My "Personal" Review of Kate-from the popular show, "John and Kate + 8."

Yes, again, this is my personal opinion, and one should take it as such. And nothing against the church I go to..they are awesome. I know they don't have much control over how their speakers perform..

Anyhow, the show was sold out. Our auditorium is pretty big, like megachurch big. You can go to the website and click on the Mt. Pleasant, SC location and see that this church is growing like a wonderful "weed" in North America.

I have watched this show plenty. I (like everyone else) fell in love with their adorable kids, and was just in awe of how this family makes "it work." I knew they were Christians before hand, but even if they weren't, I still would have bought my ticket.

First off-everyone in the auditorium had "psycho eyes." If you don't know what I mean, it's the glazed over, WIDE eyed, OMG look..because there is a "celebrity" in the house. Second, when she is introduced, she is welcomed with standing ovations and mad screaming (which I do not agree with, I sat my happy ass down, thank you. The only one who gets me to stand is Jesus..) A girl even shouted, "I love you!" from the audience..how embarrassing. People had signs drawn out even...like people do at concerts. So weird. THIS part of the review is what I want to emphasize most. How we, as Christians put certain people on pedestals. Oh, I do it too. And it reminded me of yet another thing I have to work on, ha. Of course, there are TONS of people that I respect deeply, and they inspire me. But this kind of reaction for a great Mom, is a little bit over the top. I think every mom should get a standing ovation..not just her.

Her speaking..was well, BORING. There. I said it. Please don't kill me. It was monotone. There was no new insight I didn't know already. No video clips. No pics of the babies. She just sat in a chair and talked. Even when she was done-she had to say-"That's it!". Then the applause came. It was a verbatim speech that was memorized. I think if you're going to go on a speaking tour-it better be damn GOOD-and the speaker better be good. I firmly believe that if you are gifted in a certain area-explore and expand on that. But if you are not-then let.it.to.someone.else.

Then comes the fun part. Our sweet senior pastor gets up and mentions that she will be signing books for only an hour. People around me start to get nervous. They start packing up their things, and putting on their jackets. They practically get into running position. As our pastor starts to say, "Oh and if you are new to the area, please fill out a card, and thank you for coming.." kind of thing. Before he could even finish, people started running out of the auditorium. Running. I was like, "OK, maybe it's time to go now." While I didn't have a book to sign-I just had to make my way out of the place. I got pushed against the wall by 2 10 year olds. Ladies handbags were swaying in all sorts of directions. Mayhem. I thought I was going to be trampled. I was there with a friend, so we just tried to make it out alive.

Kate-advice for you. (Since I'm SUCH an expert! LOL) We need pictures. Of your kids. Some video clips of them waving, and saying "Hi Charleston" would have been nice. Ultrasound pics. A little commentary of John talking about something. ANYTHING. And maybe a little 5 min Q and A at the end. I've seen great guest speakers, and this is what they do, so maybe you can try that. Just walking quickly off the stage as soon as your done made me feel extremely "unfinished." I did not like that in the least.

Seacoast-You might need to invest in some crowd control! And maybe those fabric line things they have at theme parks to line people up for signings. It was CRAZY, to say the least, in the signing area. I thought people were going to fight for spots. Seriously.

Ok, so I think that's it. If you're a fan, I'd suggest just buying the book and reading it. My 10 bucks for the ticket almost had me trampled, stuck in traffic, and home late.

Love to all!