Weathering the Storms

Jan. 4 - 7 the National Episcopal church hosted a conference in Orlando called Weathering the Storms (WTS). Sponsored by the Church Pension Fund and put on by CREDO, they gathered clergy from the impact areas of Katrina, Rita and other storms. Families were TOTALLY included, as well as diocesan support staffs (and 3 bishops).
This is perhaps the best event / conference I have ever attended. The 5 Knight's went down a day early (being the BAD BAD parents we are, having NEVER taken our children to Evil Land...er....I mean Disney) to have some fun. And BOY did we.
The first day we made it to the hotel and our room was ready EARLY! We were staying at the Marriot World Center, and amazing place. We headed to the pool (they have 7) and ended up at a pool and hot tub that was unoccupied by any non-Knights! For several hours we played, laughed, swam, soaked, played water volleyball together, just me, the LW, the 20 yr old LD, the 18 yr old LD and the 12 yr old LS. I cannot remember a time when the 5 of us have laughed and relaxed so well together. It was SUCH A BLESSING!! And our older children did not have to worry about being embarrassed hanging with the parents, cuz no one else was around. SWEET!
The next day we went to Disney MGM. It was OK. Long lines, expensive, only couple of rides worth doing - I truly do not get the whole Disney thing!
The conference started that evening. We were reunited with some dear friends from seminary who are now in Baton Rouge doing great work, and our former seminary Dean and his LW, he is now Director of Mission for the Ep. Church and did a great presentation. They are also good friends of ours and we really loved being with them again.
One of the best gifts of the conference was the freedom to do whatever we wanted - attend sessions, or blow them off! I did some of both. Played a round of golf. Got a goooooood massage. LW got a facial. They had planned activities for all the different age groups of kids (there were almsot 60 there under 18). The sessions I attended were SUPERB. The off time was awesome. The food tremendous.
We learned a lot about rest, about respite, about compassion fatigue, about taking care of ourselves. We networked and shared stories and made connections. We laughed and drank and laughed, gathering in the hot tub for "adult swim" time each evening. So fun.
I snuck out on Friday and took my 12 yr old LS to Epcot (man, I will NEVER go there again, but he liked it ok). Then on Sat after lunch, when the conference had ended, 16 of us went to Universal Studios and had a BLAST. It was quite cold, so the crowds were not too bad. I much prefer it to Disney. We would have done the Islands of Adventure but most of it is water rides and it was far to cold for that.
It was a great, great trip. I will have more to say about "re-entry" soon, but for now, thank you Lord for WTS!