Forward 2013

This weekend was Forward weekend.  Shaun's first Forward Conference! On Thursday morning Jordan went to stay with my sister. Shaun, Chris, Violet, and myself headed to Duluth for the weekend.  Our friends from church, the Morrows, hooked us up with a good deal on a hotel room and it was sooooo nice to not have to drive 45 minutes to and from the Gwinnett Arena before and after each session.  Chris was a "tribe leader" and had to arrive early, and I loved having the option to stay in the room with Violet if I needed to.  

We had a great weekend.  I loved watching Shaun experience Forward for the first time.  The music was great, the speakers and messages were better.  And of course, the people!  We love our church family so much and spending the weekend with them was fun!  We are blessed.

I didn't take many pictures.  My phone died and I can't upgrade for 9 more days.  A friend was nice enough to loan me an old phone of his until I get a new phone, but I can't figure out how to use the camera.  Since I mostly use my phone to take pictures, I was out of luck.  Plus, I was busy with Violet.  She is one of those babies who never really sleeps well unless she's in her own crib.  She usually falls asleep by herself as soon as we put her down in her crib.  We were ALL missing that crib this weekend!   She was so happy to see it last night.  I think I actually saw her hug it a little.  Ha!  She was really good.  I took her into the service on Thursday and this is what she did during the games, tribal wars, and the music:

She curled up in Bo's arms and slept through everything...until the preaching started.  Then she was wide awake!  She was distracting everyone, so I took her backstage with Chris and let her explore.  This is where she and I spent the rest of the conference.  She was able to crawl and walk and eat and nap and be held and loved on by her church family and we were still able to see everything that was going on in the service.  

As I mentioned before, Chris was a tribe leader for the Cowboys.  This is the only photo I can find tonight:

You can't truly appreciate the outfit in these picture...the huge, orange hat and the furry chaps.  He was quite the sensation. Ha ha!  He was a big hit with the crowd and was even recognized by some out of towners at church today while he was in his "regular" clothes.  He had a great time and has already said he hopes to do it again next year.  

Shaun had a great time too.  He even remarked that Forward is better than Summer Xtreme...his Daddy didn't really know how to respond to that!  Shaun was in the Pirate tribe and really got into the spirit of things.

He said his favorites were Rich Wilkerson, Jr. and Lacrae.  I have to admit, I was impressed with Lacrae.  We're not really "rap people" but he was genuine and as a friend of ours said, "he has a story".  Jesus radiated from him, and that's good enough for me!  He's coming back for Forward 2014, so maybe I'll even learn some of his songs by then. 

Even more important than all the "fun stuff", the word of God was brought to our teenagers this weekend.  Jesus was poured out to them and I know many of them will never be the same.  The adults, too!  I know I was encouraged.  It was a wonderful weekend but we are worn out!  Looking forward to sleeping in a little tomorrow.  

Here are a few more pictures, all courtesy of my friend Rachel.