♦Right before we moved, Nicole was notified that she had won the Grand Prize package from the Thomas Nelson live event "Revolve Tour".  So, she signed up for the Dallas event - her prize package included 4 VIP passes to the Revolve Tour, a parking pass for the covered parking garage, 2 nights at the Renaissance Hotel (where all the Revolve Tour's speakers and singers were staying!), some "revolve bucks" (money to spend on the concourse), a meet & greet with Hawk Nelson, a couple of CDs of 2 of the artists, the Revolve Bible and Journal, and some other cool stuff.  What a tremendous blessing!!!

♦The weekend finally arrived and we had a blast.  First thing, checking into the hotel and then exploring - - - which went fine until we started down the glamorous marble spiral staircase.  At that point, I twisted my ankle, fell down a couple of stairs, scratched one of Nicole's friends, and caused a bit of a scene (sooo embarrassing).  Then, one of the speakers from the event came running to make sure I was OK.  Honestly, he was the ONLY person who came - others just looked up and kept on about their business.  So, the girls were impressed that ONE chivalrous guy still exists!  (Looking back, I think his act of kindness caused them to listen more closely to the things that he shared - which were valuable truths about guys and girls!)  Anyway, the hotel man insisted on calling 9-1-1 (ugh!) and they came - checked me out, decided I could walk, and let me be.  Thankfully, they did not insist on taking me to the ER (although I may still need an x-ray - my ankle still hurts a month later. . . )      

♦Next up, we went to the Friday night session - great speakers, great music, and LOTS of screaming girls!  Evidently, Hawk Nelson is the FAVORITE band of many teen girls.  The lead singer did clear up the confusion - HE is not Hawk Nelson, the BAND is called Hawk Nelson.  This cracked us up, because we are all HN fans and knew this already, but girls had signs like "Hawk Nelson - will U marry me?" so the guy just had to say it!  Dinner at Spaghetti Warehouse in the West End.  Fun night!  Then ran into Chad Eastham (the "guys and girls" speaker) who admonished me to ICE my foot, then to ICE THE ICE.  The girls were enamored with his kindness and were a touch sad to find out that he's very taken!!!! 

♦Saturday morning, back to Revolve again - then shopping (they all wanted Chad's book - which he gladly autographed that afternoon), then more Revolve, then MEETING HAWK NELSON - the highlight of the day. 

They were GREAT with Nicole.  There were a few other people there, but it was "Nicole's meet and greet" so they made a big deal about that.  Each band member spent a few minutes talking to her and her friends, then they all posed for several photos too.  Very nice guys!  They're Canadian, but we don't hold that against them!!!  :)  Also that day - we realized how much we enjoy Group 1 Crew - they were new to us, but had some great music and love the Lord!   

♦After the last session, we went back to the hotel where we got to see Natalie Grant (singer) and her family in the elevator - twin toddler girls, too cute!  Her husband was in the Revolve band too.  Several of the other speakers and bands were around the lobby, so we enjoyed imagining that we knew them and they knew us!  LOL   Actually, they were all very friendly and did not act at all like it was annoying for us to say hello.

♦Later, we went to the West End again to eat at Gator's (they have live music at night, but we missed that part).  We ate on the rooftop patio.  Krystal Meyers and her band and a couple of friends came and ate at the table just behind ours.  We left them alone, but did thank them for a good show as we left.  The girls had this theory that if we acted cool with people instead of like groupies that they would actually think we were cool.  I think that was a good plan, as it seemed to work well, especially with Hawk Nelson and KM and band.  I'm not so sure that Chad Eastham thought we were "cool" since his introduction to us was over me making a goon of myself on the marble staircase, but he was also the friendliest towards us, so maybe he felt our pain at drawing too much attention.

♦All in all, a blast was had by all.  Jesus was glorified, the girls had a wonderful time together, and we all got to meet famous people who love Jesus too.  How cool is that??