Wow! On the blog, I have missed the broken toe incident, 4th of July, and the nasty storms. I have been gone for a while due to all of those things - in that order! The storms were the thing that is making communicating difficult. We had some lightning hit and it fried our router and such. We still will not be back and right again for a couple of days. I just had an opportunity to post and let you know that I will be back soon! Hope you all are well!
Stalking music? July 2, 2008
On the way home from dinner tonight, my hubby and I were telling our son about 80’s musicians, and what their music was like. We spoke of how many were one-hit wonders (think Flock of Seagulls, Bow Wow Wow, Soft Cell, and David Lee Roth AFTER Van Halen), but incredibly, some artists are still relevant today in music. Look at Bon Jovi. Or U2. In fact, I think they are even MORE relevant today than back then. As much as I may disagree with Bono’s politics sometimes, I truly admire his dedication to raising awareness and money for the poor. He is a Christian, and he is able to use his celebrity clout for things that we should all care about. Were you not amazed to see him with W at the White House to praise his (W’s) efforts and diplomacy in the AIDs relief we were sending over? After all, the most important thing is to love one another, right? Okay, back off of the soapbox…so, we were talking about these bands still around today, and my hubby came up with The Police. I have NEVER liked their music. Ever. Even in the heyday of their first albums. My husband said I must be high because they were the first to fuse ska into their sound and are awesome. True on the ska part, I relented (because I do like ska), but their music is creepy. I offered the example of one of their biggest chart busting hits, “Every Breath You Take.” The title is the first red flag. This is no love song. Have you ever listened to the words??
“Oh, cant you see
You belong to me
How my poor heart aches
With every step you take
Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
Ill be watching you”
Hello?? Apparently restraining orders must not have been chic back then. Nothing screams stalker louder than this song. It closes with the haunting words repeated over and over, ” I’ll be watching you.” Yikes. We made that a hit folks. In fact, that whole album was creepy. I had my hubby on that one. He agreed, but said they had other music that was great. So the question is, did we even realize what we were listening to back then? I mean, I remember couple skating to this one! I tell my son all of the time that he cannot listen to this or that because of the disgusting, degrading lyrics, but was I listening to the same stuff wrapped in a pop bow? Hmmm…
Guilty Pleasures July 1, 2008
Ok, there are a lot. I mean, I could go on and on about ‘em. I am addicted to reading Joan Hess’ murder mystery novels. She may not be on the NY Times bestseller list, but I would argue that anyone who could paint such vivid pictures of outrageous characters and wrap up a murder with her dry humor is a genius. No arguments allowed - she is gifted. Okay, next is 80’s music. It did shock the heck out of me the first time I heard the radio announcer say “All your favorite oldies hits all day long!” and then played a Duran Duran song. Sigh. I cannot let go. I am the gal to pick to be on your pop culture trivia team. History? No. Geography? Nope. Trends, fads, music? Ding, ding, ding! Pick me!! Next is what we refer around the house to as “dead people shows.” They are shows like CSI, Without A Trace, any 48 Hours mystery, etc. I do not get to watch them very often, but if I need to veg out, I am watching them. Along the same vein is the granddaddy of all guilty pleasures. Murder, She Wrote. Yup, with Angela Landsbury. I know, I know…you’re saying, “Oh no, you are too cool to love that show!” Sorry folks, they are classics. Gems. Love ‘em. My family now makes fun of me by running around in a shrill voice and asking, ” Has there been a muuuurder?” They think it is hilarious. But really, they are just making me think that I will have to watch another episode soon. Here’s a question that I have been kicking around lately…when I reveal the “dead people shows” guilty pleasure to select individuals, I get a myriad of responses. Some are like, ” Oh man! Me too!!” Others think that those shows are “devaluing human life and desensitizing (me) to true human loss.” Ok, now I understand that there are some things in life that are very serious, like death. But come on, it is a show! A show! Would I let a child watch them? Of course not! But I am an adult. If I cannot watch something without completely losing any objectivity or morality, I have bigger issues in my life, right? Ok, back down off of my soapbox…last guilty pleasure for today? Moose Tracks ice cream. Mmmmm. Hmmmm. I think I will go have some now!
