Praising God through Music

Mid February, Matt & I heard that Michael W Smith was coming to the Quad City area in April. We looked at the calendar and decided to purchase tickets for an anniversary date.

We were hoping to make the day of it - hit a few Goodwill Stores, dinner and the concert (about 45 minutes from our house). The morning of the concert, Matt got a call for work and headed out to Waterloo. He had plenty of time to run his delivery and get back for shopping, dinner and the concert. He texted me an ETA of 1:30. A bit after 12:30, Matt called me with the news that his van was broken down on the side of Interstate 80. Never good news! 

After contacting fleet service, Matt was told the towing service would be there in 1-3 hours. Since we didn't have that kind of time to spare, I hopped in the van and started heading towards Iowa City to pick him up and head to the concert. 

Here is the sad sight of the van on the side of the road. I was able to flip around at the next exit and pick him up to head south to Muscatine.

We shopped at the Muscatine Goodwill, grabbed a quick dinner then headed to Calvary Church for the concert. The seats were general seating so there was a line outside (waiting for the doors to open) when we arrived. Luckily, the weather wasn't too cold while we waited. 

MWS's first album was released in 1983. Thirty nine years ago! Pretty crazy! I started listening to him a few years later and have always loved his music. I love how his music has transformed over the past few years into more worship oriented.

MWS was introduced and he started playing some of his older songs. It was fun to sing along and reminisce - remembering my high school years and the fun youth group memories that came with the music!

He definitely loved the crowd and was very comfortable chatting and sharing stories. 

He shared stories about his music - 

One of his favorites - Never Been Unloved

The song he composed for Ukraine - Cry for Hope

The song he wrote and dedicated to Columbine Student, Cassie Bernall - This is Your Time

His Dad's favorite (born out of a season of depression for MWS) - Breath in Me

The first half of the concert was all his older music. After intermission, the concert was more worship, and wow, it was good! It was a wonderful evening! Matt & I enjoyed our evening together, full of great music, fun stories, dinner and ice cream on the drive home!

For Maddie's 16th Birthday, we gave her a night at a worship concert. We purchased tickets to see Hillsong United and Chris Tomlin in Indianapolis mid February. Unfortunately, the concert was cancelled due to Covid. We were excited to find that Hillsong Worship was touring with Casting Crowns & We the Kingdom and one of their stops was in our home town! Sadly, 2 weeks before the concert, Hillsong Worship dropped out of the tour. 

We decided to follow through with the Casting Crowns concert - we were so glad that we did! It was a great concert!

We the Kingdom performed first. I knew a few of their songs and was looking forward to listening to them. They were a fun group to listen to! Very eclectic and full of energy. Definitely look them up!

Casting Crowns came out and played and shared lots of stories. They played a great mix of old and new music. Some of our favorite songs from the night...

We the Kingdom - God So Loved

Casting Crowns - Oh My Soul (written when the lead singer, Mark Hall, learned of his cancer diagnosis).

Maddie and I had a great night of worshipping Jesus together. We were sad to see it come to an end (after an encore of Nobody, which included We the Kingdom with Casting Crowns). Now to find a time when Hillsong is touring again! 🤞 We are hoping that there will be lots more concerts coming up to attend!

Winter & Spring 2022 Miscellaneous

The new year started out with the usual stuff - lots of volleyball practices, school, homework, work schedules for 3 of the 4 kids, chess club, jazz band, flute lessons, youth group. Even during the "quiet" times, our calendar is busy!

A few weeks into January, Alex entered the side door as an official High School Graduate! She decided (at the end of her Junior year) that she would be graduating a semester early. I'd say she's pretty excited!

We seem to be doing lots of eating out as we are constantly coming & going. 

Ron (Becki's dad) continues to stop by on Saturday mornings with donuts for the family (such a special treat!). Every once in a while, the kids are up and out of bed to greet him!

The end of February saw child #4 become a tax paying citizen! Maddie started working at Culver's, alongside Will. 

A few weeks later we stopped by Culver's to harass their newest hire, ha!

Matt and I drove to LaSalle/Peru, IL on March 5th to cheer on the Freedom Convoy - making its way to the DC area. It started out as a great day, weather wise, but eventually got cloudy, windy and rained a bit too. Ultimately, it was a neat thing to experience and be a part of.

We stopped at Skoonerz Bar & Grill in Princeton for dinner. Delicious! We really enjoyed our day together.

Pep Band & High School Basketball! Fun times!

I loved watching the Hawkeyes win the Big 10 basketball tournament...only to lose (complete upset) in the first round of March Madness. 

Winter Band Concert for Will - 

Matt, Will, Alex & Andre helped a friend demo his kitchen...

The kids are always up for a good game of Clue with Matt...

Trail Life started back up this Spring. Will really enjoys his time at the meetings & activities. 

The girls and I drove to Naperville to eat at Lou Malnati's (we had a bonus gift card from Christmas that expired the end of April). We also did some shopping at Anderson's Book Store, Kohl's and Goodwill. We really enjoyed our day together!

We now transition towards summer as we start to wrap up the school year and the many activities involved with that.