All posts by Jeanie

About Jeanie

Wholehearted living somewhere in the middle of all my years. Aging parents, grown kids, and grandbebes everywhere! Married to my love and lifelong best friend, Dave for 33 years now. We raised 5 kids and lived to tell about it. My life's mission is to declare the great faithfulness of God to the next generations, especially those in mi familia!

“Shouts of Grace! Grace to it!”

2 Mi Familia, 3 Celebrations & Festive Events, Stuff I Actually Think, , , ,

Happy Birthday, Husband o’ Mine

“Tomorrow I hit my life’s halfway mark.” – said by Dave on Saturday afternoon about turning 55 on Sunday. Yes, he plans to make it to 110. No kidding.

22 + 33 = 55 (You were 22 when you married me 33 years ago).

road sign 55 mph limit

Forget the speed limit sign.  You’re 55 and just hitting your stride!

I love that your big sister reminded you that in the Bible, the number 5 symbolizes grace.  And I love that she said since you’re 55, it must mean double-grace.  Immediately I thought of one of your all-time favorite passages from Zechariah.  It is such a word of courage, such a call to remember, “‘It’s not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord.”

And the confidence that passage inspires goes on to challenge the mountains that seemingly stand in our way, sometimes, “Who are you, mountain – you’ll become a molehill,” and the man of God will get to finish what he started by the power of the Holy Spirit and he will get to place the capstone on the whole thing with people all around rejoicing, shouting “Grace! Grace to it!”

“For who are you, O great mountain [of human obstacles]? Before Zerubbabel [who with Joshua had led the return of the exiles from Babylon and was undertaking the rebuilding of the temple, before him] you shall become a plain [a mere molehill]! And he shall bring forth the finishing gable stone [of the new temple] with loud shoutings of the people, crying, Grace, grace to it!”  Zechariah 4.7 Amp.

It’s the cherry on top promise. It’s the star on the Christmas tree. It’s the king of the hill scenario, that finishing gable stone story.

And it is your story. It is your revelation.

Remember years ago when we attended James Ryle’s Grace-Grace-Grace weekend in Boulder Valley?  We found out grace really had nothing to do with unmerited favor (that’s more like mercy), but that grace was

“The empowering presence of God enabling  us to be who He created us to be and to do what He created us to do.”*

Grace is God’s presence and His power and I love that you have always understood  the grace of God and so been able to receive it and walk in it and share it freely.

So, 55 years ago

dave rhoades baby pic

A teen-age girl gives up a baby. For 5 days you were in a Topeka, Kansas hospital, motherless, fatherless, it would seem to the staff. But I know that is when you first encountered Grace, His power, His comforting Presence and must be why you know Him so deeply that way.

Then they came for you – the Rhoades family. They signed papers and took you home, then moved you to Colorado and raised you for me.

the little moslander 1968 rhoades family circa 1970

I didn’t know, the summer of our big Colorado vacation in the early 70s that you were living here in Denver, all brown-skinned and dimpled, being prepared to be my husband.  You had no idea those same June days that some stringy-long-haired tourist from Iowa, in a station wagon with her family was being prepared for you, to be your wife.

Maybe we passed you, madly pedaling your bike through the neighborhood. Maybe I saw your super-short, good Baptist-boy haircut. Maybe you saw me flash the peace sign out the rolled-down window (something I wasn’t allowed to do) and thought me rather sinful?

All I know is, you have been the gift of grace* to me. You have spent all the years preaching the message of it, reminding me time and again that I can’t earn it and I don’t even have to try. You have graced me with your love and your presence and you have opened the door for me to live in the Grace of God, not churchy-ness, not religiousness (my fall back every time), but in His empowering Presence.

It happens, the bad with the good…

I once saw a bumper sticker that said, in other words (if you get my drift), “Dung happens.”  And I remember thinking, “No kidding.  This bumper sticker speaks the truth. Dung does happen!” And it was in a season to which I could fully attest to it.  Dung had happened.  Lots of dung.

