Blessed Part II- 11-11-11

Alright, so after Thursday Night I was already blown away by God with that Amazing couple, Cindy and Stan, on the plane. Okay so we woke up friday with the plan to go to universal studios. Now as most of you know and I will say it again, unashamed, I'm a pretty big Harry Potter fan and for those you that don't know there is a wizarding world of Harry Potter at Universal. Well we had heard that for the release of the last movie, they were going to be having a Harry Potter event at the Park. I had entered a sweepstakes to win tickets to it because no lie they were like $700 for it, and let me tell you it was almost completely sold out the first week it went on sale (see I'm not the only one). I didn't win the sweepstakes, but I was intending on going to orlando to see Laura anyway this weekend because she had some days off and it just happened to coincide with the event. well a couple of weeks before we left, I read that some of the stars of the movie were going to actually be at Universal studios for a red carpet event on Saturday that E! news is airing, which meant they were going to be in the same park on the same day we were going to be there (even though it was going to be after the park was closed so the chances we would see any of them actually walking around the park when we were was pretty small) but i was content just knowing they were going to be there. So anyway, there are two parks, universal studios and Islands of adventure. Harry Potter world is in Islands of adventure and we knew most of the people would be there so we went over to the Universal studios. We rode a lot of the rides (mainly dominating Men in Black) and enjoyed our time there (it was a beautiful day) We decided that we had ridden most of the rides so we decided we wanted to head over to Islands and check out harry potter because we knew E! news was there and we had set a goal for ourselves to get on TV even if it was just in the background. So they had a different entrance than normal because there were so many people, and as we were crossing the bridge to make our way to the other entrance, we heard someone say "there he is" we looked and across a tiny pond, we saw someone with red hair eating at the Three Broomsticks. Someone yelled, "Rupert" and rupert freaking grint (who plays the one and only ron weasley) looked over the wall and waved. So the freaking out commenced and laura and I are tugging on justin's arm to get a picture even if the only thing you could see was the side of his head. Well they are doing his hair and makeup (meaning he was about to do an interview) and as he was getting up to leave Justin yelled his name again and he waved at us again :)already, I was just so happy because I had hoped but didnt know if I would actually get to see one of the stars and I did. So then Laura is like, "oh my gosh, he's going to do an interview, I know where he's going" because she had seen an E!news camera at the normal entrance. So she literally takes off running, and let me tell you, she can run. At this point we no longer have any pride or shame at acting like lunatics, and I was not even remotely ashamed to take off running like a small child, but this big girl couldn't keep up with my fiesty sister, so I just started walking and I saw this little tunnel that said do not enter. I saw some employees coming out and a part of me thought, "maybe he might come out this way" so I pulled Justin off to the side and we waited. and Lo and Behold I saw someone who had been at the restaurant with Rupert and then, cue the hallelujah chorus, out walks Rupert freaking Grint nonchalantly right past me. There wasn't anyone else around, and no one was paying attention enough to notice it was actually him. As he walked past he was close enough that I gently placed my hand on his shoulder (because I realized this would probably be the only chance I would ever get to do this) as people do to athletes as they are walking to the locker room after a game. It was so awesome. I was freaking out and ran screaming like a crazy person "I touched him" and raising my hand in the air to my sister who was still waiting expectantly at the cameras. Although she was upset she had missed it she was content knowing he had waved at us twice (she was the only one who saw the first one). So then we pretty much stalked him out for a while trying to figure out where he was going, but decided to go in the actual park and maybe ride some rides and get our butterbeer, also known as the nectar of Heaven, on. So we went in and there were Camera and light stations set up all over the park with the stars doing interviews. We saw the producers and director, and we also saw luna and Mr. Weasly. We met a man who was on the Today show drinking Butterbeer with Kathie Lee Gifford. It was the most insane thing. We also saw Jason Isaacs, who plays Mr. Malfoy, but how has also played as Captain Hook in Hook and the villain in the Patriot. for those of you that dont like Harry Potter, just try to imagine your favorite movie, and imagine all the stars from your favorite movie, being in the same place as you, walking around, and that place being one of the funnest places ever-a place you enjoy and were going to even if the stars weren't there. It was just an added bonus that all of them were there. yeah it was like that. Let's just say we left content. then we left to go see if we could go get tickets for the David Crowder concert at the house of blues in Downtown Disney. When we got there, it said the show was completely sold out and we were pretty bummed because we didn't know that Gungor was going to be playing with him and we love Gungor (not to mention this is David Crowder's last. tour. ever). So we walked away pretty bummed but were still pretty content with the day. As we were walking away, these three people were randomly standing there and as we walked by they asked, "do you guys need tickets?" we all perked up and were like "yeah do you have some" they said they actually had a few and then proceeded to GIVE us their tickets. Give as in they were FREE. Seriously, had we not been walking there at that particular time, we wouldn't have gotten them and if we had bought them in advance we would have had to pay. Let's just say we all skipped away like children, proclaiming this was one of the most epic days ever. So we got there like an hour early and it was almost already packed. When we were walking in we didn't see those people anymore. Touched by an angel, anyone? John Mark Mcmillen (the guy who wrote how he loves us) opened up and then Chris August, who has a voice like an angel, played. Next up was gungor, and it was just three people (they did their acoustic set). There was this black guy playing a cello, michael gungor playing guitar, and a gal who played the acordian and xylophone. So we are just standing there and then all of a sudden this amazing drum beat drops. Everyone kind of perked up because there was no drummer. the cello player was beat boxing like a mother. it was so sick. Come to find out, it is the percussionist for the group Pentatonix on the Sing Off( You all know how sick he is). Well let me tell you he is also like a prodigy on the cello. The concert was awesome and we left the most tired I think I've ever been. I think it is an understatement to say this, but it was one of the most awesome days ever, and I thank God for it all! Hope you all have a great day- Pura Vida!

