"Overjoyed"

Day 106:

That was the best concert EVER! Possibly the best night of my life! It was "Crazy Times". We were total geeks and got there around 5pm. The doors didn't open until 6pm. We talked to one of the security guards who let us know that there would be two "gates" open. There was already a line of about fifteen people to the one side. We were first on the other side! SWEET. There was a woman there who was the House Manager. She gave us the scoop on the goods, and where the doors into the auditorium were. (we were out in the vestibule, then there was a hallway before you got to the auditorium) She was very nice. They opened the gates and we went and got front row seats, off to stage right (?) on the aisle. That was "Something Beautiful". The House manager came by to see if we did indeed get our front row seats!

The opening act was supposed to be "Burlap to Cashmere", but sadly they had cancelled. So it was "Disappointed by Candy" (?). We were not disappointed. The next band was "NeedtoBreathe". I like their title track song, I was "Like A Child". (See my unleashed post)



Then came the boys. Jars of Clay. There was this "Fade to Grey" and then the music began. Heather can probably remember all the songs they played. I was just in awe. They did play "Even Angels Cry" which is one of my faves of the "Good Monsters" album. They played "Flood" and "Love Song for a Savior". It was so much fun. "All My Tears" was great too!

I could go on and on. But seriously, they were awesome. They kept looking at Heather and me. But that's just because they probably recognize her. She did run into them at the Youth Specialties conference in Anaheim. They should recognize her!!!

I digress. Thank you, Matt, Dan, Steve and Charlie, for the best night of my life!

Look for us again. We're the lifers (seriously, two thirds of the people there were not born when they put out their first album. That could be depressing.)

I "heart" Jars of Clay"

What to write about...

Yes, hm, what to write about... Oh I don't know. Maybe Jars of Clay? Sure why not? I'm going to see them tonight in concert. I could probably write a little bit about them.

I was trying to figure out last night, why in the last thirteen or so years, have I NEVER seen them in concert? In high school, they were always performing downtown Indy, and I never thought I had the chance to go see them. Who was going to go with me to see them? Only my camp friends knew of JOC. And the P.K.'s but they were younger then me. I'm pretty sure I wasn't allowed to drive to Indy to see them. So what about college? I have never paid much attention to concerts, and things of that nature. So I only knew that JOC was in town, the day of their concert. So this is why, thirteen or so years after I first began listening to JOC that I am finally going to see them in concert. I'm going with Heather. This is her twelfth time. She is a true, dedicated fan. And a (lifetime) member of their fan club. You go girl!

We've been listening to JOC everyday, all day since Monday. My fav. songs are (not in any particular order):

*
*
*

This is not to say that I don't like all of their songs. I will listen to every single album that I have (which is all of them except for "If I Left The Zoo") over and over, without skipping a single song. These are the songs that I will hit the repeat button, and listen to more then once. 21 out of the 74 that I have. Wait, who am I kidding. I'll listen to all of them, there are no favorites!

At least some things are true in life

"Death and taxes may be the only certain things in life, but at least death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets." Quoted by Joe Moore on KHON-TV, Honolulu

Butterflies

Bill and I went to Meijer Gardens last Thursday. It's butterfly time! We saw a lot of butterflies. However, they don't pose for pictures, so many of our photos are blurred. But it was fun. They are there until the end of April, if anyone wants to come and visit! (I have a membership, and it's free for one guest)

I got a really great picture of two butterflies, but they were mating... I still may post it! Risque!

We got there at four o'clock, and the gardens closed at five o'clock, so we didn't get to walk around a whole lot. We mostly hung out with the butterflies!

Unleashed

I was UnLeashed today. What a great experience! How can I explain how it feels to be unleashed? I am not ashamed of praising Jesus. I dance like no one is watching (and some may say, don't watch!) I have passion, power and purpose. But not purpose like "The Purpose Driven Life". No, my purpose is to make a difference how God wants me to make a difference.

I'm not trying to be "preachy", I just have the Spirit within me. And today I learned not to hold it in, but to unleash it. I have layers like Shrek, ogres, and onions have layers. Today, I peeled them off. I left them behind in a heap. I will put my light before me!

I also learned that my spiritual type is a lover (the other types are: mystic, sage and prophet). I "believe that real faith must be shared." Since I started this blog, and since I've been in High School; I was afraid to share my faith with others, if their faith was not as strong as mine. But one of the "guests" today shared something that really hit home with me. She shared how she watched "Pinocchio" as a young girl and realized that Jiminy Cricket is God. Now, while that may seem far fetched to you, I have always thought that myself. And in this woman's story, her grandmother told her that was blasphemy. You may also think that. I, however, agree with the story-teller. Whether you believe that God is a cricket, voice of reason, or some greater power above you, it doesn't matter how you picture God, but that you believe and know that God is greater then you. I really liked that analogy. Especially because I've always felt like God is my conscience.

So that led to having passion, acting out our passion before we feel it. Using our power to light our passion in front of us, and sharing our light as God's purpose. (I use purpose loosely, because, again like it was pointed out today; our purpose is not a specific something, but rather like a book. This is one purpose right now in my life. Tomorrow may lead to a whole new purpose. There is not just ONE purpose for me.)

