JULY 4TH

Seth marched in the Spring Hill July 4th parade with the high school band then we came home, packed our coolers and headed to downtown Nashville for concerts and fireworks. We wanted to get to Riverfront Park early enough to get a good spot for the evening headliner, Darius Rucker. We became fans of Darius when he was "Hootie" with Hootie and the Blowfish when we lived in Columbia, SC and they were just getting their start. He has now crossed over to country and I just love his country music! We arrived at the park by Noon and had a great spot to view the concert and the fireworks on the river that followed. It was a long, hot wait until 8:00 p.m. when Darius would come on stage. We took our chairs, golf umbrella and beach umbrella, so although it was hot, we had shade. We spent some time walking around downtown getting free samples and people watching. At 1:00 the lesser known acts started to perform - some were good,

some not so much. Thankfully the rain that was predicted passed over. We found an old timey ice cream parlor called Diana's and had dinner there. Finally after a long, hot wait, it was 8:00 and Darius came out and didn't disappoint us! He sang for about 80 minutes, mixing in some vintage Hootie with his country and ended his set singing Purple Rain with the Nashville Symphony. As soon as that was over the fireworks started and what a display it was!! About 30 minutes of fireworks synched with the Nashville symphony. A great way to end a hot day.

We packed up our area and waited for the first wave to leave the park (there was an estimated 125,000 people in attendance). We were walking back to the van and stopped for Jenna to use the bathroom (a/k/a porta potty which by the time of the night was gross!). It was then that Seth realized he didn't have his cell phone. He had it while we were packing up our spot and we're still not sure what happened.. if it missed his pocket when he put it back in and he didn't feel it hit his foot or if it fell out when he leaned over to return stuff to the cooler which had spilled. We debated about what to do and decided he and I would retrace our steps and search at our spot. I was praying the entire way back that God would work a miracle and let us find the phone. We searched and searched around our spot and didn't find it. He keeps it on vibrate so we wouldn't hear it ring, but I thought maybe we would see it light up. I asked a cop if there was a lost and found, she say no but called her command center to see if a phone had been turned in and none had. I continued to pray that someone kind and honest would find his phone and return it. I left several messages on his voice mail giving my cell number asking that whoever found it would please call. Needless to say, it was a very quiet ride back to Spring Hill. About 11:50 that night my cell phone rang, and Seth's number came up on my screen! The guy said they found Seth's phone and wanted to return it. I kept telling him what an answer to prayer he was and was so thankful that they found it. They didn't live near us - they lived 1-1/2 hours northwest of us, so we got his dad's name, phone number and address and Steve drove up to Springfield, TN the next day to get the phone. Steve said as soon as he walked into the house that he knew they were Christians because of the Bible verses on the walls. He said they found it on the ground when they were packing up and leaving. So thankful that Seth saw how God cares even about the smallest details of our lives and allowed someone to find a phone in the midst of 125,000 people and return it.