May 20, 2002

Saturday morning, before we left St. Louis, I had a book signing. Before that, I met my friend, Julie Probst, for breakfast. Many of you will more readily recognize her as Julie Piekarski, or “Julie!” from “The New Mickey Mouse Club,” or as “Sue Ann” from the first season of “The Facts of Life.” It was so great to see her. As you will see from the posted photo, she looks mahvelous!

I’m so proud of her. Julie personifies the SuperMom ideal. She is a devoted mother, loving wife, community server, and round-the-clock taxi driver. Her children are the kind whom you read about in their annual Christmas letter and wonder where they store all the prizes, medals, awards, and scholarships. They are all three prodigies in multiple arenas. And, here’s the kicker – she doesn’t serve them fast food. She cooks a healthy meal every afternoon before her daughter begins her four-hour nightly gymnastics regime. Then she comes home, serves her husband and takes the boys to their lessons and practices. She’s amazing. All this and she looks so darn great. If she weren’t so sweet, I’d hate her. Once I got past the personal guilt and self-doubt, I thoroughly enjoyed the time catching up with an old, dear friend.

I met Steve just off the Interstate where he hooked up the minivan to the motorhome and we made the drive to Mt. Vernon, Illinois. I spoke that evening at a “Family Dream” Banquet. I was so nervous. I couldn’t imagine that anyone would want to hear about our trip for a whole hour. But it turned out to be a delightful evening. I especially enjoyed meeting a young lady named Elizabeth. She brought me a scrapbook she had put together, as well as a number of letters from other friends from the SitcomsOnline bulletin board. (By the way, hello to all of you who follow so faithfully on the “Facts of Life” thread. I hope I get to meet each of you personally someday, just like Elizabeth.) 

Sunday morning I spoke at the Logan Street Baptist Church. I love speaking at Baptist Churches, it reminds me of my early days as a Christian, and brings me back to those little girl feelings. Afterwards, we had lunch with the pastors and others from the congregation. It still surprises me how much I enjoy meeting new people and “interviewing” them. I’ve come a long way since that shy second-grader.

We put the pedal to the medal after lunch and headed for Springfield, Missouri because the “Survivor Finale” was airing. We pulled into the KOA camp, ordered some Dominoes Pizza, and sat back to cheer on our favorites. I was rooting for Kathy, Steve was pulling for Paschal, Haven and Clancy wanted Neleh to win and Tucker was still sore because Sean was voted off. We were all shocked when Vescepia won, but we were still happy.

Monday morning we went to the Assemblies of God headquarters. Steve has a close friend there, Mike Messner, and he wanted to see all of the “girls” in his office that he had so enjoyed working with last year at a conference. We had a chance to sit around the office and chat for awhile before we set off on a tour of the headquarters. I never would have thought that a denomination headquarters would have such a professional tour. The guide even had a portable amplifier and microphone! The tour began in the little mock chapel, complete with “funeral fans.” We watched a very well done video of the history of the Assemblies of God. Then we toured the printing factory where they produce the “Pentecostal Evangel” every week. After that we walked through the huge building full of offices. The finale was a multimedia presentation of a beautiful sculpture of Jesus coming again on a white horse.

After the tour we enjoyed a wonderful lunch with the General Superintendent, Brother. Thomas Trask and his wife. Tucker was impressed with his interest in antique cars, Haven was fascinated with his antique pen collection, Steve was salivating to see their house full of one-of-a-kind finds and I loved hearing stories about how he happens upon most of these treasures at garage sales. 

On the way back to the RV we stopped at the world’s largest Bass Pro Shop. Inside this store is a bass aquarium, a turtle pond, a laser shooting range, a wilderness photo set, McDonalds, coffee café, oh, and bookoos of outdoorsy paraphernalia. 

Next, we scoped out where some of our best friends are moving. We are each extremely close to the McDonald family, but they are moving to Springfield this month. We are all devastated, but are happy for them. We thought it might make it a little bit easier if we drove over to the new house they will be moving into and take some pictures. Not only to put in our scrapbook, but to be able to “picture” where they will be living as we think of them when we miss them. 

For dinner we were invited over to Mike and Sandy Messner’s house. I don’t think I will ever take another home-cooked meal for granted. It is so good to eat something other than restaurant food. And this meal was to the nines. Let me give you a little hint, Sandy, is a certified etiquette instructor, so everything was just perfect. 

What made the evening so wonderful was for all the snobbery that could have gone along with such a delicious presentation, the conversation was casual, yet meaningful. Let’s put it this way, we were planning on having an evening of playing games, which is my favorite way to spend time with friends, instead, we talked until late in the night. It never ceases to amaze me how God can knit his children’s hearts together so quickly. I love having family all over the world.