This is from an email I sent them in 2012. Tara, Stephanie, Tredessa, Rocky & Stormie…
May you each {within your own homes and families, now} live full and exciting lives, marked by sheer delight and pure joy, along with the surging Holy-Spirit-strength that comes from that! And I pray you will have many good conversations with the people who matter the most and will enjoy experiences and memories that warm your heart at the end of each day along the way.
I pray that you will be blessed with work, the life-giving kind of service and labor that comes from knowing you are doing the good things God actually created you to do way before anyone else even knew there would be a you (see Ephesians 2.10). I speak grace to you, over your lives. I shake heaven’s gates praying you will have the grace to be everything God created you to be and the grace to accomplish everything He created you to accomplish!
I pray you will press in to know the One who loves you most (Hosea 6.3), and that you will zealously, and with consecrated energy, live for the praise of His glory! I urge you to break off the chains of the quotidian existence sometimes imposed by the times and our culture in its’ pursuit of amassing things, gaining impressive status or careers with fancy titles. And I pray and declare that you’ll live, really live, in the hope for which God has called you.
Make every effort to enter into the rest of God (Hebrews 4.11), my sweets. Jesus paid it all, so don’t bother trying to earn your place in Him. He has got you covered.
Righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost – that is Kingdom of God, the doors-wide-open welcoming House of the Lord. This is where we live, in the Household of Faith. There is bread in His house, you’ll never lack for His provision. Come, eat, my beloved children. Don’t go hungry when the feast has been spread.
I pray you’ll sleep sweetly through all your nights (Proverbs 3.24) under the moon and stars hung by your loving Father, having lived your days without regret and shame. And I pray you’ll drop into bed in sheer exhaustion, but that it will always be that “good kind of tired.”
I never even hoped to dream I’d have children like you. You were made for me. And I was made for you. I love you all very much and am wholly honored that God chose me to be your mom. And I am, you know…And I pray for you!
These are not just a random selection of nice thoughts for these who came from me. They are actually dedicated, targeted prayers for wholeness (and healing, too as it is needed) for a few of my weak areas – places where I may have (probably) failed them. Thank God He can redeem and restore and His grace is greater!
I was so proud of myself when I took this picture of you at 1 1/2 years old. But I did have to chase you around the yard for an hour as you excitedly explored the garden before I got this! You make me smile! Oh, yes, you do!
Hey, my sweet birthday girl~
The day we all did our make-up. :)
Happy-hApPy-delightful-delirious-joyful-head-over-heels-laughing-dancing-rejoicing-fun-FUN-fun-gladhearted-jumping-jelly-beans-cartwheels- & -kisses Birthday, Little Miss Averi!
Oh your Nonna loves you, girl. You know that, right? You’re funny and sweet and wry and so-very-mature and insightful. You’re considerate and thoughtful and every bit the perfect firstborn, and big-sister. I just don’t know what we ever did without you! You make life sweeter and neater and so much more beautiful! Every time I think of you, I smile. When I get to see you, well, I just go a little bonkers with happiness!
I thank God for you, Averi Jadyn! I think He outdid Himself in creating you! I thank Him and I add my blessing. I bless your days and all your ways. I bless those piercing, liquid-blue eyes. I bless those oh-so-kissable cheeks.
I bless you as a big sister and a good cousin. I bless you as the perfect niece and a wonderful granddaughter {we’re so lucky to have you}.
You were 4 or 5 months here and so scrumptious I could just eat you up!
I bless the things you’ll see, that you may see them with God’s eyes. I bless your hands, those beautiful, graceful little hands, that they’ll be applied to good works God prepared ahead of time for you to do – even before you were born.
I bless you as an honoring daughter – knowing that as you honor your mommy and daddy, the Bible promises it will go well for you and you’ll live long on the earth! What will go well? LIFE! The life Jesus came to give you, abundant and wondrous and free from any kind of captivity! I bless your life. May you always be in Christ. May you find your most treasured identity and home in Him!
