Southern Voice

This is who I hung out with last night...

Tim McGraw and the Dance Hall Doctors!

Tim McGraw brought his Southern Voice Tour to Australia this week. Luckily, I have friends who know my love for country music and keep an eye on the local music scene for me (Thanks heaps, Dan and Mel!), which is how we found out last May that Tim was coming to Sydney in September. Who would really pass up seeing TM in Australia?!?! Not me, so my parents graciously got me a ticket for my birthday!

The concert day finally arrived: I put on my cowboy boots, and Dan, Mel, Joy, and I headed South, TM blaring on the ipod. The concert was AWESOME, probably my favorite concert I've been too. Before the show started, Joy and I were practically bouncing in out of our seats, buzzing with energy.We could barely contain our excitement as we impatiently willed the opening acts to hurry up and finish! TM came on at 9 pm and played until almost 11, and sang almost the whole 2 hours... and so did we! Not a big talker, that Tim McGraw, but I didn't mind one bit. He sang my favorite oldies like "Indian Outlaw" and "Just to See You Smile," as well as his more recent hits and a song off his new album. Just when I thought the show couldn't get any better, he started singing "I Need You," and everyone started screaming. We all knew Faith was going to have to come out and sing her part of the duet! Out she came, and brought the house down. Our seats were in the front row nose bleed section, which turned out to be the best seat in the house. We could see Tim perfectly, and hear even better. One of my favorite parts was hearing everyone else in the audience singing along to his songs, too. Sadly after an encore, TM went off stage, the house lights when on, and the concert ended. We joined the masses leaving and finally made it back to the Central Coast at 12:30 am. We fell into bed, happy and still humming "Don't Take the Girl" as we drifted off to sleep.

Tim and Faith, singing their hearts out for us.

Great view from the cheap(ish) seats.

Joy and I were definitely the most excited out of our group, but maybe out of everyone in our section! We both had a sore voice from screaming and singing at the top of our lungs.

The rest of the TM posse: Mel, Dan, and Joy.

All of the Mowday kids went together to get Joy a ticket for Mother's Day.

True Dedication

So, this is what we do when our beloved Mariners are out of town...

Despite being gone all weekend chaperoning teens at Bible Bowl, no shower, and not much sleep, I was still there to cheer on the Mariners on a tonight. And they aren't even in town!!! They were playing in Queensland against Gold Coast United. We had to go to a local pub (which is really a restaurant with a bar and a grill. Don't worry, we sat in the restaurant side, Mom) to see the game, because it was only being shown on satellite. Sadly, the game was a draw, but it helped us hang on to her 2nd place lead in the standings.

Sidenote: TREK Youth did not win Bible Bowl this year, despite being the reigning champions. Even though we lost, we still had a great weekend of fellowship and worship with the other Sydney churches. We'll get 'em next year!

Spring has sprung

Spring has sprung in Gosford and that can only mean one thing: SOCCER! We are oh so blessed to have our own major league soccer team in our backyard (well, it's by Donnison Street, which I feel like is my backyard some weeks.) The past two Friday nights I have been cheering along with all the other loco fans at Blue Tongue Stadium as the Central Coast Mariners fought their way to victories over two different Melbourne teams. Many of the members of the congregation, especially teens and young adults especially love going to games together, which makes the games even more fun.

Before I moved to Australia, all I knew about soccer came from watching OC soccer games and intramurals. Let's be real: I did a lot more socializing at those games than actual watching. But, I am a changed woman! I can now tell when a player is off-sides...well at least 50% of the time I can tell. I even can name 3 players (Matty Simons, Daniel McBreen, and Bow-itch) and I know what they look like. Sadly, the Mariners won't be back in town for 3 weeks, and I have no idea what the under 30 population of Gosford Church is going to do with all of their free time. But on October 2 when our yellow football team returns, we will be there to cheer them to another win, and we might even have homemade t-shirts! Can't wait!

All the little soccer teams practicing at half-time of the Mariners game.

We do watch the game, I promise!

This past Friday night was so cold! Good thing Amber and I had our Mariners scarves to keep us warm.

The girls at the game.

Central Coast Mariners beat Melbourne Heart 1-nil last Friday night.