Happy Mother's Day!

I typically don't post anything on the weekend, but I wanted to send a special message to all the moms I know.

"Happy Mother's Day! I hope you have a wonderful day."

To my mom, my mother-in-law, my sister Denise, my sisters-in-law Stacie, Monette, & Peanut, awesome friends and three first time moms -my niece Traci, my friend Caroline and the very newest mom in our family, my niece Allie. Congratulations on baby Wesley David born May 7, 2009 weighing 6 lbs, 14 ounces. The journey is just beginning.

And to K and A, Fletcher and Luke's birthmoms -- Thank you once again for sacrificially giving me the most amazing gifts I could have ever hoped for. I hope you know how thankful we are for you.

You know I love this guy. This clip seemed so fitting on Mother's Day. I won't confess completely but I may or may not have said a few of the things on here. I KNOW I've heard all of them from my mom!

Pull The Plug!

Two days ago I put up a link and wrote a little bit about The Lord's Supper. So today I thought in keeping with that theme, I'd write about some of the funniest baptism stories I've either witnessed or heard about through the years. I'll give you my top 4.

1. When I sang in the group Hosanna, we traveled to lots of very small churches all over Louisiana. I mean really small. One church in southwest LA had baptism at the beginning of the service. After the pastor had dunked the guy, he brought him up and said, "And all God's people said. . ." Well, in Baptist world, when a pastor leads with that, the congregation is supposed to say, "AMEN!" which is what everyone in Hosanna started to say until the congregation yelled, "PULL THE PLUG!!!" Well, alrighty then. I guess that's their way of welcoming people to the family of God.

2. When I lived in Houston, I attended Second Baptist Church which is a pretty big church with several ministers on staff. (True confession time - I dated one of the ministers on staff so sometimes I got to hear the inside scoop of all that goes on which is why I know the following story). The ministers all had many responsibilities on any given Sunday so they rotated who would do baptisms. Because baptisms were at the beginning of the service and they usually had other responsibilities afterwards like teaching a Sunday School class, the minister would wear hip waders so they didn't have to completely change. He'd take off his suit coat, leave his pants, shirt, belt, shoes and socks on and step into the waders then put the baptism robe on top to cover them up. For any new minister on staff on his first day doing baptisms, they would make sure the waders with a hole in them were the only ones available in the baptism area. Yes, you can imagine the feeling of walking into those waters and slowly feeling those waders fill up with water in front of thousands of people. He couldn't get out because he had a job to do and everything was on a pretty strict time schedule. By the time he was done, it was like trying to walk out of wet concrete once they were filled. If you wanna work at a church, you have to have thick skin or incredibly strong leg muscles!

I think I'll save the other two for Monday. Have a great weekend.

Throwback Thursday

The date(s): 1990 and 1995
The place(s): Furman Univ. in SC and somewhere in Atlanta, GA

The mood(s): Siblings having fun! Both of these pictures are of Kevin and his sister Stacie. They've always had a good relationship (although I think they would both tell you they had their fair share of disagreements through the years).

Here's a little factoid for you - they both worked at Arthur Andersen in Atlanta for awhile, but in different departments.

I put up these pictures for two reasons. 1) They are great pictures of the two of them. 2) The first time I ever went to Kevin's apartment, he had the second picture in a frame on his shelf. I immediately went into questioning mode in my mind because I couldn't figure out a tactful way to ask Kevin directly. I was wondering: Who is she? Is she a former girlfriend? Is she a current girlfriend and he forgot to take down the picture? Are there any other pictures of her in this apartment like maybe in his room? I had NO IDEA she was his sister. You have to admit when you look at the pictures that there aren't any extreme similarities that would tell me that they are related (different eye color, different facial structure). I cannot tell you how relieved I was when I found out it was his sister! I don't remember the exact details but I think he might have seen me looking at the picture (trying to nonchalantly read the title and date at the bottom) and told me.

Edited to add: Look very closely in the first picture at Kevin's ear - do you see what I see?

Probably Not What Jesus Had In Mind

I've mentioned this guy (Jon Acuff) and this blog (Stuff Christians Like) before, but once again if you've grown up in church and you have ever taken The Lord's Supper or done Communion (whichever your church calls it) you have to go to link below and read his post. Hilarious.

