April 2000 --Online Journal

April 30, 2000
     I just got back from a trip to St. Louis with In His Name. We left Friday afternoon for Pooker's house. We arrived at Pooker's house late in the evening. I was whining the whole time about how cold I was, but I got very little sympathy. :( Then we all swam in Pooker's hot tub and sang songs while Justin played the guitar. It was REally CooL --especially since we were out in the middle of nowhere so there were very few neighbors to disturb! Unfortunately I can't say I slept extremely well that night because I was studying mucho for a history exam I have Tuesday :P~ Besides we waited for Scott to arrive, which wasn't until 2:00 in the morning. And to continue with my whining, the floor was hard, it was cold, and I kept getting claustrophobic in my sleeping bag. Waaaahhh! heheh :)
     Saturday morning was another shock. I was the 2nd to last person to get to take a shower, so of course there was not any warm water. But the day got better after we drove another hour to get to the St. Louis Zoo. The zoo was awesome; it was a REAL zoo, not a fake one like we have down here. I got to see gorillas, a baby elephant, and other various animals. We went to the children's part of the zoo, and I got to pet some goats when this one goat got into my purse and ate part of my souvenir map. I fought him for the remaining part of it and scrunched my nose angrily at him. One guy almost got his wallet pulled out of his back pocket by one of the goats. I tell you those goats are feisty boogers. I guess that rules out the possibility of having a pet goat when I get out on my own, haha :)
     The best part of the whole zoo was the aviary though. You walk into this room with hundreds of birds which you can feed nectar or shortbread cookies. So I held my left hand out for one of the birds to perch on my finger so I could feed it part of a cookie. It landed on my finger and I let it peck the crumbled cookie out of my right hand. The bird jumped into my right hand and continued to eat the cookie. "No big deal," I said to myself as I continued to watch the bird. All of a sudden the bird flew from my hand to my shoulder. Humorously I looked over to a couple of my friends and made the remark, "aargh, I'm a pirate," and got a couple of laughs. A little nervous the bird was going to poop on my shoulder, (which has actually happened to me once before... LoNG story!) I decided to place my left index finger out for the bird to perch on once again. Apparently the bird and I had different intentions because it thought I was chasing it with my finger and decided to flee by flying atop my head. I actually had a BiRD perched oN my head. (how many people can say that for themselves?) Scott had been kidding me this whole time about birds pooping on me and was getting quite a kick out of it. Now I was much more nervous the bird would poop on me, and I gently wiggled my head until it flew away.
     At the zoo, I also got to hold a millipede. It tickled my hand and just as I was putting the millipede back on the table, Brian ran his fingers across my back pretending some kind of bug was crawling on me. It startled me, but not because I thought there were bugs crawling on me (which actually never crossed my mind). I was still in the mindframe of pooping birds and thought that a bird had bombed me just that moment. I jumped about a foot high, and Brian began to laugh --but I didn't give him the pleasure of knowing what really had been in my mind. (I would have been bugged the rest of the afternoon --haha, bugged get it?) Oh boy.
     We spent the night at the hotel, and I had every intention of sleeping on the floor. That is, until I fell asleep on the bed and no one dared to move me. (so I am a little grumpy when woken up, isn't everyone?) Lynn and Christy ended up getting in about 2:30 in the morning, and Lynn took my floor spot. I fell out of the hotel bed and ended up getting this terrible gash on my back from hitting the table as I caught myself rolling off the bed. :( It still stings a bit, but at least I had a better night's sleep overall than at Pooker's, and even got to shower in warm water.
    At Bethlehem Lutheran, we sang our songs and did a play about the afterlife. I played the part of Mona Lotts, an elderly woman who complains and whines (Yes, umm.. that's the reason I whined all weekend long.. it was... because I was... practicing my part, yeah yeah that's it!) **giggles**. So anyway, I ended up going to hell (in the play, IN THE PLAY!) :P~ But at least I wasn't alone, there were four others. You know what they always say, misery loves company. Besides, only one person went to heaven, so my chances were slim, only 1 in 5. Good thing it's not like that in real life. Jesus died for all, and as long as you believe in him and that he died to save you from your own death in sin, you can join him in his kingdom. His salvation is free, available to anyone, and there isn't a specific number of people that are only allowed into his kingdom. In other words, your chances aren't dependent upon how well you stack up to others, or even as specific as numbered bet. I'm so greatful, because I was never very good at lottery games. Jesus is not and never will be a lottery game, but he is a gracious lord who loves all his children and wants them to live with him forever.

In HIS name,
Shannon :)

April 10, 2000:
     Saturday, April 8th, my cousin Jena and I went to a Jars of Clay concert. It was unbelievable. On our way to the Grand Palace, I drove past Branson entirely. [I still can't believe her parents trusted me to drive, haha ;) --no really I'm not that bad!]. Then after we made sideways "D" U-turn and entered Branson, we became a little edgy on whether or not we were going the right direction to get to the concert. We stopped of at one of the many thousands of Tourist Information Centers along the strip and then continued in the same direction as before. (We were going the right direction, just becoming slightly impatient). So the concert began with David Wilcox, continued with Burlap to Cashmere (a really awesome group), and finally JARS OF CLAY! :) :)
     I recognized most of the songs and danced to many of them. I think Jena was embarrassed because she just stood there smiling at me. Yeah, I need to get those pictures of us being wild developed. As soon as I do, they'll be up here in less than a minute. Jena is just so cool because she lets me be ridiculous without so much more than an amusing grin and sarcastic remark here and there. On the otherhand, most people would say to me, "Shannon, calm down!" not understanding me in the least. At the concert, I also saw Katie, Patrick, Elizabeth, and Christie from the LSC there. It was so nifty since I wasn't expecting to see any of them. I also saw Rhonda and Lisa from school -- who got to eat with Burlap to Cashmere after the show. I'm jealous :P~. But Jena and I had a much better time anyhow. As I knew quite a few people there, Jena began to claim she knew these complete strangers, and I suggested she talk with them in the men's bathroom. (No wait, we'd already been there!) *Lol* --Inside Joke--
     After the concert finished, we had a nice long drive back to my house. In the car, Jena and I serenaded one another to songs by Sister Hazel. (who I actually got to meet TWICE! --they're way cool guys). But back to Saturday, we had so much fun singing and even though Jena claimed she "didn't know the words" I tricked her into singing anyhow. We got home at about 11:45 and spent the rest of the evening chatting until we both fell asleep of exhaustion.
     The next morning, we got up and made pancakes (which I found out I make wrong because I don't make the different shapes). Then we went to Redeemer to sing with my church group choir, In His Name. That was really interesting because Jena and I were the only ones singing alto, and Jena hadn't even seen the songs prior. She did extremely well, I don't know how I would have been able to manage without her. I am one of those people who can only carry a tune as long as I can hear my part, and unfortunately our choir director was almost 20 feet away. So I was quite impressed how well we did, especially after screaming at a concert the night before and getting our ears blared in by the speakers up in the front. All and all, it has been a very musical family weekend. I can't nearly explain how much fun I had, even though now I must buy the new Jars of Clay CD. I am already anticipating spending time with my cousin again soon. Next time though, if I have the new CD by then, we'll be singing Jars of Clay in the car instead. Yay! :)

Happily,
Shannon