Reason Number 6,751 Why I Love Jason Castro

In Jason's weekly Video Blog this past week, he shared the book he's been reading, like he always does, and guess what it was...

THE SHACK, by William P. Young!!!

You may recall that I read that book awhile ago and mentioned it here on the blog. I loved it as an example of what God wants our relationship with Him to be.

Jason admitted, as did I, that at first he wasn't too sure about it, but the more he read, the more he got into it, and now he is really enjoying it.

But here's the coolest thing, thousands, and I do mean thousands, of people tune in to Jason's vlog every week. I will be willing to bet there will be a run on this book this week, and many people are going to discover that God wants to have a personal relationship with them!!!

Jason's mom said that if we knew all the details of how Jason made it on American Idol, that we would have no doubt that it was God who put him there...I think she's on to something!

Road Trip Baby!!!

So yesterday, right after I promised to come back later and update you on life here with the kids and the cakes, I went to visit for a minute with my fellow dreadheads to check and see if I had a message from my new pretend BFF, Betsy Castro (aka Jason's mom). She and I are the same age, and although it freaks me out just a bit to know that I'm old enough to have a 21 year old kid (YIKES!), she has raised three fabulous kids and I plan to pick her brain as much as she'll let me!

ANYWAY, while I was checking in with the dreadheads, I discovered that it was "Jason Castro Day" in Rockwall, TX and there was going to be a parade and Jason was giving a mini-concert. Ya'll, I packed up those four kids and we headed 3 and 1/2 hours up the road. My air-conditioning went out, so we had the windows down and my left arm and left leg are quite sunburned, but it.was.totally.worth.every.single.second!!!

We parked at Jason's church and road the bus over to the concert...that was the highlight of little Dave's day...he's wanted to ride a school bus forever!



One lady had put a hat with fake dreads on her dog!!! Jonathan wanted a hat like that! :)



Jason received several gifts and awards, but I found it so exciting that when the Mayor gave him the key to the city, he mentioned all of Jason's mission trips to Russia as well as his singing and charity work...way cool!

Finally, we got to hear Jason sing live and in person....fabulous, absolutely fabulous! They've just uploaded several videos from the event here if anyone wants to go take a look. Our favorite was when he sang "Deep in the Heart of Texas" with his ukelele...so very, very cool.

It was just so fun to see him smiling and enjoying himself. And then, his pastor got up and talked about how he had been visiting the dreadhead's site and he realized that it wasn't Jason's hair, or his voice that had captivated America, but it was his faith that really drew people in. Then he asked everyone to pray with him, and he prayed a prayer of commissioning over Jason to go out and do the will of God in his life. Like I said, totally worth every second!!!

I have never joined a fan club before, but I must say that I'm proud to be Dreadhead #2656, and I'm so glad to have a musical artist that both my kids and I enjoy and that I can feel good about them listening to. So thank you Mr. and Mrs. Castro for raising such a fine young man, and thank you Jason, for listening to your parents! But especially for hearing God's call and answering! Can't wait to see what you do next!

It's official, I'm a dreadhead....

Now there's a sentence I never thought I'd hear myself say! You all know by now, that Jason Castro was my most favoritist Idol this season. Partly because he has an amazing, smooth, comforting voice, partly because he sings gospel and folk music--some of my favorite music--and because he is a nice Christian boy who is just himself no matter what is going on around him.

So, while I was researching all things Jason Castro, I came upon a website that spurred off of one of the forums at American Idol called "Dreadheads". The website is DaydeamingBoy. I was fascinated by the site and the love for Jason displayed there. Did you know there was a 24/7 prayer chain for Jason? Me neither, but the "Dreadheads" had one going on! They also have this silly bus tour thing going on, and you know what? I've joined the tour! They dug up a bunch of pictures of old "Hippie-Type" busses, and when you sign up, you are assigned an official "Dreadhead Number" and a bus to ride for the Imaginary trip. It's silly, but it's fun at the same time. They are a bit backed up at the moment, so I'm still waiting for my official number and bus assignment.

They have free downloads of Jason's music, including some of his originals (with printable lyrics) and his covers of songs like "I'm Not Who I Was" by Brandon Heath, and "Clumsy" by Chris Rice (my personal favorite at the moment).

Now with regard to last nights' finale....I was so excited to get to see and hear Jason sing "Hallelujah" again. Simply amazing. My other favorite of the night was David Cook singing with ZZ Top. Didn't he just seem to be right at home and completely comfortable with them? I also thought Michael Johns was amazing last night. Everything he did was good, really, really, good. And although my recording stopped just as Ryan Seacrest says, "And your next American Idol is..."( I kid you not. It stopped right there, with those words....I KNOW!) the internet is a vast and amazing resource, and I was able to find out within minutes that Barb called it from the very beginning...David Cook took the whole thing! Yea, David!

Oh, and has anyone else's kids spent the day singing "Your Best Friend Forever" by Renaldo??? Of all the songs last night, THIS is the one that is stuck in their heads...ugh! I think I'll go put on my Jason Castro CD (Oh yes, I made a CD...all Jason, all the time!) and try to get "Hallelujah" or "Clumsy" stuck in their little brains!