You’re becoming more beautiful by the day because it is coming from the inside. As I see you growing up, 7 going on 17, I see a deep radiance, a caring girl. It is lighting you up from the inside out. And oh, how your Nonna loves you and is blessed by you. I know God is pleased by you, too. I sense His joy in you!
Someday, when you need reminding about what I have always thought of you and maybe you’ll need to know how much God loves you, I hope you’ll remember to come to this blog and read these words again and know that Nonna is shaking heaven’s gates for you, praying for your life, for good things for you. And I am reminding God over and over that I want Him to be with you always and make His face to shine right on you and to surround you with His favor like a shield and to give you grace to be all He created you to be and to do all He calls you to do.
And you what? He has already promised that He will do and be all these things to you in His Word! All the wonderful secrets are there – in your Bible! But I will keep on praying for you and reminding Him for you, anyway. And I will agree with His good plans for your life and shout AMEN! Yes, Lord! Let it be!
Happy Birth~week, my sweet! You are a good girl. And I’m so proud of you!
Oh, sweet girl, how did almost 3 months pass before I got to this post? Life has been a whirlwind, yes? And YOU had a birthday, and moved a little too far away for my heart – all at once {October 31st}. In the middle of so many good and wonderful gifts from above, a whirlwind of exciting living – we breathlessly paused and celebrated. And thanked God for you, again.
As birthday posts go, I have never been later. And this one has been sitting in the drafts folder, not quite finished far too long. But know this, at least: as daughter-in-loves go, there is none more cherished or delightful! And I still thank God for you, birthday or any day and everyday of your life and mine!
I love you, Jovan Marie Rhoades! And I bless the day you were born, born to a future that included marrying Rocky and to giving me three of the most adorable little grand-girlies in the world…so far, anyway! :)
We’ve known you for half your life!
It is really strange to imagine our family without you, having known you now since you were 14 years old. And when you came into our lives (fourteen years ago, to be exact), you just fit. You were easy to know, easy to have in the room. You hung out with Stormie, sometimes spending the night at our houses and then got up and did chores, like any of our kids.
Who is this amazing girl, I wondered? I must remember to thank her parents!*
I love that his heart is safe with you.
And you befriended Rocky, too. You admired him and respected him and looked up to him ( a whole 2 years older, right?) and I liked how I saw you looking at my son. I thought that Rocky choosing you was one of the greatest things he could ever have done. I still think so. And I love that even before we knew you, during the years you were growing up with your two sisters and godly parents, long before we were ready to think of our only son ever even getting married – you were being equipped to be Rocky’s. God was at work in your heart and life, and he was at work in our son. He alone knew what the two of you could be together, as one. So mysterious and beautiful. It makes me wonder why I ever worried over my kids at all – the way God so carefully orchestrates adventure and life and love and goodness and mercy over you all.
So, even though I thought I had all the daughters I could handle, with the four incredible beauties I birthed myself, it turns out, getting to have just one more {YOU} has been a blessing of mammoth proportions! You have been a sweetness and grace, a reward to me for getting through the years of raising 5 children! Ha!
I do thank God for you, Jovan. I was so happy to get to tell Averi and Amelie recently, as we were “doing hair and make-up,” what I have told you many times before: I grew up saying I intended to have 8 sons, eight! It sounded fun. But then I had 3 daughters, finally a son and in an attempt to get one more – another daughter! But wow-Rocky was an energetic handful of rambunctious-ness and I later realized I would have fallen dead from exhaustion if I had actually birthed 8 little Rocky-types. Haha. Oh, how I love that little boy and the man he has become for the ways he has challenged me! LOVE him.
So, I was glad to tell your daughters, my cute grandbebes, how delighted I was to find scripture that fit us, you and me, so perfectly. It’s Naomi’s friends talking to her about her devoted daughter-in-law, Ruth:
“And may [your grandchild] be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has borne [this child].” Ruth 4
There it is! And I will always be able to tell your children with my whole heart: your mommy, who gave me you, is better to me than seven more sons would have been. So even though I didn’t get the 8 baby boys I always thought I’d have, I got you, and I got a daughter-in-love who has my heart for always.
