Delisa's Days: DotMom 2013 and Feeding the Homeless

Y'all. It was SUCH a good weekend. No...good is not a strong enough word to explain the weekend. Maybe great. Awesome. Amazing. Even those don't seem to do it justice.

On Friday morning, I dropped the kids off at school and headed to Dallas for the dotMom conference. I have been hearing about this conference for years, but have never had the chance to go since it is usually too far away. But since Dallas is pretty close, I decided this was MY year to finally see what all the talk is about. (The fact that some of my very favorite blogger women would be there made that decision even easier.) I stopped in Rockwall to pick up my birthmom, Sherry, and then we were off to Frisco.

The emcee's for the event were Sophie and Melanie, and they did a phenomenal job. I made it a personal weekend goal to meet Melanie and get her to sign my copy of her book Sparkly Green Earrings. This is the book that I talked about in my last post, and her book has since moved into the #27 slot on the New York Times best sellers list. I have been reading her blog for YEARS and I could not be happier for her and the success of her book. Unless you read people's blogs that you don't personally know, you probably won't understand this, but I feel like I have known her for a long time, even though I've never actually gotten to meet her, and I knew this weekend would be my chance.

Ok. If you're looking for a 'what NOT to say' when you first meet someone, here's one for you...."Hi, I'm Delisa and I LOVE you!" As Austin would say...AWKWARD. But she couldn't have been sweeter and I enjoyed getting to talk to her for a few minutes. If I didn't love her so much, I would hate her for her hair perfection. Why will mine not do this?!

I've had a few people ask me if they can borrow my book so they can read it, and before she signed it, it was not a big deal. But now, I've gotta go with no. No, you cannot borrow it now. I'm sorry, but it's only $10 on Amazon or Sam's, and it's a purchase you won't regret.

The first big speaker for the conference was Angie Smith (another blogger I follow). My first time to hear Angie speak was at Women of Faith in Dallas last fall, and she has not disappointed either time I've heard her. Angie has a unique ability to stand up in front of hundreds of women and be completely real and raw. I don't know how she does it, but I love the fact that she doesn't try to hide the fact that she is a mess, despite the fact that from the outside she seems to have a perfect life. She is humble, and God uses her to touch other women through her humility.

This conference included several breakout sessions that included different topics that affect moms, and we had many different ones to choose from. I made it a point to go to Melanie's breakout session, which was about fashion for mom's. Not that I care about fashion. Like, at all. But, because of my aforementioned LOVE for her, this is a breakout that I HAD to go to. I am not ashamed to say that I was a little bit in stalker mode. Not. One. Bit. Ashamed. While I was sitting in that small little, overcrowded room, I saw a girl standing up over to the side that looked familiar. It didn't take me too long to realize that this was, yet another, blogger that I follow, Kelly Stamps. I was SO excited that I was actually in the same room with Kelly AND Melanie. I got a chance to talk to her after the breakout session was over, and as you can tell by the look on my face, I was a little bit star stuck (because Kelly IS a star in the blog world).

But she was super nice, and I'm so happy that I finally got the chance to talk to her face to face.

Even though I was in blogger heaven at during the entire conference, the most important thing I got out of this event is practical tips on how to be a better mom. I attended a breakout session on raising boys, and with 2 of them I need all the help I can get. The worship was lead by Travis Cottrell, and it couldn't have been any better. My friend, Sara, was originally supposed to go with me, but she had an unplanned trip to California come up, so Sherry gladly stepped in and went with me. Moments of alone time with Sherry are rare, so just having her by my side all weekend made it that much sweeter. We both enjoyed the conference, but also enjoyed dinner at Gloria's, a night together in a hotel room, and shopping at The Container Store.

A weekend I will not soon forget...

I do want to add that, while I was so happy to be where I was, I hated that I had to miss the homeless feed that our young family group was doing on Saturday afternoon. Robbie took the boys, and the 3 of them, along with about 70 of our friends, fed the homeless in Texarkana all the deer chili they could eat. They also passed out tarps, tents, blankets, and toiletries. I love that our boys are being exposed to people who have very little, and that they got to see God's love in action. Here are a few pics that my friend, Leah, sent me from the homeless feed....