Star Wars in Concert

Tonight Aaron and I (along with Dick and Darlene and our friend Bryan) went to the SUPER AWESOME Star Wars in Concert at the Wachovia Center in Philly. Again ... AWESOME!!! The Royal Philharmonic played Star Wars music from all 6 movies accompanied by scenes from the movies on a massive screen overhead ... and in between each song Anthony Daniels (aka C3PO) narrated live! He has such a cool voice and expressive face. It was the best concert ever!





In addition, around the rim of the Wachovia Center were various props and costumes from the movies - Chewbacca, an original score of music from John Williams, prop guns, and my favorite - Queen Amidala's costume when she visited the Senate (see the picture!), etc. There was also "licensed Star Wars in Concert" stuff to buy ... t-shirts for $35 and such. I did NOT purchase the $50 Princess Leia hoodie! But it was really cool!




Perhaps my favorite part of the music was the Darth Vader sequence (see the movie below) showing his redemption. After all, that is the heart of Star Wars - the rise, tragic fall and ultimate redemption of a man. The need and search for redemption lies in every heart for it is placed there by God. And our need for redemption is so powerful that 6 blockbuster movies were made about it. Watching the images and listening to the music, I am reminded how thankful I am for my redemption given to me by Jesus.





Perhaps the funniest thing about the concert was all the people that came dressed in costumes! Kids came with their parents and we saw little storm troopers, jedi's and fighter pilots ... and many many lightsabers. One family came dressed up - the mom was Princess Leia (complete with bun hairdo ... with glowlights around each bun) and the dad draped himself rather well with Christmas lights ... the kids were little jedis.

On the way home, we were behind a minivan that had a little lightsaber duel going on inside! It was dark and all we could see were a green and blue lightsaber going at it in the minivan (what was being said inside we could only wonder ... "If you don't put those lightsabers down this minute, so help me, I will pull this car over and ..."). What a funny end to the night!

Yes, the Wachovia Center full of crazy Star Wars fans and we had a fabulous evening!!! So GLAD we went!

~JG

Ignorance is Bliss

After saying prayers with Ellie tonight, I left to get some vaseline since above and below her lips are chapped (from sucking on them). As I put on the vaseline, she was pursing her mouth in a ever-so-slightly odd way and I had that "mommy intuition." So I asked her, "Ellie, are you eating boogies?" And she opened her mouth, stuck out her tongue, and right there was the biggest hard boogie ever. Disgusting! And even more disgusting was that I groaned and picked it off her tongue to throw in the trash! Sigh. What we mothers do.

I should have ignored my intuition and let her eat her boogie.

~JG

I want to remember . . .

Last night at dinner, Aaron and I were downloading about our days and the kids were eating (somewhat) quietly. All of the sudden, Ellie pipes up, "Mommy, thanks for making this DELICIOUS dinner." Just like that. Completely out of the blue. So sweetly. And in a complete sentence ... as only a 2 year old can say it. I stopped and looked at her and teared up! It was such a sweet moment! Then Caleb saw how happy I was when Ellie said that so he piped in, "Thank you mommy for making this delicious CUP to eat! Heehee." Nothing like 4 year old silliness. I just said "Yup, no problem," but silently thought, "Good try Caleb but Ellie won this round of 'mommy's favorite'!" HA. And then commenced a 5 minute conversation between Caleb and Ellie of silly things to eat ... the ceiling (always a favorite), the chair, the cup, the floor ... and I think they may have actually eaten some actual food in there as well. Ahhhhh ... the sweetest moments of life usually aren't the big ones.

~JG

God wants to be found

I played a very short game of hide and seek with Caleb yesterday. I ran upstairs ahead of him and hid behind our bed. He ran up too, but then got distracted by some toy that he found, and instead of looking for me, he walked around looking at the toy. Needless to say, I did not stay hidden for long.

I remember when the kids were still learning how to play hide-and-seek. I would hide in really obvious places (like under a blanket in the middle of the room). Of course, their hiding places were even more obvious ... they hid in the exact same place as I had just hidden and then told me to find them. :-) But as the kids got more practice at it, I'd try to find some more challenging places to hide. One of the best was in our laundry room. Now, the kids never had any reason to go in our laundry room. All that is there is the washer and dryer. And they didn't do any laundry, so why go in that room? So when we played hide-and-seek, they never even thought about looking in the laundry room. Which made it quite perfect. And then when it would take too long and I could tell they were getting frustrated, I'd start making little noises. And THEN they would find me! And it's always fun to see their delighted little faces when they find me. But the point of the game was ... I wanted to be found by them. Maybe give me a minute of silence to me myself first ... but I didn't want to stay hidden all afternoon ... I wanted to be found.

Well, I'm continuing on in my Beth Moore bible study, and today we found ourselves in Acts 19, Paul's 3rd missionary journey - spending 2+ years in Ephesus. And in Ephesus, God did EXTRAORDINARY things through Paul, to get the people's attention. But what I found really interesting is the concept that God WANTED to be found by the people.

