Feast time-Come and Get It!

Appetizer
If you could take lessons to learn any musical instrument, which would you want to learn? I guess the piano. Isn't every pastor's wife supposed to play the piano?! Seriously, it would have made Chris's life a lot more simple on many occasions (like every Sunday at our church-plant first pastorate) if I could have at least played the keyboard for worship. BTW, it's my little brother's fault that I don't play the piano. I was taking lessons from our pianist when my mom was at work as the church secretary, but when she got pregnant with my little brother she quit, and poof!, there went my piano lessons! Thanks a lot, Jamey!

Soup
Have you ever mistaken a person for someone else? No, but to my dismay I have called people the wrong name more times than I care to remember!

Salad
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how well do you keep secrets? I'd say an 8 or a 9. As a pastor's wife you are privy to many personal, intimate details of people's lives and it is crucial to keep those to yourself. But I always have to tell my hubby anything I keep secret from everyone else!

Main Course
What's the closest you've ever been to a dangerous animal? Do angry church members count? No? You sure? Some of them sure act like dangerous animals... Well, then, I'd have to say the zoo.

Dessert
When was the last time you lost your patience? I think I lost it for about a week, last week! I finally found it under some quiet time, which I had long misplaced as well!

Groovin'

4“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Tell me, if you know so much.
5 Who determined its dimensions
and stretched out the surveying line?
6 What supports its foundations,
and who laid its cornerstone
7 as the morning stars sang together
and all the angels^[a] shouted for joy? Job 38:4-7(NLT)

When my house is really dirty and needs a good, top-to-bottom cleaning (Oh, quit acting shocked! You know yours gets that way too sometimes!) I get out the cleaning supplies, load them all in a bucket, and put on my grungy sweats. The final supply that I need doesn't have a bald guy's picture on it or smell like mountain mist scent-it's music. Loud, energetic, pumping music! I pop a CD into the stereo or put the satellite on the 80's channel, roll up my sleeves and get to work!

Even when I was a kid, we always listened to music when it came time for that once-a-week, marathon cleaning that most working mothers know all about. Somehow that music made the work seem less daunting, less grubby. It inspired us and got us moving (except for the summer when my dad's favorite work music included "Let's all go down to Dumas Walker", but that's another subject!)

I was reading Job this week and discovered that God likes to do his heavy lifting to music too! Who knew?! But there's one major difference between my Saturday morning play list and God's. It seems that when the Almighty, Omnipotent Creator Of The Universe rolled up his sleeves to measure the breadth of the heavens or sweep the mighty oceans into their borders to make way for dry land, He decided to put on The Singing Morning Stars and The Angels. (Sound like some girl group from the 50's, don't they?) Wow, that sure makes my DC Talk or 80's oldies-but-goodies seem paltry in comparison!

I love it when I come across these little snippets of scripture that make God a little more touchable, a little more 'relate-able', a little more human. Now, that's not blasphemy, because scripture says that we were created in His image. As humans we are a reflection of
Him, and some of His attributes are stamped upon us all, so God must be a little 'human' somewhere in there!

So the next time I'm scrubbing my tub to the strains of Jesus Freak, I'm gonna smile and look up and imagine my Daddy God's foot tapping up there on the footstool of the earth, nodding His head along and thinking "Good song choice! Where's My 409?"

Friday Feast

Appetizer
What comes to mind when you see the color orange?
Nathan's favorite color is orange, and he and Chris both look particularly handsome in it! (Which is logical, since Nate is a carbon copy of his Daddy, both inside and out!)

Soup
Did you ever get in trouble while you were in school? If so, what was it for?
In the 7th grade, we moved to a bigger city and I started a new school. The one new girl I met talked me into skipping school with her, only I didn't know that she had already missed so much school that she was on the truancy officer's list, so I got busted by the truancy officer on my first offense! I cried in the truancy officer's backseat all the way to the school, and that girl just laughed at me. I was so upset in the principal's office over disappointing my Daddy that he (the principal) felt sorry for me and I never had to go to in-school suspension.

