CONVENTION

Getting ready for a family picture, and the best result. Unfortunately Kylie has many faces, and she tried them out in every picture.

The better ones are these ones that don't have Steve and I in them.

So we are home from another wonderful convention. Mellowdale, also known as wallowdale for it's history of being rainy and muddy was acutally perfect weather wise. The first night was very cold so I ended up putting socks on Chelsea's hands to keep them from freezing completely, but then after that all was good. If it rained it was typically during meeting or at night so no big deal.

As far as children go, they were very well behaved. Chelsea would have slept for both morning and afternoon meetings, only we sat in kid alley which makes it a little noisy at times. So it was a challenge and we were out lots with her. I didn't get much out of convention this year but I did spend a lot of it thanking God for little girls and a husband who plays a large role in this children's discipline. I got more out of the last meeting than the entire thing because all the little ones in the meeting seemed to be sleeping and therefore Chelsea slept the whole meeting.

Hayley was a water pourer this year and loved it. She took her job very seriously and there were no wet shirts ;) Her highlight came on Sunday when she got to serve her boyfriend and his best friend says "oh thank-you sweetie." Hahahahaha. They're 8 or 9 years old I think. Hayley blushed. She is in love with Steve's boss's son.

Hayley fell off the bed on Friday playing with some friends and smacked her head. Then she got an instant headache that turned into a fever so she spent the weekend feeling pretty sick. She put herself to bed on Saturday night and then slept through the first meeting Sunday. I was glad I remembered to bring Advil with me. Today the fever is gone but her brains still hurt.

Abby was funny. We heard about the need for rest and how research has proven that without sleep we would die. So that night I told the kids it was time for bed and Abby says " If we don't sleep we'll die right?" Then this morning Abby said grace for breakfast and she prayed that everyone would say yes to God. It blew me away because that was the theme of the Saturday night meeting that they tested along with hymn 87. I guess she does listen.

There were about 4?? That professed on Saturday night and then they tested it again on Sunday (I assume for those who asked since they've stopped doing it on Sundays) and another 3 or 4 professed. 3 of those are in our field and 2 in our meeting. As Steve says we are now the only ones with unprofessing kids in our Wednesday night meeting (plus Ashley) which is pretty nice since we have so many kids in our meeting.

Oh the other interesting thing they did was they left one testimony time open only to those under 33 who hadn't given their testimony yet to give their purpose. They got through 152 in half an hour!!! I bet the convention was 90% young people. It was great!!! Then they left it open to those over 70. Not so many but still wonderful.

They were expecting about 500 people this year. There were 850 and then between 900 and 1000 on the weekend!!!!!! They ran out of rice on Thursday so we had lots of potatos instead. No one went hungry but I believe there were several grocery runs. There are rumors that Greenshields may be phased out (it is old and there are unprofessing people iving on parts of the property I believe) in which case perhaps there will be a mellowdale 1 and 2??

I will post some thoughts from convention later today. Need to look after these little ones first. It's nap/snack time.

Love Jen and family