Erin Akin Carroll

Well, I spent today driving back home from Indiana. I had such a great weekend at the Influence Conference, visiting with Nina, and getting some great time with my parents. And I met so many wonderful new friends at Influence. I’m so thankful to Jessi and Hayley for organizing and planning such a great event.

Today was spent in the car channeling my inner Idina Menzel and trying to “defy gravity.” The Wicked soundtrack needs to be in every girl’s car when she’s on a solo road trip.

I also found the Shania Twain Greatest Hits CD and every word to every song came back to me quickly. It’s always fun to sing at the top of your lungs by yourself in the car.

I’m especially grateful for a safe road trip. I always get nervous leaving my husband and babies and I’m just thankful that the trip was uneventful.

For some reason I was especially aware of my surroundings on the trip today. Driving through southern Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, and upstate South Carolina, I was surrounded by gorgeous fall colors. The trees were just magnificent.

For a while it was really windy and these beautiful yellow leaves were just flying toward my windshield. It was so neat to see them and I was just overwhelmed by how beautiful it all was.

There were moments when I was winding through the mountains and I had a quick opportunity to glance to my right or left at a gorgeous mountain view full of colorful fall trees.

And our Lord created all of it. Every single bit of it.

So I spent the day singing my face off to some good girly tunes. But I loved the view I had today. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful weekend.

No, I take that back. The perfect ending to the weekend was seeing all three of my boys when I got back to town tonight. I actually met them at one of the houses we’re interested in, and it was really nice to see them and see this potential new home. We’ll see if it’s the one for us or not.

p.s. I promise to try to remember to take more pictures this week!

Okay, y’all. So apparently when I leave town, I also kind of mentally check out of when it comes to blogging. Which, normally, wouldn’t be that big of a deal. But when I’ve committed to write for 31 days, that’s kind of a fail. But it’s okay.

I’m back at it today.

The Influence Conference has met every expectation I ever imagined and more. The encouragement, inspiration and huge welcoming feeling make it the best conference I’ve ever attended. I can’t say enough about how great it has been.

We got to hear Emily Freeman speak yesterday, and I found myself sitting there, listening to her, and choking back tears at nearly everything she said. What a gift she has! She has this ability to speak straight to you and stir something in your soul. She’s down to earth yet full of wisdom. If you haven’t read Grace For The Good Girl and don’t subscribe to Chatting at the Sky, you should do it now.

I got to FaceTime with Todd and the boys this morning and that made my day. My boys love FaceTime!

Being here with Nina has been so much fun. We’ve had lots of time to sit and talk and just rest. And taking her by my high school was fun, too!

I wanted to share something with you all that Emily Freeman said to us to encourage us yesterday. She said, “Pay attention to what makes you cry. Your tears are tiny messengers from Christ that will help you tell your story.” Those tiny messengers. They show up a lot lately. Motherhood has made me a hormonal mess. But they are a reminder of what I feel passionately about and Emily’s beautiful words helped me realize that I should be paying more attention to that.

I hope you’re all having a great weekend so far. The Gamecocks play LSU in Baton Rouge tonight. Cheer for us from where ever you are. Unless, of course, you’re cheering for LSU.

Well, I missed Day 10. It was an intentional break for my sake and my family’s sake.

I spent yesterday preparing to leave town today, which meant getting myself ready and getting the boys ready. Lots of laundry, errands, and packing.

I never regret having a quiet day.

Today, I spent 10 hours in the car driving to Indianapolis for the Influence Conference. I don’t mind a good long road trip. I can sing. I can listen to talk radio. I can drive for 7 hours without stopping at all.

The drive was going well until the very last hour. There was a horrible accident and the interstate was closed. Thankfully, my parents were able to check the news and get me back on track since I really had no idea where I was.

I had some entertaining chats with Nina and Crist on the drive. I was thankful for that when I found myself getting sleepy.

Nina and I both made it to the conference hotel right around the same time, and I was so excited to see her! We got to hear Jessi, Hayley, Moriah, and Casey kick off the conference.

Nina and I are staying at my parents’ house instead of the conference hotel. I couldn’t be this close to my parents and not stay with them. I’m excited to have a few days to visit with them.

I’m also excited to learn a lot tomorrow and meet some great new friends at the Influence Conference. I’ll be sure to share all I can!

P.S. Have I mentioned how freeing this series has been for me? I love blogging, but the “what do I blog about today” burden has totally been lifted for the past 11 days. It may not continue like this after these 31 days are over, but I’m just glad I decided to do it this way for myself.