Dudes, She’s a Chick!

I’m back from my weekend getaway and it was AWESOME! Some friends and I went to the Hearts at Home conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan (I posted about my anticipation of this event here) and we came away very refreshed and with a new excitement about being moms. It was such a great experience, I have already put it on my calendar and I will BE THERE next year! I highly recommend it. If you can go to one of their conferences, GO!! Being there with so many other moms was very eye-opening. I learned a lot at the conference, but one of the most important things I realized is that I am not alone – because all the other moms were expressing the same struggles I’ve been feeling. We’re all going through it and not a single one of us does it right every single time. The other really amazing thing I discovered was that I am not alone because God is my partner in this motherhood thing. He designed me to be a mom and He is here with me every step of the way. All I have to do is ask Him for help and direction, which I so often just don’t do.

Of course, as I mentioned Friday, I was also really excited to meet Jill, my Bloggy BFF, in real life at this conference. She is the one who had invited me, and I am happy to say that she is not really a creepy internet dude pretending to be a mommy blogger. She’s a chick! And she’s every bit as freakin’ awesome as I knew she would be! Because God really loves us, we didn’t even have a hard time finding each other there. We got to the convention center at almost the exact same time, and parked really close to each other in the parking garage (both of our parties had accidentally pulled into the garage next door to the one we MEANT to park in!) and Jill saw me almost immediately! It was perfect!! And here, my friends, photographic evidence of our meet-up:

Aren’t we just adorable? ‘Twas a match made in Blogosphere Heaven!

Friday night we had a great conference session and then my girlfriends Luanne, Bethany, and Andrea and I all went back to our hotel and ordered pizza and had girl talk. YAY! Then Saturday we headed back to Hearts at Home for a LONG but AWESOME day of getting our heads and hearts filled with mom encouragement. Then we headed out to dinner with Jill and some of her girlfriends. (Melinda, WHERE is my comment girl? De-lurk!)

First, we tried to go here

but it was too full of high school kids on their homecoming dates so we ended up at this place instead (after Jill locked her keys in her car at the first place and we all hopped in Luanne’s huge Expedition! Jill’s hubby came to the rescue later).

There we discovered how funny it is when people read your blog and just KNOW stuff about you from reading it. We had a good laugh when Jill and her friend Melinda realized that my friend Andrea who was with us at Hearts at Home and at dinner that night was THE Andrea whose house (and dog) Joshua peed/puked all over in this post.

Dinner was awesome, then my friends headed back to the hotel and Jill took me back to HER PLACE. Don’t worry, she was the perfect gentlewoman; she didn’t even TRY to get me drunk. I got to meet her beeootiful and hilarious girls, Lily and Hannah, and her sweet hubby Ryan. Hannah’s crazy personality reminded me so much of my Sophie; if we ever get those girls together for the Bloggy Playdate of the Century, they will surely find some way to set fire to whatever facility we are in within five minutes! But hopefully not before Joshua and Lily have the chance to fall hopelessly in love, thereby establishing the Bloggy Dynasty of the Century.

Here’s me being a stalker and proving I was at Jill’s house:

Yes, that’s me with Jill’s wedding picture. It’s almost like I was really there…

Anyways, after a couple of hours of talking and hanging out with Jill and Ryan, Jill took me back to my hotel. It was so awesome to meet her and I really hope we can hang out again sooner than later! She is not only my Bloggy BFF but my sister in Christ. I hate using over-done phrases like that but it’s true. She’s the real deal, and it was awesome to be with her and share that connection. If you are not already reading Jill’s blog, the Diaper Diaries, START!!

Back at the hotel, Luanne, Bethany, Andrea and I stayed up til the UNGODLY hour of 2 a.m. talking and laughing and sharing. It was soooo fun. I have not done that in YEARS. Way too long! It was so awesome to just share and support each other. We talked about EVERYTHING – the good, the bad, the ugly, the smelly, and the just plain HILARIOUS. Seriously my jaws hurt the next morning from laughing SO MUCH! Thanks girls for going with me to Hearts at Home and for being my FRIENDS!! I love you!

Sunday as we drove back we were all eager to get home to our families and put what we had learned into practice. I can say that even already this morning as I’ve been trying to write this and Joshua’s been bugging me like crazy that I’ve responded with patience and love instead of just snapping at him. Yay! Score one for me. Hopefully I can do it again 1,000 more times.

On that note, time to close the laptop put some more things I learned at Hearts at Home into practice with my babies.