Wisdom Saved, Wisdom Lost

When I probably about 18, I went to a very dreaded dentist appointment.

Thanks to childhood years of pulling teeth and teenage years of braces, I have never loved going to the dentist. Because of those traumatic experiences, I assume all dental appointments will be met with awkwardness and pain.

And the complimentary toothbrush at the end is not nearly enough to offset it.

This particular visit had an added dread - we were looking to see if I needed to have my wisdom teeth taken out. I don't remember much about what I was thinking going into that appointment, but I'm pretty sure I had no hope that things were going to fall in my favor.

Everyone I knew was having to get them out, and I had hung out with more swollen-face friends than I cared to remember. So naturally, I figured I'd be joining (against my will) the club of unwise, teethless people.

Well imagine my shock when, upon looking in my mouth, my sweet dentist announced that because I had had so many teeth pulled (childhood trauma) in order to get braces (teenage trauma), I had just enough room back there for all those little babies to fit comfortably.

I think I could win the lottery and still consider this moment the luckiest of my life. And if I hadn't been adverse to adding inappropriate conduct to the list of things that make dental appointments more awkward - I would have kissed that man.

In the end, my teeth grew in perfectly, I became smarter than all my peers, and I continue to express gratitude for escaping this rite of passage in the life of a young adult.

But, while I am happy for myself, I AM sad that some don't fair as well.


Little Marls had all 4 wisdom teeth out on Tuesday, bless her heart.

Here she is later that evening talking on the phone to her older brother right after I rigged a head piece to hold her ice pack in place. (Great idea, I know. It's all the wisdom.)

(Side note: I originally spelled "wisdom" wrong in that last sentence. And then I spelled "originally" wrong in this one.)


Marlee did really great with the surgery and is on the mend. She's been taking it easy, drinking Starbucks and smoothies, craving chicken, and logging lots of time participating in one of her favorite past times...knitting!


Now that Marlee has no chance of ever being smarter than me, she is capitalizing on the fact that she will always be cooler than me...and she is doing so by knitting cool hats such as the cute strawberry one shown above.

I'm glad everything went well with the surgery and that our girl is doing well. I know she'll be back to chicken eating and smack talking very soon. Way to go, Mar Mar!

The Queen City - Part Two

After a fun time at Mimi's on Saturday afternoon, Faith and I made our way back to the house where we promptly changed into our pajamas and awaited Chad's return.

Once he was back, we attended to the serious business of piling up on the couch and watching funny Youtube videos. Again I say - I love these people. It was also at this time that I began seriously wishing we all lived in the same town - I want to be a permanent fixture on their couch!

Once we worked up an appetite, we went to a famous Charlotte hot spot where all of my burger and fries dreams were realized.


Having these two sitting in front of me was a happy, happy sight. And elicits a funny, funny time.


One of the main reasons to go to Pinky's is the fried pickles!


I love being with people who understand the power of the pickle...and tweet accordingly.




The spread of goodness. Shout out to Pinky's for the best sweet potato fries I've ever had!


After supper my tour guides took me around Charlotte to show me the sights, which I loved. We then ended up at the mall where we walked around in search of some fro-yo.


It will come as no surprise that we bonded even further due to our mutual love of Taro. And blueberries, blueberries! :-)

After some more mall time and then some more riding and sight-seeing, we found our way back to our pajamas and back to the couch where we made some funny faces for our girl Caroline...


Even sweet Calie wanted in on the fun.

After the Photobooth session, we went on a valiant search for some Youtube clips of Swamp People shooting alligators. Beth Moore made us do it!

Sunday, I had the pleasure of going to church with my peeps. It was so neat because it was their church's first Sunday in their new sanctuary. I enjoyed the service so much.

For our post church meal we met up with Faith's family at one of my all-time faves - Jason's Deli!


The food was on point this trip, let me tell you. And the friends...perfection!


Little Miss Cutie joined us, too.


I love her! To put it in Jason's Deli terms - that girl is even sweeter than complimentary frozen yogurt and even more irresistible than ginger muffins.


The silly pictures continue.


Miss E worked on her photog skills a little bit more after we ate. She has quite the unique eye.


Sooner than desired, it was time to head back to Chad and Faith's to get packed up and head back. Aka DEEP SADNESS. I lingered for as long as I could, but eventually had to get back on the road. The car got loaded, we all hugged it out, and then I hit the highway back to the Peach State...smiling all the way.


