Laugh. Love. Learn.

do you know what this is?

students: “what’d you do last night?”

M’Moon: “went to Cracker Barrel to eat fried okra — my favorite!”

blank stares.

M’Moon: “come se dice okra en espanol?”

blank stares. “no se.”

M’Moon: “um…it’s a green vegetable. it kind of looks like a chile but it’s not spicy.”

look of confusion.

one brave student: “green vegetable is broccoli?”

M’Moon: “that is green, but no…”

teacher looks up “okra” via online Spanish-English dictionary.

M’Moon: “1. quingombó (m) okra (f)???”

“no se.”

teacher finds pictures on google; students come look.

shaking of heads.

confusion.

apparently, it’s a vegetable that’s not sold or grown in Mexico…

This Sunday at theVine we started a new series called Apple of My I. It’s a series on parenting and leading the younger generation, and going with the back-to-school / apple-for-the-teacher theme, we thought it might be cool to build a teacher’s desk. A really big teacher’s desk. It’s 10 feet wide and taller than I am. Originally we planned to hang it from the trussing, but we were afraid it’d pull the trussing over — it ended up weighing several hundred pounds. This was by far the most intricate carpentry we’ve attempted…Guy Kawasaki says, “Don’t worry, be crappy,” as in….don’t be afraid to take risks. This little project had two possible outcomes: rockstar, or face plant. You can make the call about how it panned out.

For this week’s Creative Chaos I wanted to walk you through how we go from design to implementation. It all started with this drawing:

Next, I fed some of our production team one night and we chatted about how to make things happen. As you can see, we’re just regular gangstas. Ha ha. No but seriously, we all have day jobs….two teachers, a computer nerd, and a business guru….we just like to spend our free time making environments that complement sermon series and create an atmosphere for worship. *excitement!*
Warning: If you’re remotely nauseated, don’t watch this. It was filmed by an 8-year-old.

a. the angles didn’t work. too much weight. very sad.
b. i told you i speak cake. “it’s out of cake, because i didn’t know how else to do it.”
c. yes, that’s Hannah Montana trussing. you’re jealous.
d. please notice my totally awesome Revolution Mission Camp shirt…thanks @sebren!!!
after our conversation, the guys wanted to draw the plans to-scale. with sidewalk chalk.

Then Kris sent me this:

We ordered special 10-foot MDF boards, and the next thing that happened was really awesome…Kris & James have a friend named Duke who’s a professional carpenter, and he graciously allowed them to use his cabinet shop to construct the frame of the desk. He also helped! (Thank you Duke!) I’m really pleased with the results.

You Ask, I’ll Answer: Response 4. (you can still ask questions! anything is fair game.)

Kelly asked, “Do you have a bible study you use/ How do you maintain a close walk?”

I wish I had a great, holy answer to this, but it’s more like a confession: I suck. I’m trying to not suck, but frequently, I do. And then I feel guilty about it. (Satan: 2. Jesus: 0.) Sometimes it seems like, no matter how much I plan to be in the Word, it always gets put off (“oh, I’m running late…I’ll spend time in the Word later…”), lost in the noise, or forgotten about. And you know what? That’s lame. Definitely not giving my best to Jesus.

As an English teacher I end up reading lots of things over and over and over again. For example, I’ve read To Kill a Mockingbird more than 40 times. Aloud. Good book, but no eternal significance. One day I was trying to remember how many times I’d read that book, and was suddenly disgusted: I can’t even count how many times I’ve read a human-authored novel, but I haven’t read the infallible, God-inspired, living Word in its entirely even once. Granted, there are parts of it I’ve read many, many times, but not the entire composition, page-to-page. But I want to.

In self-evaluating my previous Bible study, it’s very disjointed. I know lots of little stories and segments of events that took place, and a pretty decent amount of the principles outlined in the New Testament, but I don’t feel like I have a good grasp on the story of God’s people as a whole. I’m terrible at memorizing historical facts, probably because I spent so many years memorizing things for tests and forgetting them…but the problem is that now I WANT to retain knowledge. I’m literally praying for retention, because I want to get the whole big picture.

So, with that being said, I have a new plan. I’m starting with Isaiah, and reading one chapter at a time. That’s everything, including sidenotes and footnotes, looking up words I don’t know. As I’m reading, I’m writing a one-paragraph summary of each chapter. That way, when I read again the next day, I go back and re-read my summaries before tackling new material. I’m also writing down what God is revealing to me through each chapter. I’m hoping that, when I finish Isaiah, I can go back and read my 66 paragraphs and have a solid understanding of the book of Isaiah as a whole. It’s so easy to look up a story or a passage I’ve heard of for specific comfort or to prove whatever I’m talking about – but that alone is dangerous. I want to know God’s cohesive love story as it’s unfolded throughout the ages…and then live out that story as it continues to unfold in my life.

