Marvelous Mammoth Memories

Alrighty!!!!!! Gonna tell you about my marvelous weekend! :)

First off ... I know the picture of the cave is lame. I'm sad to say this was the best cave picture I took all weekend. Sheesh. The cave was too dark (imagine that!), and I couldn't get good pictures. But that's alright. I'd never been in a cave before, so I thought it was pretty cool. And the company was among the best a woman could have! :)

So ... as you've all guessed by now .... I went to Mammoth Cave for the weekend with some of my best friends. Ben called me up last week, asking me if I'd want to join him and some of the gang on a weekend trip to Kentucky. And I'm so glad I got to go! It was one of the best times I've had in a long time! And I wanted to share some of the highlights with you all! :)

Like I said ... I'd never been in a cave before, so the trip down to the cave on Sunday morning was pretty great. It was amazing to see yet another MARVELOUS, God-created masterpiece! God is really good at creating things, isn't He? And at one point during our cave tour, the guide shut off all the lights in the cave ... and we stood in complete darkness. I had never been in darkness that ... well ... dark! I kept blinking .... my eyes were looking for even the tiniest glimpse of light ... somewhere! Anywhere! But there was no light to be found. It was amazing!!! And then the guide lit a match, and it was amazing how much light it provided. One tiny match. Wow. ....... There are tons of analogies there ... but I'll leave Alex to the cool picture stories and analogies. ;) ... An understatement --- The cave was a pretty cool experience.

And I also mentioned that the company was great. :) ........ The group included the entire Nilsen family, the Beards (from GFC), a few people who work with Ben, Brittney, Elise and her friend, Drew, Kim Svoma and her nephew, BJsquared (as I like to call him), and me. Some pretty amazing people in that group. I had the most adorable kids in the world crawling all over me, giving me hugs, holding my hands all weekend. Isn't that picture of Barrett and the Beard kids to die for? ;) ....... That's what I love about kids. They don't have bubbles. Ha! I can't believe I'm saying that. Just months ago, I would've been afraid of those kids. I have a BUBBLE. I've never been a real touchy person ... but I'm growin' out of it a bit. I must be! Because I LOVED every minute with the kids! (Makes me want to work in kids ministry even more than I already do!) Time with Barrett, Mason, Corrin, and Silas was one of the best parts of the weekend. I'm so glad the kids came along! :)

Another highlight .... James. Yep! He sang and DANCED most of the weekend. At least during the car rides. Actually ....... it was amazing! I have never heard the Nilsen guys sing as much as they did this weekend. Saturday night, around the campfire, BEN LED THE SONGS! I'm not kidding! He just busted out singing. And Alec and James busted out the tunes throughout the night too. It was great! I love it when people sing! They can be the most tone-deaf person ever or right up there with David Phelps - I just LOVE IT when people sing! ....... And James and Kim danced to Grits and R.E.S.P.E.C.T. half of our trip home. It was one of the highlights of my night!

Yet another joy .... I walked with Ben for close to half of the cave tour, and that was definitely one of the best parts of the trip for me. Ben is one of my closest friends, and chatting with him is one of my all-time favorite things to do. He and I have been growing in our friendship a lot over the past 3 or 4 months, and he's one of the few friends I can sit and talk to for hours on end. .... We obviously didn't talk for hours in the cave, but it was great to chat with my buddy, Ben! We talked about serious things, happy things, random things .... and we had a good time goofing off together ... as we often do. Good times!

I also got to spend extra time with Judy and Alec this weekend. :) Two people I don't get to see all that often or talk to much. It was great to chat with Alec around the campfire ... listen to him try to lead "Open the Eyes of My Heart" about 8 times on Saturday night .... no one followed him. Ha ha! And for some reason, he was trying to light a candle while we were sitting around the fire on Saturday night. He kept calling it his "night light." He was gonna sleep right next to the fire pit, so I don't know why he thought he needed a night light. Ha ha! And he couldn't get it lit! He went through an entire box of matches and lots of being made fun of in the process. It was hilarious and way too much fun! ........ I also got a hug from Judy. Judy hugs are some of my favorite hugs. :) And during the cave tour, we talked with Ben about how we are emotional roller coaster women. It was fun to laugh with her about that ... and hear all of Ben's deep explanations of why we are that way. Ha ha! It was a fun time!

Lastly, I walked down the hill next to our campsite and found huge boulders!!! I don't know what it is about huge rocks ... but I get excited about them! If you've ever been to a big place called "The Chimneys" in Tennessee .... now there's a GREAT place for huge boulders! And they are for climbing on!!!! That was my first experience with huge rocks ... and I have gotten excited about them ever since! Ben and James and I talked for half the cave tour about wanting to climb on all the huge rocks in the cave! ...... Okay .... back to the big boulder I was talking about .... I found these huge boulders down the side of the hill, and one of them turned into a great devotion spot. :) Sunday morning, after breakfast, I grabbed my Bible and my 382 prayer journals and headed for the "devo. boulder," as I like to call it. It was huge! And was shaped just so I could sit comfortably on it and read my Bible. I had a really great devotional time that morning ... read Psalms 18 and 19 ... wrote in my 382 prayer journals (I really only have 3 ... but that's a lot! Might as well round up!) ... and sat in silence for a few minutes, breathing in the crisp, November air and listening to squirrels run through the crunching leaves. Sitting in the middle of the woods is one of my favorite places to be ... so it was an extra special devo. time. :)

Okay ... I know I've made this super long. I don't know how to keep things short. Sheesh! ;) ..... It was a great trip! If you've never been in a cave, go! If you've never camped with some of your best friends, do it! Makin' memories is way too much fun! Do it sometime! And soon! :)