Ignited by Truth 2014

So I got a chance to attend this really wonderful conference again this year, this time with my wonderful husband.  Ignited by Truth is an annual conference that seeks to bring to light the teachings of the Catholic Church and ignite in the hearts of the attendees a love of their faith.  Here is a little bit of background on IBT:  http://www.ignitedbytruth.com/images/IBT_Rationale.pdf

I was so excited about the conference for a few reasons....the first is that I hadn't been since 2009 when we were in the very midst of finding out about Mary Grace.  The second is that it had an amazing list of speakers including Dr. Patrick Fagan, Dr. Scott Hahn, Kimberly Hahn and Jennifer Fulwiler, among others. 

Personally, I could have listened to Jennifer Fulwiler and both the Hahns give talks for days!!  They were such captivating and engaging speakers. 

The third reason I was excited about IBT is that I got to attend with my husband!  We were originally planning on just going together for a "date night" on the free Friday evening part of the conference, but God worked it out that Rob was able to attend all day Saturday with me as well!  As an aside, it is funny how far we have come with date nights!  I remember, pre-children when date nights consisted of meeting friends at the pool hall and having a ridiculous number of drinks and then feeling miserable the next morning when it was time to head into work.  That didn't last long once children entered our world, and now I'd have to say that I enjoyed this date night to hear these speakers talk about their faith in God with such joy and love far more than some of the crazy nights out we had a decade ago.  Ahhhh how time changes things ;)

There were 50 people at any given time in line for confession during the 2nd half of Saturday.  It was just beautiful to see so many people living their faith, excited about loving Jesus, and appreciating the fullness of truth that we have as a Catholic community.

I do have to say that I felt a little bit guilty.  Attending IBT this year was very different than attending in 2009.  I knew many people there this year!  Whereas in 2009, even though we had been in the Raleigh area for almost 6 years, I recognized no one that I knew at the conference.  But this year, we have become so entwined with the homeschooling community....and guess what?  They were all there.  And they were all volunteers!  And that is where my guilt comes in, because other than praying for the conference, I did not volunteer this  year!  My other bit of guilt came from getting to sit in the very front row on Friday night and in the second row on Saturday....I mean, the seats were empty, it just seemed like it was too good to be true to get a seat in the second row of 2000 people just 10 minutes before the conference began!

And my really exciting news was that Kimberly Hahn came and sat down next to me on Friday night since I was right there in the front row while her husband gave the 2nd talk of the evening.  How neat is that???  I had the thought to ask if we could take a selfie together, and then I quickly had the second thought that that would be pretty weird...so of course I just sat there and internally diaglogued with myself about asking her if she was really Mrs. Hahn....but then that of course would mean she would know that I knew who she was...and maybe she liked just sitting next to someone who she thought didn't know who she was....oh yeah.  Total awkwardness in my head, so I just sat there and pretended like I didn't know her from Adam.  In the end we had a brief conversation and she recommended two of her husband's books to me. ;)

In addition to hearing blogger Jennifer Fulwiler speak, I also met Tracy from A Slice of Smith Life, and saw my friend Tara from Blessings in Brelinskyville. 

But the conference was so encouraging and uplifting.  It is just great to be inspired by others who are so in love with Jesus and trying to live that life of faith daily. 

April starts our busy month!  I have my weekly HCG draw tomorrow (I'm expecting it to be about 15)....still trying to get it down to less than 5.  The end of the week brings both Caroline's First Birthday and Ian's 3rd Birthday....just cannot believe a year has gone by since Caroline joined our family!  It's too fast, and at the same time it seems she's been a part of our family forever.  And please send up a prayer for her...it seems we have turned a corner, but she has had a fever all weekend which has been very difficult to break even with motrin and Tylenol.  Thank you!  Anyway, then there is something every week, and the end of April brings Isabel's 8th Birthday, and then a week later her First Holy Communion!  What a beautiful time in our lives, just as spring is really starting to pop here in the Carolinas.