Alternately titled: Dreaming For You (#inDaySpring)
Because I had to include the hashtag. :)
So you may have heard a little birdy tweeting about this crazy thing called #inDaySpring?
A few weeks ago the (in)courage team and I traveled to Siloam Springs, Arkansas to meet each other (for the first time!) and dream for (in)RL.
I was so, so excited about this. Not for the trip or the chocolate that I was sure would show up at some point, but because it meant I would finally get to hug these precious friends in person.
I’ve talked a billion and three times about these people and how online friendships are real.
Yes ma’am, they are.
After a year of texting and emailing and Skyping all the time, I finally was going to see their smiles in person and hear their accents.
They did not disappoint.
After hours of traveling and a flight attendant who said “We’re headed to Walmart!” as much as possible [ex: If you’ve lost your luggage, you’ll find it on aisle 08 of Walmart, Arkansas!], I made it to the hotel only to find this beauty waiting for me.
Now, lets keep in mind that I’m not a fan of cupcakes or fondant. But if there’s chocolate involved? Girl doesn’t know how to say no.
I didn’t know what to expect, but I knew I was going to absolutely love them. After all the hugging and “it’s so good to finally meet you!” conversations we headed out to dinner.
As a team.
For the first time.
It was surreal and I had to keep pinching myself. Am I really here? Me? This girl no one knows of, amongst incredible women of God and writers? It felt like a dream.
We had dinner and coffee (and dessert if we wanted…again, girl doesn’t know how to say no) and we entered into each other’s real lives. It was beauty.
{I feel like this could be a band’s CD cover. HA.}
Then Day Two began at the MotherShip.
Yes, DaySpring headquarters. If you’re ever in NW Arkansas for any reason, you need to see this place. It’s beautiful and full of beautiful, Jesus-loving people.
But this is what stopped me in my tracks.
Every desk in every office, every room in the entire building, it’s all built around this one thing.
At the center of it all: the cross.
In between all the ooo-ing and ahh-ing over new cards that will come out soon, we took photo after photo. And as you would expect, most were blurry.
Because when we’re together? We can’t stop the joy and laughter.
After exploring and taking way too many pictures, we sat down and acted like mature adults in a few meetings. We also presented to some way important people at DaySpring…which was really cool! And then we ate. Because after hours of meetings, food is important. And so is talking. Because when you meet for the first time, there is so.much.to.say.
After a long day of hearing about dreams and visions for the future and mission statements, it was time to relax a little bit, so we did just that. Over more food. Because of course.
And I took a billion photos. Because of course.
And then a new day dawned and it was time to do what we had really come for.
Dream.
With all of (in)courage in mind.
Yep, that’s a lot of you ladies reading along right here.
We were there to dream for you – in fact, I wrote a post about that exact thing and it went up on (in)courage the other day. {shameless plug}
I wish I could tell you more about what all went down and the dreams that were shared that day, but lets just say (in)RL is going to be amazing this year…because God is all over it. There are things coming up for (in)courage before (in)RL where we are trusting all out on all Him.
We’re being bold and learning what it means to “not be afraid to lose face.”
I am so proud to be a part of this team that seeks solely to love His girls and bring glory to Him. And I know that when you find out about these dreams (soon! so soon!) you will be proud to be a part, too.
Because these photos? Go ahead and just photoshop yourself right in. You belong with us.
We carried you in our hearts right to Arkansas. We planned for you. We dreamed God-sized dreams for you.
It was a bonus to finally meet these beautiful ladies pictured below
It was an honor to dream for you.
It is a blessing to be included among these women – and yes, that includes you. YOU are a part of this team.
All of it was a gift. I felt like I belonged and I felt completely (majorly) out of place. But after dreaming and planning I left Arkansas with one thing burning in my mind:
