Can you feel the sigh of relief and the peace that is starting to envelope me?

Don’t be a hater… I’m really hoping you got a great relaxing vacation in this year too.  If not, there is still time to make it happen.

We’re vacationing at the beach with my husband’s family and I managed to sneak away for a few hours of quality introvert time.

I’m currently camped out in front of a quaint little bookstore/coffee shop/fine tea store – that’s nearly heaven all by itself! – and I’m sitting down to do some writing.

As I sit here, the small crowd of “snow birds”, as they like to call the off season beach vacationers, are tooling around on their bicycles and a work crew is stringing the trees with Christmas lights.  Seriously… this might be near perfection!

One of the most difficult things for me to do on vacation is to live without an agenda and to let go of the expectations I perceive that others have of me.  That makes vacation in and of itself hard work!, but usually after a few days of battling my craziness, I settle into enjoying a slower pace and finding rest.

So with that said, my words may be few here at the blog this week.  I’ll likely only write when inspiration comes rather than discipline myself to create something new.

But…

I would love to hear from you!  Would you like to guest post this week on my blog?  I know that is terribly short notice, but don’t go to extra trouble.  Just pull a great post from your blog and send it my way.  I’ll select posts at my will and I won’t go to extra work to do this (remember, I’m on vacation).  Make it simple and follow a few guidelines for me.

• My blog is typically about the joys, pains, stresses & successes as a leader.  I prefer you stay on that topic, but bring some fresh perspective from your sphere of leadership.
• Stick to 300-500 words.
• Be kind.
• Don’t promote your book, conference,  or product.  Let us just hear from you.
• Send to jenni (at) crosspoint (dot) tv

Have a great week everyone!

I have to be honest.  I was a little a lot nervous about this adventure.  Thousands of women in one place really kind of scares me.  Giggles and tears don’t come easily to me so an unusual amount of those things in one place runs a close second to my worst nightmare.

But I have to tell you, this experience has been a pleasant surprise.

I have been loved and accepted.  I have been challenged and encouraged.

And they haven’t imposed too much pink on me

What they have done is challenged me with statements like this:

“God has designed us with a will that is stronger than our emotions.”  Patsy Clairmont

“When you are seeking wisdom, the quality of the answers will be determined by the quality of your questions.”  Andy Andrews

“When you are not functioning in the roles you’ve been given, there is a withering that takes place inside of you.”  Patsy Clairmont

“Forgiveness is a decision.  It’s not an emotion.”  Andy Andrews

“Be purposefully grateful so you can choose to be happy.”  Andy Andrews

“There’s a difference between being transparent and being vulnerable.”  Lisa Whelchel

“Everything you do matters.  What you do now impacts others for generations to come.  Every move you make is shaping the world.  I don’t hope you do great things, I expect it!“  Andy Andrews

The Women of Faith team is doing amazing work.  As John Maxwell says, “everything rises and falls on leadership”.  This organization is doing great work because of these great leaders.  I am blessed to have their investment in my life!

A very tired and disheveled me with Mary Graham, President of WOF and the dynamo Patsy Clairmont who by the way, grabbed me by the cheeks and exclaimed, “You’re such a baby, how can you be old enough to do all these things?!”

Only Patsy could get away with that

… going to a country that you’ve never been to before, particularly when that country’s first language is not your first or second language.

Rest is not…

… making your way to the taxi line with luggage in tow constantly reliving scenes from the movie “Taken”.

Rest is not…

… flying through the night, arriving at 9am local time and touring the city streets until 9pm.

But rest today was…

• finishing a good book on the plane
• my luggage arriving without a problem
• meandering walks through city streets
• stopping wherever we pleased because there was no agenda
• casual, easy conversation with my sister
• a helpful waitress who read and translated every word of the menu to us
• a quick conversation with my husband before drifting off for a very good night’s rest

I’ll have some pictures soon.  I’m just too tired to figure out how to download them from my camera.

Rest well today, friends!

So despite my indifference and a little sticker shock over the cost of this “most wonderful place on earth”, I was ready to engage my inner princess and enjoy the experience.

We kicked off our Disney adventure with Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party.  While I failed to be properly costumed, accompanied by my young friends Belle (the princess) and Alice (from Wonderland), I seemed to be ok.  Although a bit rusty, I stuttered out the pass phrase “trick or treat” and promptly began bartering trades.  “I’ll give you a Milky Way for your Peanut M&M’s.”

