A few more meetings, a few more appointments, a few more office hours, one small event (less than 200 people), some packing, and then, Puerto Rico, hello! The Eagles song is playing in my head, the El Conquistador awaits.
Category Archives: Stuff I Actually Think
That cute Kelley family
Stephanie and Tristan have been married since December 27, 2001. I told them, having been a retail store manager at the time of their wedding (they got engaged and planned a wedding during THE most brutal 4 retail months in an effort, I was quite certain at the time, designed to kill me), that I would eventually forgive them for their timing. And I can truly say I have.
Tristan told us he could remember church people (at The Assembly of God in Fort Wayne, IN) saying things like, “There go those red-headed Kelley kids,” about him and his sister when they were little. Maybe they knew, or maybe they were unaware, but that little Kelley kid grew up to be an awesome man. I am so honored to call him son, so glad he married my daughter and is a daddy to my grand-bebes.
And the kid can play the drums. Geesh. And just about every known instrument in the world.
Now I have my own little red-headed Kelley kids to chase after. Ahhhh. The grandbebes.
Gavin is 6. He is in the first grade now and if he has his way will never. miss. one. day. of. school. Not ever.
Guinivere is 4 and knows a secret at all times. Listen closely and you may get to hear it.
Gemma is 2 and so delightfully good at it!
Stephanie and Tristan are a colorful couple. He is simply the most amazingly intelligent person in the fam. We all call Tris about everything. Everything! And he knows everything about, well, everything. He works at Dare2Share by day and teaches music lessons (need some?) and does consulting and building websites in his “spare” time.
Stephanie is hanging at home with the kids these days, planning future trips and vacations to New York and London, their favorite cities. She is exquisite and unique. She is passionate, but so level and cool. She is a suburban mommy with big-city taste. She is so good at mothering these three, I wish I’d have had her as an example back in the day. And she loves Tristan.
Tredessa and Stormie did this photo shoot for Steph this summer (a delayed birthday present).
I think they are a beautiful and dazzling family and I am certain there is no prejudice in that!
all photos taken in Denver
Heaven Fest Video and Photos available
Go to the website for the whole kit and kaboodle. www.heavenfest.com
Tonight!
UPDATE 8/16: OK. World class musicians. The Word of God and a zeal for it. Love for people. Scriptures on seeking God and finding His joy. Major prayer covering. What does it all add up to? W O W ! Amazing music. A spontaneous prophetic song that set people to dancing and shouting (you know-Zechariah-esque rejoicing and worship that could be heard afar off?). Omygoodness! What a night it was!
Robin’s Front Porch
OK, everybody, here is what I want you to do: go to www.hgtv.com and check out my beautiful sister-in-law, Robin’s, front porch on Rate My Space.
I think you can link directly HERE. The descriptive tag-words used were things like shabby chic, distressed, and steel and it is titled, in the “porches” section of Rate My Space, “Super Sweet Space” by robinelise.
I am pretty sure when Joe and Robin sided their house earlier this year and decided to add this unique touch, they had planned to paint the trim to a pristine white again, but after seeing the effect are re-thinking that position.
It’s really pretty when family is sitting on it! :)
My niece, Elise, and my brother, Joe
Go, rate!
Heaven Fest Staff
Here we are. We actually got together for a photo on a hot, sweaty festival day. This was taken on the main stage at about 6:30 pm, between Skillet and Third Day.
They were re-setting the stage and Kori (Media Director) got us up there for a shot with the crowd in the background and suddenly, stage manager, Brian Paris (DP’s cousin) started telling us that the Third Day band manager wanted everybody off the stage. Hilariously, DP and Luke and I all started to comply when Tredessa was like, “Get back up here. We are getting a picture.” And I had to laugh to myself, because, yeah-I wrote their check, you know? Have mercy!
So Matthew Greenleaf, one of our awesome photographers, took a quick shot.
Then Luke “front lit” us via Photoshop and “magically flipped” his and Tre’s credentials. This is a cropped version of Luke’s and I have got to say, I like how blue my eyes look, thank-you, Luke.
But I had asked to have 20 pounds and 10 years shaved off, and if it wasn’t too much trouble – the roots needed a touch-up. C’mon, already!
BTW. AA doesn’t mean “all authority”
Being “staff” and having the double-A credentials doesn’t mean too much. It mainly means the-buck-stops-here and handle-all-complaints and how-are-you-going-to-fix-THIS-mess-??. We are volunteers, too. It was an honor to serve with almost 1000 other people to make Heaven Fest 2009 work. The day we quit serving is the day we shouldn’t be “staffing” HF! We are humbled to get to be a part. No joke. Humbled.
“Everybody Oughta go to Sunday School…”
If you have ever been a pastor or paid local church employee or just a really good church-type person or the offspring of one of the above and have cut your teeth on the back of a pew and know every song in the hymnal by number and have a perfect-attendance Sunday School pin or church softball league trophy on your dresser, you are probably reeeeeeeeeally irritated at those people who rarely attend church.
