Squeal Fest 2012

I'm not sure how many of you have ever witnessed or even participated in a "Squeal Fest" but I will tell you, just in case you haven't....

It is ALL manner of fun.

It also may involve meeting someone in real life you have loved and prayed for and wanted to meet for a very long time. When you finally have the chance, you may actually find yourself running across the parking lot of The Varsity in Atlanta, Georgia squealing like a teenager who is about to meet her best girlfriend in front of the skating rink. Honestly. We may have made a scene.

I had a little business trip to Atlanta recently and decided that it was high time that I meet my sweet blog buddy in real life.

Please meet my beautiful friend Paige from Simple Thoughts!

Paige is also one of the speakers for the upcoming Pearl Event and you all are going to fall head over heels in love with her!

The blog world meets real life is such a special thing.
For years you read someone's heart and get "to know them" so to speak.
Then to have the chance to meet that friend in real life....to put a voice with the words and the humor and the personality you have come to know and love in the blog world....

It is really wonderful!

Especially when that person exceeds your expectations.....

I somehow just knew she would....

She is a lot like Edie, in that, she is even better in real life!!!

Let me break it down for you in a few words and some really special pictures.

Paige is every shade of awesome. 

She looks just like a movie star and has the boots to prove it,  but is so genuine and authentic and gracious and kind, she puts you right at ease.

She is really, really beautiful. Matched equally in heart, spirit and personality. I loved her....

She also just so happens to be a hugger! Thank goodness! That makes five huggers speaking at The Pearl Event! Check. Check.

I may have to get them matching t-shirts for the big weekend....

I also finally had the chance to meet Dan! I heart Dan:)

I think much of blog world has a crush on him! He is an absolute sweetheart ! If you haven't already, you will enjoy reading the stories about how he has loved those four girls as well as Paige over the years... get the Kleenex.

Beautiful recompense.

I met "Little Bit" as well! Oh my heavens. I loved her! We talked about all things ballet, girlfriends and Justin Bieber. Apparently a close friend of hers has his phone number.....:)

                                                 Little Bit's twinkle toes....sweetness.

                                              My girl and her dream gumball machine.

 

 

I hope you will join us for the big weekend on March 10. We are so looking forward to meeting you and spending the day together. Edie and her sweetheart will be there, as well as Paige and Dan. Two of my wonderful real life friends Sara and Jane will also be there sharing their stories and encouraging us that day as well! Just 52 more days or about 7 short weeks!

We are also planning on a blogger/reader meet -up on Friday night, March 9 at the Opryland Hotel for those of you who are interested.  So I will share the details about that once we get it worked out on our end!

Thank you so much to all of you for your love, prayers and support about the event.

Grateful me.

Counting down the days sweet friends.....

Magnum Opus

If someone were to ask me today what is your greatest life's work?

I would answer with a heart full of humility and love and gratitude and thanksgiving.

And I would show you a picture of the most beautiful gift of grace on earth.

It is my first born gift. My darling Macey Girl.

The one whom I've loved and raised and adored and been blessed by for twenty two years.


Twenty two years ago on this very day.

The one whom the Lord entrusted me with at the tender age of eighteen years old.

We all know that at eighteen years old, there is still much knowledge to gain.

But He entrusted me anyway.....grace made manifest.

When I think back about how scared to death I was, but at how the Lord, whom I did not know,
filled me with a courage that was not from this world, to push through the truckloads of adversity, it is absolutely overwhelming to me.....
How we walked through and managed and struggled and still somehow by His grace, pushed through...

The pointing of the finger by many.

The rejection.

The judgment.

The heartbreak.

The loneliness.

The abandonment of every, single, high school friend, save one.


It's easy to create when everyone loves you.

To create a masterpiece when everyone is for you.

To create something beautiful when everyone is cheering you on.

 It is about nearly impossible to create anything when everyone is against you.

To grow a beautiful child in heartbreaking conditions...."impossible" they told me.

"Those two will never make it", they said behind my back. 

She is just "white trash", they said.

Having a child out of wedlock is a sin, you know.

You will end up just being "a statistic". The two of you "don't have a chance", they said.


The judgment alone we walked through day after day after day, in the middle of the bible belt, with a church on every corner, mind you, was enough to send one into an early grave.

And there were days that I didn't want to stand any more. I couldn't stand any more.

And then here she would come, with great, big, chocolate, brown eyes and the sweetest disposition on earth, and I would melt into a puddle and think to myself , and sometimes I was really brave and would even say it out loud....."Lord, if you really do exist, please Lord, please help us get through this.

"This" was just another Wednesday, when the car didn't start and the lights were cut off, again.

And if I was late to work one more time, I was going to lose my job. And if I didn't pay the day care all the money I owed them, they were not going to allow my baby girl to remain enrolled there.

And the man, whom I thought was going to be my future husband one day, at the time, decided to raise his hand again, sending me right into the emergency room where they proceeded to staple the crown of my head back together.

The very crown of my head, split right in two.

The pieces turned into pieces that become more pieces.

When your heart is in pieces and your life is in pieces and your trust has been broken....into pieces.

It is a divine platform for the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the One who is the greatest creator ever known, the ultimate Magnum Opus.....God Almighty, to step right in and take
every, single piece of our life and orchestrate it all together in such a way.....

That twenty two years later, on the very day it all began...

You could stand boldly, with confidence in Him, with a knowing that this, the very thing and circumstance and situation every one said would never be.

This is your Magnum Opus. Your greatest life's work. Your masterpiece.

