Hey there, blogging champions! This is Abby, a participant from lovely Rockford, IL. Yesterday I traveled 2 hours by car to get to the NNPCW conference, and let me tell you, the drive was worth it!

This morning I woke up and headed down to breakfast… something about pancakes always puts me in a stellar mood for the rest of the day. I drank some coffee and chatted with Omayra from Puerto Rico, my sister Hillary and her roommate Corina. Then we moseyed upstairs to Plenary. Mona led us in songs and we danced and clapped… what a way to begin the day: singing worship songs with a group of women!

Lisa and Laura shared with us their personal stories of prejudice. For me, it was interesting to realize that my ignorance and curiosity about someone else’s disability is really prejudice! After they shared, we wrote about our experiences with prejudice. For me those experiences went from writing about being a woman and a twin, to being called to the ministry and a vegetarian. We shared these thoughts in small groups; I’m continually impressed by the compassion in the hearts of the women here!

After a short break, Lisa and Laura passed out paper boxes, markers, glitter glue (!), and scissors. As we decorated our boxes with images of pain and hope regarding prejudice, our presenters continued a fishbowl conversation about their lives. Laura comes from a Japanese American family and Lisa has been blind her entire life—such a different background from little all white, completely able-bodied me.

We broke for lunch (eggplant parmesan! woot!) and a brief break period before afternoon workshops. My first workshop was called Motherly Earth. The group went outside and we chatted about how God has entrusted the earth to us as His stewards. We talked about how the environment is connected to us as women and how the environment affects us. Then we created sculptures from recycled goods to symbolize our continued commitment to protect God’s creation. This first workshop brought together two of my passions: arts and crafts and being outside! It was great!

Between sessions, I wandered a bit around Techny Towers. I caught some conversation with Brianne Jurs and some of the other passionate and brilliant women here. For my second session, I attended Whose Body? Whose Self? which focused on the reproductive health of women. It was a very honest and open workshop, where a lot of my questions were answered and my naïveté was diminished.

And here I am! Dinner time! I’m so ready… I’m looking forward to the rest of the night.

Rock on. Peace.

Abby