  So it may not be this week as I was planning, but I will be posting our Christmas pictures sometime soon.  For now I'm off to bed...tomorrow should be another busy day!