The most incredible day EVER.

(I'm still no good at adding pictures to this blog!! So, here are all the pictures first, and at the bottom is what I wrote about yesterday.)


BarlowGirl on the small stage at the VIP reception area, with only about 100 people in the audience.

Hawk Nelson.

Nick on the stage in the VIP reception area.

Nick and I.

Mom, Nick, and I.

Me with Nick, holding up the letter he wrote for me.

Mom and I backstage.

Me backstage with the stage behind me.

Me backstage holding up my VIP pass.

This is the picture of Family Force 5 that I snuck. They are at their autograph signing table.

Yesterday was incredible! My mom and I went to SWC in the early afternoon to watch the bands, shop, and eat some lunch before I was supposed to meet one-on-one with Nick Vujicic (if you don't know who he is, go to his website, http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/) Anyway, I was expecting to maybe go in with other VIP "circle 100" people (who pay over $1000 for their membership, by the way) to a meet-and-greet or something, but what actually happened is that Patrick, the assistant director of SWC, took us back with the VIPs and told us we got to sit through the reception in a little room with Barlow Girl, Hawk Nelson, MercyMe, and Nick Vujicic, for a little up close and personal question & answer time!! Then, my mom and I got to go backstage and sit at a little table with Nick and his caretaker, Brian, and chat with him. He spoke some things right to my heart that were exactly what I needed to hear, and he prayed over me. Then he asked for paper and a marker, and he wrote me a note! I can't even describe to you what it meant to me to have the converstation with him; it's something I'll always remember. And to think he actually thanked me for taking the time to talk to him!? Incredible. He really inspired me and encouraged me to have big dreams. The one thing that he said that I think touched me the most (especially since I was already thinking that whatever I do with my life will be small in comparison with the huge impact he has made on millions of people) was that God will use me to touch people that he can't touch. Wow.

Anyway, it doesn't stop there. Patrick asked us if we wanted to go backstage during Nick's message later in the evening and stay back there while another band, Family Force 5, played! So we got special VIP passes and were backstage (well, actually on the side of the stage, with a good, close view of all that was going on!) for the whole thing. Then, when it was all over and we had to turn in our VIP passes, I asked if it would be possible to get a picture with the band, to which Patrick replied, "well, would you want to get their autograph if I could get you to the front of the line?" Of course I said yes, although I felt a little guilty for cutting hundreds of people (but at least most of them didn't even know I did, since they were behind a tent thing) So I got them to autograph their CD which we bought there, and I even snuck a picture before they said we weren't supposed to take them.

This whole thing has been such of an incredible time. I have been blessed and blessed and blessed again throughout this whole thing. God is good!!

I have the world's greatest dad!

Since my dad already made a post here about why my mom and I are staying in a motel in California tonight, I don't feel the need to recap everything. But I would like to share some photos of our journey thus far!

Before my mom and I left for California, my dad spent a lot of time making a binder filled with maps and detailed directions to the motel, to the festival from the motel and back, and home again (because my mom has the good-at-getting-lost gene, and passed it on to me.) It was very thoughtful of him, and proved helpful in helping us navigate our way.

What a surprise!! My dad left me this envelope this morning, which was complete with instructions for when and how to open the letter on the front. I was very excited and wanted to open it right away, but exercised great patience instead and waited to open it until we reached a rest stop in California.

Here I am at the rest stop, just about to open the envelope.

Me reading the enclosed letter, which, among other things, told me that my dad had arranged for me to personally meet Nick Vujicic while at Spirit West Coast this weekend!! Needless to say, I was incredibly excited. Especially after thinking that the letter was going to give me some directions to a restaurant or someplace like that...what the letter actually said was much better than that!

My mom and I squinting into the sunlight while at a rest stop.

(I'm sorry that this photo and the next are sideways, but I'm new to adding pictures to my blog, so I don't know how to rotate it now that I've uploaded it, or if I even can. But I can't upload it again, because it's already given me trouble. So, for now you can turn your head to look at them and next time I'll try to remember to edit them before uploading them.)

One thing my mom and I forgot about California: you have to pump your own gas! We asked a lady who worked in the fast food place we stopped at for lunch (which was located right next to a gas station) for help, and she got a lady to show us how to pump the gas. The problem was, she did it, but just told us what to do, so we thought we understood....but it turns out we really didn't. (I know, I know, how hard can it be to learn to pump gas? I say it's pretty darn hard if it's not properly explained. So there.) We had quite a bit of trouble at the next gas station we stopped at, even with a woman from the am/pm store trying to help. Eventually we figured it out, and I took some pictures to commemorate the memorable event.

Thanks again, dad, for making this trip so special!!

I'll try to post more updates and pictures in the next few days.

Just a quickie post

Whew. What a day! Today we spent 6 hours at the waterslides with the kiddos at my work. It was a lot of fun (probably my favorite field trip of the summer), but I am exhausted now. Something about being outside alternating between being hot (while waiting in line for the slide) and then freezing (when you first get out of the water and it's windy) that just wears you out. But it was totally worth it. I also got to take a lunch break there (I didn't think I was going to get one at all), so I had time to lay in the shade by the lake and read for an hour...it was so nice!

Speaking of books, I've been re-reading the Diary of a Teenage Girl series by Melody Carlson the past week. I LOVE those books! So good. Although they are fictional novels, they have this way of challenging me and motivating me to examine my own heart and actions and change some things.

Well, that's it for tonight. More to come later, I'm sure.