But then, we saw another bumper sticker.  It spoke of what you have nurtured in our family through love and sweat and tears and sacrifice and more love and and tending to. I see this, now.  And this is truer than true, the truest of all things, this bumper sticker: “Grace happens.” And it does, freely, abundantly, time and again. Grace happens!

grace happens

{source}

Tara, Stephanie, Tredessa, Rocky & Stormie

Grace does happen. I am living proof. Our family – those wonderful 5 we got to raise together: aren’t they just so beautiful? Aren’t they darling human beings? Don’t they just make you want to burst with pride and thankfulness? They’re all so pretty and so talented and passionate about so many cool things.  I look at them and I am in awe. Thank-you, honey, for these children, for the ones you hinted to me about when you proposed marriage in 1981, for when you told me, “I want you to be the mother of my children.” I had no idea how amazing that was going to turn out to be, to get to be mommy to the children of grace, grace.

Tristan, Dave, Jovan, & Ryan

And hasn’t Grace, His holy Presence, so graced us yet again with the 4 who have joined us by marriage (so far…one to go)? Aren’t they the perfect additions? Aren’t they all just people we would have chosen for our babies, anyway? And didn’t Grace show up and bless these unions? He did! Aren’t we just unworthy of this, yet graced anyway?

Gavin, Hunter, Guinivere, Gemma, Averi, Amelie, Malakai, Bailey, & Evangeline

And now – we’re practically mush, aren’t we? To see these 9 and enjoy them so, so, so much. Gifts – just *boom* happiness pouring-sparkling-raining like a summer shower straight from heaven.

For all you were born to do and for all you were born to be (Psalm 112 and Psalm 128 man of mine), these 9 have been added to you. Added to you.

You are no longer a baby in a hospital nursery in cold Kansas of 1959. You are Dave, Jeanie’s husband, her lover and hero. You are dad, who checks in making sure everything is ok, who prays for and is prayed for and who leads his family beside peaceful waters; you are a spiritual father to the sweetest ones (others the ages of our own tribe) who respect you and honor you in the gates and who seek that supernatural fathering you possess; you are grandpa, poppa, grand-poppa – pouring mercy, love, peace and grace on the next generation – making an impact into the 22nd century from where you stand today.

christmas rhoades family 2013

That beautiful baby boy, once alone, has been increased and Graced beyond measure. And all the people who know you and love you now are cheering you as mountains become molehills, as barriers are blasted through as you finish everything you have started with strength: Cheers-rejoicing-yay!-Blessing-Grace and more Grace!

Happy Birthday, my best  friend and love, my husband, and the grace of my heart.

“Doc McAmelie Belle” Makes Life a Whole Lot Better

2 Mi Familia, 3 Celebrations & Festive Events, Stuff I Actually Think, ,

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She likes Doc McStuffins.  She even has a tiny lab coat like the Disney character.  She is lots of sugar and loads of spice.  And she will give you candy-medicine if you ask and a band–aid to make everything better.  And now she is 4.  Today!

She dances, she creates, and she sings.  She loves to sing!  She does Kickin’ It moves in her sparkly princess attire and isn’t afraid of boys, even when she’s in her high heels, which is a lot.  Ah, she is one of a kind.

amelie and the little cake

Four!  Teeny-tiny with gargantuan personality ~ 4!

Curly-headed sweet-pea, your Nonna sure does love you.  I am so glad we are getting school time together.  You work hard you snack big and when you are gone, Grand-poppa and I always laugh when we find your wad of gum somewhere in the house, for it is always in whatever place you were when you decided you wanted to move on to something else and it’s just like an Easter-egg hunt for us!  *surprise*  :)

 amelie and her lambie cake

And so I bless you, Amelie Belle.  I bless the day you were born and the charmer you are.  I bless and encourage your song-sing, little girl, sing with your might!  I bless your silliness and happiness and I bless your intensity and strength.  I bless your drive to do big-girl things and be as fast and accomplished as all the bigger kids and I bless that soft sweet place that melts in to my neck when it’s time to cuddle and snuggle.  You are such a good hugger, what a little love!  I bless you to be a deep-lover and giver.

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I know you feel things so ferociously, you sense things beyond your years and while you are saddled with what some people think is a hardship, being the “middle child,” I bless your place in your family, especially!  For middle children are surrounded by opportunity on either side.  You’re not “stuck in the middle,” you are flourishing there, rising above limitations and shining like the sun.  You’re a go-between, an ambitious little girlie, able to keep up with your big sister and help mommy and daddy with the baby.  You’re right in the center of the family action and you were the perfect little girl for that job!  So, thrive, baby girl

And, oh my sweet Amelie {which means industrious, laborious and eager!}, love Jesus!  Love Him!  Love Jesus because He first loved you!  Love Him because He saw you being made – before any of us could have imagined you.  Love Him because He died for you.  And live for Him, too.  Make Him happy.  Make Him smile.  Be you and that ought to do it.  It does it for me!

