Coming soon to a blog very near to you:

Here are some subjects that I am now committing to write and have been twirling 'round my brain as of late:

1. My new puppy!!! (this one not so much twirling 'round my brain, as it has been twirling 'round my living room floor :)

2. Worship. I have been reading, and experiencing and loving this avenue of God so much more than ever lately and have decided to write a few blogs about it. SO get ready cause it's a subject I'm quite passionate about. :)

My Brush with the Shoulder of Fame

The night I got to touch Keith Urban was, quite simply, magical.

In fact, the whole way we got there was an act of God. The guy I bought my phone from at Verizon wanted to know if I liked country music to which I replied "Mmm...Eeeeh" but then when he said Keith Urban my reply was more like "Oh..Well YEAH" haha

Urban is currantly on tour with Sugarland, which (pardon the pun) sweetened the deal because I have recently become a HUGE fan of watching Jennifer, the girl from Sugarland, perform. She's got such stage presence and she really translates how much fun it is to be doing what she's doing on stage (a job I would pay to have, and by pay I mean bleed out blood if I had to).

The concert was well worth the hundreds of dollars others paid to be there complete with fantastical lighting and screens that, if laid flat, I'm sure half the auditorium could fit in. But that wasn't even the best part.

To be able to fully appreciate the best part, you must understand that my husband has a special love tucked away in his heart for the chicken sandwiches sold by the Coliseum. There were jokes made when I graduated in the Coliseum that he was going to stock up on sandwiches, but had they been actually selling these sandwiches, they wouldn't have been jokes...
While Keith was about 1/3 of the way through his set Dayton wanted to go get said chicken sandwich and I, wanting to walk about agreed to go with. As we were walking to the stairs (because our seats were on the floor *she says as she stretches with a nonchalant pride*)
Anyway as we were walking we saw a commotion to our left.

Turns out Urban left the stage the exact time we left our seats and arrived at the back near the sound booth at the exact same time we did causing us to be unwittingly in the way of where he was walking...I stuck out my hand, touched his sweaty shoulder and squealed like a 12 year old girl at a Miley Cyrus concert. I had touched the shoulder of fame.

At that point I thought the dream was over but no, there was a small stage set up right behind where I was standing so a 180 later I was directly in front of the man as he sang about three ballads then hoped back on the real stage. Magical.

I tell you, my shock and awe of how the whole thing fell into place that we would be there to touch him and everything just causes me to be that more amazed at the awesomeness of God. And it assured me in my little head that I am on the right track. I know that might sound out of left field to you, but there was nothing coincidental about that night, nothing. It was a prize package sent directly from heaven.

My renewed opinion of my now, you know, best buddy Keith is that he's a great singer, even better performer, sweats a-whole-lot, and is a tiny, tiny man. I know for a fact his right shoulder is super bony :)

Waaa....Waaa....

I am truly fascinated by the negative mind.
There are times after conversations with people that I just want to open a window to their brain and briefly peak inside at how they find the most disparaging spin on any situation.

Our neighbor could rule as Mayor over all negative people. It doesn't matter what you talk to him about, the cracks in his walls are going to grow and send his ceiling crashing down on his head the same day his truck explodes and his boss decides they are better off without him.

Yesterday, in fact, I ran into him as I was leaving Sam's. I was leaving the store with a succulent Rotisserie Chicken that smelled DELISH and was making my craving mouth water with ever whiff. As I was walking out of the store I handed him my receipt to verify my purchases and his response to my succulent chicken was, "Make sure that top is on tight or juice will spill out all over your car and leave a bad smell"
My response, "haha yeah and then I'd get hungry every time I drove"
My should-have-been-response, "Mmmm YE-YEAH Mama LIKE!"
Haha I was desperately hungry at the time.

It was that little transaction that caused me to wonder once again at the negative mind. I realize it's not difficult to acquire that train of thought because negative thoughts are about as cheap and as easy to get as candy bars; no, it's the decision to maintain that thought process that boggles my mind. Why you would want to go through life thinking the sky is going to fall and good riddin's cause it's a dull shade of blue anyway is beyond my being.

Here's something I guarantee will pop in your head next time you experience a strong dose of negativity...
(Ps. My favorite thing about these Debbie Downers is how everyone looses it towards the end :)

looking for the key to the ignition

The blog world is, well, daunting.
I've had the idea for a new blog for over a year now and getting it off the ground has proven to be a bit of a challenge.
While the "template" choices range from scrapbook style to the cheesy-ness of a twelve year olds myspace there even more complicated then simply "cut and paste"-ing you're way to personalization. You've got to consider your "adwords" and other such things that make it very, very confusing.
I'd like to literally cut and paste pictures of what I want and hand that compilation over to someone who will then reach further into my brain and pull out a masterpeice. Ideally.
Not only that but for some reason using wordpress isn't as easy as I thought it would be-it's taking me some time to learn how to navigate around there.
Ah well I should get back to all of that. I just thought a simple blog on old faithful would maybe ignite some leftover blogging passion.

