Complete Directions, Please!

In my last post I said that I didn't know if we would be able to go to the Youth Conference at Pacific Baptist Church. Turns out we got to go!!!! And it was FABULOUS!!! I am exhausted but it was worth every minute! We even stayed an extra night at the Roses home because I couldn't drive home - just too tired (I was at the point of crying). That was a huge blessing, too!

So onto the reason for the title of this here post.

Wednesday night after the conference ended we went with 2 families (the DaCostas and the Roses) to a place called Yogurtland. Boy, that was a great place! About 15 different kinds of frozen yogurt and all the toppings you can imagine.

We all loaded up in the cars to go home. I ended up with 4 boys in the truck - Phyllip, Tyler, Daniel (14 or 15 years old) and Adam (11 years old). I was following the Roses home since I didn't know where I was. Now you have to realize that it was 10:00 p.m. It was very dark outside. Hence the following conversation.

I was turning the truck around and I didn't see where the Roses car was.

Me: "Daniel, do you see your parents car? Which way did they go?"

Daniel: sitting behind me - "They went that way."

Me: "Daniel......you are sitting behind me and I can't see you. Which way is 'that way'?"

Daniel: "I have to think..........left."

Me: "Ok."

I turned left at the Ralph's store and looked ahead to see the Roses car pulling out of the parking lot turning right. I turned right and was trying to catch up to them. I got stopped at the light. The Roses took off. They were at least 3 stop lights ahead of me.

Daniel: "It's easy to get home. You just need to get off at Bellflower and then I can get you home."

Me: Frustrated by this time because I can't see my lead car. "I don't know where Bellflower is! How do I get to Bellflower?"

Daniel: "You have to take the freeway."

Me: "Which freeway? I don't know how to get there. There are 2 freeways around here."

Daniel: "I don't know." He turns to his brother, Adam, and says, "Adam, which freeway should we get on?"

Adam: "I don't know."

By this time I am ready to cry - exhaustion and being in an unfamiliar place.

Me: "Daniel.....don't give me any more directions. I am only getting confused."

Now I had my cell phone with me but I didn't have the Roses' phone number. Great! No way to get ahold of them! Finally, my cell phone rings. I picked it up and the conversation is as follows.

Lyndsey: "Mom, where are you?"

Me: "I'm about 3 stop lights behind you."

Lyndsey: "No, you're not. We never left the parking lot. We're still here waiting for you."

Me: "What????? No. I saw you pull out of the parking lot. Daniel told me......"

Lyndsey: "I will let you talk to Mrs. Rose." She hands the phone to Pauline.

Pauline: "Rhonda, where are you?"

Me: "I'm at Studebaker Road."

Pauline: "Pull over and we'll be right there."

Me: "Already stopped. Ok I see you."

So I finally got behind my lead car and we made it safely back to the Roses home. I was frustrated at the time and I didn't find any of this funny. But by the time we got home, I was laughing A LOT! Teenagers!

I Interrupt This Journey About Madagascar To Bring You This Exciting News!

The ladies from our church went to a ladies conference at Faith Baptist Church in Wildomar, CA, last Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

During Thursday night's session, Mrs. Cindy Schaap was speaking. (She is married to Dr. Jack Schaap, pastor of First Baptist Church, Hammond, Indiana). I had to sneeze. I lowered my head to sneeze quietly. We were sitting halfway down the auditorium. What I didn't realize at that precise moment was just how quiet it was in the auditorium! I sneezed and Mrs. Schaap heard it and said, "Bless you" into the microphone. I started laughing and all the ladies around me were, too.

I haven't personally met Mrs. Schaap yet but I can now say that I have been blessed by her! *giggle*

Absolutely wonderful...

For those of you who think the desert never turns green, here is the proof that it does. We just need to get a couple inches of rain and poof, we turn green!

The pictures didn't turn out as good as I thought they would because I took them yesterday morning while we were driving and I didn't realize there was a glare on the window. But you can still see the green desert!

Walter got yesterday off of work so we decided to go to the Leadership Conference at Lighthouse Baptist Church in Lemon Grove, CA. If you ever get a chance to go you will absolutely love it! It's great!

Our day started out by getting up at 4:45 a.m. because we needed to leave the house at 6:00 a.m. in order to get there on time. As it turned out, we got there late because we didn't know about the early bird session for the men at 8:15. Oh, well.

On a little side note - While we were driving to the church the boys fell asleep. In fact, they were snoring! Tyler wakes up and proceeds to say with a loud voice, "Hey, why are we going backwards?" To which we lovingly reply, "We're not going backwards!" Tyler says, "Then how come the steering wheel turned the car around back there?" To this we laughed and replied, "The steering wheel is always in the front of the car, son!" Obviously, he was still asleep! *smile*

When we got to the church Walter and the boys went their way and Lyndsey and I went our way. There are split sessions for the men and women. There is also a session for all kids under 12 but we didn't find out until lunch where that was.

Let me tell you how the ladies are treated at this conference. There is a "Tea Room" and it's open each day of the conference from 9:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. There is just about every kind of tea plus the goodies (biscotti, 2 kinds of fudge, little cheesecakes, muffins, mini eclairs, fresh fruit, etc.)! Oh the goodies! They are incredible! It's all free and you can frequent the Tea Room as often as your heart desires! Then there's the pampering room. Massages. Pedicures. Parafin waxes for your hands. Manicures. Haircuts. All FREE! So I decided to indulge myself yesterday. I had a massage, a parafin wax, and my first pedicure, ever (Hence, the picture below of my feet. I don't like my feet but I discovered how great a pedicure is)! Oh my goodness! I felt like a queen. It was wonderful!

All of the paid delegates at the conference are fed lunch each day. Since we weren't paid delegates, we were going to find a place to have lunch. However, one of the associate pastors at Lighthouse Baptist Church told my husband and our pastor that we could stay for the lunch. And the food was really good! We had a choice of manicotti or linguini, salad, and dessert! Wow! We were stuffed to the brim! The Lord sure is faithful to take great care of us!

When we were done at the conference for the afternoon, our family and our pastor's family ended up at a mall not too far away. It was an outdoor mall and there was some pretty flower gardens so we took some pictures. They are below.

We went to dinner and then had the long drive home. We were exhausted but it was so worth it! The Lord again showed me how much He loves me! I so desperately needed the ladies sessions. They helped put me back into focus of what my life should be as a wife, mother, and a Christian. Again, if any of you ever get a chance to attend, don't hesitate to do so. You won't be disappointed!