Anywho, the past week has been slight insanity! My poor car, Penny, has suffered a minor injury known as a bad wheel bearing. This is the THIRD wheel bearing that has been replaced on my car since I bought it in December 2009. Something tells me there is a bigger issue here... But in any case, I drove the car all week only to work and back for fear that the wheel would just stop working or pop right off or something and I would die a horrible death when an 18-wheeler ran over my poor broken body on the interstate. Thankfully, this did not happen on the way to or from work, nor did it happen on the two and a half hour drive back to my dad's on Friday. However, I was on the verge of a panic attack for the entire trip. I was also very sleepy, which is NOT a good combination. I left my car there on Sunday and Dad lent me his for the week. Not that I don't like Dad's car, but I'm looking forward to having my Penny back. :) She's all better with a fresh oil change and I will have her back the day after tomorrow.
In other news, the reason I went home last weekend was because my older sister, Jennie, is in a band called Affix, and that band played a concert in my hometown at the middle school cafetorium on Saturday the 19th (which also happened to be my oldest sister, Erin's, 29th birthday!). I spent the morning before running errands, one of which included putting a hold on a queen sized sleigh bed from Big Lots! Johnny and I will have a bed in about three months. It will not have mattresses until I put a hold on those as well. But we have a bed! So stoked!
Back on topic, it was a lovely day so once I dropped off the associate pastor's son at the school and helped out a little with the set up I walked back to the house. I love love walking, and I really miss it living where I do. But the little town in which I grew up is safe and everything is in walking distance from the house. So I walked back to find our good friend Susan in the kitchen wearing an apron making pasta sauce to go over the meatballs Jennie made to eat with noodles, salad, bread, and the best banana cake in the universe. If you didn't guess, yes. We fed the band, and their girlfriends/wives/children. Full house, lemme tell you. However, it was also a total blast because all of these guys are great people and I got to enjoy a healthy debate of ATT vs. VZW... the bass player is CSR for ATT. I was CSR for VZW. As I haven't been in that job for over a year now I'm a little rusty, but it was fun to discuss which is better... and now that I have Sprint I feel no need to be loyal, lol.
Immediately after dinner, which included crazy conversations about "man food", Angry Birds, the iPhone's superiority over every other phone (I have the HTC EVO and like it just fine, thankyouverymuch. In fact, I much prefer it over my iPod touch, So there!), and the awesomeness of Mom's meatball recipe, everyone very suddenly left, including my dad, and left me there without a car....
However, our friend Nicole stayed to help Susan and me clean up and she gave us a ride. God bless our friends!
I also brought a giant container of spaghetti (the meatballs were GONE) to Johnny, who raced to the concert directly from work having not eaten. We had a splendid time. The band was great, as was their opener, Anthony, who is absolutely hilarious and whom I sat across from during dinner.
Unfortunately I didn't take any photos of the actual band's concert. However, Rich, the lead guitarist, told about how the band came to sing to my mom when she was still with us and just how amazing and moving that was, and that anyone who donated to the Sarcoma Foundation in Mom's name that night would get a free poster, and half of the proceeds from their shirts/cds/paraphernalia would also be donated. Around $500 was given that night. It was phenomenal.
However, it wasn't over! They also led worship on Sunday morning, so here is a few pictures of that...
Things felt a little weird for me this past weekend. I was around all kinds of people I didn't really know, at the concert Johnny and I were greeted very enthusiastically by our college aged friends (I'm so used to being ignored or given a half-hearted "good morning"!), the wall has been knocked out in the sanctuary to make room for more seating, and 3/4 of the people at church were people I have never seen before. On top of this, Dad's preaching style has changed.
My dad is the pastor of our church, and I have always loved his preaching. It's hard for me to go other places because I'm so spoiled. He is a phenomenal speaker. However, ever since Mom died things are a little different. He still has passion, but there's almost a tone of anger in his passion, and all of his sermons stem back to Mom's death. None of the sermons I have heard since then were lacking in mention of it. And I understand that, I completely do. But where they were usually peppered with humorous anecdotes and stories, now it's tragedy and a realization that life is too short to waste. However, his love for Jesus and for his congregation and his family, and the faith that he has had for the past 31 years, none of that has changed. And he was definitely the Proud Dad last weekend. :)
But all was better when Johnny and I drove up the driveway to find...
Now it's the middle of the work week and I'm really looking forward to the weekend. Friday I get my car back and then head up to stay with Johnny, Saturday is more cleaning-Johnny's-room-fun followed by hanging with some friends, and Sunday is my younger sister, Anne's, bridal shower! Whoop whoop!
