happy heart

My weekend adventure was one of the best trips I've ever taken! These lovely ladies [Heather, Tracie, Leslie] showed me such a great time and it was very, very hard to leave.

My time there was filled to the brim with fun: birthday party, church, Starbucks run, train ride to Chicago, Renegade Craft Fair, mexican food & margaritas, the VMAs, photo shoot, a lunch date, sightseeing, dinner date, school runs, coffee date, lots of sharing & loads of laughter, plus so much more! I'd love to share pictures of everything I did but, well, the lone photo I took over the three days is posted above. I still can't believe it myself but found I was enjoying myself so much that I didn't want to take time out of having fun to pull out my camera. I guess that was part of me stepping out of my comfort zone, instead of watching my trip through the lens I actually partook in it. I highly recommend it.

I loved visiting with Heather & Leslie in person! They're everything I thought they'd be and more. They greeted me with open arms and Heather even did some crafting & baking in my honor. I tried to grab a picture of her adorable treat on my iPhone but it didn't turn out [big boo!] I so enjoyed visiting with them and I have a feeling I may have even shared too much once that second margarita was consumed! Really wish I lived closer so I could partake in more fun with them. A second visit to WI is a must!

And Tracie. What in the world can I say about Tracie that hasn't already been said? She's one of the most generous, giving, loving, caring, thoughtful, sweet, faithful, and inspiring people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. She truly made me feel like one of the family and I don't know how I can ever repay her for that. From the moment she met me at the airport I felt like I'd known her for years. We have so much in common and I feel that a lifelong friendship has been born. Saying good-bye to her yesterday was so hard that it even brought tears to my eyes. What a wonderful gift I was given when we connected via her blog.

One of the most poignant moments of my trip was being a part of the bedtime ritual with her little girls. Before bed they did some reading from the Bible and it truly melted my heart to see how eager the girls were to learn and take in the words. They are very much God's children and it was such a beautiful sight to see. I also loved that I got to meet all of their stuffed animals before they surrendered to sleep and having the 4 year old ask to play with me repeatedly was music to my ears. Now if only I lived closer so I could see those cutie pies on a regular basis...that would be heaven.

Another favorite memory from the trip was hearing the story of how Tracie's 15 year old reacted when she learned her mom met me on the internet! Oh the horror!! Hopefully I proved to her by the time I left that I wasn't crazy. If not I'm sure Tracie will continue to get an earful.

I'm truly blown away by my trip. I fell in love with the area and am feeling rather out of sorts now that I'm home. Don't get me wrong, I happy as a clam to be home with Lee and my fur babies but Shreveport [or ShreveSport -little private joke!] just doesn't feel the same as it did when I left. The combination of these three ladies + the feeling I had in Tracie's church + the beauty of the area has stirred up something within me. I'm not exactly sure what it is or what it means but I can honestly say that this trip has changed me.

Huge thanks & hugs to the girls that made this trip possible. I hope there are many more trips in the future! In the meantime I may need to figure out how to use Skype...