Spiritual birthday.

I don't remember mine (I mean, I remember it, but not the specific date...I was six.). I remember Jon's. I remember Katie's. And now, I'm recording Micah's!
On Sunday, we skipped church because both Jon and I were feeling pretty lousy and we just needed some time to re-charge. Jon cooked breakfast, and we were planning a day at the beach. Micah said, "But we'll still have church at home, right, Daddy?" (And a little child shall lead them, huh?) So Jon rallied, did some reading and note-taking, told me to get some music ready, and we had church at home. We sang some worship songs and Jon "preached" on Micah 6:8. When we were talking about the specific directives given in the verse (act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with your God), we also talked about the fact that "doing good things" doesn't mean that you're a Christian or that you're going to heaven. Katie informed her brother and sister that, "Yeah, you have to ask Jesus into your heart to go to heaven". To which Abbie whispered to me, "Mama, can I have a snack?" (Typical Abbie. I swear that child has a tapeworm.) You could tell Micah was thinking about it, though, so Jon just sat him down and asked him if he wanted to pray for Jesus to come into his heart. It was so sweet, so simple. I'm so glad I got to be there for it.

Dr. Phil is my hero. Here's why.

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And that's directed at me, by the way.

Google game

I totally stole this from my friend Jen's blog, by the way. I'm pretty bored and don't feel like folding laundry. I was planning to go to the beach or the pool this morning, but Micah is barfing today (yay!), so we're going to stick pretty close to home. I DO have to grocery-shop, but might wait until Jon comes home to avoid possible public barfing (although he seems to be feeling better now).
So, the game. Basically, you take the following terms, add your name and Google it, then pick out a blurb from the first page.

needs...
looks like....
does....
hates....
goes or has gone...
loves...
eats...
has.....
died....
will.....

Here are my results:

Gretchen needs...sleep (so true!)...the 2nd result said "needs to take responsibility for her actions", which is also true (more on my diet later, maybe)

Gretchen looks like...she's been worked over with a sporting-goods-store full of baseball bats (I was truly, truly afraid to open that link, so I just posted the headline...scary!)

Gretchen does...Las Vegas (on Flickr)...it looks like it was someone's vacation photo album, but again, didn't click the link!

Gretchen hates...books. Um, no.

Gretchen goes...to Nebraska. This term was the only one on the front page; Gretchen Goes To Nebraska is an album by the group King's X.

Gretchen loves...Aaron. Hmmm....I had a boyfriend named Aaron once. When I was 17 or something.

Gretchen eats...an apple. Kind of boring, if you ask me. Also not allowed on the South Beach Diet Phase 1. However, about halfway down the page, is a YouTube about Gretchen Bleiler (I think that's how you spell it)...it says, Gretchen Bleiler, Nike Athlete, eats half-pipes for breakfast. I'm not actually sure what that means, but it sounds menacing.

Gretchen has...a girl. Actually, I've got two! :)

Gretchen died...in 2369, which had a terrible effect on her husband. ...This was from the StarTrek Wikipedia

Gretchen will...meet Julie Andrews. How awesome would THAT be?!

OK, fun over. Back to the barfing grind.

Found a name!

I decided after much hair-tearing to call our homeschool "Beginning of Wisdom Academy". As in, "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom". I like it. I think. I mailed off the forms today, so I'd better get used to it!

Oh, yeah...Creation pictures!

These are in no particular order (I'll probably change that sometime, because of the whole OCD thing, but right now the laziness is overriding the neurosis.)

Fred! As you may know, this is "pretty much the only reason I go to
Creation" (Micah)

Micah onstage with Bigsby (the other reason)

Abbie with Bigsby

Abbie and Jessica at the Chris Tomlin concert

Candlelighting

Slobbery open-mouth kisses from Evie

Nico and Bigsby (are we sensing a pattern? I'm a Bigsby groupie!)


Two of the four cutest nieces/nephews I have

David Crowder


Peter Furler of the Newsboys

Jon and Nia SMOKIN' the cookie-eating contest

Katie and Joshua Benner in the Bible trivia contest

We LOVED the childrens' tent!

Bigsby again (ok, I'm just now realizing the ridiculousness of this)


Katie and Evie


Gary. Love this guy.

