Mela Kamin – 4:10 Ministries

Friday blew my socks off from the get-go. Keynote speaker, Kevin Carroll engaged us, challenged us, emotionally affected us with his story and made us laugh . . . a lot. I don’t know if it was the combined estrogen in the room, but I saw a lot of tissues being pulled from purses and several dropped jaws.
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As everyone discussed the presentation afterward, it was evident – he made an impact. I was thrilled to meet him and we talked about our mutual love for the cello. I could easily watch him again tell the exact same story, in the exact same way – and still be moved. In fact, when I got home, I was relaying the memory to my husband and found myself unable to continue because the emotion was still there. I was working on just 3 1/2 hours of sleep at that point, but I’m fairly confident it wasn’t just my exhaustion.

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• We had a nice offering of sessions to attend, but I think we both got the most out of some of the more in-depth conversations we had with the other attendees. Yes, we both took a lot of notes and take-aways from the sessions, but as everyone is at a different level, working within a different niche – sometimes it’s hard to deliver something that applies to the whole audience. We were really thankful for the connecting time we had in between sessions.

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• Friday night, we got into our party clothes and went to the FUSE nightclub to see Harry Connick, Jr. perform. We got a spot by the stage early, but felt like it wasn’t a good use of our time, as we wanted to chat with more people. So, we gave up our coveted stage spot and made the rounds. We met a lot more lovely women, like LizzyDear and The Hollywood House Wife. I even got to talk music & ministry with some sweet women with Samaritan’s Purse.

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• Then, Harry took the stage with his amazingly talented musician friends. I suddenly was a little covetous of the spot we had given up by the stage. We were well in the back of the crowd for the show, but it was still awesome. I was trying to take photos, but being in the back and being short is not highly conducive to getting the best shots. Still, I filmed a few short clips on my iPhone and trusted my Nikon D40x to do its job as I held it above my head and over the crowd for some “let’s just see what we get” shots.

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• And, here’s folks what we got.
  

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  We were all collectively holding our breaths as he kissed Cheryl (a.k.a. “flat TidyMom”). So funny. I had never before wanted to be made out of paper.
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• We were then herded into a line to meet Harry. It went by in an instant, but I do remember getting to shake his hand before being directed off the stage. Chris Ann & I got split up, so I don’t even know which other women I was photographed with. I do remember someone tall next to me, but that’s not a dead-giveaway since I’m shorter than most.
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• UPDATE: photo found – here it is. I’m wondering how they caught me not smiling – because I specifically remembering not being able to stop smiling once I shook his hand. Hmmm.
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• When I finally found Chris Ann, she had made a new friend (of course), Sibi and she pulled us out to dance. After a few songs and way too many laughs, we headed to the {in}courage party in one of the suites. During our walk, we learned more about Sibi and instantly fell in love with her and her heart.
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• This is when it gets really memorable for me. I’ve been a reader of {in}courage since its debut and I follow nearly all of the contributors. When I walked in the room, I immediately saw Sarah Markley and kind of freaked out inside. I grabbed her hand and told her how nice it was to meet her – it really was. She is a wonderful storyteller and I’ve been captivated many times by her words. Getting to meet her was a highlight. She even came over later and we got to chat a bit more.

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• I scanned the room, a giddy schoolgirl, and it was a veritable buffet of beauty, inspiration, talent and grace. Everywhere I looked there was someone else I admired; someone whose writing spoke to me; someone with whom I related with on several levels; someone I truly wanted to meet.
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• One of those ladies is Jessica Turner. I follow her on Twitter, have read her blog, follow her husband, have read his blog, excerpts of his new book, followed his Uganda World Vision trip and knew enough about them to have an intelligent conversation. So, I tell Chris Ann I NEED to go introduce myself. As I round the corner, I not only see her, but see who she’s talking to – Lisa Leonard. UM – wow – months before, I purchased her Redeemed cross necklace and I am now like a crazed fan seeking her out. I interrupt their conversation, introduce myself, profess my love for her designs. And, that’s when it happens.

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• I turn to meet Jessica, I reach my hand out and I call her . . . Angie. I’m. Not. Kidding. I was SO excited to meet her. I really do know who she is! My maiden name is Turner, I’m from Wisconsin – I have all these things I had planned to blurt out and I called her THE WRONG NAME. At that point, she shook it off and smiled politely. I was mortified and couldn’t figure or talk my way out of my faux-pas, so I moved on. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I wanted a do-over. Brilliant, Mela – brilliant.
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  SIDE NOTE: former PR self kicks in: Rather than ignoring it, the next day, I fess up and tweet my embarrassing moment and get a reply from her husband that said she thought it was hilarious. That eased the pain slightly.

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• We meet some other lovely, gifted women, like Sandy, the Reluctant Entertainer herself – what a warm, lovely person. She was very encouraging and we were excited to learn of her book coming out in the Fall. Then, the dear, sweetRobin invites me to sing for their morning’s prayer gathering. I happily accept and we head off to get some rest.

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For the rest of the story, see Saturday’s play-by-play here.