To Big D

Friday, Kim and I jumped in her car and headed to Big D for another Single Mom's Conference. Before we got out of town, however, we had to swing by and pick up someone we didn't know to ride with us. *Gasp!* What were we going to do!? Girlfriend time cut short by a stranger!

Grumble, grumble.

But, God had something else in store.

We booted Kim's kids out of the car at a friends house, had about 7 minutes to ourselves before picking up the interferer of our three hour trip to Dallas.

Lemme back up.

The lady going with us was apparently a "somebody" in the greater OKC metro area. Over the four or five days prior to Friday we had three people tell us how amazing she was and how blessed we would be to have her ride with us. Yeah, yeah, but what about our gossip, er girl time? Was she going to blow that for us?

By Thursday night, we were both convinced that God wanted this lady to ride with us. We drove up in her drive way and waited in anticipation for her to come out. There she was. Smiling brunette with bright red lipstick carrying her dress bag, a over night bag and a huge purse/briefcase/holds everything, covered in all the silver bling she had in her jewelry box.

We made our introductions and off we went!

By the time we had decided we needed an iced coffee, we liked her. It doesn't take long for Kim and Natalie to size someone up and decide if they are "in". Truth be told, we're not that picky! ;)

Oh, the chatter that ensued. Each of us gave our life story "in a nutshell" and we ooed and awed over God's goodness and all the stuff he had brought us through. We figured out at least five things the other person loves and decided that Kim and I like saying our new friends full name rather than just her first name. Here's why: Cynthia Huffmeyer.

Go ahead, say it out loud. Cynthia Huffmeyer. For some reason we just liked calling her by her full name because that's how cool she was.

She asked us if we were up to stopping anywhere on the way, you know, like shopping? Uh, yes, who isn't? WE HAVE NO BABIES! OF COURSE WE WILL STOP ANYWHERE FOR HOWEVER LONG WE LIKE! YEAH!!!! THANK YOU JESUS!

We found this place called "Cloverleaf" in the rockin' town of Ardmore, OK. Ohmyword. It is the most darling, fun, eccentric store I have ever been in. It took us about 30 minutes just to wander around once. I found out there that neither Kim or Cynthia Huffmeyer like anything to do with owls. Even the cute stitched ones or fun necklaces. Well, I don't care. I still like little hoot owls. So, neah, neah, neah.

Off we go, onward to Dallas. By this time it's about 103 outside and we decided we were getting hungry. We all agreed that the only thing we would not eat together was Indian food. So, Chili's it was.

With all this fun, our three hour trip turned into five. I mean, what can we say, good laughs and good food will slow anyone down.

Just to keep the fun going, we stopped at Sam Moon in Frisco, TX and found that you can kill a good hour and a half looking at necklaces, purses, ear rings, hats, rings, bags, and all things Texas contemplating if you should buy your good friend Cindy Beall anything that has the horns on it and bring back as a souvenir so that she would know she was loved. (was that sentence too long? ohwell)

We left there with our new purses and new necklaces and grabbed a quick bite with my sister in law, Summer and her darling baby boy who I could eat up with some chocolate icing. Mercy, he's cute. Go ahead, click over there to see him.

Ran to the hotel. YEAH HOTEL!! No kids....YEAH HOTEL!!! No hubs....boo. But, a hotel with your BFF is mighty fun. Change clothes, re-apply deodorant, eye make-up, and lips and pile back into the 188 degree car and head to minister for a bit.

Back to the hotel after a late night pizza. Garlic chicken pizza. That will give you some serious bad breath in the morning! Speaking of morning. There I was getting ready. Standing at the sink, I reached for my contacts. I put my contacts in and then, no biggy, had to take the right one out and wash it off again. It was giving me some fits. Felt gooey and both my eyes felt real tired. Figured that I was going to be fighting my contacts all day based on first entry.

Few minutes later I hear Kim say, "Hey, have you seen my contacts."

"Um, no."

slight pause... "Wait"

I walked around back around toward the TV where I had put my contacts the night before.

You see what happened. I was prancing around with Kim's contacts in! No wonder they felt a little 'off'. I told her later that there was a Biblical concept in this story somewhere. I'll find it. Oh... I'll find it.

Fast forward to the trip home. After some fun-lovin' fellowshippin' with Pam Kanaly and Shelley Pulliam of Arise Ministries over some hot brownie and ice cream, the three of us piled in for the ride home. More talking and Cynthia Huffmeyer done pulled out some Bible study on us when I began asking her about speaking in tongues. Oh mercy, that was THE BEST teaching I have ever heard on the topic and I'm not a tongue-speaker, but I might be now that I heard that!

We talked all the way to Oklahoma non-stop. We laughed and, well, I was going to say cried, but no one did, but we could have if we had kept talking about how much I loved Christmas. Oh, December, you are too far away.

We made it home safely and said our good-byes to our new found friend and forced mentor and teacher. I can't wait to get to know her better. Next time we go on a road trip, we might tuck Cynthia Huffmeyer in our little pocket to give us a Word from the Lord when we need her.