My kiddos with Mama Candy and Jessica atop the lookout


The stage I built (haha) from the lookout


Michael and Shelley


Heidi tuning up for kids' worship



Praying before staff worship


Worship service


Micah helping build the childrens' stage


Checking blueprints with Tommy Fender


My honey working headblocks

Help, please!

I need to name our homeschool to register with the state. I SHOULD have done it two weeks ago.
I am totally stuck, though. I've already asked my family to think about it, so I'm pleading with you, the other two readers of this blog: I need ideas!
- not using our last name
- not using "homeschool" in the title
- have to stick with this forever, so nothing "cutesy"
- this will be on the kids' high-school transcripts if we school that long
- would love for it to reflect our faith in God
- would love to include, somehow, the words truth, wisdom, or knowledge
- my inspirational scripture is Hosea 4:1 "there is no acknowledgment of God in the land"...this is WHY we homeschool!

Let me know if you have any ideas!
Thanks.

The Prosperity "Gospel"

I was discussing this topic with my husband and my friend Shelley the other night. So many people that I really love and respect have been TOTALLY taken in by a church that preaches the prosperity "gospel". I put "gospel" in quotes not because I have an affinity for them (although I do, but not like my affinity for parentheses, remember?), but because I'm trying to convey through written words that "I think this 'gospel' is a bunch of CRAP."
Really, the gist of it (as I understand it) is that God wants the best for us. Wait, wait, I'm not finished yet. Of course God wants the best for us, right? Prosperity "gospel" adherents say that that means you'll have the nicest cars, the best house, etc., etc. Also, it means that you'll not deal with bad health, child death, miscarriage...basically any trials of this world that have plagued man since Adam and Eve ate the apple. And if this trials DO come upon you? Well, that must be because you don't have enough faith.
Seriously, my eyes cannot roll back in my head far enough to accommodate my utter loathing and disdain for this preaching. I found this video today (from an unrelated blog about pastors as superheros, lol... www.stuffchristianslike.blogspot.com), and I love how this guy talks about the prosperity "gospel":

Abbie again

I know, I know...the baby always gets the attention, right? When people who don't know Abbie meet her for the first time, they either say A) You're going to be in trouble with THAT one (people who DO know her say this, too) or B) THAT'S the one you're going to bail out of jail. (Her father says that, too.)
Here a few pictures of the little monster:

Baywatch: The Toddler Years


This is just before she swooshed sand and water all over her sister.
FYI: That is iced-tea in there.
Peekaboo! Guess who?
It's Miss Goggles!
Or Miss Sassy-Pants, if you prefer.

America's Next Top Pastor

Move over, Joel Osteen.

Creation

...was amazing. Amazing not only in the "spiritually-fed" sense, but in the "really, how in the heck do these people DO this every year?" sense. The administration of th festival is truly, truly amazing. All of the details are just astounding. Working "behind the scenes" as I and my family do gives a bit of a glimpse into the inner workings, but still, it's pretty intense.
One of my co-workers asked me tonight, "What was your favorite Creation?" I'm sure she had no idea she was asking me such a profound question. Was it my first one? The first year we served on staff? The year I started working for steel crew? The year I started RUNNING steel crew? I had to pick one, so I picked '99, the first year I went with my husband. It was a pretty big turning point. I had gone pretty much my whole life, met pretty much most of the people who are most important to me, but in '99 I got to start a whole new chapter with Jon. I am so blessed and so lucky that my husband not only immediately loved Creation and my Creation family, but made it his own. He has made a whole new set of friends that are now my own dear friends (I didn't know ANYONE from public safety until he started there!).
My best Creation memory this year can't be narrowed down to one. Leading worship on Sunday morning was incredible (I'm still waiting for that video, Sandrene!). The stage build was great; it went quicker and more smoothly this year than it ever has. Hanging out with "my crowd" was so awesome ("IT'S A BAKE SALE! CAN'T YOU SEE IT?"). Leading kids' worship with Heidi was so fun. Chris Tomlin totally rocked my world. (Seriously. I want my worship team at church to learn every Chris Tomlin song ever.) Watching Amy Grant not know the words to very-well-known worship songs was a trip. Candle-lighting was as beautiful as ever. Probably the best moment for me, though, was seeing the look on Gwenn's kids' faces when she and Nick showed up unexpectedly on Friday night. The joy evident in their faces is not something I'll soon forget.
I'll post pictures when I can; I forget every. time. how my new camera works. (Yes, I'm a dork.)