Mela Kamin – 4:10 Ministries

See Thursday’s play-by-play here.
See Friday’s play-by-play here.
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• I’m honestly quite nervous when I wake up, not so much to sing, but that it’s so EARLY to sing. I’m sure Natalie Grant could belt it out anytime day or night, but I need some warm-up time. Plus, I’m singing to a small group without a microphone. My iPhone is playing my backing track on someone’s travel alarm clock. Yep. classy.

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• They graciously indulge me in singing “I Pray” and we break into two large prayer groups. It was very touching to hear what others were praying for. I was thrilled to be able to gift everyone with a CD & an I PRAY bracelet, as they left.

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• Saturday’s sessions were great, we made some more incredible connections, heard some beautiful stories and the closing was fantastic. Chris Ann & I had already met McKMama at an event in our area, but what a treat it was to hear her share her story & her faith with all those women (and a few men). I prayed for her during the presentation. I noticed there were tissue boxes on the tables – good move, Alli, Barbara and Paula. Chris Ann & I were trying not to do the ugly cry during most of it, taking deep breaths and swallowing the lumps in our throats.

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• We were really hungry, so we decided to go get a fab dinner somewhere. Cut to an hour later, we finally find a restaurant. In the enormousness of the Opryland, we got lost, we got turned around, we got pointed in the wrong direction. We met a stranger, Brianne who tried to help us. She found us still wandering around 20 minutes later and walked us closer to our destination – southern hospitality at its finest. I had blisters and I was beginning to whine. Chris Ann was laughing at me. I wanted to sit down. I wanted to eat. I was dreading getting up at 4 a.m. to get to the airport.
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• We finally made it and had a great dinner and an even better conversation. It was awesome to just sit and unwind (and I took my shoes off) and tell each other the highlights of our days. Then, we made plans for getting together with our husbands. We shared more about our faith and our journeys and brainstormed tons of creative ideas. After some strategically placed toilet paper in my shoes, we hiked back to our room. It was late and we packed up our bags. It was even later and we sat and chatted. We finally got into our respective beds and couldn’t sleep – we were still brainstorming. Somewhere during our conversation, we wanted to write down what we had thought of. Not wanting to turn on a light or get out of bed, I utilized the Notes app on my iPhone to write down our temporary flashes of brilliance. We were fairly certain it wouldn’t be clever or funny, come morning.

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• 4 a.m. came and we got ready and left. Chris Ann was able to get on my flight. As we passed through security, we were delighted to see Stephanie & Holley from {in}courage heading back home. Chris Ann & I sat together and we talked and brainstormed all the way home.

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• It was a great conference and only the beginning of all the good things to happen with our families, our ministries, our blogs and our friendship.

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Thanks, Blissdom.