God and the ocean June 29, 2008
I have just come back from church services, and man, I feel great! I think sometimes I take for granted the blessings that I have been given, because when I am at church, I can clearly see so many things that I could be doing for God. It is easy to get mired down in the every day minutiae and lose focus on what is important. My relationship with God has often been like ocean waves - up and down. I was born into a Latin family who was very religious - in theory. My family’s religious roots run deep in the Catholic denomination. My Grandma, the matriarch, was quite devout, and was a kind and gentle woman. Her children, my Dad’s siblings, were the first generation of the family born in America. Like many families, acclimating to the American culture was vital. Growing up, I went through the typical traditions of the faith, such as baptism, catechism, and communion. I do not really remember a lot about attending church, except for my Dad’s softball games. Unfortunately, my parents divorced while I was in jr. high school, and all affiliations to the church dissolved as their marriage did. A lot of anger and self-centered thinking kept me out of church for a lot of years. I married a wonderful man who came from a good Southern family. Of course, he grew up in Georgia, so he was brought up Southern Baptist. He said that whenever the church doors were open, his family was there. Big contrast to mine! When we met, neither of us were practicing our faiths, so which church to pick was irrelevant. After we were blessed with the best kid in the world, religion became an issue. My husband swore that our child would never step foot in a Catholic church, so I converted to Southern Baptist. I was dunked and everything! It was great! After a few years, however, he became concerned about the teachings of our pastor. Of course, it was not the pastor that he took issue with, but the message from the higher ups of the church. So, we explored different churches (even the ones where the ladies all wear long dresses and doilies on their heads) until I put my foot down. We had to find a church home. He said that he wanted to visit the Catholic church. What?? See, God does have a sense of humor! So I told him that he would have to visit alone and be absolutely sure that it was the right place for our family. I was completely surprised when he committed to the year-long religious education classes. He said he finally felt that what he understood the Bible’s teachings to be were echoed in the church. Soooo….conversion time again. I took some classes (Catholics returning home) and FINALLY made my confirmation. Of course, my family was delighted, but some in his family were less than enthusiastic. Overall, it has been some journey! I can see now that all along through the cruddy times in my life - my parent’s divorce, the drunken rebellion of my youth( not ready to write that post yet) , the ability to make the absolutely wrong choices many times over, even the feeling of spiritual abandonment - it was not my cleverness or luck that saw me through it, it was God and His love. Truth be told, I could have been wiped out many times, but I know now that I was given these opportunities for a reason. I have a purpose here! So why is it so hard to remember this all of the time?? I am still a work in progress. I still find myself sometimes absorbed in my problems and feeling like I am moving further away on the waves from God. But then, there is a shift in the pattern, and those giant waves bring me in and I can feel His presence all over me. After all, we are not supposed to worry, right?
A person’s anxiety will weigh him down, but an encouraging word makes him joyful. In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence and his children will have a place of refuge. Proverbs 12:25 ; 14:26
Reality Party June 28, 2008
Ok, I admit that I have wondered what I would talk about on this post. I mean - would it even be interesting? But then I found a story today that made me laugh out loud. I was at a popular women’s website, and there was an article about stress-free party planning. Do people still do this?? But anyways, above the miracle tips was a photo of the stress-free party. It looked like somebody busted open a Martha Stewart party pinata all over the yard. Besides the time involved, who has that kind of money to have this level of party anymore? I love my friends, but if we entertain, there are no individual pots of flowers with their names carefully scripted on them as place cards. They do get their own real glass to drink out of ( disposable plastic cup if it is an outside party ). Do I love them less? Am I less creative? Nope! I would rather spend my time not worrying about the “presentation,” but enjoying the people I care about. It is these relaxed moments that lend themselves to good conversation and plenty of laughs. Besides, who can really be at ease when you are worried that the mustard will not come out of the embroidered napkin? Oh wait! There is probably subsection to the article about how to get any stain out of anything. Who has time? We use paper towels.
