Laughter

So this weekend we went to Springfield, MO because we had tickets to go to a comedy show called Stand Up 4 Marriage. The show didn't start until 7:00 but we decided to go up a little early and just mess around. Springfield has a wonderful store called Mardels which I love. Basically it's like a discounted Christian book store. If you know me at all you know I love to read and I love getting books even more but hate paying full price for them. So, we went there for a little bit and I got some good deals.

After this we went to Bass Pro. Apparently Bass Pro's home office is in Springfield and this was the first time I had been to this particular store (I had been to the one in Branson once). I must say I was somewhat amazed at just the shear size of this store. Unfortunately for me there were not very many things in that store that interested me or that I would buy. Josh however liked this store more than me (however I think he still prefers Cabellas over Bass Pro).

We had a little time after this and before the show started so we got something to eat and then walked around a park some. It was a nice park and had a ton of squirrells that we enjoyed watching. Springfield is a college town (Missouri State Univ.) and overall I would say that I would not want to live in that town. It kind of looked run down (at least the parts we were in).

As I mentioned before the show didn't start to 7:00 pm but we got to the building about 6:30. We got a message that they weren't going to open the doors and let you sit down until 6:50 so there were a ton of people crammed into the hallways. It was a little crazy. Unfortunately our seats were about smack dab in the middle of a row (of 60 seats) so that was a bit of a pain to have to walk over so many people just to get to our seat.

One nice surprise (and maybe why the doors opened so late) was that there was a rose glued under the seat of every-other chair so that the husbands could give it to their wives. It was a nice surprise.

The first act was Yakov Smirnoff who also has his own theater in Branson. He was very funny and actually is the one who organized this whole night. He shared with the audience that he is very passionate about saving marriages because he actually had a marriage that failed. I thought that he did a really good job and I love the cause he is working for.

Mark Gungor was the second act of the night. He was funny but for me personally he didn't say very many things that I hadn't already heard before in school before. The third person to speak was good also but not quite as funny. His name is John Gray and he is the person who wrote the book "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus." His act went way over his allowed time but that was okay. The last comedian was Chonda Pierce. I love Chonda Pierce and this was my first time of seeing her in person. She was really funny and one thing I like about her is that she tells it like it is. At the very end we were in line to get a copy of the show on DVD and she walked right in front of me, not more than 2 feet away. That was neat too!

This night was really fun. I got to see Josh laugh harder than I've ever seen before. There is just something special about laughter and getting to experience it with someone you love. I think laughing together could help many couples feel closer to each other.

Sunday we had to make pumpkin cookies (wonderful recipe from my sister-in-law) to take to Community Group. Josh and I went to town and ate out and then went to a corn maze. I've been wanting to go to a corn maze for awhile but this is the first time it actually worked out. I must say I was a little disappointed because it was way too easy to find your way in the maze. Josh had a good point in that kids are going to be running around the maze and they can't make it too hard because of that. I kind of wish I had thought of that before we went. Oh well, you can't win them all.

After that we went to Bella Vista and walked around a lovely walking trail. I wish we lived a little closer to such a trail because it sure does beat walking around the same .21 mile track over and over again.

We then went to church followed by community group. I'm sure glad that God connected us to this group of people. I love getting together with them and fellowshipping with them. I look forward to growing in these friendships and creating more.

All in all, it was a great weekend and I'm so thankful for the time and memories created...