First let me say WOW what a great 2 days! October 24 and 25, 2003. It was beyond what I expected totally�

I went to the Meet and Greet at Hecht�s at Tyson�s Corner & met Dasha, Kari, & Shawn as well as other FOA people in line. They were so great to meet. Dasha gave Amy a gorgeous purple scarf that Amy loved & even wore while singing before the walk.

I got to talk to Amy for a little while & asked her what she was going to dress up this year for Halloween as I loved the Man of Constant Sorrow photo on FOA & she said she didn�t know yet �that Corrina was big into Toy Story & she might be Buzz�that Corrina had a handed down Oklahoma Sooners Cheerleader costume or maybe she�d be Jessie from Toy Story. She asked me for any ideas for her & for some reason unknown I said Bo Peep & she said she�d rather be Buzz. I got interrupted by the President of Scholarship America & got to stand by Amy while he was talking as I was waiting for my photo with her but that was ok because I got to be beside her longer.

After the meet and greet, I checked into my hotel, the Hilton Tyson�s Corner & when I was moving my car, I saw Jennifer Cooke & Amy get out of a gray Mercedes with a Florida plate to go into the hotel. I stayed in the same hotel as AMY!!!! YAHOO!

I am so glad I got to meet all the FOA people especially Dasha, Kari, and Shawn whom I hung out with that evening. We even tried to do a piano karaoke of Amy�s songs Baby & Every Heartbeat at the piano bar in the Hilton Hotel near the walk where we stayed that night but the piano player did not know them very well & we bombed but it was fun. Jennifer & Amy said that they were going to come down to the piano bar when Dasha saw them at the elevator but we waited & waited & they didn�t come down but we got to chat with people from Scholarship America which was fun.

On the morning of the walk, I helped set up the FOA booth & helped at the booth, talking to people about Amy & her music.

Amy (wearing Dasha�s scarf) sang Helping Hand & God Bless America with a children�s choir. I was in the front row videotaping & taking pictures. Then, we walked & Amy set a fast pace in the first lap & was hard to keep up with at first�but she took a bathroom break at the start of lap 2 & I waited for her along with Dasha & other FOA members so we could walk with Amy �Yes we got to walk the rest of the way with Amy Grant. We took turns talking to her & Dasha was so kind & told Amy that Kari was supposed to be walking with her since she won the FOA contest to do so but hadn�t got to & Amy yelled for Kari to come & tell her her life story & walk with her.

Things she talked about�she said she was thinking of a trip to Africa as Jennifer Cooke had a voucher that needed to be used by the end of the year & Shawn had told her that he�d lived in Africa & she asked how long she�d need to stay to make the trip worth it. She talked to a FOA member on the west coast on the phone while walking that Shawn had called. Amy said she wanted to go on a bike ride through Napa Valley for vacation next year. She said she played volleyball when asked by Kari & that her kids used to sleep with her in bed. She said that last night was the soundest sleep she had gotten in a long time at the hotel. She said she was flipping through channels before going to bed & after talking to Vince which was a rare occasion for her since when she was watching with Vince he normally flipped through every channel (she said she hated watching tv with Vince because of this). We told her that it was a guy thing. She talked about FOA & the costs & how she worked with Chris to make a price that was reasonable (she said some online clubs are over $100). She said most of the FOA money goes to Helping Hand charity.

I asked Amy Rhema�s question of if she�d read the Purpose Driven Life & what her thoughts were & she said she started it read every day then every other day & got to day 14�.that it was like what her counselor had said to her when she was going through her divorce & that she felt like she was re-hashing that old experience when she was reading so she stopped. She said her mom and dad were reading it & that she intends to read it all one day but she has to be in the mood for it. She asked if I was reading it and I told her I was on day 1 (I haven�t had time to read it more) & she said see you do need to be in the mood for it. This was towards the end of the walk & then we took a photo of most all the FOA people with Amy before she got in a black car to be driven to the airport (Reagan National). She was performing with Vince at a benefit that night Oct 25 & she went to Ohio to perform at Michael W. Smith�s concert on Sunday & she talked about that.

Great weekend�glad I got to meet & hang with Dasha, Kari, and Shawn, I am still psyched & can�t believe I actually walked beside Amy Grant!!!!!