Jet-setter: Ottawa, Ontario - December 28, 2013 - January 1, 2014

I had mentioned in this post that I was headed back to Ottawa at the end of December for the annual New Years conference hosted by Catholic Christian Outreach (CCO). After major delays and baggage being purposely left behind by Air Canada, I finally made it to Ottawa!

The conference took up nearly all of my time while I was there, and my breaks were used for catching up with people that I haven't seen in a really long time. I had many wonderful coffee and lunch visits that left my heart full and my spirit at peace. I have some of the most amazing people in my life, and I am so thankful for each and every one!

I actually didn't take many photos while I was in Ottawa this time, I was really focused on being present and experiencing every moment with people that are important to me.  There were over 800 people at this conference, and while I don't know more than half of them, there were still so many people to hug, laugh with, and catch up with.

We celebrated Mass each day. On the first day we walked to the Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica.

I actually spent most of my evenings with Amanda and other people from Saskatoon (and area).  It was a great balance of catching up with lots of different people at the conference and during the day breaks and then spending time with those that I would get to see back at home too.

My entire parish team from Impact Halifax was at the conference, but we didn't manage to get a photo together.  It was pretty great being able to see all of them so soon after David's wedding!  

One super exciting part about the conference was seeing most of the wonderful women that were my housemates on Impact.  There were nine of us that lived at Waterloo (most of the houses on Impact were just referred to by the street they were located on) and seven of us were at the conference!  We live across the country so this is a pretty fantastic ratio!  I had seen some of them while making road trips to Calgary or while visiting Ottawa for David's wedding, but I hadn't seen my old roommate Rachel since our last day in our house. It was a wonderful moment being able to hug her and actually talk to her face to face!  Over the course of the summer while living in Halifax we grew so close.  It was kind of funny actually, when we first moved into the house I was shocked to have been placed in a room with her, because we were the most different out of all of the people in the house. But things totally happen for a reason and I could not have been more blessed than I was by having Rachel as my roomie.

Waterloo Ladies

The conference ended with a banquet and dance on New Years Eve.  This is my third year ringing in the New Year with hundreds of young adults at Rise Up, and I loved every minute of it!

Have you ever been to Rise Up? What did you do for New Years this year? I would love to hear about it!