CHICAGO! --wel, suburb of. Never really even saw the city to be honest. But nonetheless! It was enjoyable. Made some new friends, hung out with God. Sweet!

The trip began on Tuesday, June 12th 2007. I had worked earlier that morning, and raced home to pack and make last minute arrangements. I was nervous about spending lots of time in a confined space with virtual strangers. We all met up the church and introduced ourselves. Here's who went!

Corrie Killmer (Um, yeah. If you don't know...you're in TROUBLE!)
Stephen Turnbull (Teaching Pastor of First Lutheran)
Brad Smith (Pastor of Worship)
Kari Charbonneau (Worship team/Pastoral assistant)
Taylor Charbonneau (15 year old genius! Sound and lighting tech)
Paul Pierre (Sound and lighting)
Jill Bishofsky (Brad's GF, and worship team coordinator...and a brilliant nurse!)

So we headed out! Bran and Kari were driving, so we split up boys and girls. It was a blast! We chatted up a storm and the hours flew by. We stopped at Subway for lunch....still kinda shy with each other. After Subway the cars switched up a bit. It was me Kari and Steve in Kari's car, and Brad, Paul, Taylor and Jill in Brad's car. Kari and Steve talked about their lives growing up while I snoozed in the back.

We made it into Arlington Heights, Illinois around 10:45 pm or so. We checked in and took forever figuring out who was in what room, and then retreated to our respective areas. Jill and I were roomies. We had a king size bed and a pull out couch. She insisted on taking the pull out couch (She's tiny anyway. I didn't feel bad!) so I got the king. She has a king at home, and I have a twin... so we decided it was totally fair. I slept diagonally every night! Why? Because I could!!

Wednesday morning I woke up with the sun as usual. I was excited! I got up way too early and showered while Jill slept. I packed up my plan see bag and headed downstairs for a very early breakfast of hard boiled eggs, yogurt and french toast. Delish! The rest of the group VERY slowly made their way downstairs. Then it was off to Willow Creek Church!

It was so intimidating. If you haven't seen it...the way Jeremy describes it is a Jesus Mall. They have a restaurant, an escalator, indoor waterfall, a huge book store. Not to mention the numerous auditorium...the main one having three levels. It's HUGE! It looks like a concert hall.

The first session was everyone altogether in the main auditorium. We heard some speakers and then had lunch. (YUM!) Then we heard some more speakers, more worship... and called it a day! Afterwards, we all went out for true Chicago Style pizza. (The stuffed kind) and it was delicious! I entertaied the crowd with different accents and funny stories. That's when people started to get excited about my drama ministry. "Wow, Corrie. YOu should be in drama!" I laughed.

That night I fell asleep early, but the rest of the group had a Wii party in Kari and Taylor's room.

The next morning I was up early again, ate breakfast with Paul and Taylor, and then we headed out to our break out sessions. I had signed up for four different drama related classes. I may sound like a snob, but seriously? I knew everything already. It was kind of a yawn fest. We all got together at lunch and discussed our sessions. Everyone else had experienced like life altering lessons, whereas I was like "Huh... yeah I knew that." Everyone in the classes I took were trying to sound so special, so instead of asking questions, everyone would talk about hwo great their drama ministry is and compare notes. It was silly.

One of the sessions was called Creating a Scene, and they dug apart one script for an hour and a half, giving specifin instructions on how to make that one scene in that one script spectacular. Why? What do you take home from that? We were studying what the characters were thinking in one stupid (badly written) script. What were we supposed to gain? It was a showcase of a drama director directing something that none of us would ever direct... so I just kinda fidgeted and snuck out early.

I ended up altogether skipping my last class. I should have signed up for music classes or something fun like that. Kari had a blast in her vocal performance classes! I know I've got a lot to learn there still! But alas. No such luck. Ah, well. It was actually a blessing in disguise skipping my last class...

I was walking around the church taking pictures on my cell phone to show my family. I was so bored, I was trying to find random people to text. I was texting Kelly, Andi and Jeremy... but they all stopped responding. So...I was scrolling through my contacts. I landed on Dan Wellumson. He was my D.A.R.E. officer in 5th grade, and we remained friends. We've lost each other and then found each other several times throughout the years. The last time I talked to him was the day my mom was going to have her second kidney removed. A lot has happened since then! Oh my word. I was supposed to have called him and given him an update. That's exactly what I was thinking when I looked up from my phone.