We watched the parade, we devoured a turkey drumstick, we oohed and aahhed over the fireworks at Cinderella’s castle, we wandered the countries of Epcot and rode Space Mountain multiple times.  We even tracked down Mary Poppins and asked to have our picture taken.

[WARNING: If you are a super Disney fan, you might want to quit reading now because this is where the magic ends.]

But as much as I tried to find my inner princess, I couldn’t ever fully connect to the magic that I thought I was supposed to experience.  Here I was in this perfect, beautiful existence and it still felt so hollow… so empty… so not real.  Everyone was trying to create a perfect world and convince me it’s the most wonderful place on Earth and yet I felt cheated and deceived by a world that just isn’t real.  (I kept relating myself to Truman from The Truman Show.)

Disney to me is our greatest attempt as humans to restore the beauty of God’s original plan, to recreate the Garden, to create the perfect life.

Don’t misunderstand… I really don’t think there is anything wrong with Disney.  In fact, I was enamored by the attention to detail, the commitment to excellence and the overall exceptional experience.  (Another more positive post to come with those observations.)

My Disney experience was just a reminder that for all our extraordinary attempts to restore God’s perfection, we’ll never accomplish it here on Earth as humans.

So as great as Disney is, imagine how amazing God’s perfection will be!

We just got back from a family vacation in Orlando.

Tons of fun at Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Downtown Disney & SeaWorld.  I’ll post more about our experience soon, but for Friday Fun I would love to hear…

What is your favorite place to vacation?

I’m kind of a geek about attending conferences and learning new things.  I purposefully chose to attend Story this year because I needed a new learning environment.  I wanted to hear from different voices and engage different experiences.

And since we’re in the thick of the fall conference season, I thought I would share with you three things I do to make the most of my conference experience:

1) Plan ahead

I try to learn as much as I can about the conference, the speakers, the city, etc before I get there so that I can jump right in.  I follow the twitter hash tag.  I review any materials I’ve received ahead of time.  I get myself comfortable with what to expect.  By planning ahead I can define the things that will help me accomplish the second thing I do to make the most of my experience:

2) Take in everything

I plan to take in everything I can.  I attend as many sessions as possible.  I try to connect with people during breaks and lunches.  I walk through the vendor booths.  I sort through the swag bag.  You never know what you might catch that is perfectly timed for you and/or your team.  And that’s another good point, be on the lookout for not only what is beneficial to you, but what might be a help or resource to someone else on your team.  Share the love!

3) Study what’s under the surface

The biggest thing that I take away from conferences is not actually the content of the speakers.  It’s not even always the relationships.  The biggest thing that I take away is what I’m observing beneath the surface.

I very studiously take notes in most sessions, but my notes are actually divided into three columns:

1) quotes from the speaker

2) ideas that I’m generating from what the speaker is saying

3) observations about the communicators style and delivery

I have done #1 & #2 for years, but #3 is my latest addition.  As a developing communicator, I’m trying to learn everything I can from different speakers’ communication style, mannerisms, connectivity, etc.

I view conferences as a gift and a luxury; an opportunity to be invested in and to learn from… and so I feel compelled to do everything I can to make the most of the experience.

How about you?

What conferences are you headed to this fall?

What is one thing you do to make the most of the experience?

But my crazy week has a payoff.  I’ve been looking forward to this weekend for months!  Merlyn and I are headed to Cincinnati for the Western & Southern Tennis Open, part of the US Open Series.  I’m so excited!

Right now it looks like we have a good chance of seeing Federer, Nadal, Murray, & Djokovic.

I’m kind of giddy.

So, follow me on Twitter this weekend.  I’ll be sure to tell you all about it!

What is on the horizon that you are looking forward to?

Need I say more?

But I will…

Jes and I are having a blast getting away for a few days.

So far we’ve:

• Sat on the beach
• Read on the beach
• Shopped
• Eaten
• Sat on the beach
• Read on the beach
• Walked on the beach
• Shopped
• Eaten

Today we’ll:

• Run/walk on the beach
• Eat
• Lay on the beach
• Lay on our rafts on the water
• Read on the beach
• Eat
• Shop
• Eat again

Totally predictable & fabulous!

What are you doing this weekend?

I’m chillin’ at the beach this week.

So you won’t see much of me here at the blog for a few days…  Hoping to rejuvenate, read a lot and give these white chicken legs a little color.

I might twitter a few things occasionally, so you can follow along there.

Hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!