And they probably reeeeeeeeeally tick you off when they tell you they can feel close to God while they are in the mountains fly-fishing or hiking a trail or sitting in a meadow watching elk.
I know I have been bothered by that in the past, you know, as a girl whose very first full sentence was, “I’m gonna go to church!” And boy, did I!
And while I sometimes (often?) smugly sighed at people who said things like that (“God is in the trees, God is in the sunshine”), making a facial contortion that read: well, you just don’t have revelation about the local church-you are uncommitted, I can admit that I felt a little jealous that they got to sit by a lake while I handed out bulletins or filled in for a missing nursery worker or tried to unjam the copier for a Sunday School teacher who should-have-been-prepared-before-Sunday-morning-for-crying-out-loud!
God must find us all so amusing.
I love the local church because she is a crack-up. But we have got so far to go in understanding how our local gatherings could serve the Bride and the Church (big “C”) and bring joy to the heart of God. We have the Bride scrubbing the floors of our Temples of Religiosity when she should be served and made ready by Friends of the Bridegroom. We have just gotten this so backwards.
The question today.
So, I am reading this book by the poetic and dazzling-wordsmith, Frank Viola, From Eternity to Here, and today, in reading Chapter 14, “God’s Quest from Moses to Solomon,” as he parallels the Tabernacle of Moses with that of the Tabernacle of David during the 40 years when they were both “up and running” just 6 miles apart, but actual Presence of God was resting in the ark of the covenant in David’s little tent, I am hit between the eyes with this question:
Where MAY God go to FREELY express Himself?
Because that is where we are going to find Him, where He is able to freely express His heart, His plan, everything about who He is.
And, O God, may it be when your people gather, wherever they gather to worship You. May our local churches be places where the people can rejoice and sing and dance and enjoy Your smile and Your favor and Your Presence. May it be where they can serve You and bring You glory and be part, with many many people, of building You a home.
But sadly, in looking back over even (or especially) my own life as a bona-fide, militant church attender, I can see so much of it was a practice equal to the worship at Gibeon when the ark wasn’t even there (from the book):
“Over in Gibeon, the Tabernacle of Moses stood. On Mount Zion the Tabernacle of David stood…[At the Tabernacle of Moses] the priesthood of Israel is fully active. The priests are sacrificing animals and slinging blood at the brazen altar. They are marching through the religious program, passing out the bulletin, lighting the candles, ringing the bells, and following the liturgy. But there’s one problem: there’s no ark. God is not there. Does this bother them? Apparently not. They continue on with the ritual.”
I wanna be where He is.
And He is in the stars and the moon and the sun. He is in the air I breathe. I hear Him in the rushing river on the mountainside. He walks with me in my own little garden in the cool of the day. And I want to be in Him and Him in me. And when I gather with His people on the streets or in our homes or in the hallways of a building on a Sunday morning, may we collectively BE a place where God may freely and creatively and joyously express Himself.
It’s time to walk the 6 miles, even if that is out of a time-honored, traditional institution like, say, Sunday School (this is NOT an anti-Sunday School post, btw) to be where the Presence is. It really is. How fruitless and sad to go through the motions without Him there…
www.thetentdenver.com …Jeanie
NOTE TO SELF: David’s, humble, canvas tent: create the same welcome…
*Song, “Everybody Oughta Go to Sunday School.” I actually grew up singing that both at home during our “family Altar time” and in Sunday School. The second verse was “Everybody oughta stay for church.” There were about 5 or 6 verses designed to help me know how to sling my bloody sacrifices around.
How do you know if your criticism is actually constructive?
Criticism, constructive versus destructive
Question: How do you know when your criticism is actually “constructive,” rather than “destructive?”
Next question: And if you offer me some, to make me better, of course, may I also offer you some?
Destructive criticism is, among other things:
- Hurtful or humiliating, especially if done publicly or behind some one’s back
- Manipulative and controlling
- Laying blame or creating guilt
- Very self-serving for the critic (my wants, my needs, the way I want to see it, I’m disappointed, made my life harder, etc)
- Attention-getting: look how much I know about your job/performance/life/business
- Bad timing, just “telling it like it is” when it is right for the critic, not the receiver. This is in horribly bad taste.
Constructive Criticism is more like:
- Helpful in making us aware or improved
- Expressing concern and caring because we have the same goals and are both working toward a common outcome.
- Keeping open or re-opening communication that has been clogged up because of relationship.
- To clear the air when things have felt funky. Get together and get clarification for peace, for unity, for an ongoing future relationship.
- Motivates us to do better, go the next mile, improve and keep getting better (think of Jesus with the Woman at the well; when He exposed her sin, He did it to set her free and she brought the whole town to Him!)
Last question: Should I say, “I am going to give you some constructive criticism,” or do you think the recipient of it knows the difference when I am through?
