Trip to Atlanta

Last week our family had the opportunity to go to the Christian Booksellers Association. It's a convention that has a lot of publishers and distributors of all kinds of Christian books and paraphernalia. It was very interesting to say the least. Regardless of how you feel about the cross of our Lord being on a chocolate candy bar or a pair of flip flops, it is certainly a marketing mania. Everyone there has the newest products that will transform the way you sell books and the name of Christ. You walk ten steps and there is someone approaching you with a new book or CD (which they would love to autograph for you). There are drawings for free giveaways like stuffed animals, gift certificates, a GPS and even a car. Yes- we signed up and won a huge gift pack of DVDs from Foxfaith Movies and a doll from Faith & Friends. Some of the Cd's that we were given from new artists are pretty good and have already made their way into Rachel's car.

We were also given a night to spend at the Grand Hyatt hotel which was a lot of fun. With all the amenities it was hard to leave the next day. While we were in Atlanta we went to a few fun places with the family. The CNN Center was not worth the money we spent but the Coke Museum and GA Aquarium made up for it. What a thrill for little girls to go into a room filled with all the coke products they could hold! The aquarium holds some of the most amazing creatures in the world that God has ever made. My favorite was the beluga whales and garden eels. The most fun thing was being with the girls and seeing their excitement over new things and joy of being together. I loved seeing the big girls pointing out, explaining and enjoying new things to the little girls. We are thankful to be back home and back to our normal chaos.

Starting at the top is Ray and the girls at the World of Coke and building a pyramid at the Olympic Park. Next picture is Hannah reading to Lydia at the convention then Lydia enjoying the Varsity and all five girls at the Aquarium.