Donna’s Blog

When i left Valdosta at 4:15 I was just sure i’d make great time.  I ran by the mailbox to drop off the mail from the office and i realized i’d left my suitcase at the office….that should have been a clue that i was in for a long night.

I got on the interstate and felt like i was merging into Atlanta traffic!  Every lane was full and people were driving crazy!  I jumped in and figurered i’d just go with the flow.  And that was working well for about 20 miles till i got to the construction around Adel.  The speed limit was 50 and we were going about 15 mph.  I won’t bore you with how long that went on, or how many different traffic jams i ran into, but let’s just say i left Valdosta at 4:30 and finally got tucked into bed about 2:00 A.M.

But none of that mattered Saturday morning; my alarm went off and i jumped up to get ready for WAJ.  I couldn’t wait to get to the conference where i knew there’d be lots of coffee and lots of friendly faces!  It’s amazing that i only usually see these people once a year, but they feel like family!  Of course it helps that we keep up with each other through email and the WAJ board.

The morning started when we gathered in the fellowship hall for announcements and then it was time to try and figure out what classes i wanted to attend.  That’s always the hardest part, because so many great classes are offered.  I’ll have to tell you all about the classes later.  I’ll just tell you i took a lot of notes and i’m still “downloading” all that i learned.

Some of the coolest moments at these events are just the times when you can network with other writers.  I had a chance to chat with a writer that i knew through the board, but hadn’t gotten to spend a lot of time with.  We had some free time after super and we decided to go hunt around and see if we could find a keyboard to just sing and talk about what we were writing.  It was a really neat time and i love discovering new friends. Before we left the conference, she handed me her CD.  I listened to it on my trip home tonight and it is really good!  I love her writing and her singing!

I made record time coming home last night…..i left Nashille at 2:23 P.M. and pulled into my driveway at 9:30 P.M.   And yes, i drove the speed limit (for the most part)….i passed several cops on the way and they were always busy with someone else, so that worked for me!

Oh, i can’t wait to tell you about what i learned in Kyle Matthews class and Tony Woods class, and the Writing Worship songs class….but that will have to be tomorrow!

…..K. and the gang are already in Nashville at TNT at Trevecca.  K. found out she doesn’t perform until Saturday, so i guess she’ll just hang around today and watch everyone else.  Which means she really could have ridden with me to Nashville tonight and been able to do her thing….but that also means she would have missed out on time with the youth group (the bus ride, the hotel, just hangin….) and we know what’s REALLY important!

…..how am i going to get any work done today when i just want to be on the road?

……”Why Blogs are Wonderful”- cause someone referenced a book about writing on their blog called “Bird by Bird” by Anne Lamott and i ordered it, and it’s really good, and i probably would have never discovered it otherwise.

….i’m taking my lap top this weekend, so maybe i can blog from the workshop on Saturday.  I am so excited about seeing my WAJ friends again and making new ones!  Ain’t it so cool to make new friends?  How your world just opens up even more?  How you meet someone and wonder how in the world you went 44 years without ever knowing them?

I’ve been in a car in the gloomiest of moods when just the “right” song came on and i felt understood and cared for and loved simply because of the song.

I’ve been at a loss for words, sitting at a keyboard in silence, wondering what was left to say….and when i dared to put my hands on the keys, a simple melody began to form and the words where there as if the black and white keys were what unlocked the door of silence.

I’ve walked in the moonlight with questions that seemed as endless as the stars and listened to a song over and over that became my prayer, and my answer.
 
For me, it’s as if music takes the mind from the limits, to the limitless.  Music is freedom.  Music is from the soul.  Music makes sense when nothing else does.  I can hear a good sermon, take notes, and the truth is there in black and white.  But i can listen to a song and with one simple phrase i’ve been broken, i’ve been convicted, i’ve been pierced by truth, i’ve been encouraged, i’ve been restored, i’ve been changed.

I wonder what happens to the music after it is sung and still hanging in the air?  According to the ”August Rush” music is everywhere, you just have to listen.  And i wonder, sitting here just now, if the hope that i feel is because of the tiniest piece of music still floating in the air that never ”dissolves”, but just keeps drifting, waiting to be heard by someone, waiting to be embraced by the heart and put to a new melody?  Okay, so this is starting to sound a little too “august rushish”…..but wouldn’t it be a cool concept if music WAS actually still hanging around in the atmosphere?  That the song you sang in the shower yesterday might still be out there somewhere?  Or the song that i started writing, but never finished, might be heard by someone in ten years when they are writing and my words happen to be traveling by?

I don’t think there is anything any better God could have dreamed up than music.  I know there is no time that i feel closer to God than when i am singing.  It’s the only time that I feel that every part of me is in tune with Him.  I can’t sing without engaging my heart, soul, mind, body, spirit……..

  I didn’t realize that Karlee had never had a pedicure before.  She loved it!  They actually started on her first, so she got finished first.  I told her to go over and sit at the table and put her feet under it to let them dry.  They have this light under the table for your feet, and one up higher for you to place your hands to have your nails dry.

