foolishnotions.net

any questions?
margin.  it’s important.

it came in the mail almost 2 months ago.  my very own “advance reader’s copy” of mad church disease.  it was so cool… it had no page numbers.  the table of contents just had “000″ written next to each chapter where the page number would be and contained a disclaimer to the effect that this isn’t the final final which made me feel like i was getting a top secret glimpse.  when i got it and thumbed through it i was so proud of anne jackson.  for a little over a year, her bloggees have been privy to the signing of the contract with zondervan, quizzes about our experiences and her word count mile stones.  now, receiving this pre-release copy of the practically finished work, i think i can appreciate, at least on some level, the accomplishment of - - writing a whole freakin’ book!!! wow, congratulations anne.  that must be some feeling.

anyway… where was i?  oh yes,  almost 2 months ago i got this book that i have been so excited to read.  so what took so long, you ask?  was it hard?  was it deep?  was it difficult to grasp?

no…. quite the contrary.  it was one of the simplest things i’ve ever read.

no, wait!  hang on  - -  this is a good review.  keep reading.

the best way i can describe this book is that it is like sitting down with a good friend who will plant themselves in front of you and begin relentlessly asking all the right questions until you start spilling the honest to goodness truth about yourself.  and, the best part?  it’s not a “how to” book.  i was so relieved when i at some point during the read i flipped over to the cover to confirm this little fact.  the book contains no perfect prayer and no secret combination of activities that will cure you once and for all.  no, this is a book that emphasizes identifying and owning responsibility for our actions and embracing the process of overcoming the messes that, on many levels, we create all by ourselves.  i love that.  i find books that try to spoon feed me all the answers, though probably inspired, are uninspiring.  i’m a bright girl, challenge me to find my own answers.  and, that’s what anne did.

so, the number one question people have asked me about the book… “can i borrow it when you’re done?”

sorry, no way, no how.  the pages are dripping with a steady drool of my own honesty.  the book didn’t take me so long because it was difficult to read…. it took that long to make myself write down the answers to all those questions.  this is truly not a book you read.  if you just read it you are completely missing the point and wasting your time.  for people who have served in ministry for any length of time, there will be little to no new information in it.  but i almost guarantee most people have never taken the initiative to effectively act on the familiar truths written in it’s pages.  this book is tool you use to assess, and more importantly, identify what you need to do next to get healthy.  i mean it when i say… it is perfectly simple.  if she had made it difficult and deep it wouldn’t have been nearly as effective.

i believe everyone who even entertains the idea of full time ministry should pick up this book before they start.  i would love to have had this book before i was in need of it… but perhaps i wouldn’t have taken it so seriously.

for those called to serve in ministry, we have a responsibility to be accountable for staying in the race.  we are not called for the period of time that it takes for us to self distruct.  our calling is for a lifetime.  to succeed in this will take a little bit of effort on our part and a lot of loving grace and strength from a loving god.

thank you, anne.

now, quit buggin’ me
and go buy your own book
here

my mom loves astronomy (not astrology, that stuff is wierd… astronomy is the study of the stars and planets).  i have to say, she’s starting to get me hooked.  it’s so cool to think outside our little earth… and all we have to do is look up.

so last night (top to bottom) venus, the moon, jupiter and mercury took center stage at twighlight.  is was so pretty.  now, i didn’t have a tripod… so this picture was taken up against a split rail fence at ISO 1800 … so, it’s a little grainy.  but at least it’s sharp.  pretty cool.  this was taken from doe hill on the blue ridge parkway overlooking spruce pine.  it’s amazing how much you can see up here in the mountains without all the city lights.

ok, i have absolutley no business blogging at this moment.  i have about a month’s worth of work to get done in 1 week.  but i can’t not say this.

this is gabriel… he is 13.

he started spending wednesday afternoons with me learning how to run the lights about a month ago.  yesterday he ran them all by himself during service.  the only purpose i served for him was to confirm what was coming next.  he did such an awesome job.

at some point during service i looked over at the video switcher expecting to see kyle.  instead i saw anthony flore, another teenager… no kyle anywhere.  my immediate reaction…. i didn’t train him… someone else on my team trained him. at this point i’m so proud i could about bust.  i ran into kyle out in the lobby when i went out to watch what was going on with the video.  he was on his way to “the bathroom”.  but he stopped too to watch how his team was doing without him in the room.  we talked briefly about how far we had come in such a short time.  we’ve had our challenges and growing moments… but progress has been made.  so much more exciting things to come.  about that time anthony’s dad came by to have kyle pass a message along to anthony and thank him for allowing him to be involved.

this is michael furlong…

michael is also a teeanger and has been running video for a few months now.  he is excited and faithful.

