I went to the Ginny Owens concert last night. It was great. She's such a terrific person with a serious voice! And I got to meet her, too! It's always nice when you know the daughter of the guy who's company sponsored the concert! I was rather inspired by a man and his daughter who sat on our row during part of the concert. The girl was mentally and slightly physically handicapped and doesn't speak at all. The dad was just the sweetest thing in the world. As they were sitting down, he introduced himself and his daughter, and explained that she didn't talk and had the mental level of a 4 year old (I think she was probably about 16). Aside from just being a nice guy, the man seemed to have incredible patience, love, and perserverance for his daughter. He didn't get irritated that she continually wanted to stand; he didn't have a short temper; he showed no signs of "I'm really tired of this and just need a break"; his patience amazed me. I tried to imagine what it would be like to have a handicapped child who you had to do nearly everything for, never getting a break to enjoy what the rest of us see as a "normal" life. It would be like having a new born baby for a lifetime, except with even more challanges. Babies are only helpless for a short time, and then you get to go on with life. A child like this, however, never quits needing that help. I truely believe it takes a special person to raise a handicapped child well. I'm not sure if you're a "better person" first, and that's why God allows you to have a child like that--because you can handle it--, or if you become a "better person" for having had a child like that--because it teaches you so much. [did that make sense?] Either way, I highly admire those who spend their lives caring for another. Truely amazing.

Another person who was at the concert was Michael J. Fox. Not really; just a guy who looked sooooo much like him. He was sitting right in front of us, and every time he turned his head and I could see his profile, I thought, "look, it's Michael J. Fox!" Afterwards, Allison told me she thought he looked like him, too, before I even mentioned it. It was quite funny.

Countdown: 16 days till moving! Yay! I'm so ready to be back at school. (You couldn't have paid me to say that during high school!) I'll be glad to see everybody, and I'll be glad to be back on a regular schedule. My summer schedule has been so completely random. I'm ready for a little order to return to my life, although along with the order of the schedule comes the chaos of school work! Speaking of random schedules, now that the school shopping rush is over my hours have been cut drastically at work. It really stinks. I mean, it's not that I sit around and say, "boy I wish I was at work" but I need the hours for the sake of the money! Talk about scrimping and saving-- that's going to be this school year's motto for me! I was very lucky that my mom offered to pay for my school clothes the other day, so I can save a little more of the little I have made this summer.

Other news... Lesson from yesterday's devotions: the truely "better person" will never say, "I'm better than you are." That's the condensed version, but it covers the main point.

Not much else to write about. Oh, BTW Quinn... there's a comment you might be interested in reading from a few posts ago, not to drop any hints or anything!

Later.