I heart Stephen...and other updates

Hey everybody! I have been waiting and waiting to write this blog entry and we've had a mini-crisis to prevent it. Now, a tangent: for those of you who don't know me, the senior superlative I won in high school was most likely to appear on Broadway, and I don't think it wasn just because of my amazing theatrical abilities :)--even my 4 year old once told me I was so dramatic! SO, maybe mini-crisis falls into that dramatic side, but ANYWAY, back to the crisis: the computer corrupted our photo card. Now, I had just downloaded February pictures, so this wouldn't have been THAT big of a deal EXCEPT that I had just helped "Show Hope" at a Stephen Curtis Chapman concert and had actuall MET HIM and the computer seems to have DESTROYED MY ATTEMPT TO MEMORIALIZE THE MOMENT!!!!! Can you believe it?!? I had even worn my special Andrea Kidd Africa shirt just in case I would have the honor of meeting him...but no. The moment is only in my memory now. Ah well. There is a slight chance Karl can de-corrupt the disc, but I've decided to stop holding on to hope and just post this anyway.

Moving on... The concert was amazing. My parents watched the kids, so we grabbed a bite to eat ahead of time at Fiddler's Hearth in downtown South Bend with two other wonderful adoptive families, the Cannons and Walatkas. It was rushed, but even so, it was nice to be together. The Cannons adopted a year ago from Liberia: Abraham (6), Alexa (3), and Addison (1). Carrie is also now 8 months pregnant :) The Walatkas adopted Joseph (4ish) and Ben (3ish) a couple of years ago from Ethiopia and now have five children five and under. They are all wonderful and real at the same time. SO, we all went to volunteer for Shaohanna's Hope, the organization Stephen Curtis Chapman created to help families with a heart for adoption (specifically aiding them with resources and financial grants) and orphans. We helped mainly passing out material, and counting/collecting change for orphans. We also met a lot of other cool people, got a great "Show Hope" shirt, and got to see a lot of the concert--if we chose. Karl manned the main table the whole time. He's really not a concert guy (to say the least). During the concert, in the upper right corner of the screen every 18 seconds, a number flashed, representing the number of children becoming orphans at that very moment. The most powerful moment for me was while I sat and listened Stephen sing "Cinderella." It's such a powerful song anyway. In fact, just days before Owen and I had been home alone and had danced to this precious song. I still smile as I think of him in my arms and me twirling him to the point of dizziness. "Again, Mommy! Do it again!" Well, it HIT me then as I started to cry in that dark theatre. How many children are there in the world that don't have Daddys to sing this over them? That don't have Dads that REALIZE they have a treasure in their little girl (or boy, for that matter)? Countless. There are 143 million orphans out there. That is so tragic. There are countless others, however, who are being raised by single moms with Dads only in the picture a little, if at all. And THEN there are those that have Dads physically present, but who are not adoring them as little children need and desire to be adored. What a powerful and emotional truth Jesus hit me with! Oh, Jesus! Be their Father right now in this moment. Show us our part, too.

After the concert was over, we got the ultimate news: even though this wasn't the norm, since there weren't that many of us, six or so of us could go meet Stephen. OH MY GOODNESS! Karl, of course, stayed up in favor of letting us more star-struck individuals go. Let me just say Carrie (Cannon) had told me pre-concert that she was a star stalker and NOT to underestimate her. She was right. It MAY have been her funny and persistent self that made this highlight happen. Well, we went down winding hallways, a staircase, and finally got to meet the man who has singlehandedly helped so many orphans. I have so much respect for this singer/songwriter who uses his platform in such a worthy way. He was gracious, warm, and, according to Carrie, incredibly handsome (I'm not sure that was her word). The picture was FABULOUS in the viewfinder, but alas, you cannot view it. The concert did take place, though. I promise. And, as stated in the title: I REALLY like Stephen Curtis Chapman.


As is often the case with these blogs: I will drastically change gears and quickly tell you 10 facts about myself since it is now 11:45 p.m. I have, I hear, been tagged by Rebecca, so now I have to tag five other people and tell you some stuff you may or may not know about me:

1. I could be a high school speech, drama, and English teacher, if I wasn't busy being a stay-at-home mom.
2. I greatly desire for the church (and me!) to use the arts more and more to draw people to God. I also wish the church wouldn't be so boxed in by their "safe" practices...don't get me started.
3. There are quite a few topics I'm passionate about (besides the big three of faith, friends, and family): not shopping at Wal-Mart, going more green, adoption, poverty, materialism, Africa, the arts...just to name a few.
4. I am REALLY TRYING to use more "Love and Logic" in my parenting. Thus far, our three boys are NOT happy about this.
5. I LOVE being on the worship team.
6. I LOVE eating popcorn.
7. I am, to a fault, a positive (aka idealistic) person. Karl helps to center me...I'd like to think I do the same for him.
8. I'm not really a shoes girl, but I appreciate cute shoes on other people (and would probably spend more on them myself if I wasn't cheap and trying to simplify)
9. I really, really, really, REALLY hate cancer.
10. I CAN NOT get to bed before 11:30-12:00. This has been bothering me for a really long time and I still haven't changed it. I'd ask my husband to help hold me accountable (and have tried), but he's worse than I am.

So, these are the things that jumped out at me in the moment. It is now 11:55 p.m. I tagged Alyssa, Shelley, Jeny, Kristine, and Libby. Sorry for the really long post.