Edited to add--thanks, Mom!: seminar cost is $150; $125 if you don't stay at the ranch itself--there's a little hotel about 8 minutes down the road with rooms for $75 per night (2 nights for seminar time) if you'd rather not be in a cabin with 15 other ladies, LOL!  Maybe we could even get enough girls to go that we could have a cabin all to ourselves, which would be super fun . . . *but* there are rumors of wildlife in the bathrooms--not fun at night!    You could have a room at the hotel to yourself if you know you need it to be able to sleep comfortably, or double or even quadruple up if you want to save some $!  They feed us *well* at the seminar, so there are no food costs.  Just add whatever travel expenses you'll have for a total!

I've got a few minutes while the waffles cook to type!  I've been wanting to crack open my notes and share a little of what I've been learning in the past few weeks and haven't taken the time, so here goes.

First of all, I want to throw out this invitation to all my friends, old and new.    Please go check out Hettie Lue Brooks' family ministry, Brookhill Ranch.  They have a Christian school, church, radio station, kids' camps during the summer, and a college.  Every spring and fall, Hettie hosts a women's seminar.  For three weekends, several hundred women come and stay at the ranch for several sessions of teaching, demonstration, singing and renewal.  I hadn't been there in at least 8 years, and was thrilled to find it even more beautiful and more inspiring than I remembered.  So here we go:  I want as many of you as can to meet me there this fall!  I think the fall seminar is generally September/October, and I'd like to go for the last one (whenever it is.)  Some of you have been there before, and others haven't.  Wouldn't it make a fun reunion?  I want my mom and sister to go, too!  My birthday is in October, so I will consider it a gift to me if you just show up, LOL!  While I was there I just kept picturing so many of my dear girlfriends being blessed by the ministry they have, and I know we'd all have a great time together--but the most wonderful thing would be the change the Lord would do in our lives.  I personally feel like I was taken apart and put back together; it will take some time to really get it all down here at my blog but I have 20-some pages of journalled notes to share!  So drop one Starbucks visit a week, or pull a smidge out of your grocery money, start throwing coins in a bottle or cash in the bank or *something* and get ready to fly to Arkansas in the fall! 

I really felt like I was being set up for this retreat from the moment I signed up.  I picked up that book by Dannah Gresh (5 Questions . . . I wrote about it earlier) and realized that it probably would end up "matching" the theme of Hettie's seminar, which was "The Elect Lady and Her Discontent."  Weird title, mmm?  Not the usual for her!  Anyway, the book led me to see that my frustration and discouragement needed to be read as signals that I'm working outside of my personality type (given by God) and probably outside of His plan for me at this point--or at least, it's meant to direct me otherwise.  I wasn't really sure what all that meant, but it was a relief to think that I wasn't doomed to another 20 years of feeling overwhelmed!  I am such a planner by nature that I work extremely hard to figure out what is the "right way" to do everything.  The problem is that if that plan doesn't work (or stops working) I find myself absolutely stuck--it's very difficult for me to come up with another plan!  In my world, plan B doesn't exist!  Imagine how well that works out, LOL.  Anyway . . . I brought another old book called Total Joy which I randomly grabbed from my bookshelf--one I'd never read before (so strange!)-- with me, and the first few chapters, I read at the airport in Little Rock.  It's mostly about having joy because your marriage is good, and that was great reading for me on my way.  Of course, we have to start with Jesus, and then ourselves!  Here are my notes . . .

a) change what you don't like about yourself.  This would include weight, your attitude, fitness level, clothing, learning, etc.

b) accept what you can't change.  Eye color, ethnicity, marriage status, LOL--these are in this category!

c) get out of your rut! Stop doing the same thing if it makes you and those around you miserable.

d) Live in the moment--move toward your goal.

Good, mmm?  Okay, so then she said to pick a one-word epitaph for yourself.  What would yours be?  (I had to say "tired"!)  What would your family choose as a word to describe you?  Busy?  Devoted?  Happy?  Cranky?  Is that something you want to change?  DO IT!

What things in your life do you most want to change?  Write them down.  Then, write down next to each item the thing you are going to start doing to change it TODAY. 

Make a list, and do the "worst things first."  That needs to be a motto around here!

Okay, waffles are done.  Time to rally the troops for breakfast!