We have only two more stops left on this trip. As Mom shared in a recent post, we are so grateful to many people who have generously shared with us.

Our conference in Norfolk was a true blessing. After our first song, Dad introduced the family and encouraged everyone to relax and let the children enjoy the music. After a few songs, a group of little girls (2-3 year olds) gathered down front to our right, and in sheer delight and enthusiasm, skipped and bounced around in a circle, holding hands.

We gave The Christ-Led Family Conference last weekend, which is a somewhat deeper message than our normal ones. We were grateful for all the families that took the time out of their weekend to attend. We even saw a few familiar faces from previous conferences in years past.

Every conference Christopher has been giving his Evangelism session for the young people. After his session, he lets the young people take home several tracts. When he gave it Saturday, he didn’t have his box of tracts with him, and so after the business workshop we did together, Christopher told the young people that they could come up front and get the tracts. At that moment I wished I would have had my camera with me. It was such an incredible sight to see forty or more young people crowding together to pick out some tracts.

Saturday evening, a family had blessed us with dinner that we took back to our hotel. It was a wonderful time unwinding after the conference. Sunday morning, we “joined” our church back at home. Nathan called us on his cell phone, and we put the hotel phone on speaker. It was special to be a part of the service, even from such a long distance. We spent the afternoon resting. That evening, Dad took us down to the ocean, and we spent about an hour walking along the sandy beach as the sun set. It reminded us of the time we had spent in South Carolina in 2001 where a family had graciously given us two nights to stay at their beach house in January. We finished the evening with our family time in God’s Word back at the hotel.

Our conference in Abingdon last night went well. After we arrived and worked on our different areas of set up, the conference coordinator and two other ladies had dinner ready. These ladies had prepared a wonderful dinner of salad, lasagna, bread, and cookies. The table was creatively decorated, and they had even made it so we could eat together. We, again, felt very blessed.

Many people showed up for the conference early to browse the book tables. I think the cutest scene I saw last night was a little boy, maybe three years of age, saying good-bye to Mary, and he had the sweetest smile on his face as he stood there. He continued to stand there, with the cutest expression, until his daddy came for him.

We’ve seen several babies on this trip that are the same age Susannah Joy would have been. Thank you for those who continue to pray for Nathan and Melanie. It means so much to them and us to know that people remember and are praying!

We’ll be doing a conference in the Chicago area tomorrow night (Thursday), and then on to Wausau, Wisconsin for our final weekend conference for the year!

We continue to covet your prayers as the trip winds down. I can’t tell you how much we have been blessed to meet so many of you!

Only for Jesus,
Sarah

I took these pictures Sunday night while we were at the ocean.