Last TOFW in Phoenix

It’s been a fun ride to be with the Time Out for Women organization the past couple of years after we wrote A Mother’s Book of Secrets together…but alas, you need to produce a new product for Deseret Book in order to keep going and Shawni and I haven’t exactly had time to write another book this year! Time to go on. Still we’ll take what we can get and meeting such amazing people with incredible talent has been a stellar experience! Nice to do our finale in Shawni’s home town and be with 2700 stalwart women and 400 terrific girls (who had their separate meeting).

 

This one was in downtown Phoenix which is a pretty awesome place!  It was fun for Shawni not to have to pack a bag!

The girl on the left and the mom with the adorable baby (Mercy River) are sitting by Matt Baldwin, who wrote a great book this year and is a therapist. He also happens to be my sister Lenna’s neighbor. Small world! 

Our hero Cindy Packard who started Care for Life with her husband in Mozambique (where Tal and Anita spent part of their honeymoon and who are now on the board) was there with her good friend Mary Ellen Edmunds who gave a wonderful talk.

 

One of the most fun things about TOFW is that they are starting to do Time Out for Girls for girls 12 and older. How great was that to have Elle (right) and her friend McKenna be able to be in the same building with us? They sneaked out to hear our talk and were so excited and just plain cute!

 

And just to add the icing on the cake, all of Shawni’s sisters-in-law and her cousin came to support her.

So many beautiful women, young and old were there for a day away from the hassles of life.

Here is a darling grandma (center) with all her terrific daughters and daughters in law! BIG family!

Here are some of our favorite “Time Out” people including Hilary Weeks (right) with her velvet voice and clever presentations, thought provoking Matt Baldwin and darling Kris Belcher, who lost one eye to cancer at when she was a 7 month-old baby and the other several years ago. Her tribulations are beyond belief but what a woman!  She could be a stand up comic in Las Vegas without blinking an eye (oops, excuse the pun). She is able to laugh at herself and keep us laughing too, even though her circumstances are so tragic! She has never seen her four year old since he was an infant. 

We got a chance to meet Kris’ dog Nadine this time.  Even though she looks like a panther in the picture (dont’ know what all that shine is) she is a perfect companion for Kris!

Ah, life has it’s eras and this has been a great one!