Ephesus was a city known for its interest in magic and the occult and the unseen world. So God used their interest and performed amazing miracles - far surpassing anything they had ever seen. Even handkerchiefs that Paul touched were used by God to cure illnesses and remove evil spirits. God wanted to be found by the Ephesians. As Beth said, "He did not lead them through a cloudy pillar. He got their attention through supernatural phenomena, because that's where they were looking."

In the same way, God got the attention of the Magi by showing up where they were looking ... the stars. "When He wanted to lead the Magi to the Christ child, He did not lead them by a mark in the sand. He led them through a star because they were star gazers - then He went beyond anything they had ever seen ... God wants to be found ... and He is so gracious to show up right where we are looking." I can just imagine if God had made a huge "crop circle" in the Magi's front lawn ... it's huge, glowing bright fushia, with a big smiley face lawn gnome perched right in the middle. And the Magi would walk past it, never seeing it, because their necks are forever tilted upwards looking at the sky. Maybe that's why God used a star. He is wise and He knows how to be found, if we are willing to recognize Him.

I bet God would be awesome at hide-and-seek ... he'd pick a great hiding spot, but never tough enough that we couldn't find Him. And if we looked and looked and started to despair, His giggling would lead us straight to Him ... hiding underneath a blanket in the middle of the living room with His feet sticking out.

~JG

What is trust?

I've been going through Beth Moore's bible study on the life of Paul. Today's study mentioned how Paul went to Ephesus and made a bee-line for the synagogue, so eager and passionate for his fellow Jews to believe in Jesus. And after a very difficult time in Athens and Corinth, these brothers and sisters were actually interested and receptive! They asked him to stay longer. But, apparently God had other plans for Paul, and Paul knew he wasn't to stay. So he declined. Amazing. After so much turmoil during his travels of people rejecting him or attacking him, here were people who asked him to stay. If I were Paul, I think I would've argued with God. "But God, I can do so much good here! They actually want to hear more! What will happen if I leave?" But as Beth Moore wrote in Week 5, Day 4, "There is a bumper sticker that reads, 'There is a God and you're not Him.' We are wise to trust Him when He seems to be leading us contrary to those things we want to do or those things which seem so rational and fitting." And perhaps because Paul left, God prepared Apollos. I wonder what might have happened if Paul had decided to do his own thing and NOT leave Ephesus like God instructed. Or perhaps it's better to say, what might NOT have happened if Paul had decided to do his own thing ... ?

So after reading that, I pondered what trust really is. Because Paul certainly had it. He trusted God, even when God was telling him to do something that didn't really make sense. What is trust?

I imagine trust to be something like this ... I'm standing on one end of a large room blindfolded and I cannot see anything. Not even a subtle difference in light or darkness. And all the way across the room is another person, able to see. And they call to me to walk towards them. Trust is being blind but stepping forward anyway, knowing that the other person is in this for my good. Being blind is key, because if I can see, it's not really trust, is it? It is my own ability.

But what creates the trust? I'm not going to start walking towards just any person who calls me. No way. Who is that person across the room?

• Do they know me? Are they really in this for MY good? Are they going to care if I trip on an obstacle? Will they really do everything they can to make sure I make it safely to the other side of the room? Or do they only think of themselves?
  
• Are they competent? Even if they desire my well-being, if they cannot communicate to me how to avoid obstacles and where to step up or down to avoid falling, then I don't want to trust in their directions.
  
• Will they stay until the end? I don't want them to walk out of the room while I'm standing in the middle, not able to go forward or backwards, just because they get tired or frustrated or need a tinkle break. Will they be patient with my mistakes, or will they give up, saying "You can't follow anything I say! Finish on your own!"?
  

I can think of several people who I would follow without question. I would step out blindly towards Aaron's voice. Because I trust him - he knows me, is in it for my good, he is competent, and he will stay until the end. I would follow my parents and parent's-in-law, as well as many friends. I would not step out upon hearing my children's voices ... they do know and love me, but competent? Not quite. At least, not yet. Give them another 18 years and my answer might change.

Will I blindly step out when I hear God's voice? Does He know and love me? Yes. Is He in this for my good? Yes. Is He competent. Oh yes. Will He stay until the end? Yes.

He deserves my trust. So why do I find it harder to trust God in certain things than I do my husband, or my family or friends? Perhaps because I'm forgetting Who He is, and that He deserves and has earned my trust more than anyone else.

So perhaps, when I find myself in a situation, figuratively blindfolded and hearing God's voice calling me to cross the large room, and I hesitate, I will remind myself of why God deserves my trust. And then I will take that first step, blind but safe.

~JG

"I conquered the world again ... oh wait ..."

This morning, I felt like superwoman! We all got up a little early, Aaron made french toast for breakfast, and I had enough time before taking the kids to school to cut up veggies for the roast tonight (I had even remembered to take it out of the freezer early for it to defrost - WOW!). In fact, Caleb helped me make dinner. We had a lovely time together at the kitchen counter. I cut up carrots and onions (hardly cried) and potatoes and browned a large roast and he washed off all the celery and helped me dump stuff into the crock pot ... I turned it on to cook all day ... the kiddos were off to school ... I had MOPS, came home, played games with the kids, even picked up and vacuumed ... and man, I was feeling pretty good! I went back to the crock pot at 4pm to make the gravy - I even remembered to do that ... and it was cool as cool can be. The light was on saying, "Hey, I'm cooking" but it LIED! It had not cooked. At all. What happened? ARGHHHH!!! I had not conquered the world! I had tried. But I was foiled. DRAT! Foiled again! So now, we could eat raw roast and veggies ... or not. It's Chinese takeout for us! At least it's warm.

