Summit 9 (or My Derby Week Plans)

*** I am writing this post as part of the Summit 9 Blogger Giveaway. Check out all the details at http://www.summit9.org/ ***

I am a Kentucky girl. I was born here back in 19....never mind, and I spent my years growing up in the city of Lexington until marrying a Marine that took me to various locations before coming back to stay in 2000. I love my home state. In the years that we were a military family, I did not enjoy the flat plains of Oklahoma and I thought the beaches of North Carolina were okay, but not enough to firmly plant my roots there. No, when the chance came for us to pack it up, we headed back home.

However, there are a few items where some might say I am a little lacking in my love of all things Kentucky. They are as follows:

• I am not a fan of bourbon. Even when you wrap it in chocolate, it still tastes nasty. I live in a town known for making the stuff, and I can honestly say, it smells when you make it, and it smells when you decide to ruin a perfectly nice glass of Coke by adding it in.
• I am not a fan of "bluegrass." And no, I am not talking about the music, because I can find some redeeming qualities in picking and grinning. I am literally referring to the bluegrass that makes us "The Bluegrass State." I am allergic to every single blade, and all things green that grown on the majestic rolling hills of this fair land makes me sneeze, gives me a headache, and causes me to awkwardly try to itch my ears from the inside of the roof of my mouth. If we could find out how to be the "Hypo-Allergenic Bluegrass State", I would appreciate it.
• I have never been, nor do I celebrate the Kentucky Derby. Come May, Kentucky will become the national hotspot as everyone dons a gorgeous array of hats, hosts fabulous parties, and glues themselves to their television screens to watch horses race 1.25 miles in less than 2 1/2 minutes. And, I have no real interest in it at all. I have been to the Kentucky Derby Museum, and it was a lovely field trip. I have cheered my children on as they pretended to be horses running in their very own derby at school. And that has satisfied all things Derby for me, that I'm okay with not attending or celebrating. (Although I do love the Derby Pie, mmmmmm, that's good stuff)

So, it is no surprise that this year, I have different plans for Derby week than some. I'm packing up my bags, and I will be heading out to Nashville. Home of fantastic barbecue and country music. And why will I be heading south on I-65? For Summit9.

Summit 9 is a conference hosted by the Christian Alliance for Orphans, an organization that brings together groups that support adoption, foster care, and global orphan care in all sorts of ways. If you want a source for information, a place to find where you can plug in, or just a list of people to lift up and pray for as they strive to be the ones reaching out to these children, this is it.

When I realized that not only were they hosting a fantastic conference, but that it was less than a few hours away, I knew I wanted to be there. I placed an email in to my friend "Lucy," who then talked to our friend "Ethel," and before you know it, we were devising a plan. We printed out our lists of the seminar talks offered, and we committed ourselves to dividing and conquering as many topics as we can. Because the three of us? We have been gifted with hearts that long to serve a Great God by caring for the fatherless, and we want to reach out to as many as we can. In order to do that, we must pray first, and then we need a plan. And, in order to plan, we want to educate ourselves on the orphan crisis and all that it entails. And Summit 9 seems like a fantastic place to get ourselves schooled.

So, you pray for Lucy, Ethel and me. There is a reason that I have lovingly given them those nicknames, because if you have ever seen "I Love Lucy," you know just what kind of schenanigans those two can get themselves in to. I have no idea what awaits us at Summit 9, but I'm sure there will be laughs, and I think we might even need a Kleenex or two. But my hope, my hope is that we'll find ourselves even more in love with our God who does not leave the fatherless, but has graciously invited us to be His hands and feet to the many. And that love will fuel a ministry that will grow and flourish to be Hope to the 147.