{Friday Favorites} 3.18.16

Once again, it's Friday! It's been such a good week and the fun still isn't over! Tonight and tomorrow I am attending the Extraordinary Women's Conference. I went last year and it was excellent! Can't wait to hear some great speakers such as Angie Smith and Kacey Van Norman and a concert from one of my favorite Christian artists, Natalie Grant! Her music has really spoken to my heart over the years but I have never seen her in concert. I can't wait! Some favorites from the week:

ONE >>> The week started out with going to Winter Jam on Sunday night! As usually Sidewalk Prophets, Matthew West, Lauren Dangle, and For King and Country, were all awesome. Already can't wait until next year!

TWO >>> On Monday, I celebrated my 30 (!) birthday. I can't say that I've really been looking forward to it, but turns out it wasn't so bad. I took the day off of work, slept in, went out for coffee with a good friend, opened many cards that were waiting for me in my mailbox, and had dinner with some amazing friends! 

THREE >>> My parents bought me a NutriBullet for my birthday! So far I absolutely love it! I am continually amazed at how quickly it blends.

FOUR >>> Spring is in the air! The buds and flowers are coming out and it has been gorgeous weather in the 70's all week. If only it could always stay this beautiful all year round.

Happy Friday, friends. I hope you all have an awesome weekend! 

Concerts Galore

Wow. This was the week of concerts, that is for sure. Three concerts in seven days. It's almost like an extended Kingdom Bound. Being from a small western NY town, it's not very often that we get good, Christian bands within a few hours of us. It just so happened that they all decided to come to the area within a week of each other!

Last Sunday was Rock the Lakes in Erie, PA. It was actually a two day event, but my friend, Laura, and I just went down for the Sunday event. Saturday was Toby Mac who is always fun to see in concert but since I had just seen him in August with my family at Kingdom Bound, I decided to pass. We were watching my brothers play baseball that day, but that will be in another post on another day. Anyways, back to Rock the Lakes. It was put on by the Billy Graham Association and Franklin Graham was there! We spent a night of worship with Kari Jobe and Michael W. Smith. It was amazing! One of the things I have missed so much while living in China, was corporate worship. And let me tell you... worshiping with 8,000 other believers is pretty incredible! And the great part about the day for a currently unemployed, ex-missionary? It was free! But... we had to get there early. And wait.

Sorry for the picture quality. I didn't bring my real camera to any of these events and just had my phone.

"Revelation Song" by Kari Jobe. 

I grew up listening to Michael W. Smith and it had been several years since I had seen him in concert. He always puts on a great concert! Played some new songs as well as some old!

The body of Christ. Incredible.

So that was last Sunday.

This past Saturday we drove 1 hour and 45 minutes to Houghton, NY, where my brother, Tage, is a freshman! They just had a brand new athletic complex built and they were dedicating it this weekend. We didn't make it for the dedication, but in honor of this dedication and family weekend, they had a concert with Tenth Avenue North and Matt Maher!

We were there a few hours early to we could spend time with Tage. Of course we had to visit their on-campus Starbucks!

We miss this guy so much, but know that he is where he is supposed to be. And he loves it!

Sound check! 

And then, since two concerts was not enough, I went with my parents yesterday to our local high school where Big Daddy Weave, Chris August, Group 1 Crew, and Dara MacLean were playing! Once again, another awesome time of worship.

I love concerts, but I am ready for a little break now.

A Day at Kingdom Bound

Yesterday, our family spent the day at Darien Lake theme park at a Christian music festival called Kingdom Bound. The very first Kingdom Bound festival was in 1987. 18 month old little Anneli was there. We then went back for the next 12ish straight years (we can't remember exactly!), camping for four days and attending the full festival. The festival consists of great speakers, bands, seminars, and different ministries represented. Not to mention, full access to the amusement park and water park! Around the year 2000, they changed the dates of Kingdom Bound from late August (which worked great for my Dad who runs a country club swimming pool during the summer) to early August which didn't work out so well with our schedule. On top of that, my Grandpa sold his trailer which is what we would camp in for all of those years. I have such wonderful memories from all those years of camping and spending time with our neighbors who would go with us. 

Ever since we stopped attending the full festival, we have gone back for a day over the years. I even went in 2012 when I was home from China for a few weeks! There is just something about being with 40,000 other believers, worshiping the same God together. Thad recently returned from his summer of playing baseball a few hours away, and since we all wanted to go, my Mom wanted to treat us all to a day at Kingdom Bound. We had so much fun! The weather was gorgeous, we heard some wonderful speakers and saw some great concerts. Here are a few pictures from our day:

All ready to take on the day! Obviously a few of us weren't quite ready for the picture. : )

My Mom and I began our day in the Worship Tent with the Brothers McClurg. We headed back to the worship tent later in the day to hear Jill and Erin Kelly speak. 

We then hit a few rides! On the merry-go-round. I know, I pick really scary rides.

Soaking in some sunshine by the wave pool!

Of course we hit the water slides which are my favorite!

We saw several great artists perform. Love & the Outcome and Capital Kings just to name a few! Mandisa was great! I saw her in Jamestown right before I moved to China and once again, she was great in concert. What an incredible woman of God. 

Then of course, Toby Mac. Does it date me that I remember seeing him in concert at Kingdom Bound when he was with DC Talk a few years back? As usual, he was awesome in concert.

We arrived home at about 1 a.m. A fun but tiring day! Since I have no idea where I will be living next year at this time and if I'll be able to make it to Kingdom Bound or not, so I soaked it all in this year!