with all these teeanagers serving, the sound booth has been swirling with teenagers before and after service. i love it, i love it, i love it, i love it.

this is the new remix (formerly 2xtreme) room….

last week this room was half this size.  that was until a team of volunteers came and ripped down a wall.  then matthew spent countless hours painting the new logo and images on the wall.  remix is our 10-12 year group.  they had no idea, it was a total surprise.  i heard they were really excited.  my son will be moving up to this room next year [!!!!].  i am already planning on teaching him how to run sound on the sound system they don’t have yet.  (all they need is $700 - so if you are looking for something worth while to sew into, this is a great place).

this is the kid’s rock hall…

jen and her team have been tirelessly working on this hall for months.  it’s tough painting cinder block wall.  but phase one is done.  the paint is up… it looks fabulous.

wow, wow, wow…. i can hardly contain my excitement about what is going on with our young people.  it’s not just paint and technology either.  this is a post gabriel put up on his blog yesterday.  i’m going to post it here… but ya’ll be sure to go over and comment on his blog.  warning adults - be prepared for a heart check.

it’s all about the young people!
it’s all about the young people!!
it’s all about the young people!!!

i believe to decide and to choose are humanity’s two greatest super powers.

this statement is the long and short of what has been tumbling around in my spirit lately.  every moment of every day we are faced with situations that require a decision and result in a choice.  some are big and some are small.  but the cumulative effect of all of these decisions and choices determine who we are, how we respond to life’s challenges and how great our influence will be…

no pressure.

i think my greatest decision and choice of recent is to be more responsible for my verbal and non-verbal responses to the situation of the moment.  no one chooses how i communicate but me.  and how i communicate should be determined by my choice to love god and my neighbors rather than the circumstances that may be pressing me at the moment.

ok. you go.
what decisions and choices have you been faced with lately?
what is your take on how our decisions and choices shape us?

mom called me at about 6:00.  she wanted me to go out and look at the moon.  evidently what happened tonight only happens once every 44 years.  those two “stars” next to the moon are actually jupiter and venus.  it was cloudy where mom was, so she didn’t get to see it.  she’s been waiting for weeks, i’m sure.  so, i told her i would try to get a shot of it.

i got it… just barely.  it was gone shortly after i grabbed this shot from the top of the 2nd street parking deck.  it was beautiful.  amazingly enough, these were the only 3 lights in the sky until they went away.  then all the other stars came out.

here you go mom.  i love you.  i miss you.  sorry you couldn’t see it… you were right.  it was spectacular.

i see the moon
and the moon sees me
and the moon sees somebody i want to see,

so, god bless the moon
and god bless me
and god bless my mom who i really want to see.

it’s true… i’m addicted to craig’s list. but, tell me, where else can you find entertainment like this?  i promise i didn’t make these up…

free open boxes of ceral (casle hayne)

I have four regular size boxes of ceral that mosty is in date but open,some might be stale, one bag of apple dapple ceral expired and openned.it is all free to who ever wants for what ever you want to use it for

they could be used as animal food, maybe for chickens or for art and crafts. I will throw it in the trash on sunday.

Used Vegetable Oil (Rocky Point)

I have almost 9 gallons of used vegetable oil. The oil was used to fry turkeys but still looks clean, would be good for biodiesel.

omw… i have too many
y’all go first.

• ernie is a resume producing machine… lots out there, no response yet.
• getting used to eating in more.  starting to find a rhythm.  makes me wonder why i thought it was so hard before.  makes me wonder how many other things i dismiss under the pretense of being to busy or tired. i have a feeling i may find out before this is all over.
• dumbfounded by the number of people who i do business with who have lied to me or withheld information from me in order to charge me more money.  really shocked.  wonder how long this has been going on and how much money it has cost me over the years.  brrrrr [shiver] - - i shutter to think.
• staying in wilmington for the holidays.  we are blessed with tons of local family to share memories with.  but i’m really gonna miss going up to see my mom and brother.
• $ hot tip:  got a sam’s club membership today.  they are running a special for students… $15 gift card with $40 membership.  if you are not a student you get a $10 gift card.
• pretty sure i broke my finger the other day.  i dropped one of the stage monitors on it.  it hurt sooooooo bad.  i honestly thought i would pass out.  fortunately, it’s just the tip of my left ring finger.  i went to cvs and bought a $5 splint.  i’ll live. but it’s kind of hard to type.
• so thankful gas is down.
• $ hot tip: i quickly discovered that i have been too spoiled by fresh herbs to go back to dried.  but they’re pricey and i can never seem to use all of it.  i read a great tip to solve this issue at barnes & noble today.  this is how you do it…  cut up the herbs;  grab a ice cube tray;  fill up each cube about half way with herbs;  add only enough water to cover the herbs; freeze; put frozen cubes in airtight tupperware and stick it back in the freezer.  now each time i need fresh basil, i just grab a cube out of the freezer and drop it in whatever i’m cooking.  brilliant!  i can’t wait to try this.
• i’ve discovered that buying a whole bag of onions is cheaper than buying one at a time even if some go bad.  this totally goes against my traditional way of thinking.
• $ hot tip: i have perfected a homemade version of starbuck’s salted caramel. you ready?  international foods dark mayan chocolate made in milk instead of water + ready whip + smuckers caramel topping + a little coarse kosher salt on top = bliss.  just as good as the $4 stuff… seriously.
• thinking i should get serious about getting in shape.  after all, i just licked eating out and we now only have about 5 enjoyable channels on tv… that’s at least 73.2% of the battle. right?
• thanksgiving is next week - this is it!  hands down, no contest, my all time very best favorite holiday.  because, quite frankly, it’s just the perfect day.

