Surprise, Jules!

Wow - exactly a month ago I got to make a surprise trip to Maranatha to surprise Julie! We had made plans to be all home as a family the weekend of Jenn's birthday which had to be postponed 2 weeks, then I was going to go to MBBC that weekend, but it fell through twice. The day before I would have been leaving I was feeling bummed that it didn't work out after all and was sitting in my last class for the day when I heard the guys that sit by me talking about none other than "Maranatha this weekend..." and I piped up..."Maranath!?! -- THIS WEEKEND!?" Heehee! They said they had an extra seat and gave me a ride to Maranatha for the weekend so I could successfully surprise my sister! I was VERY grateful (even if I did have to ride in a ford! j/k! heehee!) ;) So HUGE thank you to Aaron, Seth, and Chad for putting up with me and helping me pull it off - it was fun! Of course her roommate, Jess had a HUGE part in helping me pull off the surprise and friends - such as STEPH! were helping with the surprise on the other end. As soon as I got there they orchestrated everything for her to go to get something out of her closet and there I was sitting in there - SURPRISE! :) We got busy right away with our "hanging out" together since we had little time. I got there Friday night at 7 and we went shopping at the outlet malls and found a couple deals and then they took me to Coldstone - for my first time ever - very good and filling! Then we went back to the dorm and talked as sisters do best - while Julie gave me a French manicure. We got to bed at 2:30 a.m., and got up at 7 a.m so as not to waste any of the short time we had. We went out for breakfast at Berre's Brothers - another place I had never been - it's a very cute little coffee shop! We're both picture freaks and think in blogs, so we were taking pictures of our breakfast to blog - heehee! and Julie put her nice long fingers in the picture - probably the longest fingers in the world. haha! Just kidding, Jul! ;) The guys were going to pick me up at 10 the next morning, so we ate our breakfast fast and went to the house of a dear family friend, Mrs. O'Neil. We used to always go to her and her husband's house to help them mow their lawn, rake leaves, clean, etc...they ended up being like grandparents to us. Mrs. O'Neil always had Little Debbie treats, homemade cookies, or ice cream bars for us after we'd worked outside, and Mr. O'Neil always insisted on making butter popcorn for us because he knew how to make it just perfect (he had the timing down right to the second on microwave popcorn) Heehee! They also had the best old toys that Julie and I would have spread out all over their floor while Jason and Jennifer listened to Mr. O'Neil's stories (he had the best stories) :) Anyways, it was sad when she had to move away to WI after he passed away, so we were sure to go visit her. She's such a sweetie. Then we stopped downtown on our way back to campus and walked the streets looking at the booths - I can't remember what they called it...but at home they call it crazy days when they have all that fun stuff out in the streets. "Teacher Julie" made a purchase, and then the guys called and said it was time to go. :( Time went way too fast, but we did get to pack a lot of fun things in to the time that we had! While we were waiting for them to come pick me up we sat out in the car and talked and I suddenly remembered I hadn't taken a picture of her room - so hence I have an outside picture...not an inside one. haha! Thanks SO much for the fun time, Jules! I will never forget that visit - it was SUCH a blessing, and just what I needed at the time (I think I'm needing another one) BUT I'll see you in less than a week now so YAY!