Women's Conference 2017

This year one of my good friends (who also happens to be my Primary President) was in charge of the huge service project at Women's Conference. She needed a lot of help and asked for volunteers. I signed up to volunteer on Thursday night for 3 1/2 hours. In return for volunteering, we all got free passes to all of the festivities of Women's Conference. I had never been before, so I had no idea what to expect. Since Jonathon was working, I figured that I wouldn't be able to go to very many of the classes, but my amazing mother-in-law insisted that I should go both days while she watched Hyrum and picked up the other boys from school. I was hesitant to leave her with so much to do, but she is a complete Saint and urged me to go enjoy myself. I am so grateful to her. I didn't know that I needed a break, but I most certainly did. I needed to be spiritually refreshed and rejuvenated, and it ended up being absolutely perfect timing. 

One thing that made it particularly enjoyable was getting to go with family. My sister-in-law, Emily, flew in from Oregon to attend, so we were able to spend almost the whole time together. I love Emily, and chatting with her without the distraction of  kids was one of my favorite parts of the conference. Jonathon's cousins, Teresa, Carolyn, and Loriann also attended, so we got to spend some time with them as well. So fun!

We attended various classes all that day. I mostly chose ones that related to parenting because that is my biggest challenge right now. Thursday night was the service project. The women who attended Women's Conference cut out 6,000 fleece blankets to donate to women and children in hospitals across the state of Utah. As volunteers, it was our responsibility to quality check them, and then fold and box up all of those blankets. It started off slow, but a few minutes into it we were running back and forth, folding blankets as fast as we could. We hardly had a spare moment the entire 3 1/2 hours that we were there. The blankets kept coming, so we kept running!

It might sound miserable, but in actuality I had a wonderful time. I worked with my friends from church, Janelle and Amy, and our conversations were stimulating and enriching. We discussed everything from church callings to raising boys. I gain so much from being around other women, and I was so grateful to have them there. We were able to complete our goal of 6,000 blankets. By the time it was over, our feet were sore, we were desperately tired, but we were so happy. 

The second day of Women's Conference was my favorite in terms of classes. We started our day in the Marriott Center where we attended a music/dance performance called "Our Roots." It was about generations of women working together to build each other's testimonies through the trials of life. It was quite well done and was very uplifting. We then attended a few smaller classes that were really great. 

My favorite session was called "Motherhood: Daily Acts of Consecration" and was given by Tamara Uzelac Hall and Tiffanie Browne. They told the story of a woman who was struggling with feeling lost and unseen in her job of being a mother. This woman had a friend who went to Europe and toured the great cathedrals that took hundreds of years to build. She realized that no one got outward credit for creating those amazing buildings, but their skills and dedication were vitally important nonetheless. She thought about her friend's situation. In a book about these cathedrals, the friend wrote to the struggling mother, "With admiration for the greatness of what you are building when only God sees." Sometimes, our work as a mother seems to go unseen and unheralded, but Heavenly Father sees our consecration and He will reward us with the best gifts.

She then related the story of Christ and the 5 loaves and 2 fishes. From the outside, it may have appeared that the meal was not enough, but with Christ our loaves and fishes will be multiplied and magnified. Through Christ our meager efforts at motherhood (our loaves and fishes) will be enough. We are enough! She also discussed many Hebrew words that help clarify portions of the scriptures about virtuous women (virtuous= powerful-- Proverbs 31). It was so interesting and enlightening. I would highly recommend reading the message when it is published.

Some other sessions that I would recommend reading or watching when they are available are: Converted Unto the Lord by Sharon Eubank, Intentional Parenting by Bonnie H. Cordon and Joy D. Jones, and Teaching Children Work and Self-Reliance by Nan Black and Shiree Nixon. 

To close the conference, we went back to the Marriott Center to hear form Elder Gary Stevenson. His talk was on the media and how to use it for good. He told an illustrated story about one of his family pictures that was hilarious. I laughed and laughed. It has a great message and was so relatable to me. You can watch the short clip here.

Overall, it was a nice two days to relax and be filled. I came home to my kids feeling more calm and patient. I'm so grateful to Jonathon and Mom H. for making it all happen for me.