I left my heart in Texas....

...well, not actually, although we did enjoy the warm weather and a great Conference in Dallas. Certainly a highlight was being able to spend some much anticipated time with our old friends, Ron & Gail.
The drive there was quite intense with the highways being covered with ice clear through to Nebraska. Our first day was 14 crazy long 'white-knuckled' hours and I have to say I don't know when I've been so stressed for so long, nor so happy to get out of the vehicle. There were hundreds of cars, truck & transports in the ditch up to that point. We stayed put in Nebraska for a couple of days at friends of Mike & Renee's - Charlie & Alvena Adams - they were wonderful hosts. We left Nebraska in the wee morning hours on Monday in order to get to Dallas on time for the first session....thankfully the roads were good from this point.
As far as the Conference, my favorite speakers were Bob Wilkin, James Bond (yes, really!) and Tony Evans. You can check out the Grace website at www.faithalone.org, click on Annual Conference and you may even find me/us in the pictures during Charlie Bing's session. It was standing room only when he spoke. There were so many good speakers during the afternoon workshops, but you had to pick and choose between several going on at once, which meant you were missing other good speakers! The important thing is that the message of Free Grace came through loud & clear.
The hotel was gorgeous and after sleeping in a king-size bed for a few days I was ready to knock out walls to make room for one of those in our bedroom!!! The elevator was glass on one side and the entire hotel had an open concept, with the rooms all overlooking the main floor lobby, balcony-style, no long closed-in hallways. We could talk (more like yell) to Mike & Renee across the courtyard from our room even though we were on different floors.
It was also great to re-connect with our friends Ron & Gail. They live in Dallas and we managed to spend some time together. Gail was even able to join us for a couple of sessions. Thanks guys for taking time for us!
Anyway, I'll let you enjoy a few pictures now. It's is good to be home, but sure would have liked to bring those 20's (C) temps home with us. I guess our turn is coming, right!?
Oh, did I mention I really don't care to drive in Texas anytime soon - the drivers are crazy!! (Sorry Ron, you actually drove pretty nice and thank you so much for the tour) :) The George W. Bush turnpike had Renee closing her eyes TIGHT, and although I was a little freaked too, I tried to capture it with my camera.

Sara

Ok...looks like blogger doesn't want me posting pictures right now, so we'll try that again tomorrow.