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.

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.

Coming from a PR background, I wasn’t intimidated about attending a conference. I had done a lot of that in my day. And, I was comfortable meeting new people, talking about my brand and trying to “represent well.” What I was not prepared for was the fun, community and incredible sharing that went on. Frankly, I usually find conferences rather stale.

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Women at all blogging levels were quick to help, offer tips, recommendations and suggestions. They were excellent listeners too and never seemed put-off by the number of questions. It was refreshing and I liked the accessibility offered to us. No one was off limits, too big to be bothered or too full of ego to stop for a picture or compliment.
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• One of the personal highlights of the conference was sharing it with my friend, Chris Ann of LoveFeastTable. She & I met a couple years ago through mutual friends. Our oldest daughters both attended the same school at the time, though two grades apart. We ended up going on a women’s Bible study retreat with one of those mutual friends. Even though both our stories are very different from what they were then, we’ve kept appearing in each other’s lives these past couple years.
• Chris Ann is funny, bubbly and puts others at ease. She’s smart, incredibly creative and loves to laugh. She has a heart for service and an almost child-like inquisitiveness that I find absolutely darling. I could not have asked for a better roommate.

  

• Right off the bat, on Thursday night, we met some superstars – Kris & Kim from YouCanMakeThis and newly-launched TheDIYDish, who were absolutely the most darling and most humble pair. They offered a ton of helpful advice to Chris Ann and I. Not being shy, Chris Ann was firing questions as quickly as they could field them. She was jotting them down like crazy, until the Sharpie pen I loaned her exploded! Yes, it did – right in front of the superstars. Oh. My. Word.
• Then, we went over to the CleverGirl party and mingled. There are turquoise boas to wear, giveaways to enter, fun music, fondue & drinks. Immediately, we noticed there were products on all of the cocktail tables. Being newbies, she & I both looked at each other with a questioning glance: “Are these for us to take, you think?” We looked around, hoping for someone else to tell us it was ok. Hey – I didn’t want to be the Christian artist who is seen lifting goods at Blissdom. But, alas, that was swag (who knew?!) and we were able to take compacts and lip glosses for our daughters. Yippee!

See the rest of the story on Friday’s play-by-play here, including some really embarrassing moments.