what are you doing for the holidays?
will you brave black friday?

for years i have brought bags and bags of clothing to goodwill, collected my donation receipt only to throw it in the trash for not knowing what my donation was worth.  for some reason, probably because i am in real need of tax deductions, i thought to check with goodwill to see if they had some way of calculating a value that won’t get me audited.

low and behold…. there was a comprehensive list of donation values.

so, today i took about an hour and a half to go through my bags and count it all up.  3 large trash bags and one box… are you ready?  drum roll please….

$492.88 [!!!!]

well, of course i made a spread sheet - *here you go!
knock yourself out (or at least your taxes)
ok, you go - how are you making the most out of your tax deductions?

*(and, of course… if you use the spreadsheet double check with goodwill to make sure the values are up to date. you’ve been advised.)

we are so blessed to have friends and family (and friends who also happen to be family) who constantly check on us, pray for us and ask us how it’s going. so, i thought, in the interest of keeping conversations not all about us and the layoff, i would post periodic updates. so, it’s week one; here’s what i know…

i am a spoiled rotten selfish american. [sigh]

i spend more time than i care to admit dreaming of my now financially forbidden pleasures. so in the spirit of this, accompanied by the hope of becoming a more grateful individual, my first update will be dedicated to the things i am thankful for…

1. bread, milk, eggs, sugar, milk, butter, pasta and the spices and condiments already paid for that line my cupboard and fridge.  did you know you can make just about anything you can buy in the store or at a restaurant with these basic ingredients?  who knew?
2. we have 2 cars that are paid for.
3. i managed a sandwich comprised mostly of the ingredients from #1.  got into one of the two items noted in #2 and drove myself over to my friend’s workplace to take her to wendy’s and catch up on life.
4. my friend, allison, is not embarrassed in the slightest by #3… she was just glad to see me.
5. i’m thankful for the library, which has zillions of books that they are willing to let me borrow any time i want - - for FREE!
6. rainy days and vacation time… which, in combination with an item procured from #5, makes me a decidedly happy and rested person.
7. free starbucks just for voting and half a priddyboy sandwich pastor norma shared with me today.
8. we are out of debt and have a seriously modest mortgage.  and though the bank account is dangerously thin and we are having to make big lifestyle cuts, we are quite comfortable. we really have everything we could ever need and so, so, so much more.  all of this makes me deeply sorry for ever complaining before about our income and what we were not able to have.
9. my family, my job, our friends, our church…. wow.  i am uncommonly blessed to really truly love every aspect of my life.  what an amazing gift.
10. we live in america.  we voted this week and our voice was heard.  we have choices.  we are free.  our success or failure is completly independent of governmental or social influence, because this is america, and that is what america is all about.  how did i get chosen to be born here?  i don’t know… but this week find myself overwhelmingly grateful for it.
11. and the #1 thing (not #1 from above, the best- - oh, never mind. you know what i mean).  the thing i am most thankful for this week is my husband.  he is absolutely the man of my dreams.  i know no one who is more determined or driven than him.  he is an amazingly patient and loving father, a generous provider and the love of my life.  i am so excited to see him find his dream.  i desire more than anything for him to find that career path for which he was uniquely designed.  i long for the day i see him energized at the end of his work day, because he accomplished something that was in his heart rather than merely earning a buck.  if you are wondering what to pray for… please pray for that.  i want more than anything to see him truly come alive.  i am convinced that when that happens…. the world will never have seen the likes of my amazing man.  really.

so, this week gratitude. maybe, hopefully, next week i’ll graduate to generosity.  thank you all so much for your prayers, blog love and friendship… y’all are great.

so, until next time…
i desperately need my life to not become all about me, so…
what’s going on with you?
how can i pray for you?
(i really need you to comment - save me from myself!)