Averi said, “I’ve heard that story!” And I hope she’ll never forget.
A Birthday Blessing for my Jovan, the world’s best daughter-in-law:
So, today, I bless you. I bless your heart and soul and your thoughts and feelings and hopes and dreams. I bless the family you are building with Rocky and the your days with the beautiful Presence of God. I pray all you give out will come back to you many times. I bless you with the deep love in marriage and the honor of your children and with the long life that goes so-very-well for you because of how you honor your parents. I bless your days, your hours and minutes – may they be lived fully and colorfully, and may they be fruitful and accomplish much to the glory of God. I pray you will flourish, become deeper rooted, and all your gifting and talents will be received with great fanfare and welcome whenever and wherever they begin to show up. I speak against any enemy lies or assignments on your life and agree for any chain that tries to hold you down to be broken and left in a heap while you go from glory to glory, strength to strength, fully shining like the bright joy you are! Yes! In Jesus’ Name! {{*AMEN.*}}
You were born to be one of us, Jovan. My thanks to your parents for raising such a lovely young woman. My thanks to Rocky for having the good sense to make you his standard of beauty and desire, his wife and one flesh. And my thanks to God for His grace on all of us, through you. {mom}
*P.S. Speaking of Jovan’s wonderful parents –
Today is Jo’s birthday! I finally got Jovan’s birthday blessing posted on her mom’s birthday! I mean there would be no Jovan without Jo! Happy Birthday, Jo!
Hey, Bo-bear. A belated Happy Birthday to my all-grown-up boy-child!
“It’s a boy,” they said, “you have a boy!”
There were already 3 adorable daughters. I figured baby #4 would be another little girl (and signal our final family addition). But no – a boy! I was in shock – happy, delirious shock. I thought they were just joking with me.
Rock and his cousins (Zach and Seth) at Zach’s wedding
I love you deeply, my son. I love you fully, handsome Rock-bo. I love you loudly, silly Bo-Bear. I love you a million times and ways. But since you’ve just turned 30, I’ll tell you 30 ways and whys about my love for you. And I’ll tuck in some prayers and blessings along the way. See here:
I love you. Because God trusted me to have a son, a boy! You get credit for this, even though it was God’s {total, complete, uttermost} blessing to me, on me. I love your drop-dead-gorgeous sisters, I do. And the girls would have been enough for a happy life and lovely familia. But I am so glad I got to observe the mystery of a man-in-the-making. It has been awe-inspiring!
You got your handsome dad’s coloring. You got those dimples, that brown skin, that head full of dark hair straight from your wholly-gorgeous dad. I have spent much of my life flanked by two unusually good-looking men!
You got my bold and fiery zeal and stubbornness And even though that has worried me at times, I think it looks really good on you. And watching you struggle to temper passion with life and love so gracefully has made me go easier on myself. I get your heart, Rocky Rhoades. I know how deeply authentic it is.
Which makes me realize how much I learn from you. You keep digging, you keep trying, you keep learning. You are relentless in pursuit of more knowledge and more understanding. No matter how skinned up your knees get, you jump straight back in to the fire of figuring things out. Keep at it, boy-of-my-heart. Get wisdom at all costs. It is the most important thing!
You get my heart. That is valuable to me. Sometimes you have called or popped in and just spoken a word in season to me, just been an encouragement. You have covered me in grace when my safe places have been plundered. You’ve been a friend when I have felt so unfriended and most unfriendly.
You smell so good. You were born smelling wonderful at 9:28 pm September 29, 1984 {{yes – I am a month late getting this posted}} and the combination of Baby Magic baby lotion and Millionaire cologne made you a magnet, even at a few weeks old. Now though, it’s that pleasing aroma, the one that makes God happy – as you share the knowledge of Him in the world. “Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed.” Genesis 27.27
You are so ornery. In pretty much the cutest way. Just remember this rule and we’ll get along fine: No tickling the mom, not ever! Got it?
As a little brother, you have achieved perfection. That is, if, in fact little brothers were created to torment, cajole, irritate and infuriate their big sisters. If that is the case, then you get the award. But oh my goodness, how those big sisters (Tara, Stephanie and Tredessa) love their little brother.
