I wanted to let you know all know about fellow author Lyn Cote’s Strong Women, Brave Stories blog. All through the month of May she’s featuring stories from other authors about strong women.

Today, I’m sharing there about my sister–one of the strongest women I’ve ever known. She’s pretty amazing, and she impresses me beyond belief. So swing by Lyn’s blog, read about my awesome sister, and then enter Lyn’s Mega May contest. She’s giving away TONS of great prizes and awesome books, including a little one called The Kidnapping of Kenzie Thorn. Visit and leave a comment on the blog to be entered to win the Mega May givaway. Don’t miss out! 🙂 And show my sister some love. 🙂

Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip …

Well, it’s actually a tale of a fateful ship … the Meribel. Here is her story, in pictures and words.

Meribel was a good ship. A friendly ship. She liked the open water and her place of rest among the other boats in my backyard next to her friend, Little Blue Boat.

But then, one day the waters started to rise. And rise. And rise. And Meribel’s friend didn’t float. Meribel was sad.

When Little Blue Boat disappeared, Meribel thought she’d be all alone, floating on the water. But then Floating Storage Shed arrived.

But then Floating Storage Shed became a bully, pushing Meribel back into a corner.

Will Meribel get out of the corner? Will she fight back against Floating Storage Shed? Check back soon for an update.

(In all seriousness, these are pictures I took over 3 days in my new backyard during the flooding in Nashville. As of right now the water is still rising in rivers and creeks all over the city, including the one feeding the basin behind my home. Please pray for the people who have lost everything in the floods of Middle Tennessee.)

I have absolutely no commentary on the Motorola Backflip, but man, do I love these commercials! I hope you enjoy them, too.

Just in case you were wondering, I, too, am totally psyched for flip flop weather. Twitter confirms.

I’m sitting on a king size bed, watching Craig Ferguson, and eating peanut m&m’s. What’s not to love about this night?

Quite a bit, it turns out.

So you want to hear my story? Well, it started a couple hours ago–when my flight landed at Denver International Airport. Not my airport of choice, but it was a last-minute deal, and it was much cheaper to fly out of Denver. So I did. So when I returned, we landed. Barely. Apparently the snow had started–for those of you not in the Rocky Mountains, that would be the Official Spring Snow Guaranteed to Ruin Your Week.

As I stood around waiting with every other person at DIA for our bags to be unloaded, I noticed that things were getting shifty outside. Visibility seemed okay, but the snow was coming down fast. And I–being apparently new to Colorado–didn’t have a jacket with me because it was 50 degrees when I left. Of course it was.

I got to my car in long-term parking via a bus packed like a sardine can. And when it dropped me off at row DD, I had to fight the snow drifts to row AA. Not far, you’d think, except, the only tennis shoes I brought were my purple Chuck Taylors. Love ’em. But they’re not made for snow. Especially the 6 inches I had to brush off my car.

Thankfully it actually started. (Not so, the last time I came back to a parked car the airport.) So, I decided I would start driving and see what happened. Turned out I couldn’t see much of anything. Visibility on the road was okay, but I’m so unfamiliar with Denver that I couldn’t see or find a place to pull off the interstate to stop for the night.

The snow kept coming, so I figured, if I just stayed on the interstate, we were all going slow enough that maybe I could make it to at least Castle Rock, about halfway between Denver and the Springs. Bad call.

I ended up in traffic that moved far too much like an inch worm. And then, I decided I was just going to pull off the interstate at Lincoln Ave. Except, as I swerved to get off on the exit, I saw a sign–mostly concealed by snow–that I25 was closed from Lincoln to Greenwood. I don’t know where Greenwood is, and I wasn’t going to find out tonight.

I noticed a Marriott Hotel at the exit, so I drove over there, pulling into what I thought was an empty, if very snowy, parking spot. I hurried inside and of course they were completely sold out, and all of the hotels they recommended were out of rooms. They recommended heading back up the interstate and seeing if there was anything north.

I hurried out to my car, and for some reason just felt like I needed to pray that my car would make it out of the snow drift I’d parked in. Apparently God’s answer was “not right away.” It turns out, in my haste, I parked on a median in the parking lot, and I couldn’t get my car out of it! I literally had to flag down the guy driving the snow plow to help push me out. It was wild! It took several minutes of he and his wife pushing and me flooring it. We rocked the car a couple times, and finally it broke free. I burned some major rubber and did some disrupting of the landscaping under all that snow. Mr. Snow Plow was so, so, so kind! Where ever he and his wife are, I pray they are rewarded for their kindness.

A little fishtailing along the overpass, and I made it back onto the interstate going north. It was me and two truckers tooling down the road. It was idiotic, but I just needed a place to stop and stay warm over night. I stopped at another hotel, only to find out that it was out of rooms too. I pulled into the hotel next door. It was full too. But they were at least able to direct me to the Quality Inn just down the street, which still had open rooms. As I pulled up to the Quality Inn, I just prayed there was still an empty.

Praise the Lord, there was one. And they were so kind. They gave me a room, have a free breakfast, and have very reasonable rates.

Now my shoes are sitting in front of the heater–I hope drying by morning– and my jeans, which are soaked almost to the knee are drying in the shower. I’ve had several glasses of water and some peanut m&m’s and am feeling much better. I’m warm and dry and safe. And just so thankful.

I think work will be closed tomorrow. But I’m not sure I’ll make it home until Thursday. The snow is building up, and it just piles up, pushing my little car around the road. I can’t wait until the roads are clear enough to navigate my way home. I miss my own bed. But until then, I’m very thankful just to have a place to rest my head out of the snow and wind.

Thanks to my dad and Amy for taking my worried phone calls at various points along my trip. I appreciate every one’s prayers along the way.

I’m not sure what God was trying to teach me through all this, but I’ve got the gratitude thing in overdrive right now.