The very thing you thought was going to be the end of you, because you didn't know or understand
the magnitude of it all.

Macey Mclain.

You are my Magnum Opus. My greatest life's work, by His grace alone.

You are the gift that came to me twenty two years ago, today, at 2:52 p.m. and the only child I've ever given birth to who smiled at me the second they placed you in my arms.

You are the reason I am standing here today. The gift that came to hold me together, when I should have been holding you together.

Each day that goes by I am humbled that you choose me.
That still, after all these years and after many mistakes, you choose a relationship with your very, young mom who is still having babies and raising babies and caring for babies. While all the other Moms are able to show up at college with car loads of surprises and dinners and tickets and such.
And your Mom is wrangling five children somewhere along the Pampers aisle at Target.

What you may not know or understand or be able to comprehend, is that once God formed you, and perfectly created you, and entrusted you into my arms....

It ruined me forever.

I knew from that very moment, that Motherhood, would be my calling.

That Motherhood would be my gift.

That Motherhood, and newborn babies and toddlers and sweet, bouncing little ones, would be the thing that would cause me to go weak in the knees and I would never be able to return to an upright position again.

You were the one whom God chose to use to teach me so many things.....

You were the one who would become the gift of grace made manifest in my own life.


Thank you baby girl.

I am so incredibly proud of you.

For all that you are. For all that you have become.

For all of the incredible, wonderful, amazing gifts and talents you walk in every day.

For that Pastor's heart you were blessed with from day one.

For the radiant beauty that shines from within you.

I love you and adore you more than you will every know.

Happy Birthday baby girl...... the very best is yet to come.

You are living proof of that.

On my knees with thanksgiving today and every day,

Mama Dukes
Romans 8:18

"Are you awake, Charlotte?" he said softly.  "Yes," came the answer.

"What is that nifty little thing?


"Did you make it?" "I did indeed," replied Charlotte in a weak voice.

"Is it a plaything?" "Plaything?" I should say not. It is my egg sac, my magnum opus.

"I don't know what a magnum opus is," said Wilbur.

That's Latin," explained Charlotte. "It means 'great work.'


This egg sac is my great work- the finest thing I have ever made.



~Charlotte's Web

Hotel Information For The Pearl Event II

You are coming!!!

What a beautiful way to ring in the New Year! I cannot tell you how excited we are!

Have you read that Edie is doing hitch kicks and eating too much fudge over this?

And that Paige is way out of her comfort zone but is about to bust at the seams to meet you all in real life?

I am just beside myself!

Can you believe that we are just 69 days away?!!

I can hardly wait for hugging and squealing with a bunch of real life "Steel Magnolias"right there in the middle of that Magnolia Ballroom!!

If you want to squeal and hug and wear pearls and talk about Jesus with us that day then you can get your ticket here for $25.00.

Seating is limited!

www.http://thepearlevent-esearch.eventbrite.com/?srnk=1


Hotel Information:

Opryland Hotel has offered a discounted rate for Friday night, March 9, 2012 of $144.00

Gaylord Opryland Hotel & Convention Center
2800 Opryland Drive
Nashville, TN 37214

1-888-777-6779

When you call in you will need to use this discount code. X-PEARL


This does not include the taxes and the 15.00 resort fee they apply to all rooms for the use of their many facilities.

They have also offered a discount on self parking of 10.00 per day.
I will have more information about parking instructions once we get closer to the date of the event.

(I did try to get a discount for a weekend package but the hotel is already close to sold out for Saturday night due to a huge event there that day.) There are still some rooms available. It will just be a higher rate if you want to stay Saturday night as well.


I requested a small amount of rooms to be blocked off to start. I can ask for a few more more once this block has been sold. Please let me know as soon as possible if you call and the rooms are sold out at that price and you would like to stay there.



Check In starts at 3:00 that Friday afternoon and Check Out is 11:00 a.m. on Saturday morning.




Here are two other hotel options that are literally right down the street from Opryland Hotel.


The Hampton Inn Nashville/Opryland~ $149.00 a night for a standard room (plus tax)

Free Parking . Free Breakfast.  Free Internet.

230 Rudy Circle
Nashville, TN 37214

1-615-620-2500

Check In is after 4:00 p.m. and Check Out is at 11:00


Hyatt Place Nashville/Opryland~  $129.00 a night for a standard room ( plus tax)

Free Parking. Free Breakfast. Free Internet.

220 Rudy Circle
Nashville, TN 37214

615-872-0422

Check In is after 3:00 p.m. and Check Out is at 12:00



Lastly,  I have created a page on Facebook about the event and will be adding to it often.

You can join and connect with others who will be attending and talk about hotels and restaurants and
which strand of pearls to wear among other things!

You can find that page here:

https://www.facebook.com/events/154366354668098/



I hope that this helps in the making of your plans! Cannot wait to meet every, single one of you!!


Happy New Year!!

Merry Christmas 2011

Source found here

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!  2 Corinthians 9:15


Just wanted to pop in and wish you all a very merry Christmas....

I also wanted to let you know how much you are appreciated!

You mean so much to me and I thank you for allowing me the privilege to pour out the pieces on the pages of this blog.

It has been a tremendous gift ....

I hope you all are enjoying the sweet moments today... It has been a special Christmas for us with Daddy being home for good. We are stepping over piles of laundry, Legos and naked Barbies and the last time I checked several dinosaurs were riding around on the Wonder Pets boat.

Gracious me.

Loving every minute of it.

Merry Christmas to you beautiful friends....