~I.H.C....2013!!!~

If you read my poem that I wrote about IHC last year, then you'll know that I L.O.V.E. IHC!!!!!!!!!!!!  To me it's like this:
 IHC  =  Heaven.  =D
So our family was DELIGHTED to get to attend IHC for the first time in 5 years.  It was sooooo WONDERFUL to feel God's sweet presence, worship with the Holiness crowd, be with our family, and see lots of friends.  I LOVE being a part of the Family of God!!  =)  Here's LOTS of pictures of our 3 days at IHC.
~Someone put the chairs in the other bleachers up and down to spell GBS...God's Bible School.~

~After the first afternoon service, we all went to Gramp and Gram's car and had a pretty and yummy picnic that Gram and A. Laura made us.  (I got back from deputation services at nearly 10:00 PM the night before IHC, so couldn't make any food.)  =( ~

~It was fun being together and eating a quick supper before we ran to the 6:00 service. ~

~Jesus gave us a good service that night.   We were happy to be with Michael and Beth and their family too.~

~God's Bible School sang that night and Jesus helped them.  I sat in the crowd and sang with them...for we sang the song they were singing when I was in choir. =)~

~Then we went to our hotel rooms.  My parents, my sister Laura and her family, and our family each got rooms at the Hawthorn suites.  They were very FUN rooms for a GREAT convention price.  They were complete with a delightful fireplace, ours had a fun loft for the kids to stay in, and served a free full breakfast each morning.  =)
We had a snack in Daddy and Moma's room that first night.
Elijah loves his U. Daryl.~

~Moma made us a yummy snack.~

~Visiting in Daddy and Moma's nice hotel room.~

~Gramp and Natasha having a little chat.  I love it that Gramp takes time for and interest in each one of his 17 grandkids.  =) ~

~My wonderful man and I.~

~On Wednesday morning heading to IHC.~

~Then our girls and I, Laura and her girls, and Moma all went to the Women of Worth meeting.  It was very good.~

~Here's our "other sister" Kim Hoffman." =)~

~L to R: Kim Hoffman, me, Moma, and Laura.~

~Laura, Moma, and I.~

 ~Laura, Kim, and I.~

 ~We had another yummy picnic that afternoon at Gram's car again.  Here's all of the cousins together.~

~Then that evening we had another snack together and one of Daryl's friends joined us.~

~Natasha did Mary's hair.~

~Here's the back....~

~And here's the front.  =) ~

~Silly Mary with her very "poofy dress" all around her.~

~Moma holding our Elijah.~

~Elijah....Meeting new friends.~

~The boys got cowboy hats.  Mary grabbed one and then I saw her bend over to fix her bloomers and it made for this cute picture. ~

~And here she is wearing it with her pretty IHC dress. ~

~Gram came over to our hotel room... for a quick minute on the last morning, so I asked her to please help put Mary's dress on.~

~Elijah took this picture of A. Laura and Brittany.~

~Kimberly, her cousin Brittany, and some friends.~

~My s-i-l Beth and her kids and some of ours.~

~Our wonderful Pastor's wife....Sis. E and I...(We lovingly call her "Grammy." =) ~

~On the last afternoon our kids sang with the "Chapel of the Children."  Here's Sarah.~

~Isaiah, Noah, and Bryan, standing in line to go and sing.~

~Elijah on the right, and his "twin" Levi on the left.~

~Darla getting ready to go up on the platform and sing.~

~I squealed RIGHT OUT LOUD when I saw my good college friend Esther H.  I haven't seen her since our deputation 2004/2005.  It was so FUN to see each other again.~

~Here are the kids singing up on the IHC platform.  Here's a funny story.  When they got done singing Dad Sankey (Leonard Sankey, whom we call Dad II) made this announcement, "Parents, don't worry about your kids.  There are plenty of helpers to help your kids get back safely to children's church."  All of the sudden, my Phillip stands up and gets ready to leave.  I said, "You don't have to worry about Elijah, Dad Sankey just said that there are plenty of volunteers to help the kids get back to the children's service on the 3rd floor."   Phillip said, "He doesn't know OUR ELIJAH!"  So, Phillip took off.  IT'S A GOOD THING HE DID!!!  For our Elijah led his friend Levi, and his cousins Isaiah and Sophia RIGHT UP TO THE TOP of the side bleachers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  =)  Phillip rounded them all up and took them back to Children's church.  =D ~

~One of the things I love about IHC is getting to meet new people and "fellow" bloggers.  On Wednesday night I was delighted that Connie S. introduced herself to me.  Just like my friend Brittany,...Connie and I had "met" through blogs, but it was so fun to meet her in person.  She's a dear.~

~After the kids sang... Daddy and Moma, our family, and Laura and her family (Daryl couldn't be there =( and a friend...all ran down to the Spaghetti Warehouse for supper. ~

~Elijah took this picture of Gram and I.  We were laughing so HARD because he was trying so hard to get our picture pushing the button so hard...MOVING THE CAMERA EVERYWHERE, but he could hardly take the picture.  =)~

~We had such a wonderful time eating and laughing together.~

~Sarah and her cousin Darla.~

~Natasha played for the mass choir.~

~Gramp helped entertain Elijah during the last service.~

~Laura and her man.~

~My dear friend Roseanne (she's due in July) and I.~

~Darla, Sarah, and a friend.~

~Sarah R. and I.  (Our kids call her "Aunt Sarah") for she and her husband and our family spent 8 months together in Costa rica studying Spanish. ~

~Phillip packing up the van to go home.  IHC 2013 was now history.~

~My sweet sister Laura and I.~

~My friend Roseanne's little boy and our Elijah (with a balloon.)~

God gave us a WONDERFUL IHC.  The afternoon service on Thursday was filled with such a wonderful sense of God's presence!!!  So precious!!!  There were several sermons that were very GOOD during IHC as well.  If you want to go and watch IHC services, I assume they will be archived.  I would recommend "Small church, Big God" by Roland Mitchell, Dan Stetler's message, and Jeremy Fuller.
I'm SO THANKFUL Jesus let us come to IHC again.  It was a WONDERFUL!!!!
We came away:
~WITH A RENEWED SENSE THAT GOD IS STILL WORKING IN THE HOLINESS MOVEMENT
~ENCOURAGED IN JESUS
~THRILLED TO HAVE BEEN WITH OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS
AND.... WE HAVE LOTS OF FUN MEMORIES AND PICTURES AS WELL WITH WHICH TO REMEMBER IHC 2013.