"Safety for the Soul"

I have served in the Franklin Stake Relief Society for about 6(?) years, secretary for several years, and now President for the past year. During that time, we have never had a "Women's Conference," where we had a guest speaker, then broke into workshops, had a nice lunch, etc. and spent the day just 'filling our cups' and enjoying the sisterhood of the women in the stake (sort of like a mini "Time Out for Women"). I enjoy those days so much myself that I decided this year we were going to do it for the sisters in our stake!

 



Barbara, Jen Lamoreaux, Me & Michelle (Jen was -- lucky for her -- released in January, so she got out of helping us!
But I don't  have an updated photo, and I don't have a new secretary yet, either!)

 

So with the massive help of my wonderful counselors, Michelle Bennett and Barbara Williams, we put together what I think turned out to be a FABULOUS program of speakers, music, food, decorations, and sisterhood that filled most of the day on April 13, 2013.

 

We chose "Safety for the Soul" as our theme, taken from the hymn "Choose the Right." I got to design our posters, invitations, flyers, and handouts! That was a very FUN thing for me!

 

This was the POSTER, and I made everything else to correspond with it...
We had big posters and flyers in all 6 buildings in the Stake.



I took the day before the conference off work, and we spent the entire day setting up.We set up all the tables, the air wall, ironed a million tablecloths (although, shhhh...., between me and you, we quit ironing the centers of the ones that were going to have overlays on them. Or we'd still be ironing as we speak!); we arranged and re-arranged the tables so the legs were symmetrically aligned (regardless of the fact that they were covered by the tablecloths) and the colored overlays were perfectly coordinated and alternated (that was Michelle's OCD coming out). We placed and re-placed flower arrangements...we set up SIX classrooms for workshop presentations, each with their own table, overlay, flower arrangement and gift for the speaker...

 

Michelle's husband, Gordon, and daughter Whitney (and daughter Elle) came in the afternoon and helped us...

 

Michelle made all the centerpiece flower arrangements.

Michelle made all these beautiful flower arrangements!

We alternated them with the GIANT cupcakes made by Aimee Paturno that turned out to be beautiful to look at, and...our delicious dessert!

These FABULOUS GIANT CUPCAKES were made by none other than the famous Aimee Paturno!

 

We were just finishing getting everything set up about 8pm, and Alycia & Tom McClurg arrived from Cincinatti to practice our song. So we went in the chapel and practiced a couple of times, and then Steve came to get me and we rushed off to pick up Jeff Sermon (keynote speaker) at the airport. We stayed up late into the night talking, laughing, catching up and planning for the next day.

 

Y*A*W*N!

The next morning I arrived early, the sun was shining, it was quiet, and as I came around the corner to the stake center, I pulled to the side for a moment and snapped some pictures. My heart just swelled with emotion as I looked at the beautiful building where I have come for 25 years, with the temple (OUR temple) next door  since 2000. I felt a literal warmth inside that overcame the exhaustion and nervousness for the day. I knew that our efforts were recognized and appreciated by heaven, and it was going to be a good day.

Jeff Sermon

My dear friend, Jeff Sermon, from American Fork, Utah, was the keynote speaker in the General Session. He is just seriously one of my FAVORITE people in the whole world. (I want him to speak at my funeral -- and he wants me to sing at his funeral, so I guess one of us is going to be disappointed!) He graciously agreed to come to Frankin again, and gave a fabulous presentation on self-worth, womanhood, and the value of each individual in the sight of God. There were many sniffs and tears throughout the audience as he shared stories, encouragement and testimony that left everyone feeling better about themselves, and hopeful for the future. He asked me to sing "Building Bridges to the Heart" (a song he wrote, and my favorite church song to sing for the past 25 years). It fit the presentation nicely.

 

Then we split into SIX workshops -- everyone had to choose THREE to attend. We had some great presenters, and had a special musical number at the beginning of each workshop; music just invites the Spirit in a way nothing else can.

 

Workshop Presenters:

 

These are the handouts I made...  :o)

(Andersens made their own)

 

After the workshops, we had a delicious lunch, gave away door prizes, and lots of the sisters stuck around and visited and enjoyed each others' company. We thought that was a very good sign!

 

 

 

It's just hard to express how ADORABLE these GIANT CUPCAKES were!!

We estimate between 175-200 women were in attendance for at least a portion of the event. After the conference, we cleaned up, and headed home to rest our aching feet. After we aaalllll took a brief nap, we went out to dinner at "Outback" to celebrate!

Jeff stayed overnight and went to church with us the next day, and was swarmed with what could be called his "fan club" with soooo many women coming up and thanking him for his comments in the general session and in his workshops. And that was just OUR ward!

We come home and ate some crock pot beef stew, and then headed to out to take Jeff to the airport. What an awesome weekend!