I made you a big brother, too. You’re welcome! And you took that teeny-tiny Stormie and led her on mad and dangerous roller-blading paths, into the workforce at far too young an age and up onto the worship stage. So you have been a really great big brother, too. She still looks up to you, and not just because you are taller.
I love how you always have something up your sleeve.You’re an idea-man, Chuck. And the thing is, no matter how far-fetched they might seem, you have the finagling-skills to bring a lot of them about. God just seems to meet you halfway on that stuff!
Like last year. You and I met at that little coffee shop to discuss and strategize how we could get you all new recording equipment and musical instruments. You laid it out for me that you needed new things, that you took good care of the items you had, but to get to the next level, new things were needed. Then, just a week or so later, the flood came in and washed away all your studio equipment. Then God put you in a place with state of the art recording equipment, a new office, new instruments, fresh opportunities. He likes your ideas, too.
You chose a good wife. I couldn’t ask for a more lovely daughter-in-law! Delight in her, Rock. Call her blessed, receive her love humbly, fully. She is a gift to you from God. That is the truth!
You have fathered 3 darling daughters. You are a blessed field (Genesis 27.27-20). Your quiver isn’t quite full yet (Psalm 127.3-5), but it is getting there. You are the handsome hero of their sweet little dreams, these three lively girls. You have fathered beauty, you have fathered power. {photo by Ashley Clark Haymore, thanks, Ashley!}
Your singing. You know I love your voice, I love to hear you sing. You’re one of my al-time favorites.
Your song. That is different. I am talking about the residual song of the Lord that echoes through the halls of your heart and draws people around you into the Presence. That’s your life. You were born for that. Let your song be heard, Rock-man. Let it bless the heart of God in His heaven and cause people here on earth to want to run to the Throne of Grace!
So let me bless you with my words, which are one of the most important things I can give to you: Be blessed, Rocky, in all you put your hand to this year, because this year is a building block to your bright, holy future. Be present in the now, in all the changes, new things, the learning curve, the challenges. For all that is to come will build on today. You will not be able to wholly, fully love and enjoy the “then and there” if you haven’t completely inhabited and embraced the “here and now.” Who said that? ME! This is true in all of life’s arenas: parenting, career, marriage, friendships, education…
Be blessed with courage, Bo-Bear. You are fully, completely able and were created to do things God thought up before time began. Your heart is beating – it is saying: Rocky has purpose! Don’t you doubt what God has decreed! You have been chosen by God, “….created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance” for you to do. (Ephesians 1:11-14; 2:8-10).
I bless you with God-given, more-than-we-could-think-or-ask opportunity! See it, seize it!
And may the LORD fill your new home with peace, joy and love, and make it a house of prayer that shines like a Kingdom-beacon in a dark, hopeless world. May all who enter the doors step smack-dab into the holy, joyous Presence of God and be awash in lightness and joy!
Your mommy loves you. I believe in you. I am here for you. “You are my son, chosen and marked by my love, the pride of my life” (Mark 1:11 MSG).
I am fully, head-first, completely willing to support you in the pursuit of your dreams and desires. I will clap and cheer, lend an ear, give advice, strategize (or as one motivational speaker referred to it: “hallucinate”) with you. Ha!
I pray that you will be firmly rooted and established in the love of the Lord – that you will really get how much He loves you, how high and how wide His love. (Ephesians 3:17-19)
And be filled, in Jesus Name, to the measure of ALL the fullness of God. All His fullness – in you! Can you even imagine? (same reference as above)
Be like Jesus, Rock-man. No one can find fault in Him. Grow in wisdom and stature, in favor with both God and man. (Luke 2:52)
May the Presence of the Lord go with you, work through you all of your days (Psalm 139:5-10)
“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” (Number 6:24-26)
Be patient in all things, but eager, too. Wait on the Lord, but be ready when He calls.
Grace. Grace to you, Rocky! Grace as in “the empowering Presence of the Holy Spirit to be all God created you to be and to do all He created you to do!
