Fingers Crossed for 2010!

Even-numbered years tend to be big for me.

In 2008, I landed my current job that led to my many wonderful friendships.

In 2006, I graduated from college.

In 2004, I frolicked (yes, frolicked-- harder than it looks) across Europe and studied in Oxford for a semester.

In 2002, I graduated from high school.

In 2000, I moved to Houston and got involved with my kick-a color guard.

In 1998, I graduated from eighth grade. Yes, graduated. From the only school I'd ever been to. IT WAS A BIG DEAL.

Oh, and in 1984 I was born.

I can't think of any monumental events that happened in an odd-numbered year.

Fingers crossed for 2010!

Happy New Year!

Slightly Distracted

Family traditions are straight up random when they don't belong to your family. We had an "Awkward Family Christmas... Party" for our youth kids this week and we spent part of the evening sharing traditions. A lot of people all wear new pajamas on Christmas Eve. Several families actually hide pajamas for everyone to hunt. One family plays a giant game of hide and seek in the dark late Christmas Eve - this includes Grandma.

I didn't ever think of our family traditions as odd... until I verbalized them to several people this year and everyone shook their heads knowingly. "Yep. Your family is weird too." Perhaps it was the fact that all of the kids slept in the same room (even as recently as just a few years ago), or the random assortment of goodies in our stockings (batteries, tic tacs, and a lint roller), but I think it was the fact that we still claimed our spots for our Santa gifts when I was 20 years-old. We also used to identify the earliest time everyone could wake up on Christmas morning. As soon as we stepped out of the Christmas Eve service at church, the bartering would begin. When we were really young we used to open Christmas gifts around 6:30am. We've now progressed to roughly 8:30 or 9:00am. I think Clay would still prefer for it to be earlier.

Christmas Eve for the past few years has been spent at my Aunt and Uncle's Church. We usually attend a later evening service. It's beautiful. They usually have a professional vocalist from the Houston Opera, a full orchestra, and a massive choir. The pipe organ is gorgeous. As I look around and see teenagers checking fantasy football scores and texts on their phones, I can't help but notice my own distractions. I have to turn off my desire to wonder about the fonts chosen for the bulletin or the turn-around for the next service. "You do not work here. Stop worrying about child-care." The distractions of the season are everywhere and they beckon us to concern ourselves with just about anything but the Christ-child in the manger.

We started a new sermon series in youth this past weekend entitled "Unwrapped." Our hope is to strip away everything that's been added and pull out just the story from Matthew and Luke. We spent this past weekend remembering that Mary was not chosen out of her perfection, but out of her willingness. This weekend we will examine that first "Silent Night" that was probably anything but silent. For while our Savior was sinless, he was most certainly fully human... and much crying he probably did make. You get the idea.

All this to say, in ten days, when you sit by yourself... or with your crazy family - in front of a tree, around a table, in a wooden pew, or on a cushioned chair... remember the 42 generations who awaited the birth of the Messiah. Recall the young teenage girl who gave up her expectations for God's amazing reality. Picture the infant breathing his first gulp of air and wailing - and then the man who cried out and gave up his last breath on Calvary. This God made flesh has come.

"Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation." Isaiah 25:9

Vignettes

When Lara went to England for eight months, we agreed that neither of us would watch our beloved “A Goofy Movie” until we were reunited again. Sometime while she was gone, though, I found myself holding the DVD case and contemplating the cover art.

“Do you think it would be cheating for me to just, like, watch the trailer?” I asked my friend David.

He considered for a moment. “I don’t think it would be cheating. I just think it would be like if you had a boyfriend and hugged another guy for a little bit too long.”

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Once late at night, my college roommates and I realized that both of the bathrooms were out of toilet paper. Not wanting to go to the store so late, we discussed our options. Someone suggested we just pee in our backyard until we could replenish our supply. There was a beat, and then Kisha snapped us out of it.

“Guys,” she deadpanned. “If we peed outside, we would still not have toilet paper!”

I think we laughed for about five days after that one.

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Sitting in our boring Literature for Children class one day, Lara and I took a break from our regular note-passing when we noticed our fellow classmates were squealing and screaming at something at the front of the room. Apparently there was a particularly large spider crawling across our professor’s desk, and none of the girls in the class would go near it. Finally, one popped up, dashed to the desk, and dispensed of the spider. The room was quiet with awe, until Lara broke the silence by meekly yelling out, “Bravery!”

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I hoodwinked the group into watching yet another movie- this time “High School Musical.”

At one point in the movie, a heartfelt Troy Bolton asks, “Have you ever felt like there’s this whole other person inside of you, just waiting to get out?”

“Yeah,” David responded. “It’s called being pregnant."

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And these are a few of my favorite funny moments from college.

Happy Turkey Day

We finished our feast on the beach after hours of snorkeling... fresh fish, fajitas, ceviche, guacamole - todo esta muy bueno.

Beyond thankful for so many blessings. May you be blessed this day!!

-Ginger and Valerie

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!
His faithful love endures forever.

Psalm 136:1

Thanksgiving Potluck

I’m surprised Val hasn’t fired me.

I have been woefully negligent when it comes to contributing to this random mess of a blog. We had a plan… and even a schedule. We both try and blog at least once a week… occasionally one of us will make it twice. This was not one of those weeks.

Next week will not be one of those weeks, for we are fleeing the country. The family is picking up and heading to Mexico to celebrate Thanksgiving. One of the girls at work asked me wide-eyed, “Are you going on a mission trip?” Um. Not exactly? I’m sure we will have opportunities to love and share with the people we come into contact with, but it will be at our hotel in Play Del Carmen and we will more than likely enjoy it without the turkey.

