One Wednesday in September, 7 of us girls(mom, me, val, jen, kim, elizabeth and amanda) headed to st. louis for the joyce meyer women’s conference! this was our 4th(?) time going, and each time is better than the last!
after we got off the plane, we went straight to a little creperie for lunch. it was rainy and cold so it was the perfect day for a cozy little cafe…
we were invited by nancy alcorn to spend some time at mercy ministries, so that evening we headed out to fenton. we loved getting to hear some of the girls stories and just hanging out with them. we heart the mercy girls!
on thursday we had free time before the sessions started so we explored downtown st. louis. that city has some great spaces!
the city garten was AWESOME. we definitely made the most of all the interactive sculptures in the garden. it was so much fun!
these photos crack me up…
creepiest sculpture EVER!…
val and jen in the creepiest sculpture EVER!…
of course we couldn’t go to st.louis and not see the famous arch!
thanks to jen for being willing to do this…
to get this shot…
after taking pics outside, we decided to go straight to the very top!
you take these funny little spaceships up through the inside of the arch:
tiny doors to get in the pods…
mom in her pod. she looks like a little martian!
on our way!…
at the top they had little windows…
that showed you this view…
630 feet up!…
after all that exploring, we headed back to our beautiful hotel (it used to be a train station!) to get ready for the conference…
so the conference started thursday night, and it was awesome. i know for me, i heard exactly what i needed to hear for this time in my life, and im sure all the other ladies felt the same…
israel houghton and the new breed did some incredible worship sets… i love his story and his music…
we heard from joyce (obviously)…
we heard a kick butt message from nancy alcorn…
we ate lunch with some awesome ibo ladies…
we ate lunch with the mercy girls…
i think its funny that this is the only picture we got of us and it was on the way out of the conference…
we had an amazing time, and im beyond thankful that i got to go with this great group!
**thanks to amanda for the picture of the outside of the hotel since i forgot to take one! 🙂
from the desk of tara hope... 
haha…creepy head sculpture…very creepy but awesome picture. And I had no idea you could to to the top of the arch and in a pod! You guys have the most fun!