To my left was a man sitting at a table in the Atrium, looking a lot like Dan Wellumson. I laughed, thinking how creative my eyes were to play tricks on me like that, after just reading his name. But then his eyes bugged out of his head and he grinned from ear to ear. "Corrie!" he yelled. I couldn't believe it! Holy cow!

I rushed over and gave him a hig and told him I was just thinking about how I was supposed to call him, and how random this was. He kept saying what a God thing it was. I agree! We were both skipping class. Hahaha! Me and my D.A.R.E. officer. We sat and talked for almost an hour about everything. It was so great to just...ramble! We talked about me, about him, about my mom, about his dad, about my siblings, about his kids... we just couldn't believe we ran into each other at a conference that was hosting more than 8,000 people. I barely saw the people I came with! But there he was. It was amazing.

After that we headed back to the hotel, and then out for Thai food. (I had to call Kelly and ask her what to order) I was treated by someone else to dinner pretty much every time we went anywhere. They were very pushy. After dinner we went back to the hotel again. Brad and Jill went to the hot tub, so I hung out in my room and dozed to some TV. Then Jill came and jokingly yelled at me for being anti-social. We went to Kari and Taylor's room where everyone else was and watched "Cash Cab". I taught Taylor how to play "Mrs. Mumble" and h almost died. He laughs every time I look at him so it was easy to win! We got everyone to play for a little while, and that was just too funny!

To bed again and then off to Willow Creek for the last time. Worship was amazing and made me bawl my eyes out. Two of the worship leaders told their testimony, and it was about the suffering of one of their daughters. They talked about all the hospitals and health problems, and how it tears you up...I couldn't relate more. They went on to talk about how thei faith was tested and how angry they were...and how much strength it took to continue to praise God through it all. The woman, helena sang "Praise you in this storm" which I had never heard just a girl and a piano sing. She slowed it down and it ripped your heart out, I swear. The guy sang a song he had written called "An Honest Conversation" and that made my cry even harder. Being honest with God, and finally coming around to talk to him again. Geez. They sang a couple praise songs about leaning on God, relying on him, running to him when you can't find anyone else. How your help comes from the Lord... it was tough, and I had no tissues, and I was snot filled. They had everyone who was in the midst of a storm stand to their feet so they could be surrounded and prayed for. I couldn't stand up, but Kari laid her hand on me anyway.

The first session was really good. The speaker reminded Kari and I of Kevin James. After him it was snack time, and then time for the final speaker. The final speaker was from a church in California called Mosaic, and he and his team performed something they called "Scribble" and how you gotta draw outside the lines. It was awesome! Dancing, dramatic monologues, comedy, and the sermon and personal stories were excellent.

After all was said and done we got back into boy and girl cars and hit the road. We stopped at Subway again for lunch (Connected to a restaurant we all made fun of called 'Beef-A-Roo") THen we hit the road again! More stories and bonding in the girl car. By the time we made it back to church we were best friends.

Through the whole trip my toe was an ever present issue that wouldn't really go away. Jill performed surgery on it a couple times, draining it etc. Now it's really bad, and looks horrible, and it's spreading. So... I have to go to urgent care. Yay! No, not so much. It's father's day and I can't walk. But...they weren't open so i was passing time by blogging. But now I have to go. Chicago was a blessing in so many ways, and I am so glad I went! My toe will thank me later.

Stupid toe. It's just a toe but its caused a lot of damage. I walk weird which hurts my ankle, which throws my knee off, which pushes my hip out... and it's just really ugly and painful! And the cause of my first fight with Andi. Oh, well. I do what I can...and everyone knows I'm good at taking care of everyone else but me. He was telling me I have screwed up priorities and back bad choices... after I went out and bought him a bunch of stuff to take care of his sunburn he got by making the stellar decision to stay out on a boat all day in the sun without sun screen. Hypocrite.

Okay! I'm done now. Goodbye!