Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

...at the DioMo Convention.

On Saturday morning, I took all three kids (ages 1, 5, and 8) to the Diocese of Missouri Annual Convention. It was my first trip to a diocesan convention in 35 years as an Episcopalian. In the past, I had not paid much attention convention news because I am not interested in amendments, resolutions and whatever else I guessed went on there. This year, I heard (through Facebook, of course) that there would be Tibetan singing bowls, and freshly roasted coffee, and convention bingo,so I decided to check it out. I also was assured it was ok to attend even though I had neglected to register.

The kids had a great time visiting the vendors, which was basically trick-or-treating for the the kids since they all had candy to share. Then we went on to the Sabbath room, where I tweeted about our activities with the #DioMo hashtag.

Here is what we tried:

My 5 yr old son enjoyed drawing with a variety of markers, pens and paper.

My 8 yr old son really enjoyed walking the labyrinth and followed it closely. My 5 yr old son ran the pathway, and my 1 yr old daughter wandered all over.

This was the first time I had ever smelled frakensense or myrrh. I thought both were quite nice.

We also listened to the Tibetan singing bowls. Here is my Vine video of the music (you will need to un-mute to listen):

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The Sabbath room was organized by The Rev. Pamela Dolan, Emily Davis, Lesley McIntire and Dan Handschy, and was part of a larger Sabbath theme at the convention. Back at home, I had a chance to watch the introductory video to Sabbath and learn more about it. I have been thinking about how to maintain a day of rest for our own family. Visiting this room definitely gave me some great ideas, especially since we have three active children who needs a list of can-dos.

We are definitely looking forward to see what convention brings next year!

This post originally appeared on Laura’s Episcopal Share blog  on November 25, 2013 and is reprinted with permission.