Started this post on 4/3/23: I have really been feeling lately that my kids are missing out on the "youth" part of church. We don't have youth group, they have 1 other kid in their Sunday School class... plus 3 kids younger than them... and that's IT for kids...
I talked to my friend Michelle about it in March and have been feeling like taking Minnie SOMEWHERE so that she can see OTHER KIDS... that love Jesus and want to do the right thing and make good choices and also how to deal when you mess up... because they are kids... and they will....just like we as adults do....
So Michelle and I talked about us coming down to her camp to hang with her kids and their friends and go to Youth Group and/or church at the end of March or early April when they are going to be there... trying to figure out my personal day, her kid's sports schedules and plane tix prices....yikes... I had sort of thought maybe we would do something else... visit a church in Bentonville, AK maybe... or something else entirely....I wasn't sure
About a week or so later I was on Instagram and for whatever reason this girl showed up...she was on the bachelor, I think...Maddie Pruitt... and I started seeing her posts and reading some things and then she posted a story a few days later saying "hey... I'm going to be speaking at these places... come see me" and one of them was in Duluth, GA, June 22-24... I googled how far it was from Uncle Mike and Aunt Carol... 20 min. and I texted Michelle to see if she had ever heard of it....
She responded with OH MY WORD MY KIDS GO EVERY YEAR... THEY LOVE IT!!!!
She mentioned one of the speakers and said her son thinks he's hysterical... she said it's AWSOME.... Then she said... I'm planning a road trip again this summer and I'm not sure that we'll be back for it this year...
Bummer... so I still pursued checking plane tickets, asking Aunt Carol if we could stay there... she said yes hooray.... and about a week went by and I texted Michelle...
I said how are your plans coming any idea if the conference will be a go for your crew or not.. lemme know... she texted me right back and said... are you in luck... (luck.. hahahaha) the place we were going hiking is in CA and they have had so much snow that the trails are closed and still WILL BE in June when we were planning on going...
I think we are doing the conference!!!
Oh my word... Minnie was PSYCHED because although she wants me there with her (like doesn't want to go on her own) she REALLY wanted friends there AND she REALLY wanted to go to Michelle's camp... she's getting it ALL!!!
Fast Forward: Conference, bus and airplane tickets purchased, sleeping arrangements organized, and FINALLY (not sure why I dragged my feet) but rental car booked. We headed out on Thursday, June 22 at 3AM after waking up at 2:00!
Husband graciously drove us to the bus station before he had a golf tournament all day and SIL L lovingly took Miss B for a sleepover and Sky watched her (and Barks!) all day!!! We are not really early birds ;)
Security was by far the thing I was most anxious for... traveling with insulin and devices all attached to my body but EVERYWHERE I went it was absolutely fine... I had to deal with security every time we walked into the conference center and obviously at both airports... Locked and loaded on the plane... because we flew Delta we had screens on the back of our seats to be able to watch movies, shows, listen to music... so Minnie and decided to watch the SAME movie at the same time... American Underdog... a football movie for her and a true life feel good movie for me... the fact that Kurt Warner is an unashamed Christian athlete... WIN/WIN!
We left so early because the conference started the day we arrived... we had to get a rental car, settle in at Uncle Mike and Aunt Carol's and throw something in our bellies... timing of this whole ENTIRE trip did not really constitute eating... which for me probably worked out OK to jump start some weight loss.. Minnie lived on salads at 10PM and she may have had more than her fair share of candy and Dunks...but... we called it our "Wheelie Suitcase Vacation"! We NEVER go on any vacation where we don't plan every meal, pack all our food, including the dog! :) It was fun to do things like salad at 10PM and buy her airport Dunks :)
Miss B wanted to see what rental car we got because we opted for the cheapest "manager special"... I tried to talk him into the tricked out, blacked out Suburban but it was a no go.. hee hee.. GMC Terrain for the WIN!
I was very thankful for Uncle Mike coming to pick us up at the airport... I was very nervous about navigating traffic to and from their house to Duluth, about 25 min away but I KNOW there were angels around us every.single.time. because it didn't matter what time of day we were driving I would look around and there was not ONE car even CLOSE to us... I told Minnie... how are we in the thick of it with NO ONE near us...
