What's Goin' Ooooonnnnn???

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 12:50:22 GMT

Another contest over at 5 Minutes For Mom... it's a cute little Easter bracelet. I like how they promote other moms' online businesses. Check it out! Party's coming... mark your calendars for March 2-9.

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Updated my 5 X 5 list... maybe I can be a little less scatterbrained this way. Last week didn't go half bad, so we'll give it another go.

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We had friends over last Friday for our Backyard Ballistics co-op. I always have such a good time chatting and sharing with these moms! Encouraged one to try some herbal tea that I had (last time she drank it, she didn't sweeten it - Blah!). She liked it... also discussed what our children are reading - she has some issues with the Harry Potter series so I asked her if she let her son read the Lord of the Rings series (she does... we can agree to disagree on Harry Potter). They had seen the movies, but he had not been able to find the books at the library, so I loaned them mine. She is so sweet! She e-mailed me the next day to thank me for introducing her to the tea ("Herbal tea, this is T... T this is sweetened herbal tea") and to say she had bought some at the store. She likes trying and finding new things. We could have been cut from the same cloth, me and her! Nice to sometimes know when we impact the lives of others, no matter to what little degree! I am sooo going to miss my friends here when we move! :( Don't dwell, Tammy... don't dwell.

Not a caged bird anymore

Wed, 21 Feb 2007 01:25:00 GMT

Growing up in church I started singing with a group of other children and then when we got older the adults started trying to get us to sing duets and solos... older, contemporary songs. I was a standard teen and eventually convinced myself that I was nervous and I couldn't do a good enough job.

As an adult, back in church after several college years away, singing and leading prayer became the things that I knew I had to work through... God told me he had given me talents and I would loose them if I didn't put them out there for Him. So I did, and I do... it doesn't get terribly easier... I get choked up by a lot of the messages in the songs (I don't sing them unless I like them, so, there are, inevitably catches in my voice and such). I'm not a super singer, but I hold my own. The thing is, I put myself out there ... that's always good for children to see, whether I mess up or not. And I have had to talk through it with them sometimes, because they want to know why I end up crying.

Some years ago I had a friend remind me, after his own shakey, but good performance (he has a wonderfully rich baritone voice when he's comfortable) that we don't do it for ourselves or even the people in the audience. I had gone up to him to shake his hand and tell him what a good job he had done. But the compliment made him nervous. I see his point, and agree... but I think God wants us to get to a place where we can take joy in what we accomplish in Him. I think that takes a lot of practice!!

Now, Sam has a wonderful singing voice and is the class clown type of funny man, but he won't do it for people or in front of people for nothing. Perrin will, but she still suffers from the nerves... I just hope not debilitatingly. Not so much that she would avoid possibilities.

When I had gone back to my childhood church home for a visit, one of the same adults who had worked with me growing up asked me if I would lead prayer in sunday school. I said no. And kicked myself the rest of the day for it and every time I thought about it until I just pushed through it. I talk with friends a lot and find out that they've experienced this same thing. One lady told me she was afraid she wouldn't know what to say. I talk to God a lot during the day in casual conversation ( and no, for the benefit of those like my dear heart, I don't hear him talk back through bushes or anything... jiminy, sometimes I think my Heart wonders about my sanity... oh well), so not knowing what to say has never really been my problem that I can remember... it's kind of like conversations in rehearsal. When you're in communion with church family, you get things out on the table in prayer that have hit you through the week in your head. Yes, there are definitly times that prayer should be formal, I think. Those are the ones I have more trouble with. I believe that prayer is a lot of the times just as much a participatory, audience thing as it is to send up those sweet aromas to the Father. So I was always more concerned that I didn't mess up for the people around me... cause Father always knows what's on my heart (WHEW!).

It's a Wonderful Life: He's Still Working On Me...

What's Goin' Ooooonnnnn???

Not a caged bird anymore