Needless to say, I am SO thankful for this past weekend and these sweet friends taking me in and being the best and making me laugh non-stop. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I LOVE THESE PEOPLE!

The Queen City - Part One

My my my.

The post you are about to read is FULL. Full of pictures and most full of words certainly words.

But as full as the post is - it could never match the fullness of my little heart when I think about all the good times that rolled from this past Friday to Sunday.

I'm going to try not get too sappy (hmmm, I fear it's too late), but it's Beth Moore and it's sweet friends and it's good lessons and it's lots a laughter and it's nearly impossible not to.

After a very nice drive through Georgia and the Carolinas on a very sunny Friday, I arrived in Charlotte and pulled into the driveway to the sight of my sweet friend's smiling face and this on the kitchen counter.


I love these people.

Faith and I plopped down on the couch and chatted away for a while and then excitedly welcomed Chad to the party when he got home.

Did I mention I love these people?

Eventually we had to hop up and get dressed and ready for the evening. Faith and I had a big night ahead of us that included, but was not limited, to the best Mexican food experience I can bring forth in my memory.




We went to Cantina and as amazing (and I do mean amazing) as the food proved to be, it was no match for the great company.




I was so excited to meet up with Ashley and Melissa! I met Ash in ATL last year and she is just a doll and SO fun to be around. Love her.

Neither Faith nor I had met Melissa in person before but we loved her instantly! She was so darling and sweet and we were so excited that in addition to dinner she was going to be able to go to LPL with us, too! As Big Al would say, "I love it when a plan comes together."

We had so much fun at dinner, and I just loved that any passerby could have listened in on our convo (not that they would've had to try very hard - we do not lack in volume) and thought we had all been friends our whole lives.


Little would they know that it was just another old-fashioned tale of internet friendship.

After dinner we sadly said goodbye to Ashley and then headed over to the conference.

In efforts to not make this post any longer than it is, I won't go into the specifics of what Beth spoke on and what I learned/still learning at this point. That'll be another long drawn-out post for another day. :-)

But, as is always the case, about 2 minutes into the first session I thought, "Huh, well I guess I know why I was supposed to be here."

The theme was "Hold Fast" and let's just say - it was timely. :-)

In addition to great speaking, one of the highlights of any BM gathering is the music. That Travis Cottrell is such a talented young fellow. The man definitely knows how to lead some worship.


After the first session ended, Faith, her friend Sheila (love), and I went to meet up with Chad and Sheila's husband, Eric at Amelie's for some dessert. I will let you guess how well that went down.




To be clear, that is a cup made out of chocolate, filled with chocolate mousse, and topped with a chocolate-covered strawberry.

And I promise it's not the sugar high talking when I say that the conversations and laughter were the sweetest parts of the night!

After Amelie's, we headed back to C&F's to hit the sack.

Because come Saturday morning....


...we reunited with Melissa, Beth, Travis, and the rest of the gang (all 9400 of them) and had another wonderful morning of teaching, music, and ah-ha moments.


We even got to chat with Sophie at the Lifeway table during the break! We love us some Boomama.


Session Three was incredible as expected, and I can definitely speak for our little group when I say that we were all deeply moved and definitely felt like we were meant to be there that weekend.

I always feel that at a conference like this, and think it's so neat how even though we are all at different places in our lives, dealing with different issues - we can all be impacted by the same message in different ways.


After the conference, we sadly had to say goodbye to our sweet Melissa and then we made our way over to eat yummy lunch with Faith's mama (aka Mimi)!

After lunch we went over to Mimi's and I met some really important family members like Champ and Turk and this petite fellow.....


Not to mention new puppy, Izzie!!


I was dying over her cuteness. Ya'll know I love me a "Phoebe-dog".


Sweet Mimi! It was sooo good to see her again!


In addition to all the sweet four-legged friends, I also got to have the ultimate meet-up a little while later!


I have been waiting a long time to meet this precious girl! We were instantly bff.

Sweet E even led me in a friendly game of Yahtzee.




I could eat her up. I really could.


E took a liking to my camera and captured just how we felt about all being together that day!






It was a great afternoon and next up...a fun Saturday night in the Queen City with these two wonderful friends!

The checklist is checked

All my bags are (almost) all packed up.


I've got some inspirational listening for the road.


Snacks are handy.


GPS is ready to do some work.


And in true Deb fashion...some sweet words to send me off to the land of fun.


(Faith2 = Faith as in believing God...and Faith as in the girl.) :-)

Hope you all have a great weekend!