Brownie Points for Brad

Speaking of concerts... Guess what Brad did on Friday! He totally surprised me with the best date ever!

I had plans to hang out with some girls Friday night. (Watch Dirty Dancing, really important stuff, you know.) He called me towards the end of the work day and said that he was sad he wouldn't get to see me that night, and wondered if I'd be willing to hang around my office a little bit later so that he could stop by and see me while he was in the area. Well, I'll never turn down an impromptu visit from my beau at the office, so I gladly agreed.

He showed up at 5:05... carrying a bag. I was thrilled to see him (in my favorite shirt) as always, but was a little confused about the bag he brought. He plopped it on my desk and declared that he had "brought some things I'd need for the night."

Uhhh... Huh? What would I need from him in order for me to watch my all-time favorite movie with the girls? I curiously perused the bag and discovered some clothes. I immediately recognized it as the dress and leggings that he had casually asked me to try on for him to see if he liked them together, the night before. (Hmm, how convenient.) Upon a little deeper exploration into the bag, I found two nonchalant concert tickets to see the Casting Crowns concert for that evening lying on the bottom!

What!?! I have been wanting to go to this concert forever! It has been constantly advertised on the radio; some close friends of ours were planning on going to see them (for the third time!); and the billboard on the way to work was reminding me every day how much wanted to go. Just that morning I had thought, "at least after tonight I won't have to hear about it anymore." And then here comes Brad with tickets out of nowhere! What a great surprise!!

And these weren't just any tickets. Oh no. These were tickets purchased the week after they became available, way back in June! Brad had kept it a secret from me for three months! And he had already called the girls to explain that I'd be missing out on the movie night, and to reschedule our (very important) viewing of the best movie of all time.

I changed into my "concert attire" (complete with accessories and shoes!), and we headed downtown for dinner at Demos' before walking to the Sommet Center. Our seats were awesome!! We were on the floor, section 3, row 7. Seriously, we didn't even have to zoom to take good pictures!

Matt Redmond was the opening act, and he was great. I didn't realize how many of the songs I am familiar with, he wrote! They had all the lyrics to each song displayed on the screens so that we could all sing along, and the sound of the crowd of 1,000's of Christians all coming together to sing praises to our Lord took my breath away.

Shortly after, Casting Crowns took the stage and blew us away with a remarkable show! Brad and I have been fans for a long time, and knew nearly ever song. We were so close to losing our voices from belting out the music along with the band by the end of the night. What a blessing to be surrounded by believers, unifying in worship.

The whole evening was wonderful. Anytime I get to spend time with just my husband, is great. Anytime he surprises me, I love it. Anytime we're at a concert, feeling the live music in our chests, we're happy. Anytime we're in the very middle of a giant group of Christians, we're truly blessed. What a great evening. Thanks, honey!

Have you ever been completely surprised? What's the best surprise (or attempted surprise) you've ever gotten or given?