Life With The Stanfords

Catching Up...

It feels like weeks since I've posted. Sorry about that. We had a jam-packed weekend and today I was cleaning up the aftermath.

Jade and I were at a Ladies' Retreat Friday night. He and the praise team at our church were the entertainment. They rocked our faces off and rocked a few pictures off the wall. Aren't you so glad Christians can rock their faces off? We are free indeed!

Here are a few pictures of The Graceworks Band. And yes, we do have women on our Praise Team. Dana is the bomb! She can old school rip up a keyboard and she sings real purty, too. She is elusive and hard to get a picture of. Cindy, Teri, and Barbara all sing. Bruce sings, too. This is Ryan and Carson. I can appreciate their coolness:

Here's Vandy. He's somewhat of a Renaissance Man. He's an engineer, team pens cattle competitively, and yes, plays the saxophone:

This is Chad. Is he cute or what? I'm old enough to be his mother. He plays bongos, djembe, tambourine and some kind of egg thing that shakes -- while barefoot. He's ultra-groovy, dude. Oh yeah, and he works with my husband at the car shop.

Here's Eddie. He just fell off a roof a few months ago and broke his back - a lot. He's just now out of his brace. This guy inspires the heck out of me. Amazing attitude. Up there singing praises in the middle of the pain. He rocks.

And here's my husband. Notice the somewhat tense look on his face. I'm thinking he wasn't into having his picture made at that particular moment, so I quietly moonwalked back to my seat. Sheesh! I'm glad he can't fire me!

I wish I had some pictures from the rest of the retreat to show you. My camera did not cooperate, though. Everything else was blurry and/or grainy. We did have a really great time. I'm still trying to catch up on my sleep. Have a great week!

National Worship Leader Conference

My husband and I just returned from Austin, TX. We were there for the National Worship Leaders Conference at Riverbend Church. We had an amazing week. I think there must be about 10 blogs' worth of things I could write. Every day in worship, I looked enviously at all the Macs around me. I wanted to blog all the things that were being said and sung while it was fresh on my mind.

First, a big thank you to Riverbend Church. Their church should be pictured under the word, "Hospitality" in the dictionary. I wonder if at any point they became panicked about the fact that 3000 or so relatives were coming to stay for a week! I never saw a frown, never a grumble or complaint. They were gracious and they anticipated needs. They were just lovely people.

Second, I worshiped like a crazy lady this week! We were led by Paul Baloche, Fernando Ortega, Kathryn Scott, Chris Tomlin, Israel Houghton and so many others. There were times when I thought Jesus might just come back and take us home because we were so READY! The beauty of those voices joined together in praise cannot be described here. It had to be experienced. Here's baby Evelyn all worshiped out...

Now for the speakers - Gordon McDonald blew me away. He spoke about our responsibility as leaders to offer hope to people of every age who walk through our doors. He described so poignantly the issues that go through the mind at every stage of life. His sermon should be required listening for every church leader. Marcos Witt was my second favorite. He challenged me to be on my game. He asked great questions like "Do you have your bible with you today? What does your hotel room look like? Do you know what's going on in the world around you? I believe he was encouraging us to pursue excellence. I need that speech about four times a year.

The people I met - for me, this was the most valuable part of my visit. I met wonderful people from North Carolina, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi this week. They are all in ministry. I wanted to go home with every one of them. The need for encouragement and camaraderie is so basic, and yet it still surprises me how much I am refreshed, and uh, yes, ENCOURAGED by it!

Lastly (unless I think of something else), to my blogging teacher, Shaun Groves. I debated over whether or not to link to your blog because I figured then you would come see who was linking to you. Thanks for the class - now I feel completely unqualified to have a blog. Oh the pressure of being witty and engaging! Really, though, I appreciate your time. I learned a lot. Now I need to update my blog with everything I've learned. By the way, love the Shlog.