  Later, when my nails get finished, i joined her at the table.  I noticed the light wasn’t on for the feet so i switched it on.  Karlee said she noticed that her hands “changed colors” when she put them under the “hand section” on the table (i guess cause the lights are fluorescent), but when she put her feet under the table, nothing seemed to happen.  She said she almost thought about putting her feet up higher on the table to see what would happen…..in case that’s where you WERE supposed to dry them.  We laughed at the thought of that!

Of course, Paige, the pedicure pro, came last.  She had decided on a french manicure and that takes longer.  But now our toes look decent enough to slip into our Easter sandals for Sunday!

……tomorrow i signed up to chaperone the In Door Drum Line trip to Dunnellon, Florida.  This is a group of only about 20 kids, but most of their parents won’t get involved in a trip like this.  So i volunteered to go.  Then i got the schedule.  We leave at 1:30 tomorrow afternoon and return at 2:30 A.M.  Yikes!

…….one week from today i leave for Nashville to attend the Write About Jesus/Music for the Soul writing seminar.  I’ll leave after work and drive up to Nashville to attend this Saturday event.  I can’t wait!!!!!

While watching this…..

It’s a pretty weird sensation to be “running” and yet staying in one place. 

I decided to finally give the treadmill a try cause it was windy and rainy (well, really just sprinkling) and i really needed to run since i haven’t done it all week, so why not try the back porch.  (yes, we have a tv on our back porch, don’t ask).

I guess it will do as a once in a while substitute…..but i much prefer watching stuff GO BY as i run.  It makes me feel like i’m accomplishing something.

Then last night the ladies danced.  Wow!  Priscilla Presley really impressed me; for some reason, i didn’t think she’d be able to dance, but she did a great job.  Kristie Yamaguchi also did a really good job.  Of course i figured she would do an awesome job cause she looks so graceful on skates, but she said that dancing in high heels is a lot different than skating on a flat blade.

Then Marlee Matlin took the floor and also really surprised me.  How a deaf person can interpret what her partner is doing and follow him without being able to hear the music is amazing!

They all looked pretty good on the floor considering this was their first ballroom dance.  I would think you either have to be really brave, or really crazy to decide to enter the world of ballroom dancing in front of thousands of people!

Stay tuned for next week’s review!

I’ve never really been a fan of the big purse, but i guess it has its reasons for hanging around.  You can load it full of stuff you might need for the day, some makeup to freshen up……heck…..your whole make up case!  A little snack when you get hungry, or just throw in a whole lunch box!

The trouble is, don’t those things get heavy?  Of course she makes carrying a big purse look cool.  Of course she also makes sitting on a stool look cool!

…….had a great time with our Missouri friends!  We took them to the Azalea Festival Saturday.  The weather was perfect and we enjoyed walking around at all the booths.  We heard some great music and found a group called “The Michael Stacy Band” playing and they were really good.  Steve (Portia’s husband) ended up talking to the sound man about the kind of board and equipment he was using.  Portia’s group, Evident Grace, is just getting started in the business and they are looking into purchasing equipment.  Later that night we went out to eat at Giulio’s…..the best Greek/Italian restaurant in Valdosta!

…….Karlee sang with the high school jazz band this weekend.  Her song is “At last”.  She said it was so cool, cause when she started singing, a couple got up and started to dance.

…….do you know that if you drop your camera when you’re getting out of the car and then you step on it, chances are, it won’t work anymore.

After it was over, Portia and i kind of just met up in the hallway and started chatting.  We were both breathing a huge sigh of relief that the critique was over.  We began to share our stories……she had heard about WAJ on the local radio station just two weeks prior and made the commitment to come.  I had heard about WAJ from a friend just a few months earlier and though i’d never been brave enough to fly to a city on my own, rent a car and FIND a venue by myself…..i just knew i had to register and come.  It was a weekend that would change my life in so many wonderful ways….one of those being that Portia and i have become lifelong friends.

So, when she called last week to say that she and her husband were coming through, there was no question….they just had to stop and stay with us for a few days! 

They arrived yesterday about the time i got off work.  When they left Arnold, MO, it was snowing.  “Welcome to Sunny Valdosta!”   Portia couldn’t get over how everything is already green here…..our tall trees and the moss hanging from the branches.

Today she and Steve are going to run down to Jacksonville to check out the beach while I have to sit at work……oh well.  Tax season blues and all that!!!!

Maybe it was the big, gold, gaudy strap……maybe it was the animal print cover……maybe it was just the way it was hanging on the wall speaking to me…..but i just had to have that lap top case.

I wanted to take a picture of it to put on my blog, but in order for that to happen I need a working camera and laptop…..neither of which i have at the moment.  K’s camera went on the blink at St. Simons and our camera works (i think), but we can’t find the chord that will hook it to our computer to download pictures.  And my laptop, well i’m not sure what happened, but K. was showing me something on it last night (a youtube video) and the screen went blank and then it shut down.  I’m trying not to be freaked out about this….i’m hoping it just needed a rest and will be o.k this morning.

I googled “animal print laptop cases” just to show you something, but nothing comes close to the beauty of the one i got!