Th IACAA Conference

I meant to post this while I was at the conference but for the first time since I had been carrying my laptop with me, I forgot to bring my power cord. I needed to save the battery in case I needed to do stuff for work, so I decided to wait until I got home. Once I got back home, I got crazy busy with work so this is the first time I have had to post.

Our Family of Distinction banquet was Sunday night and what a treasure.  We have so many families that, because of our help, don't need us anymore. That is such an awesome feeling. Our own family of distinction has faced many trials, including the loss of two of the five children to a disease they all have. The single mom though, completed college, bought a house and is now a nurse. They are doing so great and getting to spend time with them in itself, was wonderful.

We also were treated to entertainment by a local high school show choir. I was texting Robert the whole time they were on. It was Glee brought to life only better. They were awesome. They did Don't Stop Believin', Thriller, Bad Romance, Nothings Gonna Hurt You and others. I had a hard time controlling the tears when they started their first song--God Bless the USA. It had been the first time I had heard it since Andrew lost his job and it has different meaning now.

On Monday night we had the FCD graduation. We had four staff members graduate, three of them being our fieldstaff. I am so proud of them and know they now know the difference between a hand up and a hand out. I graduated from the same program 10 years ago. That night, we were treated to the jazz band "Capital Sound" so I even ended up on the dance floor before the night was over.

On Tuesday, we had Jackie Joyner-Kersee as our speaker for lunch. I thought it ironic since I had just started running. I told her that when I went to have my picture taken with her. She was telling about being a teenager and starting to run, she couldn't make the perimeter of the park. That in itself was really all  needed to hear. I can do this. She told me not to stop, it definitely gets easier.

The first picture is the kids from the show choir, not a great picture, but just had to put them on here.

Blurry picture, but this is my chair and ottoman, I LOVE the Hilton, and this chair is the main reason. I was on the other side of the building this year but it is absolutely perfect when my window faces the capitol. I was on the 26th floor so the view was great, however, it was looking back towards Rochester and Taylorville this year.

Jackie Joyner-Kersee