Extraordinary Women ~ Saturday Part II

Alrighty then... Wayne's diapers has been changed a few times since that last post... now I'm ready to post some more. ;)

Karen Kingsbury was the next speaker... boy was she funny!!! I hadn't read any of her books -- but I wished I had, because she would tell stories on herself and then name the character that she wrote about in the book that did the same thing. Or she mentioned how she cried when so and so died. I think that's funny... her husband happened to walk in upon her crying once, after a grandmotherly type lady died, and he said, "You know -- I don't feel sorry for you -- after all... you killed her."

LOL!!

She spoke out of Romans as well.

Romans 12.2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

I think the Holy Spirit was trying to HAMMER me on Saturday -- what do you think?

Oh then she ended up by reading a tear jerker of a story that she wrote -- really just writing it for her kiddos... but once some publisher got wind of it -- it ended up being a book too. Let Me Hold You Longer. Help us Hannah... she had us all holding hands with our neighbors -- so it was a mess in there... 2700 women or so... holding hands, and bawling... can you imagine all the sniffing, and tears dripping... ruining shirts. I tried to do a trick I heard Oprah say once... (Oh be quite... I know you've watched Oprah before)... she said, "Look up -- when you are about to cry...look at the ceiling." I was trying -- but a few dripped out anyway... I had to wipe them off my neck by the time she was done reading this story.

I was fortunate to be holding the hands of my friends... some were not so lucky. ::giggle:: I'm not poking fingers, mind you... but you know... clammy stranger hands... while snot is running down your nose... not always the best of situations.

Then guess what we did??? I believe -- but I may be wrong... we sang some more. YUP... same 7 song, or was it 11 songs.. who knows?? I left -- I had to go to the bathroom. I wasn't drinking water that day... but I did sneak in a coffee. ::gasp:: Don't tell on me... I was tired.

Did I mention I only got about 4 hours of sleep the night before?

I lay in bed there for 1 hour. I started with my parents, and started praying down the list. I've got 4 sisters... some of which are married... and a few others have kids.. LONG list... I think it was an hour. Well -- you know... I've got A.D.D. I'd get distracted every once in a while.

Then around 3:30... I was up again... I know -- I looked at the clock... thinking if it was close to 5:00, I'd get up and exercise. Not on your life... it wasn't even close... So I started praying for my immediate family -- then must have needed a lot of prayer... because I finally caved and looked at the clock again and it was 4:30. ::sigh:: Oh me... I did go to sleep eventually -- only to wake myself up with my OWN snoring... GREAT -- I was finally asleep... only to wake myself up. OH well -- I guess that's better than my map reading friend shaking the bed so I'd quit snoring. We agreed we'd do that... if the other was snoring... we'd just shake the bed a little. She doesn't snore -- she must have just been being nice to let me think I could wake her up if she was snoring. ;)

OK -- so I needed the coffee... I snuck some in.

Did I mention that this enormously gigantic church had a cafe. Neat little place. Really awesome workers... not the best coffee though... but I'm not a snob... if I can drown the taste with French Vanilla Creamer -- it's all good to me. HA HA!

Oh let's see... where were we? Singing and Swaying and Raising Our Hands... and then we get to sit down again.

Well -- then we broke up for lunch. Our fearless leader had ordered us box lunches. I was glad. I think there was only 1 restaurant close... Applebees. It would have been really, really, really crowded that day. I tell you want... my long legged friend got us to the "pretty close" to the front of the line for lunch. No standing for us... but I was pretty close to running. I lost sight of her once... she turned around... and I could see her face, and she couldn't see me... So I rasied my hand -- and almost started singing praise songs again. Sort of like Pavlo's dogs, I was... but I caught myself. She found us and we ventured on.

I think our lunch was from the ROC cafe, delicious, I might add. W.W. bread, which impressed the bread makers of our group. HUGE cookie -- which impressed me. Ü We had another gab session... but you know how it goes... What comes out of our mouthes in Raytown, STAYS in Raytown.

Next speaker -- Jennifer Rothschild. Now -- she was impressive. Of course I'd never heard of her either. I don't get out much -- did I mention that? I'm sort of a home body... I don't go gallivanting about listening to all these speakers... so -- another new one.

She has Rhinitis's Pigmentosis. Yeah -- I know... Firefox is telling me I spelled that incorrectly. Can you believe it? Get used to it... I'm a horrible speller. It means she is totally blind. Has been since the age of ... oh... I forgot to write it down. 15 or 16.

She graduated from high school blind, then headed to college. Where she met her dear husband. What a guy!

She talked about being a Risk Taker Rather than a Hole Maker... ever time she mentioned Hole Maker -- I thought she was saying Home Maker... so I kept getting distracted. It could have been that she was speaking last, or after lunch, or during normal nap time... I'm not sure... but her telling me not to be a HOME MAKER was messing me up.

One thing that DID really stick out was that our talent was not ours to bury... and that our talent may be something hard like... suffering. Oh wow... never thought of that.

So she told us to be Strong and Courageous. The Bible doesn't say be strong and confident... just courageous.

After she was done -- we sang some more... not as long this time... becuase they were going to have a drawing... and the natives were getting restless.

Woo Hoo -- they handed out free stuff... some lady won a cruise... all the rest of the ladies won free JUNK. Our group -- nothin... Oh well -- better luck next time.

So -- then they tried to make us sing some more. Not on your LIFE!! We bolted... when we heard them say, "Grab your neighbor's hand"... we ran. The lady on the end said, "Oh here -- let me move my stuff." I said, "NO THANKS! I'LL JUST JUMP OVER IT!" And I did...

Oh... it as fun. It as great to hear all the empowering speakers. It was really refreshing to be in such a positive environment.

The ride home was almost as fast as the ride down there.

We DID stop for Starbucks... oh me... I like Starbucks -- but not as much as Amber, the long legged, map reading friend. Goodness me... she LUVS Starbucks.

Kim did the driving again -- she's a good driver. She only closed her eyes for an extended time while we were passing the Semi-truck vs. Motorcycle accident. Motorcycle lost... but not by much.

Karen and I -- well -- we discovered there is a secret trap door that you can get into the trunk through... we searched and searched for the chocolate mint cookies -- couldn't find them any where.

Finally after sitting for a really, really, long time -- one of us tried to balance on their head...but I'll not mention any names.

We saw some friends -- going in the opposite directions. They were headed to a soccer game. Soccer Match? What do you call that? Soccer Meeting of the minds? Who knows?

We ended up stopping at a little Cafe in Lamoni. College town, you know... flooded with places to go, people to meet... I'm lying -- we saw nothing... finally we were about to head back to the inter-state -- we saw this dive. But man alive... can they cook there. I'm thinking of taking my dear husband there for our 13th Anniversary... he'd LUV it! ;) Can you say buffet?

I had a hamburger --


And some onion rings... but just a few -- because we shared them. ;)



We laughed and laughed at that Cafe. I think that's why I lost 1.2 pounds that week-end, in spite of the malt.



Thanks for the good time friends! I really enjoyed myself... you'll never know until you get to heaven what a blessing that was for me. I came home refreshed, in spite of only 4 hours of sleep... able to leap a burning building in one bound... or some such nonsense!

I Love You Friends!! Let's keep in touch! ;)

(Like that'll be a problem... you should see the e-mails a flying... ::tee hee:: yeah, more Raytown secrets!) Ha Ha HAAAA!! I bet you wish you knew!