Deep in the Heart of Texas ~ Friends & Fellowship

Continuing our Deep in the Heart of Texas series, some of our best memories of Texas are the old friends we reconnected with during the conference and also the new friends we made while there.

On the first day as we were waiting for the conference doors to open, we looked around at the folks gathering and spotted a family Jonathan recognized from having visited their website. So we introduced ourselves to the energetic and sociable Wahlquist family:

And the girls and I met Beth, one of the three daughters in the Wahlquist family. Little did we know at the time that Beth would figure prominently in the weekend:

We also reconnected with the friendly Petersen family from California whom we met last year at the Gospel Centered Marriages Conference in North Carolina. Here I am with Mary:

And here's a picture of the whole Petersen family taken after we ate lunch together one day:

Tom contributes:  Also during the conference we met up with Joel and Theresa Salatin, our friends and local neighbors from Polyface Farms here in the Valley. We got to know them 10 years ago in a church fellowship when we first moved to the Valley, but we have not seen them much in recent years. It took traveling 1400 miles to south Texas to meet up with them again!

Joel was one of the keynote speakers at the conference, and Jonathan attended every one of his workshops:

Tom contributes: Then there’s the cheerful M. family (below), hailing from Tennessee. We were first privileged to meet some of them at the Gospel Centered Marriages Conference in NC last October. This time we got to meet the whole family – very nice folks who love the Lord. Here are some of us having a chat with Arthur and the boys:

And here are some of the M. ladies sitting on the lower level of the conference center below where the guys were talking:

Here's Hannah talking with a couple of the young ladies: Elizabeth, Amanda, and little Mary Ann.

And last, but certainly not least...in fact, it was a big part of the conference! Our friend, Erich--who lived here in Virginia for a few years, was part of our church, and worked with Jonathan at the airport--came strolling up to us between sessions and announced, "Girottis, I have news."

Between dinner break and the next keynote address at the conference on Friday evening, Erich and Beth were betrothed to be married! We were very excited for them both...because we liked Beth when we first met her! The wedding will take place possibly in October. Congratulations, Erich and Beth!!

"And I will betroth thee unto me forever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness; and thou shalt know the Lord." ~ Hosea 2:19-20

Well, I've certainly enjoyed writing about all the folks we were with during the conference. I hope you've enjoyed tagging along with me to Texas!

~Deb

Next up: Deep in the Heart of Texas ~ Flavors of Texas

Comments

[Chris]

What a blessing to reconnect with so many families that you all have meet over the years. Sounds like your fellowship was sweet. Looking forward to each post of the conference, thanks for sharing about your time there!!

[Leslie W]

Wow!!!!!!!!!! What a special time for you all and then to find out the news about Erich!

So glad you had a great time!

[Stephanie in MI]

That is very nice to see young couples so happy together. Glad you had such a nice time!

[victoria]

What a great time you all had. I'm so glad you were able to connect up with the sweet M. family. Elizabeth sure looks happy. :)

Blessings,

Victoria

[Tammy C]

Sounds like the whole conference was a positive experience.

Seeing old friends is always fun.Topics from the conference seemed like they were very interesting.Neat that you heard Michelle Duggar speak.

[Carrie]

I have enjoyed your summary and vicariously the camaraderie (had to look up that spelling!) you savored.