Here is a verse for you, my Belle-baby {Belle, meaning beautiful, which, of course, you are}:

How beautiful on the mountains

are the feet of the messenger who brings good news,

the good news of peace and salvation,

the news that the God of Israel reigns!

The watchmen shout and sing with joy,

for before their very eyes, they see the Lord returning to Jerusalem. Isaiah 52.7-8 nlt

Happy Birthday to you, my sugar-plum!  *kiss*kiss

Viva la Spring!

2 Mi Familia, 4 Home & Garden/Food & Seasons, Stuff I Actually Think

I want to be poetic about spring, but she is so fickle.  Nonetheless, a little Monday morning e.e.cummings ~

“sweet spring is your

time is my time is our

time for springtime is lovetime

and viva sweet love

I glanced out my office window mid-morning to see tiny, beautiful buds on the burning bush.  To make sure I wasn’t just seeing things, I moved closer and darn if I didn’t also see the tiniest snowflakes lightly swirling about the buds.  Good grief, already.

(all the merry little birds are

flying in the floating in the

very spirits singing in

are winging in the blossoming)

It’s so true – the early morning was filled with bird song and singing.  Now-snow? Snow!?

lovers go and lovers come

awandering awondering

but any two are perfectly

alone there’s nobody else alive

(such a sky and such a sun

i never knew and neither did you

and everybody never breathed

quite so many kinds of yes)

“quite so many kinds of yes”  How cute is that?

not a tree can count his leaves

each herself by opening

but shining who by thousands mean

only one amazing thing

Ah, but wait…no more snow.  The sun bursts from behind the clouds.

(secretly adoring shyly

tiny winging darting floating

merry in the blossoming

always joyful selves are singing)

Mostly blue skies with a few clouds and the birds have resumed their chorus.  Must be March on the Front Range.

sweet spring is your

time is my time is our

time for springtime is lovetime

and viva sweet love”

e.e.cummings

Viva sweet love, indeed!

Stormie – don’t kill me.  I like this.  ;)  From 2012, spring, of course.

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Thought-Collage Thursday // And it is Spring…

2 Mi Familia, Stuff I Actually Think, , , ,

It’s that time again – a Thursday!

I have now claimed this day to actually, indeed, collage my thoughts.  Aren’t you the lucky one?

Thursdays are good.  I like Thursdays.  I was born on a Thursday and even though “Thursday’s child has far to go,” and there couldn’t be a more accurate assessment of almost any particular day of my life (I love lists and yet, my list is never done), Thursdays, in general, are quite nice.  It’s like ~ the bulk of the week is behind us, the beauty of a weekend ahead, but there is still hope everything will get done, wrapped up, finis.  It probably won’t, but on Thursday?  The possibility seems obtainable.  *sigh

Plus, I pre-school Amelie Belle on Thursdays and each Third Thursday, monthly – I get to see my Supper Club peeps.

And, it’s spring.

016

Oh, how I have longed for you, sweet spring.

“Is the spring coming?” he said. “What is it like?”…

“It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine…” ~ Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

Brought to you by the number 4

Amelie Belle turns 4 in a few days.  So today we did lots of “4” activities.  We baked cakes, we painted, we danced, we traced letters and free-styled some art, we taped and glued and sang and read 2 books and counted and reviewed shapes.

amelie pre-school

I am learning so much in pre-school!  :)

“Holy Grounds”

“…and the sound of a stirring rod batting powdered cream into a small quantity of coffee…”

I read this hilarious blog post about all the weak, barely-brown, super-hot, white Styrofoam cups of coffee we church types have consumed in fellowship halls, foyers and church basements for, lo, these many years.  But the writer sees something more there:

“It’s a material appearing of the Church universal, a visible sign of our invisible communion with one another and with God himself. I can walk into any fellowship hall, head for the refreshments table, and mix myself a sweetened milky-brown cup of coffee that puts me in touch with millions of believers around the world as they gingerly sip the same drink.”  -Martyn Jones

coffee in styro

I know I have cupped many a white Styrofoam vessels of coffee among the saints, left my own fingernail imprints about the rim, and maybe even spilled some on the indoor-outdoor carpet of questionable color, purchased for just such occasions. It is bland, but it is the cup of fellowship, week in and week out.  READ HERE

