So, I had to wait a week and a half to get "The Far Country" by Andrew Peterson because Family Christian didn't get it in their shipment and I was stupid and didn't pre-order it off the website. My aunt bought it for me over in Orlando, along with "Lifesong" by Casting Crowns. (there was a buy 1, get 1 sale at Long's) The catch was that I wasn't going to Orlando until this Friday for Night of Joy...
When I got there Friday it was pretty hectic and we basically went straight to Disney, which was really fun and really tiring. We hit the usual suspects- Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion, grabbed some food, and headed to the Galaxy Theater where Mark Schultz was going to be playing. We got there at 6:30 (an hour early), but they were going to let us in at 7:00, so we hung out and talked with the other people waiting. I ended up getting a seat in the front row with the family that we talked to while we were waiting and my mom and my aunt got a seat a few rows back, strangely enough with a couple that my aunt had invited! We talked while we waited for the show to start. Turns out that her name is also Heather! Her son was so cute. He was 3 and loved Ariel. They had come down from South Carolina on the train (because their son likes trains) to go to Disney and to come to Night of Joy. We exchanged emails and then convinced them to come with us over to Matthew West. Mark came out and played a freakin' awesome show. People had not only packed the theater, but were standing outside about another theater's length! His face was priceless when he saw that! He actually played a little longer than a "normal" NOJ show, so we were already sure that we were going to miss part of Matthew's show. Once the whole crew of us (the other couple with my mom and aunt came too, so there were 7 + a stroller!) got over there, we saw that the Splash Mountain stage's crowd was almost out the middle of Adventureland. That is a BIG crowd. I think that Disney underestimated things this year. We could kinda see Matthew, but we lost Heather and her family in the madness. We stayed there for Casting Crowns and worked our way up to the front. We had to leave though, 'cause the bass instruments were so hot that it felt like they were cutting through us. We listened from inside the little restaurant next to the stage. We downed a few waters and then decided to see how bad the crowd was going to be for Mercy Me. It was pretty bad. And the bass was really bad. You couldn't hear anything but the low end. So, we decided to get ice cream. As we were sitting eating our ice cream on Main Street, we ran into Heather and her family! They were headed back to the hotel. We went into the Main Street Shops and then headed home. We finally got back to my aunt's house at 1:30.
Saturday was busy, but not. We went to lunch and did a little bit of shopping and visited my grandmother and then I was going to head home. But I didn't feel so great, so I thought that I'd take a nap for a half hour and then leave. My mom and aunt left to take my grandmother to dinner and I went to sleep. Two hours later, I woke up and decided that I was going to stay the night. So...
I didn't get to listen to "The Far Country" until 12:00 this afternoon. I was driving down I-4 from Orlando to Lakeland trying not cry and yet had this huge grin on my face the entire time. Somewhere during "The Queen of Iowa" or "Little Boy Heart Alive" my car turned to 15,000 miles. I just don't even know what to say. The whole album is amazing. Andy has done it again. I need to listen to it again before I can give a full review of it, but wow! I still need to listen to all of "Lifesong", but I have a feeling it's going to be good too. Oh, and of the other CDs from my list last time, I got:
Bethany Dillon - sooo good!!
Nickel Creek - didn't think they could get any better, but this CD is amazing!!!
That's about all for now...until later, go under the mercy!