This was not a workshop for youth leaders. This was specifically for 20-40 year olds. It was pretty amazing to see all those people there, my age, who may or may not have been youth leaders. We are all important, just like we tell our youth. Thank God for my brothers and sisters in Christ no matter what their age!

I hope you can tell how good I feel?! I wanted to share those things with you. Be free. Be yourself. Be Unleashed.

A not-so Irish Anniversary

I still can't believe my parents have been married forty years! Several people mentioned how they don't look old, which I don't think of them as old, but they're my parents. I don't think of Bill's parents as old either. Their generation has taken better care of themselves, and I think as a whole, they look younger.



It was a pretty fun party. Lots of green! (I think we're only a part Irish on my Mom's side of the family, we're mostly German) But on St. Patrick's Day, everyone is Irish!

Stamps

I wasn't sure what to write about. I need to pull the pictures off of the camera from this weekend, so I can share some of them, but I haven't gotten there yet. So I was just going to write something random, and then I heard that the price of stamps is going up in May. Of course, I just bought a roll of 100 stamps. Now I will have to go buy some odd number of two cent stamps. I won't share my true feelings of the USPS, however it does not paint a pretty picture and has brought on some pretty heated discussions between Bill and me (we're on the same side, so it's more like preaching to the choir...) Hey Greg, if you read this, have you ever felt like you've been preaching to the choir? Or any thoughts on that saying? Okay, so it's still a random post. Have a nice day!

Red

I wanted to post this sculpture from the Meijer Gardens. I was intrigued by all the angles. Every way you look at it, it changes. I'm really excited to go back there, with spring on the way. I never did get over there in the snow.

It looks like a slide, but the sign says, "Do not climb on sculptures". Bummer.


I had to move around a couple of times to find the right spot, with the sun behind the beam, and the angles moving in different directions. But I love that you really can't even tell that it's red.

After a long winter...

Spring is here!? Tuesday, the sun was shining, it was absolutely gorgeous outside. It felt like spring was really here. I stepped outside to check the mailbox, and I happened to glance down. Half of the yard was still covered in snow. But right under our front windows, were these little crocuses (croci, crocusss -Bill and I are wondering what is the plural for crocus?) peaking their little blooms out in the warm sun. I snapped a few photos to add and share with my blog.

Have a happy St. Patrick's Day! We'll be celebrating with Mom and Dad and their 40th anniversary! (it's ruby) Forty years... wow. That's amazing to me. They've been through a lot.

Chicago

I love architecture. This picture caught me by surprise. We were walking back to the van after seeing "Wicked" and we were all talking and I looked up, and there was the Sear's Tower.














Then as we were driving to the CSM building, I noticed the Chicago times building, then as I looked past it, I saw the John Hancock building. But the camera totally picked up all the dirt on the windshield.


So we saw "Wicked" and we took a prayer tour on Sunday. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we worked at a Head Start program at the Carol Robinson school from 9am-noon. Just in time for the little buggers to be ready for a nap! Monday night we worked at a soup kitchen at the Uptown Baptist Church. Very cool, the bananas are donated by the Blue Man group. Tuesday night we were "Immersed" into Chicago. My group fed a homeless man. Very touching, as they decided to do this on their own.

We ate Vietnamese, Thai and of course, Chicago style pizza. All local restaurants, all delicious!

I have to add, our host's name was Emily, she graduated from Noblesville High School (for those of you who don't know, that's seven miles from where I grew up)!

All in all it was a great experience, and the group that we took were amazing. If anyone reading this ever gets a chance to work with CSM, I highly recommend them, as they were well organized and took great care of us.

What would you do?

I know this has little to do with Chicago. However we found this flask, and thought it was hilarious, especially since we were on a mission trip. I hope you get a kick out of it too. It's not meant to offend anyone, although it brings up an interesting question; "What would Jesus do?"


Our answer was to take a picture.


(note: it says, "what wouldn't Jesus do?")

ugh!

I do not like being sick. I have a cold. I'm not stuffy though, so that's nice. I'm very tired. I went to bed last night at 9pm and slept until my alarm went off at 7am. I didn't hear Bill come to bed, I didn't hear Bill get up this morning. I could go back to sleep right now. yuck.

As a result of napping all of yesterday afternoon, I did not get any Chicago pictures ready for my blog. I know, my three adoring fans are waiting with baited breath. Sami is just waiting to add them to her collection! I do promise some pictures of the exciting Chicago trip before the end of the week. I just want to feel better right now.

I want you to know that I'm back!

Hello Blog! I missed you. It was nice to be away from all the daily pressures. I didn't have to think about anything while I was gone. For those of you who didn't know where I was, I went on a mission trip with the college students from our church. It's their spring break (I don't know why it's so early, it's Michigan) and Sami organized this trip for them. We worked with CSM. We also saw "Wicked" which was pretty good. The music was outstanding, and the set was great. I read the book.... it's nothing like the book. But it was still good. So I hope to get some of my pictures up here pretty soon. But I'm [supposed to be] working. Hopefully at some point over the weekend I'll get something up here other then text. Blah, blah, blah

In like a Lion

March is coming in like a lion. Yesterday, we had thunder and lightening. Today, it's snowing. Bill said his drive to work yesterday was everything except locusts.

I haven't had enough coffee this morning, but I wanted to give you one last post before I leave. I am excited about our trip. I'm still debating as to whether or not I want to take our camera to take pictures...