Winter Jam Rejects

Tonight we took some students from our youth group down to Cincinnati for Winter Jam, a huge Christian music tour of ten bands. It only costs $10 to get in at the door, and you can't buy tickets ahead of time. A bunch of other people from our youth group were down there earlier than us hoping to buy tickets for all of us, but apparently you actually don't buy tickets. You just pay when you go into the concert.

We arrived a little bit before the show was supposed to start, and the line to get in was massive. We started to realize pretty quickly that the chance that we would get into the concert was not very good. And we were right.

However, some of the artists decided to be awesome. They set up some sound equipment outside and put on a mini concert for the Winter Jam Rejects, as we were dubbed. Mr. Talkbox from Toby Mac was our host, and we enjoyed music from OBB, Red, Royal Tailor, and Matthew West with special guest Mark Hall from Casting Crowns. The night's speaker, Nick Hall, also spoke for a little while.

Oh and did I mention we were standing about ten feet away from all these guys?

Yeah, it was pretty cool. And these people can SING. Wow. To hear them without all the loud instrumentals and without any editing to their music was pretty incredible. Very talented. Our girls fell in love with the boys from OBB, and they got to meet them and got a picture with them afterwards.

That ended quite a bit before the main concert would have finished, so we headed back to the car and made a stop at Bill's Donuts. We hung out there for awhile and then took the students home.

So our evening didn't go quite as planned. But sometimes you realize that what you were able to experience instead was even better. And we got to spend some good time with three awesome students in a way that we wouldn't have gotten to had we just been in the concert.

So tonight, I'm grateful to be a Winter Jam Reject.

NASCAR and Father's Day

Today, we traveled up to Brooklyn, MI with my dad for the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway. It was our birthday/father's day gift for him! This was the view from our seats in turn 3.

My favorite driver, Jimmie Johnson #48, had a decent day after starting near the back. He finished 5th! There were some good wrecks, and Joey Logano #20, was one of the unfortunate participants.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. broke his long losing streak and won exactly four years after his last win! Everyone was quite excited for him!

We had a great day spending time with my dad and enjoying a great race!

Zoo!

Today I took a day off work. I needed a break! I hadn't taken a day off since our trip home at Thanksgiving, so a personal day was in order! Thanks to a good friend whose husband works at Dallas Zoo, we had some free tickets to use! And the weather was PERFECT!

We'd visited there about two years ago, but much has changed since then. They've added the Giants of Africa exhibit, which was awesome! The elephants were fun to watch.

 

But my favorite was the giraffes! They have a feeding station where you can buy lettuce and hand feed the giraffes. So cool! I'd never pet a giraffe before! Definitely an awesome addition!

We also really enjoyed the aviary that houses a lot of unique birds from Africa. Seeing as we love birds, this was also a favorite! It's so neat to stand among them and not have to view them behind glass. 

Another new addition is the koala walkabout. They are one of ten zoos in the country to exhibit koalas. So cute! We arrived just in time to watch them wake up, wander about their habitats, and eat some eucalyptus leaves! 

Bluebonnets

Today we went to Ennis with some friends to enjoy the bluebonnets. They were so beautiful! Some of the hills looked as if they were covered in a blanket of blue. The weather was perfect, too! I love the beauty and creativity of God's creation. It was a wonderful way to spend the day between Good Friday and Easter.

 We also enjoyed the farm animals, especially the horses! They were skittish at first, but eventually gave in to some affection. 

 We had a great time with our friends. Thank you David and Lindsay for going with us!

Jewelry Board and Magazine Cross

After finally giving in and taking a peek at Pinterest, my creative juices have been flowing like crazy! I was given several new necklaces for Christmas and my birthday, so I decided I needed a better way to organize them than my little jewelry box. I found a $5 cork board at Target. It already had a black frame. I covered it with some scrapbook paper (stapled on so I can change it if I want to!), and I made some felt flowers for the corners. A box of black and white push pins, and I was set! Functional and decorative!

I had seen on picture of a cross made from rolled magazines, and I decided to try one of my own!  It turned out really fun! I love all the colors! It is placed on the wall outside of our door, a good reminder to me to both be crafty and, more importantly, of my Jesus.