Anne. In Atlanta. Would have loved to be in THAT Sunday school on project day.

Wow. Where has Neil been? I have been out--out in Atlanta at a Youth worker conference.

Here is our trip:
We left on Tuesday, drove to Cumming, GA where Anne's parents live. It was an uneventful , nice trip. We stayed there all Wednesday and half of Thursday. We played ping-pong and had a good time. We left early Thursday to get to the hotel and get to our first sessions (8-hour special sessions broken into 2 chunks of 4 hours each). As we were merging onto the interstate, a 3 foot piece of the transmission LITERALLY fell out of a dumptruck about 3 cars ahead of me. I could not see anything because of those cars and I hit it dead center. It must of swung around, because it took a slice out of the driver front tire sidewall. The spare was a skinny 14" (same as other tires)--so we got to a tire place with no problem (with help from Anne's mom). We got to Campbell tire (which had fantastic employees and service) just in time to order the exact same tire as was sliced (one that I would not think that many places would have). After a nice lunch, we were back on the road, only an hour and a half late to the sessions. I still have to inspect the rest of the damage--the tranny debris also hit the catalytic converter and banged up the towhook. Oh yeah, the dumptruck company said to send them a fax of the cost and they would cut us a check immediately. Yay.

The sessions were really useful and very inspirational. I also learned a lot about presentation (which will be nice for school) and a ton of relationship-building stuff, which I really needed for the youth. I could go on about this, but there is too much to blog.

We had a great time. We took the camcorder and journaled it. I made a short edited video--if you are one of the 3 people who might be interested in seeing it, let me know. Yes, I took out most of the boring parts.

It was a great experience. I have been to 4 kinds of conferences, and this one was the most genuine I have seen. It had the least "fake-y corporate-y" feel, even though it had all the stage show that is expected of a 6,000 person conference. What a fun and sincere group. 6,000+ people who work with youth. It was nice to see a group that was both really inspired by God AND not afraid to use whoopie cushions. The message has freed the rust that I had allowed to form around my life. I have a new perspective on faith (as a moving journey, not a box that you put yourself into) the whole Bible (literalism is shunned--there is a lot that has changed here) and the behavior that I should expect out of youth (I no longer care about this at all). I had allowed myself to get focused on little stuff--those little things that make you anxious. I had ignored the church youth who are having problems (i.e. all of them).

We took a short trip to Anne's parents on Sunday to eat Thanksgiving food. We got in a small 4-car fender-bender "pileup," all with responsible, small Japanese cars with good bumpers. The guy who hit us broke his bumper in half, and out hood had very very SLIGHT damage. Everyone else was just fine with no damage whatsoever. Of course, there were no injuries whatsoever. We drove away after talking with everyone and after I looked over their cars. They were all cool, young, and didn't freak out. No police report. I hope we don't get a letter in the mail... It was one of those heavy traffic + rain + some idiot coming to a dead stop situations. Brakes lock, timing is bad, and the territory is unfamiliar. We got out of it well. That is all that is important.

The conference ended well, and I had a million thoughts and I cannot write them all here. It was a time to reprioritize and get real with our own lives and those around us. We are ready to do this.

To enable us to better put ourselves in the field with the youth and to allow ourselves to LIVE this as a priority, we are moving to Perrysburg. Yes, this is new news. We decided it 2 days ago and solidified it yesterday. It seems really obvious now that this is the right thing to do. Luckily our lease is month-to-month now and we have apts in P-burg all ready for us. Anyone want to help us move...?

More later...including two THREE-WHEELED cars (converted from 4) that we passed on the way home, as well as lots of other fun stuff.