At only 11 weeks, Tuppy (Steph and the kids’ Christmas surprise from Tristan), has become a spokes-model for PetSmart and Martha Stewart products. I am not sure if you will see anything cuter than this today. Or for the rest of the week, for that matter. Ay-yi-yi. CUTE!
And my daughter is pretty ravishing, herself. Gorgeous and successful in everything she does.
See more at http://www.maydae.com/maydae-giveaway/tuppys-first-review-giveaway/ (comment to win!)
Plus-see a sneak peek from a Christian film in production right now. Know anybody??
O wait. What is this?? Another one of my nerdy fly-over movies? Ok, yes. What about it??
When Felix started re-branding Heaven Fest for 2012, I threw a Pinterest board together to show him things I like.
We are simplifying the look a bit. Think Mac. Cleaner. Pure color (not grayed over, nor muted, pul-eeze). But putting the Pinterest board together was just bringing various things that struck-my-fancy to one spot, my fancies (not Heaven Fest’s ,necessarily). When I think festival branding, these things all have a tiny piece of it in my collaged-head. You can see the whole board here:
I spent years liking muted color (think antiques, think Starbucks-coffee-house colors). And while I still appreciate sort of the aged sophistication of those colors, I have increasingly been drawn to pure, bright color.
Blue and yellow apparently draws my eye, too.
I was a young girl during the birth of the Jesus-People Movement.
During 7th grade, I got to board a psychedelic-painted church bus and travel downtown to Christian Coffee Houses where the “One-way” chant became our cry. Songs reminded us there was only one-one God-one book “and that’s the Holy Bible” to get us to the promised land! There was a zealous passion of Jesus during that time. The media took notice.
My dad made me come out of my room to watch 3 televised days of Explo ’72 in Dallas. I was hooked after 5 minutes and it was the first time I realized I was part of a huge move of God in the earth. I wasn’t alone, just a little Christian girl in a small church in my small city. People everywhere loved Jesus. It was there I first heard/saw: Give me a J…give me an E…Give me an S…Give me another S….what’s it spell?….J E S U S….the crowds would yell, over and over.
Heaven Fest was being birthed in my heart in those days. I secretly want to lead a Jesus chant. Shhhhh….
Woodstock. Started it all.
For Heaven Fest 2013, I so wish I could use this poster.
Except it would be “One day, one stage, one purpose.” See how it is all coming together? :)
Oranges are a draw for me.
I am not sure why I wanted the Vertigo poster on my Festival Graphics Pinterest Board, but I think it is amazing design.
I found this recently and have dubbed it “Heaven Fest Hair.”
I hope some one really does this and I get to meet them.
The difference between my Pinterest Board and my actual mind? The thoughts, ideas and images in my thoughts swirl in a colorful collage of layers. Think of photos, stacked, overlapping, constantly moving. That is my actual Thought-Collage.
And my sister Tami and her hilarious husband, Gerron (who comandeered the camera a few times, I found out after I got home)!
And my baby brother Danny and his gentle-warrior wife, Dawn. And their sons Austin and Jarred. And my first Moslander nephew, Jordan (who just so happened to be born on my birthday twenty-something years ago) and his ADORABLE wife, Alise and their little baby-kins, Brody. Brody Anthony Moslander! That is a big name to live up to and what a cutie-patootie!
Brody plopped his hands right onto an old wooden plaque his own grandpa (my little brother, Danny) had made in school when he was a kid. Pretty smart baby!
And there was Valentine candy all around including for my good-looking nephews, Jarred and Austin. Love the people on that little section of the map.
That is their little house way back to the right of the church. We had to traipse down the long drive to the mailbox in the rain. Deer run through the yard daily. My dad spent 17+ years building the Southlake Church of God. And now the church there is a home and a refuge for them. I LOVE Pastor Sam and the congregation there.
Started like this: Flew into Chicago – went to the Giordano’s corner to experience the great fly-overs (I actually got to fly right over Giordanos flying in, it was cool to see from the air and then get to stand there a few minutes later) –
Went to the Flat Top Grill in Oak Park, a bustling quintessentially-Chicago neighborhood –
Hung out at the Ayentos in the highly-multi-ethnic part of north Chicago. Mom and dad showed up and off to northwest Indiana we went.
There was Dan and Dawn-time and talking and going through keepsakes and eating and shopping and Greek food (Lemon-Rice Soup to-die-for!) and giving my mamala a perm and finding out I used the wrong chemical at the wrong time and having to give her the perm all over again 2 days later. Grrrr…..
Two of my favorite women in the world. My baby sister Tami, and my baby brother, Dan’s, wife (whom I have known since she was 14).
And more time with my baby brother and his beauty, and Tami got to come and hang out for a couple of days and celebrating dad’s birthday with him on his actual birthday and then again with all the nephews and siblings and 2 big pans of mom’s famous peanut-butter bars with candles later.
In the guest bedroom hangs a framed drawing by my brother, Joe. The biblical quotation below the drawing reads, “All your children will be taught by the Lord and great will be your children’s peace.” May it be so…Yes, Lord, may it be so. I scored a few of my mom’s cookie recipes while there.