#535 Communion Tray Etiquette

The best comment from this post came from a reader named Trish who said,

Another tip: If you have recently had your jaw broken and its not wired shut, but you have very thick rubber bands that allow you to open your mouth just wide enough to slip the cracker in...it is in fact NOT a good plan to let the cracker get just soggy enough that you think you can swallow it without chewing (cause you can't actually chew solid food with a broken jaw)...you still might choke. And the blood, I mean juice, usually doesn't follow fast enough for you to use it to help wash down the cracker; leaving you to eventually have to cough up the cracker. Of course, you can't open your mouth up wide enough to spit it back out, so you have you get your suction bulb (very similar to the ones used to suck out baby boogers) and suck the Jesus back out of your mouth before the paramedics are called. Not that it ever happened to me, I just wanted to warn everyone...

I'll add my own Lord's Supper memory. My dad has been the deacon in charge of getting everything ready for the Lord's Supper at our church in Louisiana - grape juice in the little plastic glasses and wafers on the plate (I'm not sure if he still does it or not). Well, since he was in charge, he kept the supplies (juice and wafers) at our house. He kept the wafers in the freezer so they wouldn't go stale. Well, he and my mom cook alot with onions and bell peppers. I know you are wondering where I am going with this, but just stay with me. He would chop up onions and bell peppers and put them in the freezer so he would have them ready for gumbos, etoufees, etc. One Sunday at church on Lord's Supper Day, the entire congregation ate the wafers and everyone got these strange looks on their faces. Somehow the flavor of the onions and peppers had gotten into the wafers and they tasted like onion pepper crackers. I immediately knew what had happened and thought it was funny. I was in the youth group at the time so I am sure I wasn't being very reverent or reflective anyway. Shame on me. We all ate them. My mom was so embarassed. From then on I think the wafers were either kept in the freezer at church or at least kept far, far away from onions and peppers.

Anyone else want to share?

It's (Another) Date

Fletcher and I had another date Sunday afternoon. I took him downtown for lunch and a trip to the theater to see The Commedia of Aladdin. Very entertaining. Only four actors played all the parts using props and costume "changes" to tell the story of Aladdin and his magic lamp. Lots of silly slapstick humor too. Right up Fletcher's alley. When I asked him what he liked best, he said, "Getting ice cream afterwards." Well, ok then.



While we were on our date, Kevin took Luke to Bojangles for lunch. He thoroughly enjoyed it and Kevin taught him to say, "Bojangles." Too cute. I won't mention the massive diaper Kevin had to change later that afternoon after their little excursion. Better him than me.


Did I mention how much I love these two little boys? Note that Rocky (the stuffed dog) is in this picture. Luke keeps pretty close tabs on him throughout the day. He has started "reading" to Rocky and he makes sure Rocky's eyes are looking at the book.

Another One Bites The Dust

Fletcher lost his other bottom middle tooth last week. It was hanging on by a thread and I was afraid he was going to swallow it or lose it. I told Kevin that pulling teeth did not fall into my job description as Mom. The other day I tried to get it and it started bleeding. I got a little queasy and light headed. I figured fainting would not be a good idea since I was the only adult home at the time. So Kevin is now our official Tooth Puller.

Fletcher's comment the morning after the Tooth Fairy came? "She didn't leave any glitter!" Oops. I told him, "Well, I think the glitter is for first-timers only and then she just brings money." He seemed ok with that answer and he was happy with his dollar.

Side note: I promise I will not document Fletcher losing all 20 (?) of his teeth on the blog. The first few are special. I can't believe his permanent teeth are already coming in.

Praying for Michael

We have some very special friends that live in the Houston area - Michael and Christie and their daughter GraceAnn. Michael was a groomsman in our wedding. They were dating and got married just a few weeks before Kevin and I did. We've kept up with them through the years and we were able to see them this past Christmas. Their firstborn son was born with Downs Syndrome and he passed away when he was 8 months old. We grieved with them through their loss. We rejoiced with them a few years later when they adopted their precious little girl GraceAnn who is now 4 years old.

Recently Michael, an avid runner, photographer, business owner, and all around active wonderful guy, was having trouble with his hip. They found a large tumor on his bone and had to do surgery and remove the tumor and replace part of his hip. The tumor was a malignant cancer. On Monday, May 4, he starts some intensive chemotherapy for several months.

They both have an incredible faith in God and believe He is in control and is with them every step of the way on this journey. Michael is the most positive, upbeat, optimistic person you could ever meet. They sign every update they send out with "God is good all the time" and I know they believe that. But cancer is hard.

Will you please pray for this family? They have already been through so much. Pray for God's complete healing and provision (Michael owns his own business and Christie only works part time). Also, pray that the side effects of the chemo will be minimal. Finally, pray for GraceAnn who doesn't completely understand why Daddy is sick.

They do have a website on Caring Bridge if you'd like to read more.
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/michaelreiland