Things we learned in September

Sister dates can still happen even when they are 2 hours apart: Holly took a vacation day to hang out in the Tri-State area with Kelly towards the end of the month. We spent the weekend watching Jeopardy, treating ourselves to coffee and donuts in the park, shopping until we (nearly) dropped, Cold Stone and pizza...oh, and a small little concert with Jonny Diaz and Chris August! :)

Shew- not too shabby for Kelly having a 15+ hour day and Holly working 8 hours + 2.5 hours of driving!

Even though we're April babies...HELLOOOOOOOOOOOO fall!!!!! 

Holly learned, in relation to giving blood that if you eat a Papa Burger approximately 40 minutes before hand and drink 96 (yes, 96) ounces of water from morning until your donation time, you will be good to go! 

Cooking for one is an adventure in and of itself: Yes to leftovers! How did we ever manage without them?

It's a shorty! What did you learn? (Better late than never, eh?) 

For God, in God's place with God's people: A night of worship with Rend Collective and Chris Tomlin

Kelly: Sunday night Holly and I trekked an hour and a half to Newport to partake in a concert night that will be hard to top. I had been awake since 6 that morning and didn't go to bed until almost midnight; I was at work all day prior to the concert, and the latter part of the day was not one of the greatest. I was on edge, with the weight of not only patient safety but staff safety as well as a patient became belligerent, hostile and very threatening. I was very concerned for the safety of the entire unit, and it was very emotionally draining; constantly being on pins and needles and tip toeing around controversial questions, such as what to do and how do we keep everyone safe. I spent half of my required off the clock break in the supervisor's office tackling a game plan. In the end all was well, but some of us were a little more relieved to clock out at the end of that day. And each time I kept trying to leave, I kept getting interrupted, which only added to my frustration, since I was trying to leave at a timely manner to go to the concert. On the way home, I just prayed that even though my thoughts and attitudes had not reflected one of a follower of Jesus, I just prayed that God would tune my heart and mind into one that was wide open and ready for a night of worship.

If someone ever tells you that God answers prayer, believe them. He really does.

For the entire 2 hour concert, most of it didn't even feel like a concert. It felt like being in church. One of the things Chris Tomlin said really just resonated with me for the rest of the night: how great was it to sing about God, in God's house in the presence of God's people? There was so much love, passion and energy in that stadium last night. There's nothing like truly getting lost in the presence of God; where minutes pass by and you don't even realize it because you are just so encapsulated by Him. I had several of those moments there, and I have to be honest, that's something that hasn't happened in a long time. Suddenly, the fears and troubles of the day were just lifted away, and I didn't think about them for the rest of the night. I really listened to the words of those songs that I have known for years, and I felt them, believed them, and felt them. I don't know what's going on in your all's life; I know some things. But I would encourage each and every one of you to take a moment for yourself to just be in God's presence. If that means locking every door and getting into some Scripture, or rolling down every window in your car and singing P&W music at the top of your lungs, or if it just means sitting quietly with nothing around you for a few minutes every morning. It's something I'm going to try and be a bit more intentional about. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens.

Holly: Never mind the fact that we had a three hour round trip and that I had to be at work at 8am on a Monday morning, there was ABSOLUTELY no stopping us in going to this concert. We sort of went on a whim, but if you're a fan of Chris Tomlin and his music, you know that it's going to be an awesome, God-honoring show.  And it was.  It really was.

I have to echo Kelly's comment: it was church, church with 10,000 of my brothers and sisters in Christ, and it was awesome, you guys.  Just awesome. The last time we saw Chris Tomlin was ICHTHUS back in 2006, if my memory serves me correctly, so it'd been a while. Man, he knows how to rock out for God's glory- high energy, passionate, so full of the Spirit that it was contagious! He played all of my favorites, and it was so powerful to hear every single person in the audience sing along too.  Rend Collective was a perfect opening band! They are such a blast! I'm also obsessed with one of the songs they performed, and I think it's threatening to drive Kelly crazy :)

One of the reasons I love Christian concerts is not only the fact that they don't feel like concerts, but you leave feeling so much more encouraged and rejuvenated than before you came. I don't want to say I've been in a  "rut" lately spiritually, but I do feel my quiet time is not necessarily quiet because it's sometimes hard for me to shut my mind off.  I really needed that concert, because I was able to just let go and freely worship, my mind attuned entirely to Him! It reminded me that I can get there, and that I will get there.  I'm working on it, and in the meantime I'm thankful that God doesn't just leave us to our best guesses. I'm thankful that God speaks to us in many ways...for me, especially through music!