I can pretty much tell you what happens in every chapter of To Kill a Mockingbird. And, one day, I hope to know that much about Scripture…not just for the sake of knowing it, but so it can continue to radically change my life and the lives of those around me.

Last Sunday at theVine David talked about the purpose of parenting. He said people become parents so they can bring their kids to God, and bring God to their kids. We’re supposed to pray with our kids and for our kids. As I’ve discussed before, the responsibility of modeling for my girls what it means to be a Christ-follower intimidates the junk out of me. They KNOW how I act behind closed doors. They know what decisions I make or don’t make, and how I spend my time. They know if I am a good steward of my finances or if I squander away the resources God has entrusted me with. They will end up modeling their lives after mine – good and bad – whether I intend for them to or not.

One thing I’ve been praying about for a couple of years – including before Tanner was even conceived – was that my children would have a passion for the Word at a very young age. I realize how much my life is revolutionarily transformed when I’m obedient and disciplined enough to be in the Word everyday, and how ALIVE I feel when I’m immersed in it…and I want them to have that! I want them to be one of those people who make you want to go be in the Word after you hang out with them, because it’s like they just ooze Jesus and make you crave Him! Do you know anyone like that? Anyways –

Something I’ve wanted to do for a long time is read the Bible every night with Katelynn. I’ll go ahead and admit it…I usually fail. It sounds like a good idea during the middle of the day, but by the time it’s bath-time, pack-lunches-time, wash-the-dishes time, I’m like “go to bed!” *insert regret.* Regret is worthless unless it inspires change. So, thanks to encouragement from Sunday’s sermon and my renewed determination to be disciplined (more on that tomorrow,) Katelynn and I got out her girls’ devotional book tonight. I’d already sent her to bed (*guilt*) and she got back up. Second chance. I went for it.

Guess what? She was SO EXCITED about reading scripture with me!!! In fact, the little devotional book said to look up two different verses, and she ended up reading four different chapters, aloud! And we talked about them!!! She knew way more about scripture than I thought she did. (thanks, Kidzu!) She was supposed to make a list of some animals God mentioned in the Bible, and I expected to hear about the cattle lowing at the manger…but she didn’t even mention that. She went to Genesis and read the creation story, and told me that she wanted to tell the story of Genesis today when her class was talking about creation. THEN she told me she also thought about telling them Psalm 139, and furthermore, she thinks Psalm 139 is awesome and she wishes I’d paint it on her wall. She found the story of Noah and read it to me, and included those animals on her list. She told me about Daniel in the lion’s den and Jonah and the whale. We talked about how Satan was portrayed as a snake in Genesis, and she read me the story of the fall. She even included frogs because of the plagues, and reminded me that there were plagues of bugs and insects, too. So, as my eyes leak, I’m here to tell you — God Answers Prayers!!! God is faithful, even in my unfaithfulness! I am so thankful that He loves my girls more than I do!

By no means am I sharing this story to say “yeay, Rebecca!” because that’s certainly not it. I fall short, every day, and am in desperate need of grace. I’m sharing this to encourage you to be in the Word with your children. Pray that they’d have a passion for the Word, and give them opportunities to be in it with you! If you don’t know what to do (I didn’t…that was a great excuse for me) buy some kind of children’s devotional book. They’re used to doing school, and it’ll direct their study in an age-appropriate manner. Christian bookstores have tons of materials like these. Pray that God would just grab their hearts through the scriptures they read and give them passion and excitement for sharing Jesus with their friends!

Make sure to join us this Sunday as we discuss “I’ve tried everything!”

taking pictures of my girls is definitely in my top three favorite hobbies…
i’m so much more protective of my time with them than i used to be. they’re awesome.
Tanner is obsessed with bulldogs; we’re training her right! she loves to bark at these ceramic ones and continuously tries to sneak out the door to pet them. also today: baby’s first ponytails!

Katelynn had cheerleading pictures this afternoon. she’s gorgeous and growing up SO fast.

Tanner loves bath time! check out that grill…

i’m so thankful for them!

