Saturday, May 22, 2010

You can't beat a night of INCREDIBLE harmonies!!!















What a night!!!!

The Martins, The Isaacs, The Booth Brothers .... The GAITHER VOCAL BAND!!! Wow!!!!!!!!! The talent in this building last night was crazy!!!! The night was full of fun glimpses of grace too ... not just INCREDIBLE harmonies ... but lots of little things that made me smile all night long.

First - I met Charlie and Rosie from Greenwood while we waited in line to get in the door. Such a sweet couple! Rosie went on and on about how I looked like and reminded her of her oldest granddaughter, Karen. My hair isn't as red as hers ... I found out. :) I hung out with them for a few minutes while we browsed the booths before the concert ... and then they headed to their FLOOR seats ... yes, I told them I was jealous - I was in the nosebleed section! ;) We waved to each other and agreed that we'd see each other again - in eternity. :) Praise God for meetings such as this ...

Second - There was a jazzy-kind-of-band outside the arena, playing while people browsed booths and got their tickets checked in. They were pretty cool! I leaned against a brick pillow and listened for a bit. A piano, a trumpet, a clarinet, a trombone, a bass player, and a drummer. Such great music!

Third - They gave us key chain flashlights that said "Gaither Homecoming 2010" on 'em when we checked in. A woman walked up the stairs and laughed loudly as someone tried to hand her a key chain ... she said, "I think I've still got mine from last year" and laughed really loud. She had a huge smile on her face ... and for whatever reason, it made me smile really big too. Smiles are contagious, aren't they?? :) She was just a hoot!

Fourth - I met a woman named Bonnie once I got seated. She sat two seats down from me, and we got to talking. It's amazing what you learn about a person in just a 10-minute conversation. Bonnie is quite the spunky lady. She is 65 years old .... got hooked on Souther Gospel in the early 80s ... has been to about 6 Gaither Vocal Band concerts .... has been divorced twice .... is a Seventh Day Adventist .... and she was at the concert alone just like me. Not everything we talked about was happy conversation, but it was a blessing to talk with her just the same.

Fifth - I saw Paul and Lisa Barry while I was there. They are a couple who used to go to Calvary. It was such a surprise to see someone I knew at the concert! We stopped and chatted for a minute ... what fun!

Sixth and Lastly - Like I said in the beginning, the harmonies were flippin' incredible!!!! You can't beat 5-part male harmony ... you just can't! And you can't beat David Phelps and Wes Hampton!!!!! They are the two most incredible singers I've ever heard!!!! I wanted to box them up, bring them home with me, and have them sit in my room and sing to me all day long ... everyday!!!! Absolutely amazing singers!!!!! And the tight, gorgeous harmonies brought tears to my eyes at least half a dozen times!!!!!

So the entire night was awesome!!! :) I'll have to put a second Gaither Vocal Band concert on my Bucket List!!!! ;)

Thursday, May 20, 2010

The Killer Raccoon

It was the third week of March ... 2009.
I went to Turkey Run for a two-night, three-day camping trip ... By. Myself. Whoa! Are you kidding me? That is stinkin' brave! I remember feeling so COOL when I planned the trip ... and even COOLER as I packed up my car and headed to my destination ... and the COOLEST when I actually stayed for the two nights and three days. Wow! What a crazy woman!

First of all, it was March. Umm ... 30 degrees. Outside. In a tent. Umm ... yeah. I'm crazy.
Second of all, it's outside ... at night. Eight words: Snarling raccoon in the woods near the outhouse. Yeah. No joke! I had to get up and pee in the middle of the night 'cause that's what you always have to do when it's flippin' cold and flippin' dark and you're flippin' sleeping all alone in a tent in a nearly-deserted campground. Ha! Yeah ... I'm not only crazy, I'm stupid. Tell me about it later, okay? ;) So ... I nearly cried thinking about walking across an empty campground AT NIGHT ... when anything could jump out and get me! But ... I pressed on ... I really had to pee, ya know? I crawled out from under the covers ... grabbed my flashlight, which was dying. Yep! On top of a dark, cold, long walk to the outhouse, my flashlight was barely working. Haha! So I braved it up. I grabbed my cursed flashlight, slipped on a pair of shoes, and started the long, scary, dark, noise around every corner trek to the outhouse. My heart was pounding a bit, but I was doing okay. After all, there was a lone light above the outhouse across the way ... no animals or people in sight, so nothing was out to get me, right? Umm ... yeah. So I'm 20 feet from the outhouse when I hear this loud snarl in the woods!!!! I don't think I had to go to the bathroom anymore ... but I just wanted to duck and cover! I froze in my place. Scared out of my mind that a killer raccoon was about to jump out of the woods and eat me alive! Because ... yes ... raccoons can do that. I waited a second ... I shot up a quick prayer ... and I bolted for the outhouse door!

Yeah ... it's a miracle I made it out of that camping trip alive! No joke, right? Wow. I am a crazy woman!

All in all, the trip was really good for me. I had some time to reflect on some things that had been distracting me. I journaled a lot ... and prayed. I got my "I need my space" fix ... that's for sure! Before the first day was over, I wanted to be around people again! I got lots of hiking in, and I love to hike! I even went up against a killer raccoon!!! What more could a girl seeking solitude ask for? :)


Mical's Bucket List ... the Adventure Begins :)

So ... I'm starting a new blog! Wahoo! Over the past year, I've thought a lot about my life, who I am, my dreams and aspirations, and on and on. I watched the movie, "The Bucket List," with a couple of "big" actors - ha! They can't be THAT big (at least not to me) 'cause I can't even remember who was in the silly movie. ... It's been several months since I watched the show. I remember it wasn't all that impressive in and of itself ... but the idea behind it was pretty daggone sweet! :)

A bucket list - a list of "things" a person wants to do before he/she dies.

The movie got me thinking about what I want to do before I kick the bucket. I've worked on this list on and off over the past several months. And here's the latest version ....

MICAL'S BUCKET LIST (not necessarily in this order)

#1 Hike through New Zealand!!!

#2 - Run a mini marathon.

#3 - Read through the Bible AT LEAST 3 times ... once in my NIV, once in an ESV, and once in my wide-margin NASB.

#4 - Learn to play bar chords on my guitar.

#5 - Take swing dancing lessons.

#6 - Marry an oober godly guy!

#7 - Have at least 4 kids and homeschool them.

#8 - Take a 3-day solitude trip!

#9 - Visit my sponsored child in Bolivia.

#10 - Read all of Mere Christianity.

#11 - Take a BBF trip to the Bosom Buddies Cottages in Canada with Emily!!!

#12 - Be a waitress.

#13 - Visit all 50 states!

#14 - Go to a Gaither Vocal Band concert.

So ... this blog is for this list. I will set out to achieve these items on my list ... before I die. And since I plan to live to be about 101, I've got a lot of years to get these done! :D Come with me on an adventure called life! It's gonna be good!