SCC Rocks!

The Steven Curtis Chapman concert last night was FANTASTIC! My friend J. and I arrived around 2PM - we were not the only people 'camping out' there. We were about 20 people back in one of two lines. It was a pleasant afternoon - we played some backgammon (which we both played in our younger years but had to relearn and refresh ourselves). I won once. She won once. It was too windy for cards. We just chatted with each other and the people around us. The weather cooperated with moderate temps and a nice, cooling breeze. They opened the doors at 6:30 and the show started just after 7. It was just SO GREAT! There was laughter, tears, joy, sorrow, great music and wonderful faith-filled fellowship. A success all around. It was great. I was so wound up when I got home that I couldn't fall asleep until well after 2AM. It was THAT good.

Thanks to J. going out and getting us Baja Fresh for dinner around 5, we moved our cars to FANTASTIC parking spaces. Backed in and were able to easily exit the parking lot - I was home by just before 10.

AND, I increased my 'tank average' in my car from 27.2 gallons average MPG to 27.6!! Probably because my route home was 'backroads' and I drove very carefully - increasing my MPG is a 'theme' lately - my husband's is hovering around 37MPG since he bought his hybrid - so you can see I have a ways to go.

Yesterday was my husband's 59th birthday. It was wonderful of him to let me spend HIS birthday elsewhere. Tonight, we are feasting on massive amount of Chinese food at his favorite Chinese place here in town. I will be leaving shortly for a bit of shopping - since I never actually got to that during the week. AND because he won't usually say anything he 'wants' and we have a strict rule that we don't just buy 'stuff' just to buy. We have to WANT something.

I bought a bunch of souvenirs last night - a couple t-shirts, a necklace that I'm wearing as a bracelet, etc. I don't know WHY I buy this stuff - and my friend J. said 'now I'll have to read about your clutter on your blog'. No, you won't - 'cuz you don't HAVE to read if you don't want to. :-) But, I decided to use the necklace as my new 'hanging from my rear view mirror' decoration for the car...and the wristband will also be covering the strange 'cord like' thing that goes from the glass to the mirror. SO, that may be a good purchase after all - though it's still ridiculous to buy a little sweatband for my wrist with SCC's likeness. THAT was a stupid purchase - but I'll make the best of it! And the CD is GREAT!

J., my friend - thank you for going with me. For spending an afternoon chatting and sharing. It was great fun - and the concert, though amazingly fantastic - was really second to the great time with you. Our friendship means the world to me and you have always been such a blessing in my life. Thank you for being such a wonderful friend. I'm so lucky to have you in my life.

SCC, you are so amazing. I just can't thank you enough for sharing so much of your life with us last night. You warmed our hearts and reminded us of the promise we all have in Jesus. You are witnessing that promise for all of us everyday, in every concert, every song. I was deeply touched by your honesty and most importantly, your faith. I would have never imagined someone who lost their young daughter only 4 months ago could do what you did last night - but you DID. And those of us blessed to be there will never forget that experience.