SURPRISE! From Willie & Korie Robertson

You may remember my beach post about having a surprise for Matt & David! Well, here I am with the surprise story! 

A month or so before we went to the beach, a man that my parents are friends with came through a funeral & was chatting about Willie & Korie Roberston (From A&E's Duck Dynasty & The Outdoor Channel's Duck and Buck Commander) and how they were going to be paying a visit to a place around an hour away from us a visit in a month or so. His wife was helping put it together, so we called and got all the details from her about it.

Mom immediately told me about it, and we grabbed up THE VERY LAST TWO tickets for the "Meet & Greet" for David and Matt's birthday.

A few days before we left for the beach, I called into Publix and placed a cake order. The plan was to eat in one night & have cake for dessert! They would see the cake, read the "happy, happy, happy" and not have a clue what was going on - only to get two cutesy cards that explained the madness. 

So, thats what we did! 

The card read something like this: 

"Matt & David, 

Ya'll better get 

HAPPY 

HAPPY 

HAPPY

'cause on June 30th, ya'll get to meet 

WILLIE AND KORIE ROBERTSON 

(and a special guest)" 

Then it explained some more about little details and this was their excitement:

Kind of nonexistent, huh? Haha! They WERE excited, but I think as the day approached it really set in. 

We arrived WAY early (like, 12:00 and the doors opened at 1:30), but we were some of the firsts to get in the door when it finally did open. We found our way to our seats, and sat down. I was a row behind the boys, so I still got to be fairly close. I wasn't able to get a meet & greet ticket because as I said, there were only 2 left! 

We waited in the car, talking about who could be the special guest, discussing where we would eat dinner, and I of course had to endure some torture about making them drive me to Ulta afterwards (mainly Matt led that whining ;)

Once we got in, I had to ask someone where the boys had to go for the M&G, but they eventually found their way. While we waited, we watched the "Wagon Wheel" video that Darius Rucker has with the Robertson family in it, and while I'd much rather hear Old Crow Medicine Show sing that song, the video was cute. 

There were also some of the staff hosting the event dressed up as the Robertson family & they danced around the stage as the time drew near for the speaking to start. 

Meanwhile, this happened! 

Ha! It's sort of surreal to see, actually, but so FUN!! 

I felt kind of starstruck just knowing someone who got to meet them!

Willie eventually came out & spoke, and he later introduced his wife and kids to the audience. The whole Willie Robertson immediate family was there! It was so, so neat. 

If you haven't heard much about the Robertsons', one thing I can bet is that you've at least seen all of their marketing that is advertised on TV and in retail stores. What you may not know is that their family prides themselves on being a family based on "Family, Faith, and Ducks". That's been Phil's (Willie's dad's) vision since he started the company. Since then, he's placed his faith on Willie to promote the business, and that's how they've wound up here. Their show is commendable for many reasons, but the main reason is that they keep Christ at the center of it - not by shoving the gospel down anyone's throat, but by simply living it out through their day-to-day lives. With all the hustle & bustle of Hollywood, paired with the temptations of the world today (especially through television) it's such a breath of fresh air to watch a show that is genuinely funny, displays a wonderful example of family, all while having fun and not being too limited to a script. Duck Dynasty is showing nonbelievers what it's really like to be a Christian, not what Hollywood displays it as through movies because oftentimes they are wrong about it. It's so refreshing that not only do people in the South love it, but so do a ton of other people outside of the Bible Belt! 

It has set a record for the A&E channel as having the most viewers (30,000,000), and it has also set a date for the next season! So, if you haven't jumped on the DD wagon - hop on August 14th! 

Ok. That's all!

Another memory made, ya'll!