Our visit with Renae!

I have a blind spot. It is more of a failing, actually. One of those "I-can-only-do-one-thing-at-a time" kind of shortcomings. I CANNOT REMEMBER MY CAMERA! And yesterday is a perfect example of it.

My blog-friend, Renae, is in Colorado! She is attending the annual Christian writer's conference in Estes Park. This is a mere 1 and 1/2 hour's drive for us as opposed to going all the way to Texas, and I knew I could not pass up this opportunity to meet her in person! So yesterday Barry, Coral, and I buckled down in our van and drove up into the mountains to eat dinner with Renae who had a little free time between conference sessions. I had forgotten how breathtakingly beautiful that drive is! There is no creator like God!

There were lots of things to prepare for that little trip. Coral, for one thing, as she was so excited to meet Renae! Her food, all blended and ready to go, heated to perfection and wrapped in a towel. Her ice cream, the container carefully frozen first and then filled with ice cream and frozen some more so it would last until supper time. I had already finished my medical transcription and sent it off to the doctor so that I wouldn't have that hanging over my head. Success! I even had time for a shower. And into my purse went the camera. I was so excited to take pictures of Renae, maybe even with Coral, to post on here. So off we went!

Big Elmo sat in the seat by Coral so that she would be okay with me sitting in the front with Barry. After the rush of getting off, it was so peaceful to sit in the quiet companionableness of our little family alone in our van. We talked a little bit, and Coral could hardly contain her joyful excitedness over the little gift bag she had to give to Renae!

As we pulled in at the conference center and up to the main building, there was Renae watching for us and waving! And we had such a great time getting to know each other in person and chatting, meeting some of her writer and speaker friends, eating dinner, laughing... It hardly seemed any time at all before we had to start home again.

And not once did I ever remember the camera in my purse! The one I told myself not to forget, the one I carefully put in there to make sure I had it with me, the one that should have had on it lots of great photos to share with you! A mile down the mountain, I suddenly thought of it! Oh, no! Not again! What is my problem? !

But what a blessing yesterday was to me! Such a beautiful and talented lady, with a truly rare gift from God for writing about MY feelings and MY experiences with humor and godly insight, and buried inside these everyday thoughts are faith and hope and lessons from God that I need to learn. I think what amazes me the most is her ability to write new fresh things every day!

Please visit Renae at Morning Coffee! Her first devotional book, Morning Coffee with James, is available for preorder now and will be in the stores later this year.
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