Food for my soul!

This years Ladies Advance was wonderful and such a good time! Not only was it fun to visit with all the other women but we learned alot too! This years advance was up at a campground and we stayed in cabins which was fun!  I was able to bring Chloie and Cullen, the 2 middles stayed home with daddy! I was nervous to leave Myra since she still nurses, but she did fine....but was really happy to see me return!













When i get excited about the ladies advance (happens bout the time i get home from the previous years advance) i also get excited about the drive up to and returning from the advance. You see there is at least 2 hours of driving to the advance so that is some nice time to fellowship with whoever you ride with. This year my mother in law, Annette and a sister in Christ, Lindsay rode up with the kids and I. Our ride was great...especially the return trip....we got to reflect on the advance and also talk about our assembly and our hopes for pressing on to the Goal!!

I dont want to give away all the fun of the ladies advance...you have to be there to fully understand how amazing the time is. BUT I wanted to share a few of my favorite ladies I look forward to hearing from and talking to each year! All the speakers are wonderful and bring something new to us thru their messages, i appreciate all the hard work and time they put into sharing with us. There is nothing better than hearing scripture from ladies grey haired (mature, um silver lined or what did we agree on?) and younger moms.




I will start with a woman who helped bring my 3rd child into the world, Jennifer Icenogle. This woman is such a great example to me and she is always smiling and encouraging...how could you not want to be around her! I love to hear her opinion on things and just talk with her. She is INTERESTED in me and what i have to say, she makes me feel like i am important. Jen opened our advance this year with the scripture verse Better Things Concerning You - Hebrews 6:9-12 this is the verse our advance was based on, our theme. To be honest i didn't get to take notes thru her message....i have a certain 1yo who likes to be chatty and move around alot! But what she said was encouraging to me and helped get the scripture spinning in my head for the rest of the advance. (I suggest for anyone reading this who missed the advance to get the Cd's everything was recorded. This is how i will review what was said...with out an antsy baby on my lap!) Jen also led us in a song and it was wonderful to hear all the women SING!


Next is a Lady who i am always excited to see and wanting to spend more and more time with! Denya Jacobs!!!! She is so fun to be around and listen to! I was lucky enough to share a cabin with her and her sister plus their wonderful mom, who cracks me up! Love all 3 of these ladies! When i first moved to MT and we went to bozeman for anything Zac and I stayed with them....this was back when it was the 3 of us (chloie, Z and I) and i was always in awe at how she ran her house and was a FUN  mom to 3 cute kiddo's. She is a busy lady but always does the right thing....it shows thru her kids.  I was lucky enough to take a few notes from her message. She spoke about how to  Work in love towards HIS name. She reminded us to appreciate each other...sometimes there is a delay in this appreciation...also that God is in charge of our blessings and we are to be patient. In Galatians she pointed out that we must not lose heart or grow weary. I really liked this reminder to appreciate everyone in the assembly ...sometimes we forget how important it is when someone does the little jobs, but we all work together for the Glory of God and while we arent up preaching on sundays we are in the schools, cleaning the building and watching children. ALL are so important. Also she talked about finding someone to imitate. Find a person either in the bible or in your assembly who you would like to be like, imitate them...learn and grow from them! I like to pull from several ladies to imitate... :)

Lastly i am going to talk about a woman who gets me excited to teach my kids and i am always hopeful to hear how she does it!!! I am talking about Sarah Ashley!!! This friend is such an encouragement to me and gets me excited to teach my kids the word. I first heard her speak  at the billings ladies advance 2 years ago. I remember listening to her thinking YES, i want to do that, i can do that! She had one of her babes on her back in a moby, and i just remember thinking she was such a good mom to be able to do that! at this years advance she was able to teach a small class during free time on friday. I was lucky enough that Annette had Cullen so i could focus and take it all in.  She taught us how children think and learn at different levels. She showed us how to teach them the scripture and why its important. We know its important but to hear it again and again is always needed! I am excited to take the tools she has given me and run with them. Sarah, i think you need to do a blog on your awesome teaching skills. Your kids are lucky!!!




Ok if i go on about any more amazing ladies then this will be a small chapter book! There are several other ladies i enjoyed seeing and talking with...jenna mozingo, wendy nichols, trish wilson, misty danyo, sue shaefer, cari wilson, kim o'connell, and SO MANY more.

This years advance was a huge success for me personally. I took alot away from it and my head was so FULL of wonderful things. I am encouraged and ready to take on this year! I am also excited to be are part of the Great Falls ladies because we get to plan and host next years advance!