Women's Break Away

The whole reason we went to Wisconsin in the first place was so I could be a speaker at the Women's Break Away, sponsored by the Chilton Faith Alliance Church. This conference is in its 18th year and is a finely tuned event that blew me away with its precision, attention to detail, kindness of the staff, and best of all, affordability. {It's a free conference with a freewill donation.}

The conference, though hosted by the church, was held at Chilton High School, which was a BEAUTIFUL school. I think between 500-600 women were in attendance that day {sure were a lot of nametags on the table!!}

My session for the day was called "When Singleness Feels Like a Teeter Totter" and they even had a nice little sign for me outside the door to my classroom!

Ryan came with me to run my power point and just help me out:

I loved having him there. The whole day went MUCH more smoothly for me because he was right there to calm me and handle details.

Olivia served too, so I saw her throughout the day - starting with breakfast, which they provided for everyone there.

They had an opening session and introduced all the speakers, had some music, and got the day underway:

{There were more session speakers than the ones pictured here...they were down on the other end.}

While we waited for the first session to begin, Ryan and I got everything set up in our room, prayed together, I looked over my notes again, and then we just flat out goofed off to relieve pressure.

{The room they assigned to me was an English classroom, so we had some fun with that.}

I gave the same presentation twice: once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Ryan took some pictures for me. I cannot talk without my hands as you'll see.

My groups were wonderful to me. I appreciated them listening so well, taking notes, not throwing things at me {ha!!} and making my job so easy that day.

And the Breakaway served a delicious lunch that I enjoyed so much!

The keynote speaker this year was Jennifer Sands, a 9/11 widow who travels and shares an incredible story of how God transformed her after the tragedy that took her husband's life. I didn't get to hear her the day of the conference, because I was busy in between my own sessions, but she spoke at Tom and Olivia's church on Sunday and we so enjoyed hearing her share then! {And I bought all three of her books, so I'll catch up with her there, too!}

The conference ended mid-afternoon, so Ryan and I packed up our car and headed back to Tom and Olivia's, but I enjoyed the opportunity to be part of such a wonderful event. Three women gave their lives to Christ at this conference, and I believe they said 43 more recommitted their lives to the Lord. I loved being part of something like that - something that made a Kingdom difference!