Home Again

I am back from the Promiseland Conference at Willow Creek and I think one word pretty much sums up the whole experience. Wow.
Willow Creek is AMAZING! It's absolutely HUGE and so beautiful! I have honestly never been inside a church before that has escalators, a waterfall, a food court and a bookstore. Just amazing.
The conference was awesome too. Such great speakers: Bill Hybels, Reggie Joyner, Jack Groppel and Kennth Ulmer, to name a few. Worship sessions with Matt Redman on Wednesday and Rebecca St. James yesterday. But yet, even all of that is not the best part. The best part, the most amazing part, is what we get to be involved in here on earth building God's kingdom with His precious little kids. We get to teach kids about God's amazing love for them, and that is the most important thing we can do.
I also met a new friend at Willow, Barb K. We only got to talk for about 15 minutes before the New Community service Wednesday night, but it was very enjoyable and I hope to keep in touch. I also got to see my friend Eren and her family, who I hadn't seen since they moved away last year. It was so great to see them again!
After the conference ended yesterday we went to downtown Chicago to walk around, window shop and have dinner. We ate at Ed Debevic's, which was hilarious. The wait staff there are all very rude, but that's part of the act. I am not sure what our waiter made of us, since we told him we were a church group. He seemed to have the rudeness toned down with us. :)