Richmond Bible Conference 2009

The Bible conference at Richmond over the Easter weekend came and now it is gone. Why do fun things end so quickly?! We took up Ephesians 1 in the reading meetings and I enjoyed it so so much. Sometimes bible readings almost feel rushed because there is so much to go over, but this year it was one chapter and there was time to dwell on the different things that the chapter brings out. It was so practical and edifying. I also enjoyed seeing friends that I hadn't seen for a year or more and my social sister came as well. We got a couple of quick visits in here and there, but didn't really see much of each other. When you squish hundreds of people into our meeting room, you end up bumping into a lot of people (literally) but possibly not even end up saying hi or having a conversation with a few people because of all the busyness around you. You'll see that the photos below are fairly blurry because I wasn't really paying that much attention and just snapping a quick shot when I could. The ladies made nine meals worth of food this year and there were good responses, with the favorite meals being Friday's Greek meal (roast lamb, Greek rice, Greek potatoes, Greek salad, flat bread, hummus, tsatsiki sauce) and Lord's day's roast beef meal with all the fixins.

A busy kitchen on the Wednesday before conference- Food Prep Day! No, all the food was not made on this day, but a lot of the bulk got taken care of. Have you ever made cake for 300 people?! Or roasted 145 pounds of meat? Aunts D and Knittery did all the planning and organizing and were our top chef's and they did an amazing job. I don't know how they do it, but I know they practically lived at the meeting room for a week. Oh yes, and I better tell you all about my thumb. Imagine a huge stainless steel shredder/grater that suction cups onto the counter top and has a hand crank. Imagine what happens when your thumb slips off the apple.... yes. That is all I will say about that. I wore steri-stips all conference and couldn't do any dishes but thankfully the thumb is almost completely healed at this point.

This is one example of how the kids kept themselves busy. Did you know that Ioi's three kids and Drooler could all squish into one apple box? Actually, Lily babysat all the kids on the food prep day, so this must have been after prayer meeting that night.

Here is Esther and her mommy on Thursday afternoon making baklava for the Greek meal on Friday. What a tedious dessert, but oh so yummy! (Hmm, I wonder if you can buy gluten free puff pastry anywhere.)

This year we tried to put as many families in homes as possible. Not only does it mean more fellowship, which is healthy for Christians, but it means less hotel costs! This year The Mr. and I opened our home to seven guys. I learned that guys are easy to keep because they find what they need or make due with what they have and they are more than happy with a large pan of scrambled eggs every morning. Usually I would be making breakfast casseroles and fancier breakfasts, but not this time! Another bonus, is that seven guys can easily share one bathroom as long as you can turn up your water heater. You sure wouldn't want to try and pull that off with seven girls!

After each reading meeting, drip coffee and home made cookies are served but if you know where to line up, you will get a nice hot fresh steaming latté of your choice. My job was to stand at the front of the line and write names and orders on cups, then there were two baristas who would fill the cups, and I would add a lid and hand it out. It was a busy little corner of the meeting room but I think it went fairly smooth. As you can see from these photos, Drooler loves to help. Usually there are two baristas and no room for kids underfoot, but this was during the afternoon of the last day of conference when things were a little quieter.

Check out that concentration! It helps when you stick your tongue out.

The swing set and slide got put to very good use. Kids were everywhere!

Wiggles

Each night there was a young people's sing and a few of the visitors brought their instruments with them. It was so fun to sing along to them. You can see The Mr. up there in his shirt and tie, as he was leading the sings.

Thanks for coming everyone! If you are reading this and you weren't there, you should come next year. :)