THEN my daughter Stephanie sent me this

An even funnier blog post about how to tell if you were raised by religious parents (directed at my kids’ generation).  I was terrified to read it because I feared I might find myself as a parent in there.  Well, I totally did!  I laughed until I cried, though, and then read it to Dave and laughed even more.  He lists 21 possible tell-tell signs and we may or may not have been guilty of 19…or so.  {CLICK HERE}

5. Every time you heard a loud rumble of thunder in the middle of the night you thought it was The Rapture.

6. If you grew up in Church of God, your college options were either Lee University or Lee University.

12. The only R rated movie you were ever allowed to watch was The Passion of the Christ.

13. You had a cassette tape labeled “Michael W. Smith” but it was actually an MC Hammer mix tape because you would never be allowed to listen to that.

I totally saw my childhood C of G tribe imprint in this list…And, it is kind of amazing my own kids turned out.  Haha.

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The Kelley kids on keyboard

Where have all the flowers gone?

broccoli

What the ever-loving heck?  Why can I open a name-brand bag of frozen, chopped broccoli and find only 5 or 6 small-sized florets with a huge pile of broc-stalks?  I realize broccoli has stalks, I just refuse to believe that I am paying for only 5 or 6 small florets of broccoli.  And dang the corporate executive who thought that since I was buying a bag of stalks anyway, I should just as well get some below-the-stalk pithiness, too!  I am not a woodchuck and don’t like gnawing my greens.  I don’t have all day to masticate, people! The lesson: BUY FRESH!

My Super-Power: Leveling

When I am sitting up straight, completely straight as far as I can tell, my head is sort of leaning to the left.  It just is.  I was actually born with this totally bent-neck-head thing and they corrected my newborn-neck with sand bags on either side of my head and me screaming for hours.  I don’t like anything pinning my down now, either.  So, I am crooked.

My whole life, photographers would say: straighten your head.  When I told them it was, they’d “manually” adjust me and it would feel like I was going to fall over on my right side. I’d lose all perspective. It feels so wrong.

Somehow in spite of this “leaning” challenge, I can tell if something is level to within a 16th of inch.  It is true.  I can be walking down a hallway, 40 feet away, see a group of men hanging a poster, satisfied that they have just perfected it, and tell them exactly how far off it is – and which direction – to within a 16th of an inch, no kidding. Boom!  No one likes me around when there are posters to be hung.

What does this particular super-power mean in my everyday life?  That I have to walk through every room of my house daily and try to ignore the things on my walls, because every. single. thing. is. slightly. OFF.  But in totally different directions.  Jesus, have mercy on me!  Makes me crazy!

Sometimes a super-power just doesn’t pay.

The picture I wasn’t going to show.

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Because:  Amelie = adorable.  All of the pictures in the background = crooked.

But it is spring.  It is spring…

 

 

Happy 30th Birthday, Ryan!

2 Mi Familia, 3 Celebrations & Festive Events, , ,

It’s a red-letter year for you, Ryan!

Dear son-in-heart, holy man, my daughter’s forever-lover and husband, wholly-qualified daddy to my 9th grandbebe (and a bunch more of those, if you please), and an honoring son to me…

What a fruitful, blessed and rewarding year you are living! Good heavens, my boy – let’s take stock:

1.

You became a daddy just before Christmas to a baby girl whose cuddles and laughs and coos and smiles are generously bestowed on all passers-by and her divine jabbering remind us that~

“God, brilliant Lord,

yours is a household name.

Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you;

toddlers shout the songs

That drown out enemy talk,

and silence atheist babble.” Psalm 8.1-2 The Message

You have this happening in your household.  We’ve got us a little worshiper in Evangeline Lilly.

the faaland family march 2014

Could you ever believe you’d have such a lovely daughter? Way to go, Ryan! This baby is so sweet, so so so sweet and happy.  She is joyful, safe in her daddy’s household!

2.

Then – you have this wife who loves you so much she prayed for God to give her three ways to party you up for your 30th birthday, one for each decade!  That is love and you are celebrated.

ry and dess

When I see my daughter’s clear, smiling eyes, I know she is well-loved and she is loving well.  Aren’t you the luckiest guy? You got Dessa!

“Tredessa is more precious than rubies. Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life. …” ~From Proverbs 31 (may or may not have been paraphrased by Dessa’s mom)

3.

