Saturday, December 31, 2011

Hotel Information For The Pearl Event II




You are coming!!!

What a beautiful way to ring in the New Year! I cannot tell you how excited we are!

Have you read that Edie is doing hitch kicks and eating too much fudge over this?

And that Paige is way out of her comfort zone but is about to bust at the seams to meet you all in real life?

I am just beside myself!

Can you believe that we are just 69 days away?!!

I can hardly wait for hugging and squealing with a bunch of real life "Steel Magnolias"right there in the middle of that Magnolia Ballroom!!

If you want to squeal and hug and wear pearls and talk about Jesus with us that day then you can get your ticket here for $25.00.

Seating is limited!

www.http://thepearlevent-esearch.eventbrite.com/?srnk=1


Hotel Information:

Opryland Hotel has offered a discounted rate for Friday night, March 9, 2012 of $144.00



Gaylord Opryland Hotel & Convention Center
2800 Opryland Drive
Nashville, TN 37214
1-888-777-6779



When you call in you will need to use this discount code. X-PEARL


This does not include the taxes and the 15.00 resort fee they apply to all rooms for the use of their many facilities.

They have also offered a discount on self parking of 10.00 per day.
I will have more information about parking instructions once we get closer to the date of the event.

(I did try to get a discount for a weekend package but the hotel is already close to sold out for Saturday night due to a huge event there that day.) There are still some rooms available. It will just be a higher rate if you want to stay Saturday night as well.


I requested a small amount of rooms to be blocked off to start. I can ask for a few more more once this block has been sold. Please let me know as soon as possible if you call and the rooms are sold out at that price and you would like to stay there.



Check In starts at 3:00 that Friday afternoon and Check Out is 11:00 a.m. on Saturday morning.




Here are two other hotel options that are literally right down the street from Opryland Hotel.


The Hampton Inn Nashville/Opryland~ $149.00 a night for a standard room (plus tax)

Free Parking . Free Breakfast.  Free Internet.

230 Rudy Circle
Nashville, TN 37214

1-615-620-2500

Check In is after 4:00 p.m. and Check Out is at 11:00


Hyatt Place Nashville/Opryland~  $129.00 a night for a standard room ( plus tax)

Free Parking. Free Breakfast. Free Internet.

220 Rudy Circle
Nashville, TN 37214

615-872-0422

Check In is after 3:00 p.m. and Check Out is at 12:00



Lastly,  I have created a page on Facebook about the event and will be adding to it often.

You can join and connect with others who will be attending and talk about hotels and restaurants and
which strand of pearls to wear among other things!

You can find that page here:

https://www.facebook.com/events/154366354668098/



I hope that this helps in the making of your plans! Cannot wait to meet every, single one of you!!


Happy New Year!!



Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas 2011





Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!  2 Corinthians 9:15


Just wanted to pop in and wish you all a very merry Christmas....

I also wanted to let you know how much you are appreciated!

You mean so much to me and I thank you for allowing me the privilege to pour out the pieces on the pages of this blog.

It has been a tremendous gift ....

I hope you all are enjoying the sweet moments today... It has been a special Christmas for us with Daddy being home for good. We are stepping over piles of laundry, Legos and naked Barbies and the last time I checked several dinosaurs were riding around on the Wonder Pets boat.

Gracious me.

Loving every minute of it.

Merry Christmas to you beautiful friends....


Wednesday, December 21, 2011

You Are Not Alone






In all of its glory and all of its pageantry and all of its goodness and as wonderful as it can be....

For many, Christmas is a painful reminder. It arrives with unbearable grief.

It can knock the breath out of us for a number of reasons.

And our minds can know with all knowing that He is the reason for the season and it is to be celebrated.

But our hearts can be in another place.

Our hearts can bring up the end of the race some days, weeks and months later.

And sometimes our hearts just can't compete at all .

For many, Christmas is something that we have to just "get through" and cannot wait for it to be over.

It isn't because we do not love others or because we do not understand the reason we celebrate at all...

It is just for the simple reason that for many, Christmas hurts.

My beautiful friend Granny Smith Green , whom we all know and love so much,  lost her Father last year this very week.  And in all the joy and all the rejoicing of the birth of our Savior and in all head knowledge that this is truly the most wonderful time of the year...

There is sorrow.

A place in our hearts that rings with unbearable grief and a place at the table, empty this year.

A position in a precious family that can never be replaced.

In speaking with her this week, I heard what grace truly sounds like.  Beautiful, unmeasurable, grace.

So many of us are walking through changes this year that are not what we would have scripted for our life.

So many are trying to find a new normal and start over and begin again and for thousands and thousands of beautiful hearts, this will be their very first Christmas alone.

Because as incredible and wonderful as life can be....

Death comes. Sorrow comes. Divorce comes. Separation and heartbreak come. Saying goodbye to babies you never had the chance to raise, comes. Financial despair and job loss comes. Cancer and sickness and illness comes.....

It wasn't in the script or the journal or the plans.....

But it comes.

And for many, this will be a Christmas of trying to feel our way around in the dark, broken places of our heart while at the same time trying to sit up straight in the church pew and hear the gospel about the One who came to mend every broken place.

So many are trying to buy gifts and give and love and sow and bless and do for others and on the inside they can barely stand.

Many are trying to explain to wide eyed children why there will not be very, many gifts under the tree this year. Or worse, anything at all.

Unbearable pain in the midst of such a glorious season.

And the One who is the Author and the Finisher. The Beginning and the End. The Alpha and the Omega.....

He is calling the broken and the mended in every single one of us to reach out to the broken places in someone else this Christmas.

To be His hands and His feet. To be His mouthpiece. To hold the pen to paper and write His words to the heart of another. To be an earthly demonstration of His love to someone else this season, to remind a broken heart that they are not alone this Christmas.

That He is ever mindful of them...

You are not alone sweet reader. 

He is there with you.

In the midst of court hearings and proceedings.  In the midst of that hospital room.

He is there in the intensive care unit.

He is hovering over you in the midst of the separation and divorce.

He knows how difficult it is to begin life as a single parent.....

He is going before you, even now and preparing the way and orchestrating every need on your behalf....

Even this Christmas.

May we each receive the gift that is demonstrating the love of the Father to someone else this year.....

Be still and know that I am God. ~ Psalm 46:10.

A Father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, Is God in His holy habitation.
God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity. ~ Psalm 68: 5-6

Hear me, O Lord, for Your lovingkindness is good; Turn to me according to the multitude of your tender mercies. And do not hide Your face from your servant, For I am in trouble; Hear me speedily.
Draw near to my soul and redeem it; Deliver me because of my enemies. ~ Psalm 69: 16-18

Bless the Lord, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. ~ Psalm 103: 1-5






Monday, December 19, 2011

Gifts Without Ribbons







Gifts without ribbons.

Gifts that come in the midnight hour when there isn't a single sound except the tiny puffs of air on your neck from the breath of your newborn baby.

Gifts that come in the wee hours of the morning when chubby, little hands make there way around yours.

Gifts that come in the moments between laundry and diaper changing and bathing five babies every night.

Gifts that come when the entire Christmas tree falls over because your three year old decided to launch himself right into it.....

Moments that become gifts ........without ribbons or packaging or string.

Gifts handed to us by the One who is the giver of every good thing.

The One who knows the deepest desire of our hearts...who knows every, single need.

Gifts that come when all things have lost there relevance.

This year I received the most incredible gift...

It didn't come like I had hoped or expected. But it came.

A gift without ribbons....

He's home.

Finally.

Glory to His precious name.

The man to whom my heart belongs is home.

The father of my children is home.

The man who is the rock of this family and who is the hardest worker and the best provider I have ever known. He's home.

The man who gives and sows and loves and demonstrates the love of the Father unlike anyone else I know. He's home.

The man who has spent the last two years and four months living and working in another state and has only been home on the weekends, and many, many times it was not every weekend.

He's home.

I can attempt to describe the gratitude.

I can attempt to describe the level of overwhelming joy and thanksgiving.....

But I think my words would fail in comparison to what I feel has taken place in my heart.

I am beside myself.....

It's over.

The commuting. The struggling. The single parenting of five children.

The sleepless nights. The weight and the burden of trying to do it all by myself without an ounce of help.

The going to every school function and event and open house alone.