There was worship at the Narragansett Church of God on the corner in the northside neighborhood of Chicago (not too far from Oak Park) where I was a white-girl-minority in a church with Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, African-Americans, Gutatmelans, Ghanaians (sp?), and generally a very beautiful congregation. See a little:
I loved the late night talks and early morning cups of coffee. We had prayer for the family not with us there and I enjoyed many hugs and kisses from my ma and da.
My dad is so not about retiring, but I am so happy they are near Tami and Danny and the rest. Plus the wonderful people of Southlake Worship Center. And in the big-city, close to everything they need. But out on a big acreage where they can see birds birds and enjoy peacefulness. Love my fam. So much!
I love a bright, round moon. It was fully full last night. It is still dazzling tonight. I just love to look at it. The stars are twinkling, too. And the sky is midnight blue. I just stare, mesmerized.
Dave can’t understand why I don’t wish to look at the moon through a telescope.
I need to see it two-eyed. But it would not be socially acceptable in my neighborhood to be outside in the night with binoculars.
Every year. It is the same. They come around with their little boxes of temptation. When there is no cash in the house you can breathe a tentative sigh of relief…at least that time. But they’ll try again. And again.
A knock at the door. O-no thanks, we don’t really need any. But o my aren’t you just so cute and it is so cold out there and you are learning to be a good and caring citizen and can probably win a reward if we buy some and…O – wait! Are those Thin Mints??? BAM! They get us again.
Probably hurried too much on the production, but the kids and I did it in a very short period of time. I like these kids very much! Gavin, Guini and Gemma!
Sandy-the-dog took the morning’s little non-sticking snow flurries as a direct attack against her. Silly dog. It was all about the rain a few minutes later attacking my travel-hair. Let’s keep perspective! ;)
Off to Chicago in a few. Looks like a super full flight.
I used to hate when some one would trot out that scripture from Ephesians 4 that included the phrase “Instead, speaking the truth in love…” because its’ reference usually preceded a round of scripture-ammunition aimed to pierce the heart and kill the soul. BAM {huge criticism fully bloated by cynical opinions = you are a big-fat-failure} + followed by “I’m just speaking the truth in love.” *Harumph.
If you read that last sentence and winced from the memory of it, it has probably been hurled at you, too. If you looked it and made a mental list of people you’d like to speak-the-truth-in-love to, you are probably the BAM-aid.
It is sad to see such an amazing exhortation reduced to a justification for calling out the slightest infractions against fellow believers when in fact, Paul was inviting us to encourage and motivate one another about the reality of our high and holy calling in Christ, which was what the whole first part of Ephesians was about. This is how we HELP each other – we remind each other (because of love) of our amazing and glorious place in Christ! See Ephesians 1-4, s’il te plait.
What Ephesians 4 actually says is:
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.
Instead, speaking the truth in love,
we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
And I am finding that my words are never more true than when they are spoken from the depths of my love. Then, even though they are hard to say and possibly even difficult to hear, they set people free. They loose the chains and bondages the enemy has been heaping on. Speaking the truth in love-with love-because of love-by love causes people to grow (life surging through their veins), green and fruitful, established and strong. Speaking the truth in love brings a maturity in those around us, a connection to Jesus rather than a condemnation that sends them running the other way with fear and shame.
And the truth you speak in love? It is your truth. Tell on yourself. Admit your own stuff. Tell your truth so you can help others avoid your pitfalls. Tell your truth about how the enemy has come at you so other people won’t feel like they are on the ledge alone, but then be sure to tell the part about the faithfulness of God who has never left you nor forsaken you. When we come clean, speaking the truth of how we are weak (and He is strong), of how we have failed (but He has been faithful), about how we have been the biggest sinners (and He has become our most wonderful Savior), then – we will become the “body,” the Body of Jesus Christ…
joined…
and held together
by every supporting ligament
growing-growing-growing
being b u i l t up in L O V E
as each part does its’ work
And guess what? Speaking the truth in love is a ministry of all of us Jesus-loving, New-Testament believers. We get to join our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, in shattering an accusation-ridden religion we can never hope to keep and step into the power of an overwhelming love from a Father who will not let us go. Oh wow.
Here is what I have against Dave’s new TV, his Apple-TV thingy and the Netflix subscription (all Christmas gifts) is – OMYGOSH! There is all this great stuff available. What should I have been doing early this morning? Well, probably something much more fruitful than watching Cary Grant and Jeanne Crain in “People Will Talk,” which is just-so-mid-century-BEAUTIFUL and cute and romantic and touching and ridiculous and lovely and c’mon – CARY GRANT!!!
What should I be doing now besides deep-conditioning my hair, catching up on some house stuff, and making a packing list? Well, possibly not watching Frank Sinatra {Sinatra: The Classic Duets, where he performs with Ella “Moonlight in Vermont” Fitzgerald and Dean Martin and pretty much anybody from the Rat Pack, his daughter Nancy, Elvis Presley, Dinah Shore, Bing Crosby, Peggy Lee and more!!!},
but I. can’t help. myself!!
I am wholly and thoroughly distracted by great music. O yes, I am !!