Give me 6 minutes and 30 seconds

There are few days where I go without a worship song burned in my brain.
Today it's been this one, "Soon" sung by Brooke Fraser on the new United cd. I included the words because they're more rich then most worship songs ("with unveiled face I'll see Him") I love that line.
Pretty much all day I've been basking in this song and I encourage you to do the same.

Soon" Lyrics	[edit]
by Hillsong United | from the album Across the Earth: Tear Down The Walls

Soon and very soon
My King is coming
Robed in righteousness and crowned with love
When I see Him
I shall be made like Him
Soon and very soon

Soon and very soon
I’ll be going
To the place He has prepared for me
There my sin erased
My shame forgotten
Soon and very soon

I will be with the One I love
With unveiled face I’ll see Him
There my soul will be satisfied
Soon and very soon

Soon and very soon
See the procession
The angels and the elders 'round the throne
At His feet I’ll lay my crowns My worship
Soon and very soon

I will be with the One I love
With unveiled face I’ll see Him
There my soul will be satisfied
Soon and very soon

Though I have not seen Him
My heart knows Him well
Jesus Christ the Lamb
The Lord of heaven

I will be with the One I love
With unveiled face I’ll see Him
There my soul will be satisfied
Soon and very soon
Soon and very soon

The Onion Sandwich

If Elizabeth is what you crave, today you're going to be disappointed as we're fresh out of her thoughts and instead offering you a delightful little treat known as The Onion.
I have recently been turned on to this website and thought a slice of it would do my customers some good. ("the onion" while being a multi-layered, potent vegetable is also a multi-layered humorous take on the news. You may reference it at www.theonion.com).
Here's an article you will find delicious...

Criss Angel's Nephew Forced To Sit Through Another Lame Mindfreak

EAST MEADOW, NY—Sixteen-year-old Jake Howell groaned and rolled his eyes Monday evening as he was subjected to another embarrassing performance by his uncle, famed illusionist Criss Angel. "When I was younger, it was cool when he'd crank up some thrash metal, cut open his forearm, and remove a penny he'd just swallowed inscribed with my initials, but now I'm just like, come on, leave me alone and eat your dinner like a normal person," said Howell, who has requested he not be seated next to Angel during Thanksgiving this year. "I don't know how much longer I can keep pretending like he's freaking my mind." Debbie Howell, Criss' sister, added that while she too finds her brother's antics tiresome, she's just grateful he finally has a job with health insurance.


This next article is seasoned with more truth then funny. After reading it instead of laughing I went...Huh, you know, he really did die at 12....Read on...

King Of Pop Dead At 12

LOS ANGELES—Michael Jackson, a talented child performer known for his love of amusement park rides and his hobby of collecting exotic animals for his Neverland Ranch, died from sudden cardiac arrest Thursday at the age of 12. The prepubescent singer, who enjoyed playing dress-up and often referred to himself as "the King of Pop," was celebrated for his naïve exuberance and his generosity toward other children. "This is a terrible loss for music and for all of us," brother Jermaine Jackson said. "He had so much potential to blossom into a gracious and mature human being. As it is, the world will never know the genius Michael Jackson might have become had he grown up." The singer leaves behind a large body of hits, 25,000 unopened toys, and nearly $400 million of debt.

Why others morn the loss of him, I will never understand.

The Darndest Things

Taking the world in through a child's perspective is a useful thing.
Lewis writes, "When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."

"Childlike" is something to be guarded.
The faith of a child, the unbounded love, the belief without logic those are precious commodities.
One of the reasons I decided to write to children is because their mind can more easily relax into situations of fiction. Where an adult might think, "Now how did he get that bunny to come out of that hat?" a child would think, "Woah! A bunny!"

I got a phone call today saying that a little boy I recently went on vacation with is spreading the rumor at his daycare that I played a large role in drowning him. After my threatening phone call to the kids he told, I couldn't help but laugh ;)

Devon is four and embarked on his virgin voyage to the beach last week. I took him out into the ocean to give him a ride on the boogie board with careful instructions to keep his mouth closed as there are few tastes as bitter as a big gulp of salt water. Being four he must have forgotten because he got a big gulp of it the second time we tried and after I helped him cough it out he stated simply, "I drownded." Myself and others tried to reassure him otherwise, but he was bent on painting me as a killer to other boys and girls.

Lewis points out in an essay of his that a tree doesn't shed rings as it grows, it maintains the old ones while it aquires the new. The same is true with people. We shouldn't shed as we get older but rather build, expand, grow.

He writes, "to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development." This is said because what people tend to do is to label arrested developement as anyone who has a taste for childlike things, when really it's their own fear of childishness that inhibits.

Honestly I'm at a loss on how to end this blog because I could go on.
All I am saying is give kids a chance.

Throw a sippy cup in the air and sing THAT outloud.