For those just now dropping by, Parts I-IV are below, about the Dallas getTOGether.

Sunday morning we went to Gilda's house for the brunch, worship and "games." BTW, please pray for Gilda and her family.  Later that evening she had emergency surgery and is now recuperating.  She was so sweet to host over 30 women in her lovely home.  Thanks, Gilda!  I am praying for you!

We began with an ice breaker.  I forget the name of the game.  But Melanie asked us questions.  For each that we could answer, we got candy dots!  LOL  At first, I wasn't getting any!  Eventually, my turn came.  I collected about 8 dots.  I'm not remembering very many of the questions.  The first batch of questions were general.  For example, who was born in a foreign country.  Eventually we got to TOG specific questions.  I was able to answer a couple of those.  A few of those questions were:  Who has a child in every level of TOG?  Not me. 

Who is doing their first year of TOG?  Not me.  Who has had a unit celebration for every unit taught this year?  YEA! That's me! Who dots?  Not me. 

 Who page protects?  Not me. Who writes directly on their year plan pages in ink?  YEA!  That's me! 

gasp.  Yes, the ladies gasped!  LOL  I think they are ready to sign me up for "Ink Writers in TOG pages Anonymous!"  LOL  After all the questions were asked, the dots were counted.  Dody tied for the lead with someone else.  Was it Tami?  I forget.  Dody was ecstatic!  She loves games.  They won CD's of ukelele music from Melanie! 

Then we had a delicious brunch!  Melanie, who lives in Hawaii brought fresh pineapple!  Delicious!  She brought flavored Hawaiin coffees.  Now I do not like coffee.  But from looking at the labels, I think if the coffee part was taken out, it would be delectable!  LOL  And she brought Hawaiin tea!  That was completely different from any other tea I've ever had.  I don't even remember the flavor, but it was oh so good!

Then we had praise and worship.  Dody played the piano. Becca led the singing, while Kat, Corrine and Dody harmonized.  We joined them in a beautiful time of praise to Our Lord.

Then Kat shared a devotional with us.  It was about Jesus feeding the multitudes and the baskets of food that were full of plenty afterwards.  She related that to how God provides for us when we think we have nothing left to give as mothers and wives.  Then Dody and Corrine wrapped up the worship, pointing everything to God!

After the devotion, it was time for games!  Dody was excited; she loves games! Melanie asked Dody to sit in an office chair in the middle of the room.  Dody was suddenly suspicious.  She refused to sit there.  Was she afraid we were going to play, "Let's spin Dody?"  We would never dream of such a thing.  Finally, Melanie talked her into sitting there.  

Then Guinever sat near Dody to tell her a story.  Dody was Guinever's Secret Sister last Christmas.  She had sent Guinever some moose socks.  Guinever had posted them on her blog and asked us all at the TLT list to come over and guess who her SS was.  Well, all knew it had to be Dody.  As Guinever put on the moose  socks that Dody had given her,

she explained to Dody the reason why she didn't get socks from her.  Guinever had already sent Dody some socks in return a while back.  This time, she had a special gift for Dody.  It was a hankie. Guinever told Dody a story about a special hankie that had been given to her. 

She had purchased a special hankie for Dody, not because she'd need it for tears of sorrow, but of joy.  "Because Dody, we're about to Bless Your Socks Off!"  Woo Hoo we cheered!!!!! 

Then Kat came to give Dody a card that some ladies had e-mailed messages for and others had signed in person at the hotel.  Whoops, I didn't get around to signing that! My brain cells had been so busy juggling stitches and hiding gifts, that I hadn't been thinking very clearly in a few months!  LOL 

Then Kat told her that there was a special gift that would guide her in her new career.

Kat is a close friend of Dody's, who chats with her by phone daily.  Kat had called Dody's husband, to get ideas on what to specifically get for Dody to help her in her new real estate business.

She couldn't believe she got a GPS!  The ladies in our group had generously donated enough money to get a top of the line model for her, with money left over for a gift card.   

Dody told us that she had wanted to get one for herself, since she lives and works in a rather remote area.  However, her husband told her she couldn't get one.  Now she knows it's  because he was in cahoots with us!

Then Pam read one of the pages from the scrapbook.  This was a copy of the invitation we had sent the ladies to join our Operation Bless Dody's Socks Off group.  

Then Marsha presented her with the Scrapbook full of the personal pages and history of TLT.

While looking through this, Dody was getting bits and pieces of how we had kept secrets from her. She was flabbergasted.

Meanwhile, I ran into the kitchen to grab a couple of cups of orange juice. My blood sugar had hit bottom (great timing) and I guzzled those cups down and ran back out.  Everyone was whispering, "They're looking for you."  While I had been getting the juice, Marsha had gotten scrapbook #2 of the quilt blocks and 8x10's of the quilt.  Corrine and I each grabbed a corner of the quilt, and walked over to Dody.  Corrine had told me to explain the significance of the quilt to Dody and how all the fabrics were received.  For anyone just coming in and if you are interested, check my entry right below this, where I explain all of that.  =)  

Dody grabbed her hankie! 

We showed her the Cookie Corner on the back...

Posing with the quilt...

Revealing all the times she nearly caught us...

Dody never suspected a thing!  Dody's socks are blessed right off of her!  Mission accomplished!

 Afterwards, she got on Gilda's laptop to get onto the Bless Dody's Socks Off group and post her thank you message.

She was so funny!  She typed in that she had a difficult time processing all of her thoughts and writing, because she had 50 women looking over her shoulder!  LOL

I know the ladies who couldn't come to Dallas were ecstatic to hear from Dody via this group at long last.  In fact, while we were in Dallas, they were posting things like, "I'm on pins and needles just waiting."  

Dody, we had a blast blessing you!  We love you lots!