Blessed

So I drank about four cups of coffee this morning so please forgive how erratic this post is about to be. I have to post because there are things that happened to me over the past two days that I have to tell you all about. Well to start out, on Thursday I received an email confirming that I am in fact accepted into the YWAM Los Angeles school, so on Saturday, January 7th I will be heading out to LA to start my YWAM adventure. I will be returning on July 9th so I will be gone for almost exactly 6 months. I still don't know what country I will be doing my outreach at but I will find out the 2nd or third week of school. If you haven't watched the video I posted a couple of days ago about YWAM LA here it is if you want to watch it. After watching it, I am so pumped and ready to go. I am definitely going to enjoy every minute I have left with my family and friends, but I am excited about what's to come. This weekend is actually one of those moments with family that I am cherishing. My brother and I are in Orlando this weekend enjoying time with my sister and enjoying our Christmas gifts from our parents at Universal Studios. I was excited for this weekend just because I am spending it with some of my favorite people in the world, but let me tell you, God has so incredibly blessed me in so many ways already (we are still here for 2 more days) that I just have to give Him thanks. So to start out with, we flew out on Thursday evening around 545 p.m. and we had open seating, which means we didnt have seat assignments so we just had to find an open seat once we got on the plane. Justin sat toward the front and I made my way to the back of the plane where I saw an open seat by this older couple. As I sat down, I noticed the man was reading a book called Finding God's will for your life, so I just was kind of assuming that they might be Christians, but I wasn't sure. I was pretty tired because I had worked that day, and I was laying there waiting for the plane to take off (which makes me a nervous wreck normally) and the couple asked if I was okay. I told them I was just tired because I had worked all day. They asked where I worked, and I told them I was the secretary at my church. Just as me seeing the man's book told me these people were christians, I think me seeing this assured them that I was too. Having this mutual confidence that we could openly talk about Christ and what He was doing in out lives opened the door to an amazing conversation that was so encouraging to me. I told them that I was heading out to California in January to attend a discipleship training school and they were telling me that although She was a doctor, she felt that God was leading her possible on the mission field as well. they were from Asheville and invited me to come visit them sometime before I left in January. We had such an amazing authentic conversation about Christ and God that made me realize that this is what its supposed to be like and that although we went to different churches and lived in different places, we were part of the same family and we were placed in each others' lives. They told me that when they bought their tickets they were going to do a seat assignment but decided to do open seating to see where God put them. And so clearly I see God put them there for me because not only did they encourage me in so many ways and I could see God so clearly through them, at the end of the flight he pulled out his wallet and gave me $100 for my trip. I was so overwhelmed and the man was tearing up too, but as I thanked them continuously he reminded me, its not our money anyway. As we walked into the sanford airport, they asked if they could pray for me and without hesitation (as I would have probably done in the past) said yes. We just prayed right there and we hugged and we both told each other that we loved each other. I need to remind you that all this happened within about an hour flight. I was just so reminded how good God is and how when you are following Him he will bless you in ways that only He can. That is only the beginning, but this is pretty long, so I'm going to do another blog about 11-11-11, because it only gets better! Hope you all have an amazing day, and I promise you when you offer your life to God he will give it back to you in so many ways that you could not have even hoped or imagined for. Love you all! 8 weeks :D Pura Vida!