memories and peanuts pressed into the bottom of the diaper bag

Last week, we spent our time in Chicago, IL. Our purpose there was a business trip for Mike (and I got to tag-a-long! hooray!). His main focus was to promote BBS at Moody Bible Institute during their "Founders Week" (Happy 125th Birthday, MBI!).

Let me tell you what a spiritual-kick-in-the-pants that was! A-mazing. One full week of the the best speakers from all over the country (and a few beyond that). Bless-ing. If you want to get a taste of what we got to experience live, click here.  One of my favorite speakers was James Ford.  He said something that I will never forget (in reference to Jesus walking on the stormy waters), "He needed to show [the disciples] that what was over their heads was under His feet..."  Po-wer-ful.

We not only were challenged by the sessions, but by the snow! Chicago was hit with record-high snowfall (as did the rest of the country!). But if you think the snow was bad, try adding 60 mph winds...whoosh! brrr! They don't call it the 'windy' city for nothing --well, maybe also for their politics...but we won't get into that right now--.

What an exhausting fun-filled week it was! Eating Chicago's best deep-dish pizza (and fries). Walking up and down the "Magnificent Mile". Having maids make up your king-size bed everyday. Visiting Navy Pier. Seeing Lake Michigan in all it's frozen beauty. Meeting new people. Chasing Annaleigh around and trying to convince her that food is good to eat. Throwing dirty towels on the floor...wait, um, I think we do that already...never mind... I was even able to catch up on my reading!

But at the end of the day, it's good to finally be home with all those memories (and airplane peanuts)...