4:37am:  Jump out of bed and into the shower.  My alarm was set for 4:00am.  I kept dreaming that I was already shopping; hence the jumping out of bed.  We were set to meet the Care Group Leader Wives at 5:30.

5:18 am:  Melissa and I are off to shop, but hit McDonald’s first for a LARGE coffee (two creams no sugar).

5:35 am:  Meet the other ladies at Pottery Barn, sheepishly greet them, as the one organizing the event should not be late..it was only five minutes.  Briefly discuss our various Thanksgivings, comment on our outfits, wonder why we always start at Pottery Barn….then we are off.  We divide into groups to cover more ground.

6:00am: We are in Children’s Place…Lori Randolph discusses her various coupons.  We move onto Carters.  Lori Randolph buys a sleeper for her little one…struggles that she did not get the additional 15% off that she had hoped.  We talk her through it.  All is well.

6:30am:  Head to Bed, Bath, and Beyond where several of us bought things that would help us better serve our families (yes, yes, gifts for ourselves).  Tina decides to finally buy a measuring cup that has actual lines…since her current measuring cup was a wedding gift from some 18 years ago.  She thinks Randy will approve of the purchase.  Karen Pawson bought kitchen trinkets for her sister-in-law in Haiti.

7:00am:  To the Christmas Tree Shops we go. I bought a bunch of candles here.  Merry Christmas to me .  But overall, this was uneventful…until Lori Randolph, Becky Howell, Lori Heitland, and I ran into each other in the middle of the store where we discussed hairstyles, seasonal color pallettes for oh, about 20 minutes…..evidently, I should never wear black (boo)…and the debate is on as to whether Becky is a deep Winter or Spring…can’t we all just get along?

7:30am:  Some of us went to Ross, some went to Kohls, and Shoe Carnival. I was told that Becky and Lori Heitland did some sort of double dealing scheme and Lori got a free scarf….I have chosen to adopt the “don’t ask don’t tell” policy on this one.

8:30am:  We met altogether at Cracker Barrel for a yummy breakfast…although mine looked like they left half of it in the kitchen and the half that they served me was quite overdone…not to worry, when the waitress asked how everything was, I was sure to tell her that everything was  wonderful .

9:45am:  Our meals were finished.  We shared our shopping successes.  We shared how God had shown himself to us over this past year.  A few tears were shed.  A win/win kind of day.

10:10am:  We went our separate ways, some to “the bins”, others went home to be with our families.  All of us left with a gratefulness to God for his faithfulness to us in allowing us this time to have fun and shop and make memories with dear friends.

11:12am:  Writing this post, hoping to figure out how to upload pictures from my phone and share pictures and a video interview with our very own, Becky Howell.  Wish me luck.

5:00pm: Interview is nixed.

For the record, I don’t actually think that the sales on Black Friday are that great.  It is the fun of the experience that makes it worth it.