NOW IS THE TIME...

Upon our arrival home from Monterey, Brit and I had two days to do our laundry, pack and prepare for our next adventure. And what an adventure it would be! We had been preparing for this one for months and yet we had no idea really what to expect.
As a young girl and as I grew to be a teen and then even once marrying and having young children, I had often times spent a week in the summer with thousands of like minded people at a church conference. These conferences would change location each year which gave us the opportunity not just to reconnect with friends and thousands of others from our church congregations but also the chance to see new places across the nation. I grew up in The Church of the Brethren. I spent many great times at conferences learning about our beliefs and spending time with people from all over the world. It was an amazing place to learn to live simply, to love each other, and the basis for my strong belief of living in peace.

As life's changes came our way, with it came the need for Wayne and I to move our family to a new denomination. We have over the years made many great friends within the Unitarian Universalist Church and have spent much time studying the church's ideas and positions on religion, politics, and life in general. We are happy to have found a nice home within this group once we chose to move to a small UU congregation of like minded people in rural IL. We were also lucky that when we made the huge decision to leave our home in IL and travel 2000 miles to CA, there was a UU congregation waiting. Our children have taken to the ideas and principles of the church and it has been a nice place for them to find wonderful mentors. However, after all these years of being a UU, I had yet to experience a conference or, General Assembly as UUs call their annual gathering.

This was to be the year and I was to have the privilege of going with my daughter and several other youth from our home church along with a few other adults to what would be an amazing experience. We made the trek to Portland, OR in two vans and arrived late in the middle of the night. We settled in and actually got a few hours of sleep before the next day arrived and we were up preparing to grab coffee(a must) and the train and head to the conference center to see just what UUs do at a gathering this size.

What a wonderful experience it was! We spent time at worship and in sessions! We met amazing people with awesome ideas. We heard interesting speakers that would challenge our lifestyles and beliefs! It was an amazing city filled with beautiful people from a small religion with a large heart!
Portland was an amazing city as well that I had never been to and was thrilled to have our time there rain free! The city was in full bloom and beautiful. We had wonderful food and fabulous coffee! I went to a great little place for lunch one day with my brother and his family who were kind enough to make the drive from their home a couple of hours away just to see Brit and I for a few hours! His son and I spent our time at the restaurant playing with dinosaurs while we talked and ate under a large tree in the back patio of the restaurant. Then off to a park where we all spent time letting off a little energy. We headed back to the conference so they could spend some time with Brit and Jacob after they were finished with their afternoon session. Cousins reunited and Jade spent time seeing just how good a climbing device Brit has grown into. It was fun to have them together and amazing how quickly he took to her!
I spent one afternoon listening to a speaker that has very much made an impression on me and my thoughts about how I eat and live. Will Tuttle, Ph.D. has spent a lot of his life thinking about the impact we have on the world around us and the creatures living amongst us. It was moving to sit and listen to him. He has written the book World Peace Diet which is next on my reading list for this summer. We had three of our teens participate in the Bridging Ceremony which was a wonderful experience for them as well as those of us observing.

We had time away from the conference as well, touring the city, meeting up with other adults from our home congregation to have breakfast and dance a bit in a diner, and trying out fun places to eat. We were happy to have an hour or so to spend at a huge crafters market where there was a little bit of everything you could imagine for sale.

I was able to walk away with amazing smelling organic soaps made by a lovely young lady and I was happy to spend much of my time there listening to a great band. One night I even got to take a few teens to a baseball game which was fun and I actually learned a few more things about the game of baseball!


















But as all good things do, our time in Portland soon came to an end and we packed up our vans and headed back to the heat of the valley. We brought home with us memories and inspiration as well as many stories to share with others that we hope will inspire them to venture out to a General Assembly some summer and gather with thousands of UUs from around the world, lifting up their voices and hearts together to bring change to this small planet.
Blessed Be-