I don’t really enjoy Thanksgiving food. In fact, last year we all traded in the turkey for filet mignon. That’s right. Thank you Lord. When I was little (read: up until college) I would fill my Thanksgiving plate with dark meat, ketchup, crescent rolls, and maybe carrot sticks for good measure. I didn’t really care for anything else and the smell of German noodles kind of made me sick. Come to think of it, the smell of boiled onions at the other grandparent’s house also made me sick. I don’t think I’ve ever thrown up at Thanksgiving, but then again, I don’t think anyone ever forced me to eat green bean casserole.

ALSO – (random side tangent) why didn’t my family ever get the whole bird on the table like every movie ever made? Never. I’ve never gotten a piece cut at the table. I heard some excuse about the electric knife not reaching into the dining room and making too much noise.

Thanksgiving mash-up menus… jealous? I’m not.

Grandma Ann and Grandpa Joe’s:

• Turkey
• Stuffing
• White Rice
• Sweet Potato Casserole
• Baby Pearl Onions
• Crescent Rolls
• Cranberry and Orange Relish
• Asparagus
• Pumpkin Pie
• Pecan Pie
• Vanilla Ice Cream

Grandma Doris and Grandpa Glenn’s:

• Turkey
• Stuffing
• German Noodles
• Green Bean Casserole
• Sweet Potato Casserole
• Crescent Rolls
• Canned Cranberry Lump Thing
• Beats?
• Chocolate Pie
• Lemon Meringue Pie
• Pecan Pie
• Pumpkin Pie
• A bazillion deserts that sit in Tupperware on the washer and dryer

Best Thanksgiving Memories:

• Getting to drink soda.
• Going to a movie every year… nice tradition.
• Spending it freezing in Jamaica.
• Almost dying when the car was stuck in the snow in Red Cloud New Mexico (no yelling by my parents in this moment.)
• Sledding in the Sand Dunes of Red Cloud New Mexico
• Really fun time with cousins
• Really boring time with cousins
• Standing in a giant circle dressed up, holding hands, and praying together.
• Going around the table and saying what we were thankful for – Clay’s answer was highly sarcastic.
• Having so many reasons to give thanks.

“Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever.” Psalm 136:1

Love's (Suffocating) Embrace

Have you guys seen the Kay Jewlers commercial for the new "Love's Embrace" necklace yet? Go watch it (you'll have to scroll down just a little bit and click "Watch the Love's Embrace commercial), and then we’ll talk.

Back?

Okay so seriously. Everything about this commercial gives me the willies. First of all, how creepy and smarmy is that guy? I think he learned everything he knows about women from watching OTHER JEWELRY COMMERCIALS. I mean really—who talks or acts like that? He really thinks he is smooth. (Do you want to break the news to him, or should I?)

Second, I really hate that stupid woman who has never seen lightning before. Clearly she has been living in a cave or some sort of underground bomb shelter, and in that case I really don’t think he should have made her stand right there and watch the fake raging storm through a giant glass window. Too much too soon, you know? Let’s take it one step at a time and start out with something easy like wind or fog, shall we?

Third, how creepy does he look after he tells her he's "right here" and then gets all serious, brings out the ring box, and menacingly threatens, “And I always will be.” Run away, girlfriend! That’s what us above-grounders call a stalker. And it’s okay to say no. He doesn’t own you! You’re every woman!

Oh, but wait! Looks like there’s something that SPARKLES inside that box! From the looks of that FAB diamond necklace, why would she want to get away now?

Am I right, ladies?

As we learned from Sarah Haskins, jewelry fixes everything!



By the end of the commercial, ol' Bomb Shelter up there is sufficiently convinced she is not dating/married to a serial killer (Do you want to break the news to him, or should I?), and tells Creepy McCreeperson, "Don't let go. Ever."

Ah, Love's Embrace. Love's cold...dead...embrace.

Speaking of Hope

"Praise our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard; he has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping. For you, O God, tested us; you refined us like silver. You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance." Psalm 66:8-12

Relationships are complicated. As I sat through the main service for the 3rd time this weekend, I wrote in my journal the names of so many friends that I have been richly blessed with. Some I've known for years, others I seem to have just met. But the truth is that regardless of the names, the people closest to us have the ability to hurt us the deepest. Investing in others does that. It's a messy business.

"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable." - C.S. Lewis

My new job is to build relationships with the teens of our church. These kids are broken. They are hurting because of the things said to them by students, teachers, and even parents. My girls seem to all be struggling with finding their worth in boys. The boys mask pain with pride and attitude. Instead of life they are merely existing. They've already been hurt one too many times and so they close themselves off again and put up another wall. Do you know the question I've been asked the most in my eight weeks of full time youth ministry? "Why do you care so much about me?" Why is my care and concern so puzzling to them? Sometimes I become discouraged and wonder how I can possibly shake the shoulders of each and every one of them. How can I speak to every kid and find out every story? It's not possible. Even if I spoke to one kid every day of the year I still wouldn't have connected with all the students in our group. It's overwhelming.

But my hope is in Him. He is the one who knows their hurts. He is the one who sees each life. He is the one who holds them as they fall asleep. So I will pray, trusting Him to be all that we cannot be. Trusting him to heal their hurts and hoping in Him to heal my own hurts. After all, relationships can be messy... we are flawed. But thank God we have Hope. Thank goodness for that.

"Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him." Psalm 62:5