And may you always find mercy in your time of need. I can tell you mercy is one of the most amazing things. Give it lots. Because over the course of our lives, we need so much of it!
And finally, my sweet boy, my honorable and honoring son who has my heart and soul for all times and seasons, I celebrate you on the occasion of the days and weeks and months that make up this 30th year of your existence. I agree with God for blessing and long life for you, for it to go well with you and for you to ENJOY the abundant life on the earth that Jesus came to give (Ephesians 6:2-3).
Happy Birthday, my Rocky~beloved son whom I love deeply.
Happy Birthday, Jovan’s Rocky~husband and protector, head of his home.
Happy Birthday, Averi, Amelie, and Bailey’s daddy~the fathering heart that will surround them all their days.
You’re 30 now. I watched God usher you in to manhood at the age of 18, ready and pure-hearted. Now, you are entering wisdom and a place spiritual fathering. God has given you a place in His courts (Psalm 84.10, Zechariah 3). It is fun to watch.
www.eldeenannette.com
Lots of words. Because. A month to think. Ha!
Happy {one-month late} Birthday, Rocky Rhoades. xoxo From the {mom}. :)
Wheels of love go ’round Love go ’round Love go ’round A joyful sound*
Ross and Norma Moslander (also known as my mamala and pappasan), married August 24, 1957. They are my parents, the two people I adore and most admire in the universe. Like most kids, I suppose, there were so many things I was going to do differently as a parent. Then I didn’t. Or I did and found out their way was better, anyway. They are both amazing and flawed, both extraordinary and just plain human. But their trajectory has always been headed towards heaven, walking with Jesus, being guided by the Holy Spirit and the closer they get to their goal, the more perfect they become.
My mom thanks me each Mother’s Day and on my birthday for making her a mommy – everything she had ever wanted. I love them! And I’m so blessed to have them as mine!
He ain’t got a penny For Cotton Jenny to spend But then Wheels go ’round*
Another grandbebe is on the way!
That’s right: you heard me. GRANDbebe #10 is due at the end of February 2015. He or she will be Tredessa and Ryan’s second child. Eight-month-old, Evangeline Lilly made the announcement at church wearing a shirt that said, “Only Child, expires February 2015.”
Singing through the Decades
Tara (my firstborn) and her husband Dave are back with a concert follow-up to the wildly successful, sold-out show they did for Valentine’s Day at the Mad Cap Theater in Westminster.
This concert is called Decades, where, rumor has it, they will sing some of the best love songs from various , you guessed it, decades in the past. They are pulling out some of my favorites and I don’t know if I am suppose to tell, but one is a very sexy version of “Let’s Stay Together,” and **maybe-maybe-maybe** even “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” one of my mom’s all-time fav songs (she wants me to make a video of pictures of my dad and add that song as a soundtrack – how cute is that???).
Anyway – the concert is at the historic Armory Center for Performing Arts up north and you can get tickets at dtp.eventbrite.com. It WILL be sold out, so buy early. I get a pass ‘cuz I am their mom! :)
Rocky @Rez.org & other places
Rocky just started a new phase of life and ministry at Resurrection Fellowship in Loveland.He’ll be leading worship a couple of weekends a month and engineering sound in a super-cool exposed brick office with a full-blown recording set-up. He is a little bit in heaven.
He just got back from The Big Tent Revival in Butte, MT where he led worship and just a day before that from a Rez trip to Lake Providence, Louisiana where they were raising money for a ball field there and he was thrilled to get to meet Uncle Si and some other Duck-Dynasty family. This was an explanation of the event CLICK HERE.I think there were follow-up news stories, but I live in Colorado, people.
Image from The Big Tent Revival, Photographer Tom Curry, copyrighted
Jovan is going to home school Averi this year as they transition, prepare to sell their house and move to Loveland (which, while only 45 miles from us, will still make them seem quite a ways away compared to now, which has been 15 miles). They are having an exciting year.
Stormie was at The Big Tent Revival, too
Crazy girl plays bass and sings. She uses her vacation time to travel wherever she is invited to glorify God. We like her very much!
