I was there!
And I'm so glad. We set off on Friday afternoon to attend the lovely family picnic planned by Michele. As we drove along I was filled with the most unusual excitement and expectation. For days my children had been asking me which bloggers would be there, and Mary Rose even wrote down everyone's name so she could study the list. We were going to meet these wonderful ladies who daily inspire me with their wisdom and creativity and holiness while making me choke on my tea with their humor. I kept thinking what a strange feeling it was to be going to meet these dear friends I know and love that I haven't ever met before.
We were warmly welcomed and had a lot of fun at the picnic.
I especially enjoyed snuggling this sweet little guy (seeing how my littlest boy is quite big).
Can you guess who this chubby cherub is?
The conference on Saturday was lovely as well. The speakers were inspiring and entertaining (you can purchase the talks here). Alice made her liturgical celebrations and crafts sound so simple and doable, and as always we were encouraged by her resourcefulness. To quote the wise Minnesota Mom: Truly, she lives the theological virtues as effortlessly as some of us slurp coffee. (Ahem.) (or tea in my case). Only dear Alice could look at a wooden recipe box and see a miniature altar, and we all benefit from taking a peek at life through her eyes.
Margot of Hillside Education encouraged and delighted us with her contagious love of literature. Although our family is more like that 'unnamed naturalist from New York' who doesn't use study guides, Margot's practical steps for enhancing the discussing and writing and thinking deeper about the literature we know and love was inspiring and informative. (Students take heed! Analytical literary writing assignments may be coming this fall to a homeschool near you!)
Mary Ellen spoke on the joys and growth and learning that comes from having a special blessing in the family, and I found myself nodding and grinning and crying in turn at just about everything she said. Though our special children are so different in age and disability we share a lot in common, and now I think fondly of her son with the natural piety every time I see Eliza pretending to distribute Holy Communion with her customary great charm and reverence.
Meredith shared her typical sweetness and light with ideas for engaging the littlest ones in school time. It was good to have a reminder of how simple it is to do unit studies with the youngest students, and how they can benefit from having directed activities that delight them as they learn.
And then dear Alice had us all in stitches as she recounted her earliest encounters and subsequent, um, less than enthusiastic reaction regarding this bizarre new concept called home education (!). But God is good and He leads His children in the paths they should go, with a little help from Helen and Lissa of course, and as they say the rest is history. In Alice's case it's also a delightful book, which I am eagerly looking forward to reading. I haven't been able to get my hands on Haystack Full of Needles as all of my children are reading it. Even Eliza and Kateri sit and page through it to look at the pictures.
We also met the shockingly clever Karen, Michelle and her sweet daughter, fruity Diane, Heather and her lovely talented daughter, and super sweet Erica from California who I think won the distance prize.
The conference center was spacious and accommodating and Michele's organizing truly made it Family-Centered. We all went along for the day and there was room for everyone. After having been entertained by Margot's boys making music at the picnic, my guys of course had to bring their instruments to jam with them on Saturday.
They had a good time hanging out together. I don't have a picture (but Michele does) of my girls hanging out with the most entertaining and effervescent Maggie. I think Mary Rose has finally met her giggling match.
Michael enjoyed that sweet baby boy as well.
My only disappointment was to realize I hardly took any pictures (Josiah takes more inane pictures of things like my teacup or my ears on a regular day at home than I took all weekend, sigh), though as Michael pointed out it was because I was too busy having fun. You can see lots of lovely pictures taken by ladies who are better at multitasking, particularly the super efficient Michele who beautifully organized the whole event. I had a great time and even learned some things I never expected to learn such as why you should never bother to make earrings for Alice, or who drew the cover illustrations for some of our most favorite books (oh, this makes me GRIN), or that even when you are out of town having a blast for a few days you should still try to remember to feed the fish (don't ask). It was truly delightful to get together with these wonderful real ladies and I am so thankful for the opportunity to meet them all in hug-and-squeeze-and laugh-and-go-ahead-and-pull-my-hair person. And I certainly hope we can do it all again someday!