Stuff I actually think…Jeanie
NOTE TO SELF: Speak words of life regardless of how much some one has messed up. Like they don’t already get that usually??
Mary Kay Asher of Mary Kay Cosmetics fame always said that criticism was stacked between 2 big compliments in her company, which is why a lot of women probably don’t mind driving pale pink cars, you know?
Not sure how I feel about the tomatoes representing the criticism in this image???
1st grade.
A million years ago (or at least 43)
My first grade teacher was Mrs. Devlin, a tiny woman with very flat, calloused heels in her black, slingback shoes. She was nice enough, though not overly warm and by the time we were in 3rd grade she would see us and exclaim, “My, my how you have grown! You’re as tall as me, now.” And we were.
Now the first grandson
Gavin just started all-day school today. He is a first-grader in a new school near his house and he has entered that part of his life (how did it get here so fast?) where he will spend many of the prime hours of his day with children and teachers and people other than his parents (and nonna).
He loves school. He just loves it. I am glad, but I want to keep him surrounded with prayer and godly perspective. I want to protect what has been deposited into his life and guard his heart and mind. I want him to grow in the grace and admonition of the Lord and be made holy despite the secular surroundings he will face.
Gemma thinks she is ready, too
So, I figure, my prayer life just got amped up up as I spend more time praying for my “little red-headed Kelley kid.”
Lord, You know….Gavin’s Nonna
NOTE TO SELF: Keep declaring the awesomeness of our God to the next generation!
pictured: Do teachers always have to wear sweaters even in the heat of August? Is that a rule?
Elise-the-Niece is Leaving Us
Elise Rachelle Moslander.
A year and a half ago Elise moved to Denver. I don’t think her parents, my brother Joe and his wife, Robin, of Aberdeen, were as excited as we were because she’d been in Hawaii with YWAM for over 2 years. But we were very happy to have her near.
Elise smiles…these photos swiped from her Facebook…
And Elise has been a joy to have (“ketchup” with her here). She roomed with a childhood friend and about 17 other college girls most of the time and has been crashing at Stef and Wrex’s for the summer, but she infused herself into the life of our family from the start. We’d never lived near Elise, only seeing her at family reunions and occasional visits and the veeeeeeeeeery rare photo her parents might send, but it was as if, when she arrived, we’d always been together.
YWAM.
Elise is taking a leadership position, once again, at the YWAM base in Hawaii until the end of the year and then moving back to Aberdeen to help develop her local church mission focus (where her daddy is the pastor). She is leaving us and Colorado will be a little poorer for her absence. Colorado will be losing a truly genuine, loving and sweet young woman with an easy laugh, a room-lighting smile and a helpful spirit. We will lose a girl who loves God and is devoted to family. Little children all over the metro area will miss her (she has nanny-ed for several families during her time here and her 2nd cousins, my grandbabies, all find her quite delightful).
Engaging.
“Engaging” is the perfect one-word description of Elise. If you have ever had a conversation with her, you know that she speaks very pronouncedly with a slight lift/lilt to the end of all sentences. Every story, every word, every sentence becomes, yet stopping just before, a possible question or response-requirer. Brother Joe told me at reunion that she learned when she was four to be able to talk for 47 straight minutes in a way that simply made it impossible for the hearer to disengage. He said it had become a lifelong art for Elise – the ability to keep you in because you might be called upon to answer…but then again, you might not. So, she has this beautiful set of pearly whites and the full, shapely Moslander lips and she is simply fascinating to listen to and to watch. And every word she says is all the more interesting because it comes from her.
Elise with the orphans of Honduras
I will miss you, Elise. I will miss your enthusiasm about life and your commitment to family. I will miss your loving ways and involvement in our lives. I will miss your cool sense of fashion and your heart for missions and travel. I will miss having the treasure of my brother Joe’s heart here close to me. I will miss your love for my grandchildren and the happy dances you do with them at family gatherings. I will miss your Holy-Spirit-given Gift of Faith and your childlike belief that everything will work out (and hasn’t God proven Himself to you time and again!?). Never give up that kind of trust in the Lord, Elise – it will serve you well.
I don’t think Aberdeen is big enough to contain you, because you have sufficient personality to fill so much more, but that is probably why God has called you to the world and given you such love for people. And today, knowing you are leaving and knowing our sun is losing some brightness, I just thank God for the time He allowed you to be here blessing our lives and infusing our family with joy and delight. We will cherish it always. We will treasure the memories and never forget you were sent as a gift for this time.
I am so proud I can say you are my niece. You are a beautiful girl, both inside and out. I am so proud for the choices you are making in your life. I am so pleased to see you follow the call of God on your life. You are loved and you will be so very much missed! Be blessed when you go out and when you come in. Be blessed in the country and in the city. May your enemies be defeated and may everything you put your hand to prosper and be blessed!
I love you, girl, and I miss you already…Aunt Jeanie
NOTE TO SELF: Learn to smile with total abandon like Elise does. Can that be learned or will it require surgery?