MomCon 2014

This past weekend Lucy, Jan, Bunny, and Tracy traveled to Louisville, KY for MomCon, the annual MOPS conference. Lucy wrote this blog post to share her experience. Enjoy!

I went all the way to Kentucky for some soul candy! Huh? What I mean is, I went to MomCon- the MOPS International Convention, with 3,000 of my besties. It wasn't easy to swing this. Weeks of making arrangements, packing, and fundraising, then I drove to Miami to drop my 3 beautiful daughters off with my in-laws, then flew out to meet up with some mom pals in ATL. It was a weekend full of inspiration, wisdom, love and hugs. We laughed, cried and ate some fantastic fried chicken. 

On Thursday I went to a break out session with many other Nursery Coordinators and we traded tips. It was comforting to know we all struggled ;-)  Friday fried my brain. We began with a session with Jennie Allen and yummy smoothie tips to kick off the morning with Melissa D'Arabian. After lunch, Tracy and I went to an awesome session by Lisa-Jo Baker called When Your Anger Scares You- this alone was totally worth the trip! Here's my page of notes. Then, we went to Jennifer Degler's Fan the Flame: Igniting Sexual Intimacy in Marriage. Basically, women need more orgasms- that's what I got out of the talk. I'm working on getting her list of how to work your way there. So, stay tuned. In the meantime, if you aren't already getting her monthly dares, I suggest signing up for them now. That evening, Lisa Chan challenged us to do more with our mom roles and put our relationship with God first. A friend of mine in Louisville was so sweet to pick us up and take us to a hot spot, Harvest. We were able to try delicious, local food for a night out. Saturday morning Shauna Niequist gave a great talk on friendships. She suggested working to deepen a few friendships instead of looser friendships with many. That's a tough one for me. Here's my notes. After lunch I went to Alex Kuykendall's Raising Girls: What Our Daughters Need to Hear. My notes are here. That was a good one, too! That afternoon I went to The Fabulous Family: Five Foundational Truths on Raising Great Kids with Stephanie Morris. I got some great take aways from this one, including a chore chart. My notes are here. And this is something I plan to do with my husband, a digging deeper reflection. We had a final session with Angie Smith encouraging us to live in the now. Good stuff. That night we had a last, hoo-ra, a Mom Prom! We dressed in our 20s flapper dresses and did some damage on the dance floor...and the dessert table. A perfect way to end a good weekend! 


I think my over-all take away from the speakers and sessions was that I, as a mom, am the #1 role model for my children (no pressure). The way I talk to my husband, see myself, and live my life has the largest impact on my daughters' lives. This isn't news to me, but it didn't hurt to hear it again. I feel truly refreshed and enlivened after this weekend. My husband got a break, my girls were able to spend a fun weekend with their grandparents, and I am a mother on fire! :-)

Sound like fun? Join us for MomCon in Indianapolis September 17-19, 2015!