She Laughs

I opened my hotel room door, ready to dart over to the elevator. Sure that I could sneak down to grab some breakfast at the buffet in the hotel and then return to the room to get ready for the opening day of the conference. As the door clicked shut behind me a tall, lovely woman began waving at me from the elevator.

"Oh man!" was all I could think. As I walked closer she came to introduce herself, but I knew who she was. It was Shari Braendel. Now friends, I won Shari's book "If Clothes Could Talk" of my sweet friend Rachel's blog a few months ago. Shari is the fashion guru! I've never met her face-to-face.

So there I stand in my baggy sweats, over-sized t-shirt and flip-flops...no make-up, no nothing. Seriously! I was blessed by her hug and how if she noticed my look she was kind enough to not mention it.

Later that day when I told Rachel about it she laughed and said, "She was probably thinking OH I am so glad she won my book. She So needs it!"

He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy. Job 8:21

I had the lovely opportunity to room with my friend Susan who I met last year at She Speaks. She is from South Carolina and has the thickest (and highly entertaining) twang and just the dearest little heart. Well our neighbor in the hotel happened to be my roommate from SS last year, Lee. Lee's laughter is contagious and she just seems like the big sister I never had, but always needed.

So Friday morning we had a little reunion in our hotel room. The hugs were full and lingering and the laughter was loud and often.

At one point, Susan decide to use her camera to take our picture. The first attempt was her holding the camera at arm's length. It was a cute picture of Susan and I am sure Lee and I looked great, except all you could see of us was my left eye and Lee's hair. Oops.



So onto the self-timer option. LOL! Well, I am not sure how many pictures Susan took that way, but I can tell you most of them had us laughing, eyes closed and in one Susan was getting up to check the camera. We laughed so hard that I know they could hear us in the hallway. It was great.

Let me tell you, last year I was blessed with a handful of friends that I have kept and loved all year long. This year I was surround by more lovely women and I can imagine that next year's reunion will be even bigger. God teaches us so much through She Speaks, but one of His greatest gifts is the friendships He hides in the elevators, hallways, even the restrooms for us to find along the way.

***More She Speaks highlights tomorrow. Come back and here about my amazing Prayer Room experience.