Monday, February 19, 2007

Counseling Conference in Indiana



Don and I had the great privilege of being able to attend the Faith Biblical Counseling Conference in Lafayette, Indiana this past week. We were richly blessed with the teaching and preaching of this past week. We heard the challenging statement over and over again, "In order to be a good Biblical counselor you must first be a good counselee". Don and I took that challenge and really looked at our lives through the filter of the Scripture and found many things that the Bible may not clearly talk about or may even permit, but just is not best to fill up our time and energy. We had been focusing on the desire to fulfill things that we want to do and looking for the permission from Scripture to be able to do those things, without thinking about edifying the whole body of Christ. Through God's grace we are establishing a few guidelines for our home to solidify what we are learning about ourselves. If you ever have the chance to attend this conference - it is a MUST!

Also this past week, we were caught in the snowstorm that hit Indiana pretty hard. In fact, we had a record-breaking snow fall on Tuesday. I believe the final total of snow fall was around 15 inches in a 24-hour period; they were calling it the worst blizzard since 1978. Because of this fact, one day we were snowed in and had a snow day at the home of the family we were staying with. We began the morning with a puzzle . . .



and had a few hours to relax and do some reading, and being the Michiganders we are, we couldn't help going out in it. Linda, our host, found us some snowmobile boots, some Target bags, and some hats and gloves for her adopted "children" to go and play for a while.





We also had another person staying in the same home as us. She had come all the way from Israel to be at the conference. Joanna was originally from the States, but is now a missionary to the Jews around the Sea of Galilee. It was a joy to get to know her and a little bit more about the modern day "Holy Land". Thanks again Joanna for the pictures. (We forgot our digital camera!! - I know this was a huge arrow right through the heart of all those blogging junkies out there!)

I'm going to Walmart today to get our disposable camera pictures put on a CD. More pictures of Indiana Blizzard 2007 to follow . . .

Tah Dah!!!


BBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!! YEAH! BBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!

11 comments:

S said...

Glad you had a good time! We've missed you guys. We really want to get out there sometime to that conference. Everyone in our family has been but us!

Karis said...

Glad to hear the conference was so profitable for you guys! We would love to attend sometime too as we've heard so many good things about it.

Karis

juliechall said...

That snow is crazy!!!! I think I have been out of Wisconsin a little too long - because it's a little shocking :) It was nice to see you at church Sunday!

T.J. and Shannon said...

Welcome back! I'm glad you enjoyed the conference. Maybe T.J. and I will go some time. I'm kind of jealous that you both got to enjoy the snow this winter. This was the first year that I missed it, especially around Christmas. It would have been nice to have one good snow. Oh well, there's always next year.

Tricia said...

I can't believe that you guys were at the same conference that we were all week long and we never ran into each other. That is too crazy! We were in track 2 which explains some of it, but still you would think that we would have at least crossed paths. Maybe another year! =) I'm glad you enjoyed it. It has been a great blessing to us in our home and ministry and we always look forward to learning more.

Anonymous said...

Hey, we just moved from Lafayette and are now suffering in the Florida sun :) Too bad we missed you guys this year. The training at Faith has been a huge blessing/challenge in our lives. We have tracks 1-4 on CD, so if you want to come enjoy the material in sunny FL, just let us know :). . . We offer good deals for old time friends!

Kristin (Hobi) Igel

Tricia said...

I was wondering where you were Kristin!

jeileenbaylor said...

Looks like you guys had a great time! I had someone say, "That's a Julie" necklace isn't? They said they got it from you.... you crack me up
Love you girl!

Katrina said...

Hey Jules,

I'm all about supporting my good friend and I'm proud to wear my "Julie's"!!!

Tricia,
That is so strange that we missed eachother. I can believe it though!! On Friday, I saw Elaine and Brian Hellar walk by and the next minute they were gone in the crowd. Crazy!

Kristin!
Thanks for posting. It's been great to hear from you! I will always remember those great times and good laughs we had in the Camp Office. We'll keep in touch with the offer for Florida!

Stephanie (Wolynes) Steinbart said...

Hi,
Thanks for your comment on our blog. Katrina, I don't remember meeting you at NBBC, but I do remember Don and he is a great guy, so here's a late congratulations on your marriage!
We actually had a chocolate lab when we first got married. His name was Bomber and he was beautiful! I think chocolates are the most gorgeous dogs! He died this past Christmas so we are left with Kate, our white lab, who is even sweeter. Godiva is just beautiful! Say hi to Don for Chris and I,
Stephanie

Anonymous said...

Good post.