~JG

"What's that Smell?"

Well, much has happened since our last blog ... go figure. I'll start with sometime last week, Aaron and I were talking and decided that it would be neat if Aaron made a bedroom set for us. So we looked online and found plans we liked (it's scary how we have the exact same taste ...) and Aaron was off and running. On Friday, I left with the kids to spend the weekend at our parents; Dick came over to our house so he, Aaron and Randall could go out to Hearn Hardwoods and buy wood for the first project - a headboard. And they had a blast. Aaron told me all about picking out the right white oak quarter sawn ... and the awesome flecking (I don't even know if I'm spelling any of this right ...) in the wood ... and I said "AWESOME! Glad you had fun, honey!" Aaron and Dick spent the Friday night and Saturday prepping and cutting the wood, and the headboard is all together as I type. Aaron needs to sand it and varnish/etc. That was quick work! He is having a wonderful time woodworking. He hasn't really done that for awhile, and I think it's energizing him. Go Aaron! And I love it 'cuz we get new furniture! Double win!

Anyways, I returned with the kids Saturday night. I walked into the house and immediately said, "What is that smell?" And I started the sniff test all around. Couldn't figure it out. It wasn't the dishes - I'd done those before I left. It wasn't the cats - they were upstairs. I was getting a little nervous that I'd soon become accustomed to the odor and not notice it anymore ... but any guests would. Hey, I'm fine with a slightly messy house, but definitely not a smelly house! Well, we ate dinner, then I went upstairs to put chaos into somewhat of an order ... and voila! I walked into Ellie's room and discovered the odor! A big pile of dog poop right in the doorway! (Did I mention we are "foster dog-sitting" Riley, an 80 lb chocolate lab, for our youth pastors until they move into their new house ... this Saturday!) I was actually relieved. At least I had discovered the smell. So I happily called Aaron to report my discovery and have him clean it up (a stipulation of foster dog sitting was that he had to clean up all you-know-what). I do have to defend poor Riley - that is the first time he ever did anything in the house. He's really a good dog! And I'm actually going to miss him. It'll be pretty quite around here next week. Maybe our cats will dare to venture out of our bedroom. Hmmmm?

Well, it's our day off, and Aaron has been happily woodworking away. I had a great time switching out the kids summer and fall/winter wardrobes. Woohoo! Although, I did have my moments of productivity.

You see, our kids both love their blankies. Caleb's poor blankie survives him chewing on it, wrapping it around his fingers and toes and toys and who knows what else. The little binding around the edge has started to come off, and he just uses that to chew on and lasso trains. Ellie's blankie is 32 years old. Yup - it's my old baby blanket. And the knitting on the edge started to come apart. Well, that's not good- she'll pull on it and the whole thing will come undone. Soo, I resolved to FIX the blankies!

I asked my mother's advice (thank God for mothers!) and we visited Joanne Fabrics together to find new satin blanket trimming. And today, I cut the unraveling edge off of Ellie's blanket and sewed (yes, with my sewing machine!) a new pink satin trim on the new edge. It's definitely not professional. The top thread is white and the bottom is blue (I was so happy to get the machine threaded that I really didn't feel like messing with the bobbin!), but that's ok 'cuz there is blue in the blanket. It's a bit of a hack job, but it's done and it is NOT coming apart! It looks a bit strange - there is the original soft and faded 32 year old white/cream and almost translucent satin edging on 3 sides, and the new pink (Ellie's choice) crisp, hard satin edging on one side. But, it's home-made. :-) I finished it this afternoon, and Ellie's been carrying it around like a little Linus-ghost all afternoon and evening. I think it passes inspection.

This evening I tackled Caleb's little blankie. First, I had to take out all the stitches of the narrow satin edging that was actually still in place. That took forever. Fortunately, it's a very small blanket - less than 1ft sq. Then I got out the new wide satin edging (cream - not pink) and started to sew it on. How in the world do you do those dumb corners?!?! Ok, I know I could've stopped and looked it up somewhere, but I wanted to get it done. So it is done. And it is NOT coming off! HAHAHAH!!!! Y'know, when I turned off the sewing machine after the last stitch, I felt like I had conquered the world! Then I took out the blanket, cut the threads and looked at it ... and I didn't feel like that anymore ... not even a continent. Maybe I conquered a very small city. In the middle of Montana. Well, the blanket is fixed. It will be fine. And after Caleb chews on it for a night or so, it'll look just right. :-)

Ahhh, the things we do for our children. And I have discovered, once again, I will never make my living from sewing.

And yes, Randall, this is yet another blog that mentions poop. :-)

~JG