My Blessing Bonanza

Remember last week when I told you about being conference bound and friendship bound? Well, the weekend did not disappoint. The blessings just kept coming. Let me fill you in — and thank God at the same time for the blessing bonanza He poured into my life last week. Here’s the short list (or should I say long list?!):

1. A huge catch-up session with my good friend Jeneal (above left). Lots of long overdue girl-talk time as we traveled to the conference together and also shared a hotel room.

2. Meeting Angela (above center), our friend of over 20 years whom we hadn’t seen in years and years, for dinner and another huge catch-up session on the evening of our arrival. We could have talked and laughed all night — though I’m sure our server was glad when we finally left :)

3. Getting to meet Vonda Skelton (below right) and Mary DeMuth, both who have acted as online writing mentors for me through their blogs (links under “For Fellow Writers” on the right sidebar) and through Mary’s participation in The Christian Writers View 2. These ladies blessed us with outstanding keynote presentations as well as the classes they taught.

4. With limited time slots available, I was able to sign up for 15 minute personal appointments with both Vonda and Mary. Each one offered helpful suggestions and encouraged me greatly with their positive comments about my current project. Vonda even spent extra time with me since I was her last appointment for the day and since we were both eager to grow the online friendship we’d already started. So much fun to get to do this!

5. Lots of great instruction, inspiration, networking, and fellowship while attending the North Texas Christian Writers Conference.

6. I won 2nd place in the poetry category of the NTCW Conference Excellence in Writing contest! Exciting stuff, huh?!

7. I also won (as a door prize) a book I wanted! Lucky me! Woohoo!! :)

8. Getting to spend the night at Rusty and Angela’s after the conference and be a part of a surprise birthday party that members of their church threw for Angela. We helped her celebrate her 30th so many years ago, and this time we got to help her celebrate her 50th! So much fun to spend time with Rusty and Angela and to meet some of their friends in Texas.

9. Attending church with Rusty and Angela and hearing Rusty preach once again. Rusty is a former pastor to both Jeneal and me, and our church was the first church he pastored after graduating seminary over 20 years ago. Everyone in their current church got a kick out meeting such old friends of theirs :)

10. Safe travel to Dallas and back. This is no small blessing. All the construction in the Dallas area led to worse than normal traffic challenges. I did have the tiniest of fender-benders at one point, but it didn’t hurt the other car at all. I, however, came home with a souvenir. Yep, a small dent and some paint damage… Believe me, though, I was thankful to get out of there with our lives and car in one piece! :)

So there you have it — my blessing bonanza. Was God good to me or what?!!

“…O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.” Psalm 30:12b

*Trivia Tidbit: I have now been blogging for 3 years!

Comments

  1. Cheryl!!! What a joy to get to finally meet you in person! I felt like we’d known each other forever! Thank you for your kind words. You are such a blessing in my life. And congratulations on your three years of blogging. You’ve got me beat by three months.

    Oh, and congratulations on your contest win, too. Just more validation that you’re on the right path. Keep writing!

  2. You are so sweet. Thanks so much for the mention!

  3. Sounds like you had a great time and was well worth the time and effort to go. Spending time with friends also a great blessing for you. What a great weekend.

  4. So grateful for your update and all the good work that God did in you and through you! I know you are blessed for the adventure and can now settle into applying all that you’ve learned!

    peace~elaine

  5. Wonderful sharing here Cheryl!

    God is good!

    Blessings!

  6. Kudos on the Poetry win!!!

  7. Happy Blogaversary! :)

    And wow – you got to meet the Fabulous Miss Vonda Skelton. She is the bomb, isn’t she? I met her at the W2I conference last year. and what a blessing it was!

    I enjoy your post – I’m looking forward to many more years of your fabulous insight!

  8. Cheryl,
    What a wonderful experience! So happy the conference was all you expected and more. I’ve met both Vonda and Mary and agree that they are such awesome writers with a heart to help writers.

    Looking forward to seeing where this enthusiasm and affirmation takes you.

    Happy writing and have a great weekend,
    Kelli

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