Atlanta - 2008

Posted June 30th, 2008 by Mom |

It has now been confirmed by another person - I am directionally challenged when driving. Kari and I both laughed lots about how, when driving in the cities where we needed to change highways or roads, I prefer/needed to be under the big green interstate/highway direction signs. Plus, Kari - as the navigator for this trip - had to be sure to point out the exits when changing roads, or I would have kept on driving straight… Luckily, we didn’t have to turn around more than a few hundred times… Seriously, with her excellent directions (and the help of Mapquest), I only turned around once, maybe twice. Plus I only backed up - in the middle of a main street - only once (but first made sure that there was no one behind me!) so I could pull into the hotel. We both agree that if I hadn’t backed up, we would have had a hard time navigating downtown Atlanta and trying to get back to the hotel entrance!

Kari and I traveled to Atlanta this weekend for the Lifeway Women’s Conference. We left on Friday morning and returned around 6 last night. It was an incredibly wonderful, fantastic, fun, and refreshing trip.

Traffic was a bit heavy on the way to Atlanta. We made it to Atlanta around 6. The conference was to begin at 7, with the doors opening at 6. We quickly checked into the Hyatt Place Hotel (which we would both highly recommend!) and then took the hotel shuttle to the Philips Arena for the conference. The hotel shuttle was a great perk of the hotel! We were able to go from the hotel door to the door of the arena. Considering my directionally challenged brain, if I had driven to the arena, we would have been so late, that we would have missed the Friday evening session in its entirety! There was a lot of traffic in downtown Atlanta with the arena having sold out - 19,000 tickets. Quite a few streets were blocked off for the walking traffic and police were everywhere directing cars to move along. I am so glad we didn’t have to pay to park at the arena, or have to fight traffic to get there! Like I said, the shuttle was great!

Friday evening at the conference, since we got there so late, we were in the extreme top/last row of the Philips Arena where some folding chairs were set up for additional seating. Serious high altitude seating. When we were to stand for worship music, we stood BEHIND our chairs. Otherwise, we would have been too close to “fall over and die” territory - which would have really ruined our weekend! I was really glad that the Friday evening session was to be only a couple of hours. I really did not like these seats! (Seating was first come, first serve in the arena both days.) Fortunately, on Saturday we arrived early - thanks to the hotel shuttle - and got great seats which we were able to keep for both the morning and afternoon sessions.

For the Friday evening session of the conference, there was a time of worship music and then Priscilla Shirer spoke. She is an incredibly gifted teacher - funny, intelligent, able to mix life stories with practical scriptural application. Mrs. Shirer used the Bible passage Exodus 19:9-11 as her main focus and moved around the Bible scriptures to pull out points in her teaching. She spoke on the different seasons in our lives and how in some seasons we are walking through difficult times (wilderness). The tough times are to draw us closer to God, as we trust and lean on Him. The tough times are necessary so we can appreciate the good times.

Both days, it was awesome to hear the turning of pages in almost 19,000 Bibles. Oh, how great it was to be in the presence of God and so many Godly women!

After Mrs. Shirer’s time on the stage, Mandisa gave a mini concert. Kari and I didn’t stay for the concert, as the hotel shuttle stops at 10, and by the time Mrs. Shirer stopped teaching, it was 9:30. We didn’t want to be stuck trying to get a taxi or (as our husbands would have strongly protested) walking back to the hotel which was about 5 blocks from the arena, all in downtown Atlanta.

Kari and I arrived back at the hotel and we were starving. We had not had time to stop for dinner, as we did not take into account the time change from Central to Eastern (we lost an hour) and knew that if we did stop for dinner, we would not get to the arena on time. Next to the hotel was a restaurant called Max Lager’s Wood Fired Grill and Brewery. It was delicious! I got a steak and mixed green salad with a orange-ginger dressing. Ooh! It hit the spot! Back at the hotel, we each got a fresh baked cookie and Kari got a cup of Starbuck’s coffee (another perk of the hotel, although these treats weren’t free, as the shuttle is!)

Saturday morning, we enjoyed the continental breakfast. I had cereal, fruit, juice and a slice of toast with grape jelly. Yummy! Then Kari and I boarded the shuttle for a full day at the arena.

Saturday morning at the conference began with high energy worship music and then Kay Arthur taught the morning session.  She taught from Jeremiah 36 and focused on how our country needs to turn back to God and away from sin.  Mrs. Arthur brought out also Hosea 4:6.  The last part of that verse reads, “Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.”  Wow!  That is something to ponder!  Mrs. Arthur taught how that God is perfect and hates sin and therefore punishes sin.  We are to desire to be like Christ and to turn from sin.  It was a powerful message!

The afternoon was broken down into 2 sessions. First there was a round table discussion where Mrs. Shiver, Mrs. Arthur and Mrs. Moore answered questions that had been posted on the women’s conference blog. (You can click on the blog link to see pictures from the Atlanta event this past weekend that we attended.) The round table time was filled with laughter as their personal stories were relayed and also it was a good “getting to know you” time as we learned more about our teachers. Some of the blog questions also required looking into the Bible scriptures for answers. The round table was very interesting.

After a break, there was a time for personal reflection while the event Praise Band performed and then Beth Moore taught the last (third) Bible session.  Mrs. Moore taught from John 1:1-18.  We are to have Jesus Christ as our Number 1 in our lives.  If we want to know about God, we have to research and learn about Jesus - by reading and knowing our Bibles.  As our Bible is the word of God.  People/family/friends will disappoint us, but God never will.

After the conference concluded around 5:30 pm, we hopped onto the hotel shuttle again and deposited our bags at the hotel and then went to the Atlanta Underground Mall. It was not what I remembered it to be and we quickly left. While the heritage of the area is great to discover, the people were not friendly and we felt extremely uncomfortable.

Since it was still early evening, we walked towards the hotel, hoping to come upon a good restaurant. Well, good was an understatement for the place that we found. We ate at Ray’s in the City. Linen table cloths and live music. Our meal, including the tip was close to $100. And we didn’t have any alcohol! That is how pricey the food was. But, oh my, the food was grand. We had fried calamari for an appetizer and I had mahi mahi for my dinner. Kari had the sea scallops. We split for dessert a milk chocolate cheesecake with an oreo crust. Wow! It was truly a meal fit for the last evening of a vacation!

After we were sufficiently stuffed, we started our walk again towards the hotel. It was early evening by this time, but still daylight. It was approaching sunset when we got back to the hotel. After sitting all day in the arena and after a wonderful meal, we enjoyed the walk.

Sunday morning dawned and we slept in a bit. We opted for a light breakfast - coffee for Kari and juice for me and we stopped for brunch at Cracker Barrel about an hour outside of Atlanta. This made for a pleasant drive and a fulfilling meal. We both loved their blueberry pancakes. Plus at the Cracker Barrel shop, we were able to pick up small treats to give her kids and mine when we got home. I got a set of Jacks for C (he has never had a set before!) and we have played them lots. For J, I got him an electric bubble blower and bubbles since he LOVES to blow bubbles. I also picked up a treat for B - a whoopee cushion. Have fun, B!

I am glad to be home, but another few days in Atlanta would have been fun. Especially as I sit here and type and hear the washing machine, dryer and the dishwasher going. Back to reality!