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Plus you got ordained last Sunday, you and Dessa ~ recognized as church leadership!  God has seen and watched and smiled and He’s been making a place for you in His courts, a place to serve alongside Steve and Missy Crowder and serve the Family of God at Highway Community in Boulder.

“This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘If you will walk in obedience to me and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here.'” Zechariah 3.7

This is a good thing and you are up for it because of how you love people, how you support the lead pastor and his family and because of what God created you to do and to be.

1984 and 2014, both very good years

So grateful for the day of your birth and for all the days that led you to us, Ry.  And so thankful to see all God is doing in you and through you as you turn 30 years old, with so much life ahead!

I want to pray a blessing on you, but I want to tell you, first, my favorite Ryan memory from this past year.

I bet you think you know what it is.  But I bet you don’t know.

happy birthday, ryan

It was just an ordinary weekday, almost a year ago.  For some reason you were off work and came here during the day and you came and sat and talked to me about the hard things and decisions, and you, ever-so-gently, challenged me on some things – just the way God does.  The way He does it when He corrects, but you actually leave feeling better because you know He straightens you out because of His great love towards you, His zeal for your heart.  And you were asking me thoughtful, thought-provoking questions and you were so careful with my heart, so careful not to bring pain, and you listened to me (gave me the gift of time) – it just blew me away.

When you left, I was more aware than ever that you truly love us as your family, and you actually take the time to pray for us and think about us and check in on us. God has given me another son in you, Ryan.  I am so grateful.

That other thing…

See?  I bet you thought I was going to talk about how amazing you were in the birthing room, didn’t you?  And how can I talk about this past year without saying: yes!  You were an incredible labor coach and support and excited daddy at Eva’s birth.

My mom always talks about the way you danced with Tredessa at your wedding, how she saw your delight just surround your bride and she tells me, “I’ll never forget how he danced with her with such love.”

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And while that wedding dance was joyous and romantic and beautiful and love-filled, it pales compared to the dance in the birthing room, as the time drew near and the labor intensified, to see you reach for Tredessa and say, “Let’s have a contraction,” as if you’d just asked her to dance.  And she’d lean in to you and the two of you would sway to music that had welcomed the Presence of God right into that room and Eva’s arrival was just a little closer each time.  It was a beautiful way to welcome your darling baby girl!

ry206

Very first daddy-daughter cuddle

Ok, I love both those things.  And everything about you.   Aren’t we the lucky ones to have you?

Blessed is Ryan, who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments! Ryan’s descendants will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches are in Ryan’s house; and his righteousness endures for ever. Light rises in the darkness for the Ryan and his household; for the Lord is gracious, merciful, and righteous. It is well with Ryan for dealing generously and lending, who has conducted his affairs with justice. For the righteous men like Ryan Faaland will never be moved; they will be remembered for ever. Ryan is not afraid of evil tidings; his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord. His heart is steady, he will not be afraid. Ryan has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures for ever; and his life is exalted in honor. (Ps. 112:1-9, ever-so-slightly paraphrased by the m-i-l from the RSV)**

Now – In Jesus’ Name, I ask Him to bless you with the blessings He gave us in the Word, birthday-boy and mighty man of valor.  I ask the God who is delighted by you to be as full of joy over you as you were as a groom taking your young bride…and continue to be!  Trust God all your days, Ry, and walk in the integrity of godly royalty.  Just put aside what man thinks, don’t let people’s poor opinions ever weigh you down,  just obey the voice of God.

Ryan-it’s clearly evident you possess the character of a gatekeeper in the house of the Lord, so keep His gates and be a man of rest.  Be increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man!  Be strong and brave and valiant and God will see your works and hear your prayers and answer you in the day of trouble.

This is the blessing promised to a man who respects the LORD:

“You will enjoy what you work for and you will be blessed with good things. Your wife will give you many children, like a vine that produces much fruit. Your children will bring you much good, like olive branches that produce many olives.” Psalm 128

So enjoy – find great joy in the things you have worked for and joy in your family.  Again I’ll tell you, channeling my inner Paul the Apostle: Joy! Rejoice!  Be joyful!

You have my love and great respect.  Happy Birthday celebration!  With love from the {m-I-l}! 