Salad
Which topping(s) make up your perfect pizza?
The Mediterranean at Krazy's Pizza in Wilmington, NC. Thin crust, sauce, mozzerella, feta, ham, salami and olives. Yum!

Main Course
Do you believe in UFOs/aliens/etc.? Why or why not? No. If God loved His creation, man, so much that He was willing to send His only Son to die for them, I don't believe He created any 'seconds' or trial runs out there.

Dessert
What color is your bedspread/comforter/quilt? Burgandy and gold


(Got Feast? http://fridaysfeast.blogspot.com)

53 Random Facts About Me

1. I once met Richard Petty, the race car driving legend.
2. I always leave the library with something.
3. I have short arms. No kidding-I have to roll up the sleeves on almost every shirt and sweater I wear.
4. I love watching movies in the movie theater.
5. I still have my very first teddy bear.
6. I have a huge space between my big toe and my second toe.
7. A hairdresser once told me that I had the thickest hair he had ever cut.
8. When I was a child my mother used to have to take my books away and kick me out of the house to play outdoors.
9. I have read by flashlight under my covers.
10. I never remember to check the gas gauge.
11. I am a lead-foot driver.
12. I hate church business meetings.
13. I am addicted to cooking shows.
14. I get in trouble for not writing transactions in the checkbook.
15. I had the highest SAT score in my high school.
16. I didn’t get my driver’s license until I was 20.
17. I used to dance with my Maw-Maw to Lawrence Welk when I spent the night with her on Saturday nights.
18. I never drink milk.
19. I despise mayonnaise.
20. I am passionate about guacamole.
21. When I was a child, my nickname was ‘45’ because I could talk 45 miles per hour.
22. I once hit my mother with a broom.
23. I like to listen to music. Loud. WHAT DID YOU SAY??
24. I loathe washing dishes by hand.
25. I have been known to carry a vase of flowers from room to room with me so that I enjoy every minute of them.
26. I have received roses from Ecuador. Yes, that is in South America.
27. I hate church business meetings.
28. I have drunk coffee from the original Starbucks in Seattle, Washington.
29. I was 30 years old when I flew for the first time. My daughter was six months old.
30. I know a Secret Service agent and two former NASA scientists, but if I told you more I'd have to kill you.
31. I love to send hand-written cards and letters.
32. I have ridden in ambulances more times than I can count.
33. My only childhood pet was a chocolate lab named Brownie.
34. When I got married I only knew how to cook two things-chili and spaghetti. We ate a lot of chili and spaghetti.
35. I can make real Beef Bourguignon-and spell it (No, I didn’t use spellcheck)
36. I have been through six hurricanes in a six year span.
37. I kiss two miracles goodnight every single day.
38. I love the poetry of Ruth Bell Graham.
39. My picture has been in a newspaper three times in my life.
40. I experience terrible stage fright when singing a solo.
41. My husband proposed to me in his grandmother’s bedroom.
42. I love to watch the sun rise over the ocean.
43. When I’m overwhelmed with life I like to stay in my pajamas all day.
44. I have touched a dolphin.
45. Did I mention that I hate church business meetings?
46. I gave birth to two children without ever having a single contraction.
47. I like rainy days.
48. When I was a little girl I wanted to marry Barry Gibb when I grew up.
49. The best birthday gift I ever received was my daughter, who was born on my birthday. The second best was a red leather diary with a lock and key that my Daddy gave me on my 12^th birthday. I still have both.
50. My favorite teacher was Miss Sullivan, my chorus teacher in high school.
51. I adore old family stories, and constantly bug my family members for new ones.
52. I own an original Grease LP. If you don’t know what an LP is, you wouldn’t appreciate it anyway!
53. I can peel an apple in one, long piece. I learned how from my Maw-Maw.

Chris' Consolation

Make an online slide show at onetruemedia.com

I made this for Chris after hearing this song today, and thinking about how much joy just being with Carissa brings to him. It turned out so well that I had to share it!

con·so·la·tion (kŏn'sə-lā'shən) n.- One that consoles; a comfort