Stories: A night of tobyMac (and others!)

Holly and Kelly: Keeping up with the spirit of concerts, our second concert in one week (Yes, you read that correctly.  We are blessed!) was on this past Friday night.  We bundled up, as it was quite, quite cold and after a pit stop at Five Guys for some food, we made our way over to a church in Lexington to see tobyMac and company.  It.  Was.  Packed!  We ended up having to park over at Mejier, which in relation to the church is a few blocks away.  But all of that is completely irrelevant.  The show was awesome!

The icing on this cake was that we got to share this experience with some folks from our church, which sweetened the deal, so to speak.  I (Holly) see a lot of folks who attend my church as family, so it was just one big happy familial gathering to us, and I know without a doubt Kelly and many others feel the same way.  Anyway, you don't want to hear me ramble on and on anymore.  The show opened with Ryan Stevenson, a fairly new artist in the CCM industry.  We are familiar with a couple of his songs via the radio, but it was really special to see just him, his guitar, and his voice.  His testimony is pretty incredible as well: One of his songs "Holding Nothing Back" was penned at a really difficult time in his life, including his mom passing away and he and his wife losing their twins.  It's amazing what God can do though.  It is.  He played four or five songs and he got a standing ovation when he was finished.  It made him cry!!!  What a powerful moment.  It's like something for KING & COUNTRY says "When you merge the power of music with the ultimate power of the Gospel, it not only has the power to change your day, but to transform your life as well."  A pristine example of that is what we saw at the opening.

After that was Matt Maher, whom we haven't seen since ICHTHUS of 2008, before he was really popular.  I loved his show then and I loved him this evening as well.  He played a new song "Because He Lives" and I think it's his best song yet.  Such simple words, but such a strong reminder of who God is and who we are in Him.  One of our favorite songs by him is "Lord I Need You", which is about a kajillion times better live.  Take my word for it!  We've been fans of his for a while so seeing him was an added treat to the already great evening we were having!

Finally, tobyMac came on!!! He has been around the block for quite a while now; he started out in a group called dcTalk back in the late 80's/early 90's with the current lead singer of the Newsboys (Michael Tait) and the former lead of Audio Adrenaline (Kevin Max).  Went solo not long after that and the rest is pretty much history.  We first saw him at ICHTHUS of 2006; we broke our curfew to wait in line and talk to him.  He's a super cool guy, y'all.  We saw him again at Winter Jam of 2010 (I think....), and it was a great high-energy show.  The show this past Friday was no exception whatsoever!  And it was loud.  Oh man, was it loud!  But it was such a great time.  I had completely forgotten just how big his heart is for God.  It was beyond inspiring!  He had a good mix of some of his older stuff, and some of his stuff that I know really well, as well as some new stuff, which I can't WAIT for his new album!  What was especially cool about the show is that he brought the previous "acts" back on from time to time to do some stuff with him.  One of my favorite songs by tobyMac, "Speak Life" was written by Ryan Stevenson!!! I didn't know that! Something that he said, though, and it's still with me: Someone walks up to you on the street and asks who are you.  There are a million different answers to that: a sister, a Christian, a friend, a twin, a doctor, a mom, and the list goes on and on.  The only "label" that matters, though, is that we, YOU, are a disciple that Jesus loves.  In the Bible, John referred to himself as "the disciple that Jesus loved".  Guess what? We are the same!  How cool is that? :)

My favorite picture! 

Definitely a memorable evening, beyond all reaches of the imagination.  An added bonus: We got to hang out with Ryan Stevenson after the show for a few minutes.  He is unbelievably sweet!  I posted a couple songs below.  I hope that you are encouraged, both by the stories on this page and the stories in your own life.

Ryan Stevenson- Not Forgotten

tobyMac- Speak Life

Matt Maher- Because He Lives

Here we are with Ryan Stevenson afterwards! :) Thank you to the nice lady in line behind us for taking the picture