Atlanta Fest 2008 June 27, 2008
I have just signed up for this blog and am already freaking out at how many options I have. Yes, it is true that I am one of those people who go to a drive thru and still ask each time for a minute to look at the menu, just to make sure I want the same thing…again. It drives my hubby crazy, which makes me now do it just for fun. I am trying to wade into the world of blogging by dipping my toe in first. I know that there are all sorts of guides about how to blog “correctly,” but what they hey…I am learning as I go. I suppose there is no “theme” to this. Just stuff that I ( and hopefully you ) find interesting.
Which brings me to why I decided to get going on this blog thing…I recently spent some time with friends at Atlanta Fest 2008 in Stone Mountain, GA, who informed me that their 13-yr old has a blog. I thought that it sounded like a great way to keep in touch with your peeps and hopefully meet some new peeps! Of course, my 13-yr old is horrified that “peeps” is still in my vocabulary, but that is a whole other post for the future ( I can see it now…”How Mom’s Mouth Ruined My Life!…” Film at 11).
Atlanta Fest rocked! It was my first time going there and I was amazed how incredible the experience is! If you have never been, here is a primer. Lots of Christian bands rocking for three days to a crowd of teens and families on fire for the Lord. It was amazing. I think that the thing that impressed me the most was that within the crowd, there was no distinction between denominations, backgrounds, or race. Everyone was there to worship together. It was cool. Our opportunity to go was due to our friends that I mentioned earlier. They own a Christian apparel company called Faveur, and they travel to some festivals as vendors. They are based out of SC, so we were thrilled that they would be back in our neck of the woods, and jumped at the chance to help in any way we could. How fortunate we are to have such awesome friends! They are the kind of people who make you feel happy and excited just being with them because they have such great hearts. You know, some businesses are revved up when they start, then it all just becomes another form of work for them. James and Renea (and their whole family) are just as excited to share the message today as they were from day one! It is incredible. They absolutely SHOW their faith. Anyhow, so that this does not start sounding like a Hallmark card, I shall stop gushing. We spent a lot of time at their booth meeting some amazing people. I was impressed that many of the younger people knew so much about their faith and wanted to share it. Although it was very hard work ( all of the folding, and the nasty heat), I feel blessed to have been there. I got to hear most of the music, and even got to see some of the performers. Unfortunately, when Toby Mac was performing on the first night, my friend Renea and I were folding shirts in their trailer in the parking lot - fashion is such a glamorous job, you know. Man, he sounded great though! I stood in line to get Jeremy Camp’s autograph (of course I stood next to Renea’s young daughter and her friend so that I did not look too pathetic - at my age giggling over him - he is pretty). He was the closing performer on night two and was gracious enough to stay very late to make sure that he gave every fan the opportunity to meet him. The security guards were screaming at us to make sure we did not touch him ( who, me??), but when we got close, he shook hands and gave high fives. He also made sure that we knew it was not he - the performer- that we should excited about, but God. What a guy! On day three I had the opportunity to meet Hector Cervantes (I had to look up his last name) from Casting Crowns, and his wife Christy. Let me just say that all of the Christian artists that I can identify can fit on the head of a pin. I listen to the music (along with a plethora of others), but I have no idea really who they are or what they look like. I thought the Cervantes’ were just customers at the Faveur booth. They were very kind and we talked about the shirts. It was not until a few minutes into the conversation when I asked if they had been there all three days, and were they having fun, did he even mention who he was and that they were playing that evening. He was very humble about it, and was not “celebrity-ish” about it at all (I have met my share of Hollywood celebrities and most want you to know how famous they are). They were both charming and we had a lovely conversation about real world things. The band should be proud of how he and his wife represent them and their faith! (Side note: It was so cool that he wore a Faveur shirt that night on stage!!! ) They were actually one of the bands that I most wanted to see perform, so it was very cool to know that their band members are so down-to-earth. You know, you never know who you will meet, and what impact you may make upon their life. I know that I am impressed with the artists there who were not into themselves, but into sharing their faith. THAT is what this festival is about. The message is God’s. These people are merely (pardon the pun) the instruments.
Here is a link to some event photos that are shown on the Atlanta Fest website…the photographer, Brian Korosec, did some amazing work! All in all, I’d say the best part is the time that we spent with our friends, though. I miss them already, but they are off to the Creation festival…good luck guys!! We love you!
Hello world! June 27, 2008
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