"You just had the best week(end) ever!"

Okay, so I just had one of the best, most fun and amazing weekends ever! I haven't given you all a thrilling recap in a while, so here you go!

Friday: After only about 4 hours of sleep, I got to sub for the Century Choir teacher again. Seriously, it's the best job ever! I had an amazing time. I found out that one of the student directors is going to Concordia next year, I talked to a girl that I used to have in swimming lessons, and I just hung-out and talked to them instead of reading in the office during their lunch hours.

After school, I coached for a few hours with Beth. Then I got to head to Owatonna to take Laura out for an early birthday dinner. We sat in a booth in Perkins for 5 hours. Our waitress even left for the night, but we were still there. We had the best conversation and I just feel such peace about our relationship. I am truly blessed to have her in my life!

Saturday: I woke up and headed to the pool to coach at our annual President's Day swim meet. My kids were adorably cute and swam well. I worked for 9 hours and was completely exhausted when finals got over around 8. I quickly ran home to finish packing and then get on the road for New Ulm.

I got on the road earlier than I had originally anticipated, so that was good. I picked Laura up in Owatonna and then we left. I was worried about the roads because everyone told me to be careful. They were totally fine and we didn't have any problems. We arrived at the Bartels' and had a wonderful evening with everyone. I was glad Abby was there so I didn't feel quite so old. And it was cool because I got to talk to Adam, Abby & Jill's brother. He went through TEC #37. I worked Wheat at that TEC and gave Talk #2. So it was nice to have someone from the "old" days too.

We had good intentions of going to bed at a decent hour. We got everyone into bed, boys in the basement, girls in the living room. Abby and I were laying in bed and then we had Jill come in to turn out the light and say goodnight. First she hugged me, then she jumped on Abby, then she stayed for 3 hours and we all talked. In my opinion, it was totally worth staying up that late for the conversation. It was amazing and I loved every minute of it! We're totally hatching a plan to be sisters... A-B-B-Y is coming soon! Haha!

Sunday: After 2.5 hours of sleep, I was up and getting ready for the morning. I went over to the church early with Abby, Laura, Ben, and Brandon. I could go into details, but I'll just sum up my favorite parts of the service... Watching everything come together was a perfect example of God's timing and purpose coming through, listening to Laura give her talk again, worshiping... And the best moment of the morning... We sang Sanctuary toward the end of the service. By the end of the song, the entire congregation was standing (it was the first time all morning). I was moved to tears, and I know other people were too. That moment let me actually see God's presence and love! It was incredible.

After the service, we headed back down to Rochester. I dropped Laura off at the reunion and came home for a little while. Then I met up with everyone at Perkins afterwards. After the wonderful meal, the sleepover officially began :)

Emmalee, Amy, Jill, Sarah, and Amanda stayed at my house. We had to make a stop at the grocery store first. We bought pop, ice cream, and everything we needed to make Puppy Chow. Then we went back to my house. I gave everyone the grand tour and we looked at some old pictures and scrapbooks.

Then the game playing began. First, we played Smarty Party. It was pretty fun. The next game on our agenda was Cranium Turbo. I was on a team with Jill, Sarah, and Emmalee. It was super fun! We won, of course. Emmalee got some of it on video. It's pretty much hilarious. Finally, we played Lynch Mob. I think this is my all-time favorite game. It was super fun. Especially when we started playing with cards in both hands. Good times were had by all! We would say things like, "Sarah's right hand thinks Beth's left hand is the criminal because she has shifty eyes," or "Janet's left hand has been assassinated." Oh, goodness, it was so great!

Everyone got pretty tired around 3:15 and went to bed. I remembered that I had something to tell Sarah. I crawled over to where her air mattress was and we talked till about 4:45. Whoops. Oh well, again, totally worth it! It was one of the most fun weekends I have had in a long time. It was completely packed full of great discussions, growing in faith and relationships, and fun with friends. What more could a girl want?!?

Today's Tidbits (yes, tidbits! I couldn't pick just one.):
#1 - I got a grand total of 6 hours of sleep this weekend.
#2 - I have 9 pints of ice cream in my freezer right now.