I’m going to do my best to recap this for you, but to be fair, I’m still a little speechless over the whole thing. I’m in total withdrawal after leaving my new ‘ohana [family] in Honolulu. It doesn’t happen often that I speak at a conference and feel like I never want to leave.

Maybe because it was in Hawaii.

[I put up a lot of pictures on instagram if you wanna see more.]

But my heart is still there most likely because Tiffany was my people before I arrived, but then her people became my ‘ohana and now I want to go visit about once a month, if anyone was looking for a way to get rid of some Delta Skymiles. 🙂

The Bloom Conference has been a God dream in Tiff’s heart for many years- to see the young women of Hawaii be equipped, encouraged, empowered, and inspired to “bloom where they are planted” and become all that God has created them to be. She told me the dream a year or so ago and when someone you love shares something BIG that God has asked them to do, it’s impossible not to want to be involved.

You know why? Because a lot of people have dreams to do something BIG but most of them never do. So when you know someone who dreams AND does it? You grab hands with them because adventure and Jesus are on that same path.

I loved my time in Hawaii. The food. The scenery. The early mornings walking on the beach. THE PEOPLE. The conference itself. I loved seeing how Tiffany and her community pulled together to beautifully execute a girls conference that was FUN and ENCOURAGING and DEEP. This island rarely gets events like this, in fact- this is the FIRST girls conference of this type! Incredible. And such an honor to be a part of it.

Really. I feel honored every time someone hands me a microphone and trusts me to tell them about Jesus, but last weekend, the emotion that sat in my throat and never left my thoughts was that of gratefulness.

Here’s a great recap video from the weekend where you can see my serious face at 1:03 and my pastry moment at 1:15. So. That really happened. And I totally embarrassed myself and my family. I’m sorry. Sorta.

Bloom 2013 Highlights from STUDIO:RED on Vimeo.

Right? You want to be there, huh? I know. Me too.

So keep up with Bloom Conference on twitter and facebook and pray for the girls from this weekend- that the things God started in them He would continue and seal and finish!