Thursday, January 28, 2010

Siesta Memory Team Celebration

Hey bloggy friends and Siestas!
I am going to try to get this post up before we lose electricity. Oklahoma is in a state of emergency and it is icing up as I type. Please pray that people we will safe and no lives will be lost due to this storm.

I didn't get all my picture together until yesterday so now I will try to recap the trip.

I was so blessed to have been able to be a part of the original Scripture Memory Team through the Living Proof Ministries Blog and attend the SMT Celebration in Houston. My sweet friend, Valerie, that I met through blogging invited me to travel with her to the event. What a fun and wonderful time we had!

I arrived at Valerie's house around 6:20 a.m. She was ready so we loaded the luggage in the car and was off by 6:25 a.m. Our plane was scheduled to depart at 9:25 a.m. and since the airport is about 45 minutes away, we leisurely went through security, took pictures and had a nice breakfast. Before we knew it we were seated in the airplane and on our way to Houston!
Valerie -- almost through security (I wonder if it was against the rules to take this picture in this area of security??!! ) Oh well, no one confiscated my phone. =)
All set and ready go!
After we landed in Houston, we made our way to baggage claim, made verbal contact with Laura and headed outside to wait for her to pick us up.
Look who we found waiting for a ride, too.!!
Tavis Cottrell, worship leader for all of Beth Moore's Living Proof events,-- a brave man to allow a pink boa to be draped around his neck. (The pink boas were a means of identifying Siestas in airports, hotels, etc. We carried our in our purses . . until . . we saw poor Travis! What a good sport.)
One of Valerie's blogging friends, Laura, was so gracious to offer to pick us up at the airport, take us to lunch at Pappasito's and then to the LPM offices all before taking us to our hotel near the church! We had never met her in person -- or any of the other girls we met for lunch! Just the very thing we tell our children NOT to do :) However, meeting these Christian women for the first time face-to-face was wonderful.
From left to right: Laura, me, Annette (from Houston), Angie (from Michigan) and Valerie.
Pappasito's is a great place to eat Mexican food!

We took this picture just before we left. We would be meeting up again that night.

After lunch at Pappasito's, we headed for LPM offices and took a few pictures. Nancy, head of correspondence at LPM, had stepped out to the mailbox and saw us taking pictures so she came over and asked us if we were "Siestas". She took a picture of the three of us then we got a picture with her.

Laura, Valerie and me in front of the Living Proof Ministries sign.


Me, Nancy and Valerie


Next we went to our hotel. It was time to say "thank you" again and "goodbye" to Laura. What a kind hearted person she is. Thanks Laura!


Here we are at the church sporting our very pink boas!

The event was held in the room where Beth taught her Sunday School class. She was a Sunday School teacher for 22 years. Travis led us into worship with beautiful music and Beth taught on Psalm 119. What an awesome study. She made sure we remembered that there are 176 verses in this chapter!


After service, Beth greeted and took pictures with as many as she could.


LPM served huge pieces of Texas sheet cake and coffee to everyone. (There were 508 ladies in attendance -- that's a lot of cake and coffee.)

It was a wonderful evening. We went back to the hotel -- following the pink feather trail along the way :)

To be continued . . . .

8 comments:

Just Call Me Grammy said...

I will be praying for you to keep power and for safety...I know how difficult ice storms are. So happy to read your post and see your great pics. I sure wish I had been brave enough to try to get to Houston. Maybe remembering what I missed out on will make me braver for next time :o)

Heather said...

Sherry, I am so sad to know that you were there and I didn't get to meet you in person!! That stinks! So glad you had a wonderful time, and next time we will have to find each other. Can't wait to read part 2!!

Cathy said...

Sherry it sounds like an awesome time. Can't wait for part 2

You guys stay safe in the storm. I'll pray for you!

sister sheri said...

What a beautiful photo of you and your husband! And to read all the wonderful details. I hadn't even considered the fact that the LPM offices were there! Looking forward to part 2!

Carol said...

Hi Sherry!
Isn't this icy weather crazy? We're waiting to see what tomorrow brings. Thankfully the ice wasn't quite as bad as predicted. Stay warm & safe, friend!

Smiles,
Carol

Unknown said...

What a wonderful time you must have had! Maybe I'll be able to go next time...God is so good!

valerie said...

Sherry.....
I just wrote a really long post and I'm not sure that it went through. I'll check back to see if you got it and if not I WILL write it again. This trip was way to special to me not to re-write all I wrote. :)

valerie said...

Sherry~
Let me try this again......(Hopefully you won't get it twice)
I absolutely LOVED our trip. Where do I begin?
I love how we can talk about such fun things as well as really deep conversations....and never have a lull in our conversations. I love how neither of us minded meeting up with complete strangers, getting in their car and having lunch with them! :)
That was a God-thing for sure. Meeting Larry, Margie & Karina was a definite highlight of the trip.
I loved having lunch with our blogging friends that we'd never met in person. I LOVED having our picture taken with Travis and of course, Beth! I loved talking until 1:30 a.m. in our hotel room after we'd gone to bed. There is so much to write about, but the one thing I'll always treasure is when we recited Psalm 139 that we both worked so hard on for 12 months. I couldn't control my emotions as I was reciting my verses and looking around the room and outside and seeing so many others paired up doing the same thing. Wow! And knowing we were doing that where Beth taught Sunday School for 22 years.
I thank God for seeing to it that we would meet....via the blog! You are such a special lady and a treasured friend. I'll never forget this trip.
AND....I'm so glad it was last weekend and not this weekend since most if not all flights out of OKC have been cancelled. I would have been one pouty baby had we missed this trip. : /
Love you Sherry!
Val