As soon as we got to the conference we met up with Michelle and her crew... there were 14/15 kids total and they didn't miss a beat... they tucked Minnie RIGHT in like she had been part of their gang the whole time... Sawyer suggested getting a photo op right when they got there and I LOVED that someone ELSE was suggesting a pic because it's ALWAYS ME! :) HAHAHAHA
and in classic teenager form... "Take a Silly One" :) I knew she would fit right in :)
They really all hung out together all the time but this crew of Sawyer, Cash, Aliviah and Elijah were her main crew... a few other gals mixed in but I thought it was funny editing pics to see that from the get-go she was standing with them....
See her in the middle of everyone? :) Warmed my heart!!!
After being up since 2AM we got back to Uncle Mike and Aunt Carol's after 11... Minnie said the whole trip "I HATE THE CITY" but before we went to bed she whispered MOM! THERE'S A DEER! hahaha right in their neighborhood! Nothing like a little taste of home :) 
The next morning we overslept our alarm. I lost the speaker/volume on my phone after I put it in airplane mode on the way down. I was unable to talk to anyone unless I was in the rental car connected to blue tooth. It was SO ANNOYING! But we made it by 8:15....in plenty of time for the first session...this is before it FILLED UP...
Maddie was the speaker in the morning and if you ask Minnie she was her FAV!
Just such RELEVENT information to these teens (and adults). She was a phenomenal speaker!
Minnie and I went to lunch with everyone after the first session on Friday and then we ran a few errands. When we came back to meet up with everyone we found the guys on the swings...
and Minnie jumped into the carnival games trying to win a stuffy...
We brought them back water, snacks and candy and I made them all stand there for a "proof of life" picture....
I cannot say enough about this girl.... she tucked Minnie right in, made sure she was never sitting more than a seat away from her and Michelle said they could not look more like sisters...so grateful!
In the down time they all taught and TOLD Minnie she would be dancing... to which she denied but then I witnessed it with my own eyes and she loved every second! :)
Can we talk about sweet Sawyer? EVERYONE says to Minnie "you are SO TALL"... The first chat with Sawyer and she said... "you make me feel SMALL" :) He's 14, wears a size 18 shoe, praises Jesus like no ones business, fishes, loves country music and plays football! She fit right in with this crew... 
One minute was "this is how we roll....." and "body like a backroad" that went right into... "I raise a hallelujah..."
Our final day, Michelle came back to the conference (she had to take care of a bunny situation the day before)
This sweet couple on the bottom left... they were the youth group leaders that were assigned to this group... they have three small children at home (left with his Mom), they hadn't seen their kids in DAYS and CHOSE to spend time with this crew... the amount of adult volunteers pouring into the teenagers blew my mind. Hosea and his wife Abby were AMAZING! 
Click on the picture to make it bigger so you can see the giant transformer! :) They did these "Tribe" wars between us... ICY (blue), Fuego (orange), Vibe (pink) and Shmoneey (green) They were SO FUN! Everything from rock/paper/scissor tournaments to karaoke to "punishments" of ice baths and SUPER HOT potato chips! It was so fun!
After this session and before the final session there really wasn't enough time for anything and the youth leaders had planned for the kids to all eat pizza on the lawn so Michelle and I took off across the street for Mexican. I took this pic for Husband because we do love us some Mexican... but that small part that I cut off was the only thing I ate... I had no room for anything else (And he always eats my rice because bleck...) Michelle and I both hated the fact that we had no way to keep the food cold and no husbands there with us to eat our leftovers ;)
The last session finished around 5:30ish.. we were jazzed up...
and ready to head to HELEN! See my Minnie girl there rockin' her MHS gear with her lei and blue heart sunglasses we brought for the crew :) 
The goal of the whole trip was so that Minnie would see that she was NOT ALONE... that's it..I think... mission was accomplished... and then some.... 
Part 2 HELEN... coming soon!