The trying to parent and have a marriage and relationship long distance.

It's over.

And he is never going back.

It will mean big changes for our family.

Some of which we have already been walking through the last month.

Changes that would send some people into a complete and total tailspin.

But only a wife who has prayed countless prayers for years to be reunited with her husband no matter what ~ could say it matters not financially......I'm just so thankful he is home.

It may not be a Malibu Barbie Dream House Christmas this year.

But it is the Christmas that my heart sang and my feet danced and my prayers were answered.

It is the Christmas that will not involve going to the airport for any reason.

It is the Christmas that I have never, ever seen my children so incredibly happy.

It is the Christmas that I feel like June Cleaver and I am twirling around in my apron .....

It is the Christmas that six babies and my husband under the same roof mean more to me than anything in the entire world.

The gift I had hoped and prayed would come.

The one without ribbons and wrapping and string.

The one that has made my heart absolutely soar and sing.

My children are finally in the arms of their Father,

and we have waited and prayed for years for this day...

No words big enough sweet friends.

Soli Dio Gloria. To God alone be the glory......


Wednesday, December 14, 2011

A Few Details About The Pearl Event II


Hello Sweet Readers!


Thank you all so much for your enthusiasm about the upcoming event! We are so looking forward
to this special day as well as the chance to meet and spend some time with each one of you!

Here are just a few more details that might be helpful and answer some questions you may have asked or may have wanted to ask!


Hotel Rooms:

We will be offering a block of discounted rooms at The Opryland Hotel and were waiting to see exactly how many (I've asked for more than they usually offer) before announcing that information.

There are many other hotels that we can suggest and will be offering that list here on the blog as well as on the ticket page.


Schedule:

Here is a tentative schedule and it is subject to change! This is just to give you a little bit of an idea!

This is my first experience hosting an event with other speakers (and I am so excited about it! ) Last time it was just me speaking, so please bear with me a little bit...my apologies!

9:00-9:30- Praise and Worship (TBA) and Welcome (Sibi )

9:30-10:15- First Speaker - Sarah Cantrell- Personal Testimony

10:30--11:15- Second Speaker- Jane Mathews- Personal Testimony

11:15- 12:00- Third Speaker- Paige Knudsen- Personal Testimony

12:00-1:00- Lunch - (on your own in the hotel unless my prayers get answered with sponsors! :)

1:00- 1:45- Fourth Speaker- Edie Wadsworth- Personal Testimony

1:45-2:45 - Fifth Speaker- Sibi- Pearl Teaching and Personal Testimony

2:45-3:15- Special video and the placing of pearl necklaces on each of the women (The speakers and some special "Pearl Girls" will be the ones adorning you all with necklaces)

3:15-4:00- Opportunities for prayer and meeting and hugging and possible squealing :) and encouraging!!


What kind of event is this?

This is a Christian event.   It is not affiliated with a specific church or denomination.

All are welcome! We would LOVE for you to attend!

We are all Christians. We all love the same Jesus.
We all have testimonies that many of you may be able to identify with in one way or another!

We are not "perfectly polished" speakers....We are Mamas who love Jesus and love our families and want to share our testimonies to offer hope and encouragement and hopefully, by His grace, point others to a deeper relationship with Him.


How large/small is the event and venue?

We are offering room for 200 seats.

If there is interest past this, we will have a waiting list that will pop up on Eventbrite once the last ticket is sold and will work out the details accordingly.

We have already had ticket sales and are so humbled and honored and excited that you are coming!!!

Thank you!!

I will share more information soon!  Including a detailed list of shops, and restaurants , etc and wonderful things about the area for those of you who want to make a weekend out of it!


Sponsoring the event:

If you would like to make a donation of any amount to help with the event you can do so through the
Pay Pal link on the ticket page.

If you are interested in partnering with us through a sponsorship, please email me at :
pearlsandgrace@yahoo.com



Roommates and connecting with other attendees:


If you would like to connect with a possible roommate or find out who all is planning to attend you can do that by sending out a tweet on Twitter and using the hashtag  #thepearlevent.

Blog buttons about the event will be coming after Christmas!


I hope this helps to answer some of your questions. Thank you all for your support and encouragement!


Please keep His upcoming event in your prayers!