Surprise!

A couple weeks ago I flew into Chicago to surprise Michele on her birthday. It was so much fun! It was a last minute desicion so I had less than a week to plan...and find an affordable plane ticket. After much prayer and many hours of searching, God provided a crazy good deal on a round trip flight out of Memphis. Erika and Geoff picked me up from the airport and we took lunch back to their apartment. It was so good to spend time with them and their four ferrets! When Erika took me to Michele's apartment I stood back while she went in and pretended to give Michele a birthday present. I was so excited (and cold) I could hardly wait. After Michele answered my knock at the door it literally took her a full minute or two to figure out what was going on. I finally said, "Do you remember who I am?" Which was followed by several minutes of hugs and tears.

Sunday was a wonderful day for me. I was finally able to visit Michele's church (http://www.sgclife.org/) and meet some of the people from her Small Group. I was really blessed by the coorprate worship. I didn't know anyone in the room, but I felt as if I was worshiping in unison with them. It was an overwhelming feeling to experience the bond we have with other believers. I have been hearing a lot lately about churches that are not being built or lead on biblical principles. What an encouragement to meet a group of beleivers who are faithful to the Word. That afternoon Michele and I experimented with a some gluten free/ sugar free recipes. I don't know that I will ever try Mango Mouse again, but the time with Michele was a blast.

Traveling hom on Monday was eventful, to say the least. My flight was scheduled for 4:00, but since Michele had to work on Monday we decided to get up early and try to catch the 8:00 flight. I called the airline and they made it sound like it would be no problem to get on stand by. Early the next the morning we pulled ourselves out of bed at what seemed like the middle of the night. Even though we beat the morning rush hour, the traffic was still far worse than I am use to in Jackson. Michele and I said our goodbyes and took my place in line. As I stood in line fumbling for my license I realized that my wallet was not in my purse! I quickly got out of line and searched all my bags...no luck. I called Michele's cell phone what seemed like a hundred times with no answer. I realized that all I ould do is go outside and catch a taxi. The lady working at the airport taxi station told my driver to take me to Wheaton. As we pulled out onto the highway he turns around and says, "Where is Wheaton?" AHHHHHH. Your kidding me, right? I gave him the address, he called somone else to get directions, then he gave me his phone and asked me to talk to the other person...crazy. He finally figured out where he was going and I sat back in my seat and cried. Twenty minutes and seventy dollars later I am back in Michele's apartment. The new plan was for Erika to take me to the airport on her lunch break. So it was nice to have a little bit more time with her! I tried to get on an earlier flight so that I could just get home. There were five people on stand by and four available seats...yup, I was the fifth! So I went to the gate of my originally scheduled flight, just to find that it was an hour delayed. All I could do was laugh!

Don't you just love having stories like that? Especially when it is a good way to update your blog after almost 2 months!