The Polka Dot Girls.

I'm back. I'm back from my weekend away in Boston at the Women of Faith Conference. It really was an amazing time. It was a learning experience in SO many ways.

We had a group of 12 different women. Many different experiences, many different ages, many different personalities, and many different opinions. It was an opportunity to REALLY get to know people that I have actually "known" for a couple of years. I feel as though I learned a lot of new things about these particular ladies that I didn't know before. There is one thing that is for sure though...and something that was obvious before we even left. I was with eleven other women who truly LOVE the Lord.

Our adventure started off at 5:15am on Friday morning when we met and started packing ourselves into the van. Remember I mentioned that it was a learning experience? Here are some of the things that we learned on this trip.

Lesson #1~ A 15 passenger van DOESN'T fit more than 12 women and their luggage. Fortunately, we somehow managed to fit us all in...with Kat our fearless driver. There were some of us (ahem, ahem) who insisted on having a front seat because of motion sickness. It all ended up working out just fine. No barf-o-rama's in the van. The trip TO Boston was quite uneventful..with lots of chatter and laughter. It was a nice time.

Lesson #2~ Although it was a quite lovely group of ladies on this trip we learned quickly (and it was confirmed many times throughout the two days) that this particular group of ladies is directionally challenged. I mean, everyone knows that Boston is quite difficult to navigate...especially in a 15 passenger van. Lots of One Way streets and lack of street signs in general added to our confusion...





We have to give ourselves a bit of slack here, but we had some good laughs as we circled around and around "getting to know the area". haha It was at this point that our many differing opinions came into play. Kat did a wonderful job of taking suggestions without getting frustrated...or at least she was very good at hiding frustration if there was any! With the help of Kirsten's newly purchased Garmin GPS we finally made it to the parking garage. (Although, it was clear that the Garmin had something against Paula...we still haven't figured out just what she did to it to make it so angry at her).

Lesson #3~ We learned that Kat (our fearless driver) has a super-power! What is her super power you might ask? She has the wonderful ability to blow at red lights and turn them green. It worked every time!



Lesson #4~ Parking garages are not designed for large vehicles. Kat did an amazing job squeezing (and I mean squeezing) that van in some of the tightest little spots.

We were able to go to the pre-conference on Friday. We saw three amazing speakers who were extremely insightful and were hilarious at the very same time. It was a great start to the conference. We had fun listening and laughing with Patsy Clairmont, Anita Renfroe (you know, the William Tell Overture for Moms lady) and Jan Silvious. It is amazing to me the experiences and situations that these ladies have all come from. Although each with a different 'story' that many women can relate to...their message was one of God's INFINITE grace, something that EVERYONE can relate to. The lessons learned during this time would be hard for me to put into words.

As we headed back to check into our hotel to get ready for the start of the evening speakers and performers we continued in our learning experience.

We had a few of our prior learned lessons re-affirmed for us. Lesson number 2 and 4 were re-visited when we were trying to find the hotel and when we tried to squeeze into yet another parking garage. And yes, the Garmin still hated Paula at his point. We did, however, learn a few new lessons on our way..

Lesson #5~ I was quickly learning (and surprised by this) that the people of Boston were quite friendly, helpful and generally accepting of the many thousands of Women who have now invaded their city. There are many examples of this throughout our time there...people on the streets, in the subways, at the Garden..it seemed that wherever we were we were being treated very nicely. I really wasn't expecting that.

Lesson #6~ We learned that it was much easier to pay the Valet guy to park our ginormous vehicle rather than drive circles around Boston and try to squeeze through any more parking garages.

Upon arriving to the Hotel we were able to play a nice, friendly game of Musical Beds. At first glance it appeared that Kirsten, Kat, Marie and I were going to be sharing a room...with one double bed and no room for cots. Fortunately, the other two hotel rooms were much larger so this didn't have to happen. It was a funny thought for a second though.

Lesson #7~Along with learning who gets car sick (ahem, ahem) we also learned who gets claustrophobic (ahem, ahem)...especially in over crowded elevators. It was ok. I got through it.

We ate at Legal Seafoods...we see the commercials for this place during every Celtics game. It really was an awesome place with amazing service and food.

We then had more revisiting of lesson 2 when we tried to get back to the Garden. I don't think I will even go into detail about our experiences getting onto the T...but lets just say we all learned a bit that evening. We did manage to get all 12 of us on and off from the subway quite efficiently...this was after we figured out how to get a ticket...and nobody was left behind or sent to a different location. It worked out although we arrived back at the conference an hour or so late.

Again..amazing conference. We got to see Nicole C. Mullen (who I have seen many times before but continue to LOVE). More amazing speakers and worship.









During the downtime I couldn't help but wander around the Garden thinking about the Celtics..and everything that happened there during this season! The place was pretty wide open so I had some fun looking around at all the cool stuff.









Along with the many other things we learned about each other we also learned these fascinating little tid-bits...

Lesson #8~I now know where a few of the ladies "secret hiding places" are. ha ha ha

Lesson #9~We know who snores, who grinds their teeth...and who sleeps through anything (ahem, ahem).

Lesson #10~We know which ones of us cry when we are overtired.

Lesson #11~We know which ones of us get silly and giddy when we are overtired. I won't name any names...







Lesson #12~We learned who doesn't like their pictures being taken...



Lesson #13~We learned that the photographer (ahem, ahem) is sneaky and made everyone think she was taking a picture of herself in the mirror when in fact I was trying to get a picture of Penny:)



Lesson #14~We learned that Ann has a great sense of humor. She had everyone believing that there was some kind of animal outside the window. I caught everyone's expressions as they figure out that she was kidding.



In the meantime everyone stopped to have a shoe shine in the hotel..



Lesson #15~We quickly found out that Barbara can take us all in arm wrestling. Seriously people. She's STRONG! (I'm pretty sure I pulled a muscle in my side before she even started trying)





Lesson #16~This is a lesson for the men, because I don't think that any of us were surprised that 24 women would be able to jump start a van. Some fellow CBCers (another Calvary Bible Church from Maine) had some van trouble and we were able to be a part of a "God wink" to them. We got them started no problem!



I think we all are in agreement that you can't NOT dance along with Nicole C. Mullen...



..and this was confirmed after Cindy bought the CD and we played it in the van on the way home...



Hands on the wheel Kat!


There were so many things learned throughout these two days. We got to share stories with each other and laugh with each other. Every single speaker had something for everyone..something that everyone could relate to. Even though I am fortunate to not have gone through many of the experiences shared this weekend there was still something to be learned from each and every person/speaker there.

No matter what. Gods INFINITE GRACE will get us through any situation that is brought to us...and this is something that I am reminding myself as I type this with my leg up and a bag of frozen strawberries on my knee. I don't know what happened but as I was walking to get a trash bag to clean out my car in preparation to pack it full of tenting equipment for me and my family at the Soulfest.. I "tweaked" my knee. Its the only way to explain it and its something that has been happening on and off all summer. This time was pretty bad though and I am really really having a hard time walking. I know for sure that it will get better..it always does after a while, but in the meantime I am trying to get laundry done and my house ready to go away for four days.

I start to get stressed about this..as I look around at all there is to do, and I think...I will do what I can, and let God take care of the rest. I know He will and I know I will be just fine. In the meantime, pray for me knee please:) It would be much easier to do what I have to do on a good knee. (Jan...I know you can relate!)

I am excited to head out with this same group of ladies on a follow-up trip that we are having in September. More about this trip to come....