2014 ACFW Conference Highlights

Conference selife - I allow one
of myself per year ;)

It's not often that you leave a place knowing--and feeling--that people truly understand you. For me, that place is the ACFW Conference. Though this was only my second year attending, I feel as if I've been a part of the ACFW family for much longer than that. They are warm, welcoming, and above all - they understand my weirdness!

The ladies out for dinner at the Spaghetti Factory

What's that, you may ask? Weirdness? Well yes...in fact, having a conversation about the voices in your head is common place at a writers conference and it's normal! Not to mention when you get a group of us romantic suspense writers together all we tend to do is talk about ways to kill people...without getting caught. But, not to worry - it's only in our fictional worlds of course.

For me, thinking about this year's conference causes my eyes to do this funny watery thing and my throat to get a little constricted. Honestly, the Lord brought about amazing friendships (ones that happened even in the span of 5 days!) and I know they will last.

Some of the highlights
(represented by photos because...well, you know me and photography)

Brandilyn Collins as the MC for the conference. She does such a fantastic job each year! (P.S. For a little treat, visit her amazing website and you'll see one of the headshots I took of her last year right there on her page! Eeek!)

Worship by this amazing woman of God! Rachel Hauck does such a beautiful job in leading us to the throne each year at the conference. Her sweet spirit and genuine heart for the Lord pour out in her words and through her beautiful voice! I was personally encouraged by the song choices and the time spend before our Father in worship.

Chatting with this amazing woman!!! My dear readers, I talk about her a lot but I can't say enough great things about Ronie Kendig! Catching up with her at the conference was definitely a highlight - and I smile in anticipation of our continued friendship now that we're within "meeting up" distance - yea!

Haha...another highlight - bunny ear selifes with this guy! Chip MacGregor is hilarious and kept photo bombing my shots of the conference with his deceptive and sneaky bunny ears! It was only right that we got a selfie of it.

Being in St. Louis right by the Arch. Wow! Our hotel was in the best location ever. This shot was taken from our room window at sunrise - talk about a view! The staff was so friendly and the hotel itself was lovely. I particularly loved the park right out the front door where I took my headshot clients to capture the beautiful natural light and green foliage.

Another highlight: these people (and sooo many more I didn't get to take pictures with).

So...can you tell I had an amazing time at the conference? I'm so sad that it's over! I typically get to see these people one time a year (which is definitely NOT enough) and leaving is always hard. I'll probably do a more 'writing oriented' update later, but for now this post has helped me relive a small portion of the conference plus it has updated you, so I'd call that a win! ;)

If you went to the conference, what were some of your highlights???