**NOTE: This is the traditional Sabbath even blessing a wife speaks over her husband.   Just in case, Dessa.  :)

 

Song for a Sunday // A Whole Worship Set

1 Christ is All, 5 Songs I am Singing

You say to us seek Your face

Our hearts reply, Your face we seek

And come teach us Lord, reveal Your ways

Anoint us for the greater things

 

We have gathered with one thirst and hunger

We’re here to drink of glory and wonder,

Here to cry out

Come and fill this place

Come and fill this place – From One Thirst, Steffany Frizzell

From the Ransomed Heart Ministries Becoming Myself LiveStream Day Retreat yesterday (because the worship was so great!):

After a short introduction to the day, Staci Eldredge set us on a course of worship, thoroughly vertical, starting with a song of words from God to us, then our response.  She said it would be a time to align our spirits with the Truth, to get ourselves ready to receive everything God had for us, 10 of us.

It did, powerfully.

nothing but the blood

And there was this song, which I couldn’t find on Spotify:

“You show me the way to life” – Who Can Compare, Jesus Culture

In case you needed directions…

Thought-Collage Thursday // Song is My Native Language

2 Mi Familia, 5 Songs I am Singing, 9 TV & Movies/Books & Entertainment, Stuff I Actually Think, , , , ,

amelie belle at pre-school

“Nonna – can we put the music on?”  Amelie asks me so sweetly every Thursday morning when she arrives for pre-school.  We talk about pushing the big, rectangle button on the surround-sound, then carefully lifting the lid to place an LP on the player.  Then we lift the lever, place the arm over the spinning vinyl, and lower the lever with great care.  Then we lower the lid and after just a bit of crackling,  the dancing begins.

She loves the process, the steps to using the turntable.  She speaks them softly as she reverently plays a record, today: The Fabulous Fifties, last week, some Andy Williams.  I am trying to expose my grandbebes to older, American classics in music, for the new they will always find.  So I start them on 40s love songs and 60s Motown.  As they get older (like Gavin and Hunter), they want to hear the Footloose album or a song like “The Night Chicago Died.”  But it is all “old-timey” music to them.  :)

Hey – remember the 80s?

Well, as I may have mentioned before – I barely do, but not for the “usual” reasons.  I was just busy having babies and tending to my little family back in those days.  Movies?  Music?  Who the president was?  I can hardly recall (though my huge hair and Desperately-Seeking-Susan wardrobe was fantastic).  But our friends, Mary and David, invited us to a show last weekend with a B-52s cover band called, Hey Lady.  It was an all-80s music extravaganza, even with the openers, The Retrosonics (I could sing along with a lot of their music – they were great and the lead singer is the sister of another set of great friends: Joel and Marj).  But I had mostly missed the B52s the first time around.  Ha.

hey lady

Two things became very clear to me: I really AM  from the 1970s and I need that red wig!

I don’t drink and I don’t dance (I want to – just…can’t…dance, that is), so I was out of my element, but Mary has promised we’ll go back on Karoke night sometime – because I DO love to sing!

The keyboard is currently in the living room, where I plunk and play and sing a little most days

I have hit that horrible age where every song has a memory and I burst into tears at the drop of a hat or the gentle turn of a melody.  It isn’t because the memories are sad or bad, but just because I wish I had held every moment of life a little closer and more reverently.

Now I play a chord and sing a line and I see a person or place or time in my mind’s eye.  And I cry because I am so grateful I got to live it and know the people I know and to have loved them.  And my heart is full now because understanding seems to come with age.  Not one day is unimportant.  Do you hear me?  Not one.  The tears are just the overflow of a heart that can feel, that risks feeling, more and more as time goes by.

So just let me cry when I sing.  I am that age now.

#TBT

For today’s #throwbackthursday ::  Highland Park Church of God in Des Moines, Iowa.  My mom was the choir director and she started it while I was about 7, at which time she taught me to sing alto.  In fact there was a whole alto section, Rhonda Sable being the rest of it, but nonetheless – there were parts.

Junior Choir 1968 j

This picture includes all 5 of us, my siblings and myself.  I am the girl in the back row clear to the right.  While the choir had been going for a year by this time (practices on Sunday evenings at 6 pm, while the YPE (aka Young People’s Endeavor, now more commonly known as Youth Group, except with some way more hip title) met upstairs.  But in the fall of 1968, when we got our poncho-robes and bright-white bow-ties, we were certainly at the zenith of our junior choir career.  Good times.

