A really great weekend!

Yesterday morning my sister and I left for Branson around 9:45. We stopped at Fantastic Caverns on the way down to marvel at an amazing cave that you can ride through and also ate at the home of "throwed rolls", Lamberts, for lunch. It was a lot of fun!





We got to Branson at about 4:30, stopped at Walmart to get some supplies, and met up with mom at the hotel to make our Stellan sign.

We got to the conference center at 6:30, doors opened at 7:00. We got a really great seats about 5 rows back. We were so lucky that my mom has AMAZING friends who allowed us to use their wristbands for the concert (Thank you Patty and Vicki!) I was a little discouraged because we still hadn't heard anything back from Angie, as we had left her our phone numbers and email (although I don't blame her for not calling us...we could have been crazy people...well...crazier than we are!). About 6:45 I saw Angie's sweet daughter Kate bouncing down the stairs of a "staff only" hallway. Quickly after that came Angie's other daughters followed by their beautiful mother. I freaked out! I looked at mom and said, "THAT'S HER!" I didn't know what to do! I grabbed my camera and ran to her.

When I got to her, I introduced myself, told her we were the ones with the Stellan sign and she quickly knew who I was. We hugged and then things got a little awkward. Angie was trying to figure out a place to sit (for some reason they didn't have a reserved section for her and the girls), so a man who worked at the conference center told her they had seats available at the very top, which Angie kindly said would work just fine (meanwhile I was thinking...Ummm...DO YOU KNOW WHO SHE IS!? Are you seriously making her sit in the balcony?). She turned to me and said, "Do you want me to come over to where you're sitting and we can take the picture"? But the man kept pushing her along trying to escort her to her seat. Angie kept saying "I'm fine, really...I can find it", but the man insisted. SO, I told Angie I would come find her after I got my mom and sister.

We went up to the balcony, took pictures and then I got to talk to her for a few minutes (which felt like only seconds). I thanked her for being such an encouragement to me and so many others, we talked about Stellan, and then we hugged. It was such an amazing moment and I was on cloud 9 the whole rest of the night. I wish so much that I could have talked to her longer. Part of me wishes I would have moved seats and gone to sit with her up top (but I felt like that might be a little stalker-ish). She was just as sweet as I had imagined and their girls are cute as can be.

So, to sum things up, I had an AMAZING weekend :)

Here's me and Angie (isn't she beautiful?):



Our sign for Stellan!

I'm so excited and I just can't hide it!!

I might be meeting Angie Smith (writer of Bring the Rain, wife of Todd Smith - lead singer of Selah, amazing woman who I blogged about here). My mom is at a conference in Branson that I was suppose to go to. Selah is doing a concert on Saturday night of the conference. I had emailed Angie to see if she would be there also. At the time, she thought she wouldn't be able to go. The friends I had planned to go with were unable to go, so I gave up my tickets. I was bummed, but not TOO bummed since I knew Angie wouldn't be there.

Well, last night my mom emailed Angie about making a sign for Stellan (a little baby of another blogger I love) and having Todd take a picture of all the woman at the conference praying for him. Angie said she LOVED the idea and mom got the feeling from the email that maybe Angie WAS going to be at the conference.

Turns out, SHE IS! I freaked out, actually cried a little because I realized I could have been there!, and then my mom suggested my sister and I just drive to Branson and see her! And I thought that was a GRRRREAT idea!! Lindsey and I are leaving at 9 tomorrow morning and are going to spend the day in Branson and then hopefully go to the concert (if we can find tickets -- my mom said she would give up hers!) tomorrow night. I am hoping and praying that she will get in contact with us so I can see her and hug her and tell her thank you for being such an encouragement in my life!! I can't even tell you how EXCITED I am about this!!

I really hope to have some pictures of Angie and me after this weekend! If I do, I will definitely post them!

AHHHH!!! I'm so excited!