Time out for Women, a conference put on by Deseret Book, came out to Philadelphia this past weekend. It's a conference just for Women.....obviously. My mom and I woke up earlier than I would have liked and caught the train down to Market East in Philly. The conference was held at the Convention Center which is conveniently located right above the train station.
There were probably about 1000 women who attended from a bunch of different states. Hilary Weeks, an LDS singer, asked people to cheer when she said the state they were from. Connecticut was first so I was a little bit nervous and my response was delayed a few seconds. She jokingly told everyone else to try a little better! Anyways, there were women from VA, PA, NJ, FL, CA, TX, DE, WV and others.
There were five presenters and they spoke on subjects such as raising children, marriage, the Atonement, Adversity and knowing that God is always listening to you. Hilary Weeks sang a ton of songs and they had about 6 tables set up with books and CDs from LDS authors. Let me just tell you that Deseret Book banked on this event. I have never seen one person buy so many books and Cd's. At one point they brought out a box of books that everyone was looking for and there was a stampede to this particular table! And to be fair, there are no Deseret Bookstores in the East and come on, buying them online is just not the same!
One of my favorite presenters was Emily Watts. She has written a few books on raising children and she spoke on joy and adversity. She quoted from a talk given by Carlfred Broderick. The talk is titled, "The Uses of Adversity". The talk was made into a book (the book I referred to above). There is a quote from the talk that I really loved and it was quoted three different times through out the day.
"The gospel of Jesus Christ is not insurance against pain. It is a resource in event of pain."
I have to add that I was persuaded to buy the new Hilary Weeks CD and I love it. My Dad bought me one of her Cd's when I was younger and I remember not really listening to it cause Church music was not at all hip. I guess I don't care to be 'hip' anymore!
She sang most of the songs from the CD and told the stories that inspired her to write them. My favorite song is, "Just Let Me Cry". She wrote this song when someone she knew lost their 9 year-old girl to brain cancer. The family sent out DVDs with pictures and videos of their daughter and in the DVD case was a note that said, 'Please don't try to find the right words to say or feel like you have to make us feel better. Please just let us cry.'
So all in all it was a great day and if there is a Time Out coming to a city near you, I would definitely try to go!
Mom and I sporting our 'free' (or as Matt says, '$40 bags!)
The new Temple will only be about 4 blocks from this location