Today was a crazy amazing morning at theVine. Four people got baptized and declared publicly their commitment to Christ! theVineBand did a great job, and even sang my current favorite worship song, The Choice I’ve Made. (props to GG for that one.) Everyone was excited about the return of Kent Wiginton! We prayed for Candice and Ella and can’t wait until we can welcome them all home. We had the highest attendance ever, excluding Christmas & Easter, and people were able to worship simultaneously in the Black Box and in the Red Room. Kristi Crook worked hard revamping our front entrance set-up, and the new information tables and picture wall look great! The sermon was awesome, and directly related to issues on the forefront of my mind as a parent. Last but not least, we unveiled our completely rockstar 10-foot wide Back-To-School desk. It’s awesome!!!

The pictures don’t really do justice for its enormity…it’s taller than I am.
Some highlights:
- There are two 42″ LCDs embedded in the face of the desk.
- They’re run off of separate macbooks…a different .mov on each.
- The red apple is made from MDF board…the pencil is a dowel rod.
- The book is real. Courtesy of one of my English degrees…but now it has a big screw through it.
- Our original intent was to hang the desk, but it ended up weighing several hundred pounds, and we were afraid it’d pull the trussing over.
- The middle drawer is functional. Pay attention to see how we use it in the future!
- Kris, James, Nick, and Duke are the bomb carpenters. I’m sure they’d build you a desk or some cabinets, if the price is right.
More design info for Creative Chaos Thursday…stay tuned!

“good morning! i’m so glad to meet you all. please take out a piece of paper and we’ll get started.”

blank stare from kid on the second row.

“everyone needs a piece of paper and a pen or pencil.”

blank stare.

“um….come se dice ‘piece of paper?’”

(whispers of spanish)
blank starer nods and complies.

como se dice “what have i gotten myself into?”

last weekend we decided it’d be a good idea to go to a 3pm ballgame in 101 degree heat. ha. we love jeff franceour, and totally respect him for his commitment to Christ and involvement with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes…so off to Atlanta we went.

we really enjoyed spending the day with Katelynn. it was the first time we’ve taken her anywhere by herself since Tanner was born, so she loved having our undivided attention. she’s such a good fan. it must be hereditary, because i’ve decided i really enjoy being a fan of things as well. i realized this when i became incredibly stoked while walking in to the spiritwear store at my new school. i don’t know anyone there, and have zero vested interest in their athletic program…but i’m pumped about rockin’ the school colors on fridays. ha ha. perhaps my senior superlative was definitive.

the real reason we went to the game was to hear Steven Curtis Chapman play afterwards…i love me some SCC, and proudly brandish my love of CCM (even when ridiculed,) so i was really excited! after the game they rolled out the most rockstar portable sound system ever…we need to hire those homeboys to set up overflow at the vine. they were fast! but then — the rain came. for a minute i thought it might blow over…but i realized that wasn’t the case when all the trash in the stadium started swirling around and the 60 mph winds were blowing us all away. we chilled by the concession stands, desperately hoping the show would still go on. it did. we passed the time by watching for Steve Fee to walk by….i’d seen him earlier walking around, and Katelynn wanted to get her picture made with him for her blog. unfortunately, we didn’t see him again. he’d have probably thought we were crazy anyways.

Eventually the rain let up and SCC came on stage to do an acoustic set. It was amazing! He talked almost as much as he sang, and I so admire him for the transparency with which he discussed his recent loss…even though his pain was clear, his hope was apparent and his faith was profound. It’s crazy how many people have heard about Jesus as a result of Maria’s death…not that that’s any consolation, but the Lord has certainly been victorious! You can see SCC and his family tell their story on Good Morning America here. What a testament to their faith and the constant, merciful, healing God we serve.

The sky was beautiful after the rain…a perfect reinforcement that after gray clouds, the Lord can restore and renew and reveal beauty again…the sky was nothing short of majestic.

“you’ve just got to continue to choose to live…”

this makes everything better. always.

what makes your days better?

check out what i’m wearing today.

i love it. Sundays are so my favorite. i’d forgotten that for a while, but i recently remembered. don’t get me wrong — i am thankful for my new job. thankful that it’s close to home; thankful that it’s an opportunity to love people; thankful for provision for my family. i don’t doubt it’s the next step i’m supposed to take, and i’m going to be obedient in that. and, i’m going to like it. but — i’m so glad there’s a place i can go on Sundays and not have to try. trying gets old, fast, and on Sundays i get to just be. the New American Standard version of the Bible translates “be still and know that i am God” as “cease striving and know that i am God.” it’s easier to focus on Him when i’m not wasting my energies elsewhere…striving. what situations in your life require striving? impressing people at work? neighbors? trying to be, or dress, or act a certain way?

i hope Sundays are a time when you can just be.
if they’re not, want to hang out with us?