Back row, left-to-right: the late Lonny Sable, Brenda Smith, Sharon Smith, Wesley Sable, Rhonda Sable, MOI! //  Middle row, left to right: Timmy Rodgers, Timmy Moslander, Debbie Bettis, Joey Moslander, Rebecca Sable, Darryl Sable.  Front Row, left-to-right (the junior-est of them all): Tina Slight, Laurie Rodgers, Dana Mitchell Moslander, Tami (alias Tammy) Moslander, David Bettis, Carol Bettis and the late Ramona Whorley.

Which brings me to this question:  Where has all the harmony gone?

What is up with all 5 vocalists onstage singing the melody these days?  I miss hearing harmony?  Part it out, people.

Beautiful music makes the whole world go around!  Who wants to sing with me right this second?

Music on a Monday // Bill Withers Mellow

5 Songs I am Singing, 9 TV & Movies/Books & Entertainment, Stuff I Actually Think, , , ,

Is it crazy to say that, especially after watching this documentary called Still Bill on Netflix 2 years ago, I wish to remove all my living room furniture (which creates a beautiful reverb with the high ceilings) and put a grand piano there (and a really good guitar nearby) and have Bill Withers come and play and sing while I just sit in the corner and cry like a baby?

Yes, I am aware that was all one sentence.

Sorry.  Take a breath.

bill withers

Bill Withers quote from the movie (on working towards your dream):

“It’s ok to head out for wonderful, but on your way to wonderful, you’re gonna have to pass through alright.”

I started liking him way back in the early 70s when I just heard his songs on the radio, like, “Ain’t No Sunshine,  and “Lean on me.”  But I didn’t really know what he was about.

But now, I get his music and what a rare talent he is and there is nothing like his simple, but deeply soulful music for the melancholy side of me.  The man writes love like my heart feels it.  His voice just sort of fills the room while his poetry pours out slow like honey, but much sweeter.

I love him.

My Bill Withers Spotify Playlist.

Hello Like Before

Whatever Happens

I wish he’d tour again.  Oh my goodness – I’d go!

bill withers mixed tape

The big hits are, there, too.  But “Family Table” makes me think of my parents and supper at 5 every night during the 60s and 70s.  And the first songs, like, “Hello Like Before, ” “Whatever Happens.” “Memories are That Way,” and “You Just Can’t Smile it Away,” well, I can get lost there.  I sorta made you a mixed tape, Spotify-Style.  :)  These are the mellow ones.  Bill.

www.billwithers.com

Song for a Sunday // Let it be Known!

1 Christ is All, 2 Mi Familia, 3 Celebrations & Festive Events, 5 Songs I am Singing, Stuff I Actually Think, , , , ,

“No need for fear and shame. There’s power in His name. Come on, let’s free the reign!”

From Worship Central.

Just LOVING this fun, upbeat, YES!-Christians-do-have-a-reason-to-rejoice-and-be-the-happiest-people-on-the-planet song!  My FAVS are the dancers that kick it off (you’ll see them throughout), the altar-boy (he has got the joyful moves), the dad dressed like Woody , the little kids on the bus (keep watching past the end), and “the chin!”  O:)   But the puppets – oh the puppets are so great,  just praising Jesus right along with all of creation!

“Let it be known

That our God saves

Our God reigns

We lift You up, up

Let it be known

That love has come

Love has won

We lift You up up, up – oh”

Let it be Known!

Warning: you’re gonna wanna get up and  dance!  It’s fun!

On this Beautiful Day of Consecration

Today we are off to Boulder where Tredessa and Ryan will be set forth as leadership in their church (Highway Community, Pastor Steve Crowder), ordained to love and lead God’s people with the team there.  AND Evangeline is being dedicated.  With gratefulness to God for the gift of her, we give her back, we bless her little life with the promise that we’ll always point her to Jesus.  Love you, Baby Eva!

evangeline lilly faaland

Evangeline: post bath happy

How appropriate then, today’s song of such astounding and wonderful news.  For our baby girl’s name means, “Messenger of Good News.”  So, in that spirit, everybody now:

“Let it be known that our God saves

That our God reigns

Let it be known, let everybody know

That love has won, love has come!”  -Worship Central

And on the matter of this springing forward ~

I like because it has the word “spring” in it.  But this morning, I fear, the spring is stuck and the minutes are just flying right by at a much quicker rate.  How is this possible?  Please, some one, fix this!!!