{"id":446,"date":"2013-08-14T19:13:41","date_gmt":"2013-08-15T00:13:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/?p=446"},"modified":"2018-08-10T13:19:53","modified_gmt":"2018-08-10T18:19:53","slug":"what-a-difference-a-year-makes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/2013\/08\/14\/what-a-difference-a-year-makes\/","title":{"rendered":"Declare 2013 – What a difference a Year makes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Declare- what a difference a year makes!<\/span><\/p>\n

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When I attended Mamas Write last year, I stumbled upon it via someones comment on FB, \u00a0I had no idea what to expect, nor did i know anyone who was there. I must admit I felt a little on the margins- I was one of the very few(count ’em on one hand) older ladies who attended.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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Whew, that took a lot to admit! \u00a0I have attended many other conferences for my profession and I’m used to many voices at one time all speaking the same language. But, not then- I was the foreigner in a foreign land. New to blogging, only at it not quite a year. \u00a0Not like some of those other “girls” whose voice had been out there for 5, 8, 10 years. \u00a0I was the outsider looking in and I was overwhelmed. TMI and a lot of it didn’t apply- not because I knew it all, but because I was in a different season than most of those precious young ones.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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Fast forward a couple of months and I went to Allume- I was called there- and I knew it. But, even though I met in RL many of the sweet girls I had become friends with online through the Better Writer group on FB, there was still something off kilter. TMI \u00a0again and so much that it was still flowing out my ears six months later. I did love meeting my girls tho- those ladies are so precious to me, to \u00a0have met, hugged, talked with, ate with, sat in sessions with and ate chocolate with; not to mention the incredible photo booth which was an experience in itself (yes, Trina, I mean you). \u00a0Still, I must admit that I’ve been off-kilter a lot since then. \u00a0A lingering minor illness that sapped my strength the rest of the fall, winter and into the spring made even thinking about blogging a challenge.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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Now, fast forward from spring to now- I declare! What an amazing difference a year makes. I was torn this year between going to every conference I could to not attending any. Financial concerns were looming. I held off until the week of the conference- ok, that was last week y’all! And, just like last year- It was a God thing that I go.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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I could tell you of meeting in RL two of my fellow Better Writer bloggers (like meeting long-separated family). I could tell you of the little jewels that stood out in Mary DeMuth’s talk; but I wrote a page and a half on that! I could tell you of all the sweet ladies that I met at the table at meal times. I could tell you of Kat Lee’s Ninja talk \u00a0(another 3 pages of notes). I could tell you of Amy Lynn Andrews’ \u00a0fast and furious paced answers to those blogging FAQs (but she gave us the link to her cheat sheet). I could tell you of Holly Homer’s introduction to the world of Google + (whew, more notes!!).\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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I could tell you of all the wonderful vendors I talked with whose hearts for the truly disenfranchised and for the least of these was evident in every conversation. I could tell you of Jill Monaco’s wonderful roller coaster talk and her absolute trust in God and His timing. I could tell you of David Molnar’s great photography tips and his fun sense of humor (great tips, thanks!). I could tell you of Jeff Goins and his most sincere talk regarding the in-between (not to mention-his impersonation of Ron Weasley). I could tell you of the worship band,\u00a0Undignified<\/em>\u00a0and their wonderful leadership into the heart of worship for us all. \u00a0But, what stuck most in my heart was Shaun Groves.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Shaun’s heart is so far out in front of him it’s flashing with neon lights! His music was a joy to my ears, but when he talked about his precious little man, and the fact that if only someone had been compassionate and had sponsored this sweet boy, he would now be home in India in his own home with his own parents, with his own father telling him that he loved him in his native language. There were tears in Shaun’s eyes as he related the story of tucking in this little man and telling him that he loved him and this sweet boy, not understanding the language, asked what love meant. He told us that he used the words the boy did understand: “I big, big, big like you!” And that sweet boy told him: “Daddy, I love you, too.” \u00a0(big cry)<\/span><\/div>\n
Shaun then related to us how much it would mean for this little boy to hear that from his birth parent and how he wished that it was so. That it was not him, the adoptive daddy, but the real daddy telling this little boy about love. It didn’t matter to him that he loved this one with all his heart, he only knew that there are many boys and girls out there who do not hear those words every night. There are so many more who are orphaned and given away or abandoned by parents who have no means to feed, clothe, educate, or anything else. These parents, destitute, fade away. The lucky ones are scooped up by missions and organizations like Compassion. Their bodies are fed, they are clothed and educated and their souls and spirits are fed the food they need to soar and to grow into the Body of Christ. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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That is what I want to tell you. It’s not about blogging. It’s about community. It’s about loving our fellow man, caring for those who are helpless to care for themselves, in whatever way we can. For those who blog- it’s telling our story to anyone who will listen because\u00a0we all matter<\/strong>. \u00a0It’s loving until it hurts and then loving some more; and if we have the means it’s sharing what we have with those who have nothing.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes to feed the crowds.\u00a0He will multiply your words to reach the ones who need to be told “I love You”.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Trust Him. He will feed you and give you words so that you can feed others.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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That’s what I gleaned between the lines last weekend at Declare!<\/span><\/div>\n
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I’m linking up with other attendees over on\u00a0Declare’s site<\/a>– go out and read what knocked their socks off this weekend? I know they’d appreciate it and any comment you give them will spur them on as they write!<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Declare- what a difference a year makes! When I attended Mamas Write last year, I stumbled upon it via someones comment on FB, \u00a0I had no idea what to expect, nor did i know anyone who was there. I must admit I felt a little on the margins- I was one of the very few(count … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[174,179,175,5,9,173,176,172,178,159,171,177],"class_list":["post-446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-amy-lynn-andrews","tag-community","tag-david-molnar","tag-declare-conference","tag-faith","tag-holly-hohner","tag-jeff-goins","tag-kat-lee","tag-loaves-and-fishes","tag-love","tag-mary-demuth","tag-shaun-groves"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":814,"href":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446\/revisions\/814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsfromthehomefront.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}