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My heart is so happy and so full after returning from the Influence Conference. Let me back up a few weeks and describe why I thought the Influence Conference was for me.

I am attending Making Things Happen next month and have been a little concerned that I didn’t have some sort of big goal in mind. So when I heard that my church was hosting a Chazown Experience workshop intended to discover God’s purpose for your life I signed up. The Chazown Experience was so unique and really helped me to define what I already knew - that my blog was a great way to reach people in a deeper way. That I needed to connect with my readers through my struggles and experiences. So just days later I saw my friend Erin post about the Influence Conference. Something clicked when I read their tagline “making your online life mean something”. I immediately signed up.

The perfectionist and goal setter in me started making a list of the blog related things I needed to do when I got home while on the plane ride there. I laugh when looking at that list now as it all involves the numbers. It’s entirely too easy to feel intimidated and compare within this community…within any community really. Hayley Morgan of The Tiny Twig said this in the first session “the lies we believe can squash our influence”. She also said “striving is pulling the rope toward you. When you want what others are doing. It’s the striving toward that causes ugliness”. That hit me like a ton of bricks. I don’t want to envy my fellow bloggers. I want to celebrate their successes and to know that it’s all for a greater good. “Good things look differently for all of us according to what glorifies God,” Hayley explained.

That brings me to the community of a conference such as this. All of the wonderful speakers said things that spoke to my heart but the friendships I made here are invaluable. To be surrounded by so many people who “get” you, who inspire you, and who love Jesus just blew me away. To be able to tell them my story about how I became a Christian, to tell them our struggles as a family, and to have so many of them pray for us just means the world to me. It brings me to tears in fact.

Here is the story of my weekend in pictures. iPhone pictures to be exact (my big girl camera didn’t make it out of my bag). A big thank you to the Blue Skies Shop for all of the amazing clothes I wore throughout the conference. I will place a link under each photo of where you can buy certain pieces.

Tonya of Love of Family & Home, Kathleen Harvey, Tawny of Glamorously Mommy, Me, Ashley of Fancy Ashley, Nina of According to Nina, Mandy of House of Rose, and Natalie of Pure and Simple

Click here to buy this top

Ashley of Fancy Ashley, Nina of According to Nina, Erin of Blue Eyed Bride, and Me at the Sole Hope Shoe Cutting Party

Me helping to make shoes for children in Uganda

Erin of Blue Eyed Bride, Whitney English, and Me before the first morning of the Conference

Click here to buy this dress

Ashley of Fancy Ashley, Lara Casey, and Me

Nina of According to Nina, Erin of Blue Eyed Bride, Ashley of Fancy Ashley, and Me

Kitty of Joel and Kitty, Ashley of Fancy Ashley, Erin of Blue Eyed Bride, Nina of According to Nina, Me, Tonya of Love of Family & Home, Natalie of The Busy Budgeting Mama, Mandy of House of Rose, and Ellen of The Sweetwater Blog

Breakfast with Kim of Oh Sweet Joy on Day Two

Click here to buy this top

The amazing Jessi Connolly of the Naptime Diaries

My roommates Kristen of Voice of a Princess and Amanda. We knew nothing about one another before rooming together. I am so thankful to have gotten to know them and can’t wait to watch their stories unfold.

Dinner on the last night. Rachel of Coopers on a Mission, Ginger of Ginger Lane, Kathleen Harvey, Jennifer of Wings, Me, Amanda, Whitney English, Lena of Mattie Mae Designs, Tawny of Glamorously Mommy, and Katie of Indy Eat Well.

Tonya of Love of Family & Home, Me, Mandy of House of Rose, and Natalie of The Busy Budgeting Mama before worship on the last night

Lara Casey said “let’s leave our dreams at the altar. Follow me is a clear call to action. When God puts something on your heart just move…don’t hesitate”. God has put on my heart to share more of my faith on this blog. To take risks for something that matters. Of course I’m still going to share all of the fun things that I normally do but I do want to talk about the hard stuff from time to time. And my hope is that some of you will have those “me too” moments.

Have a great week friends!