Image from The Big Tent Revival, Photographer Tom Curry, copyrighted
You have been following Beat a Day, haven’t you? You haven’t??? What?!
Stephanie and Tristan are movers and shakers and are always doing something new that wows all of us. And they are both wildly popular on Instagram. Is that such a mom thing to say? It is! :)But it is still true! Steph is an extraordinary photo stylist, see here.
Tristan started posting a 15-second “Beat a Day” drum vids to Instagram {he is the BEST drummer in the world}} and everybody is talking about it! You MUST check it out!:) You totally have to watch the 100th beat that has exactly 100 hots played at 100 beats per minute! So cool!Also lots of beats at TristanKelley.com
So-this is just a little bit of what is happening with my people around here –
All the result of Ross and Norma saying I do 57 years ago this week!
*”Wheels of love go ’round” are lyrics from the song, “Cotton Jenny” written by Gordon Lightfoot. But it was the first song I ever heard by Anne Murray. I was 12. I loved her low voice and I still sing this song around the house! A lot!
That his name is Alva Ross, pronounced “Al’ vee Ross” and now that I have let the cat out of the bag, I must ask for your total cooperation in never mentioning it to him.
I was almost 2. He was 22. Des Moines, 1961
My dad was named for a dad he never knew, a very young man tragically killed in a car accident when my dad’s mom was 6 months pregnant (and 2 little girls at home). He was born into adversity.
We struggled to know each other, understand each other during the years of his workaholism, perfectionism…then mine {we end up being what we judge, people} and I regret the time lost, but I truly treasure him as a close friend and mentor now. I admire him for being 75 and still crying out to God to transform him, lead him, guide him. I plan to be like him in that, too. And mostly, I am loving the restoration of the years the enemy tries to steal as I am learning to be his daughter, his little girl, and he is learning to be my daddy.
On relationships: It s good to pursue the great gifts God intended because He is able to rewrite the whole story, even if it gets interrupted or broken by enemy tactics {or our own stupidity}. Dads and daughters (dads and sons, too) have much to share on the journey toward being whole and holy. Writing it off would have been such a loss.
I arrived for a visit so late my dad didn’t see me until breakfast, at which time his first words were, “Jeanie – why is your hair so dark?” Haha. Dads. Gotta love ’em.
I love my dad!
“God rewrote the text of my life
when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes.” Psalm 18.24 The Message
Then there is Dave {the father of my children}
Happy Father’s Day to the man I entrusted with our 5 incredible children. You were born to be a daddy and even though you’ll be the first to say you didn’t do everything right, I can attest that you tried. And I can vouch for the times you re-adjusted your sails and changed your mind and your tactics and that you are still looking for ways to bless and father our bunch.
And I hope the kids all know those morning blessings are not just idle words, they are deeply meant, spoken with the authority of a God-appointed and anointed dad and he means business. Please don’t ever take that lightly. You should say everyday, “I receive my dad’s blessing spoken over my life today.” You cannot go wrong receiving what he still has to offer, even though you are grown. And if you need to know how much he really loves you, let’s talk!
And Happy Father’s Day to Tristan, DP, Rocky and Ryan!
You are the daddies God chose to raise our grand-est loves, the 9 for whom our hearts pound with furious love and devotion.
But they are yours, these nine grandbebes, your heritage, the fruit of your love and marriage. And we are in 100% agreement that God has given these children good, really good daddies.
You are all men to be admired and I wish all children could be fathered through this life as well. Thank-you for being the courageous men you are and for carefully and intentionally raising, disciplining, teaching, playing, understanding and covering with love these granchildren we know and the ones to come.
My grandchildren are blessed, so blessed.
Happy Father’s Day to all the men who have loved a child enough to keep trying even when it wasn’t easy.
There aren’t enough good examples out there. Hope you had one or got to be one. And remember~
It’s never too late to be the family God meant for you to be.
I *HAVE* to thank Chantell Hinkle for taking the solo for me!
With a grandbebe’s birth and Christmas things to do, and working, well…I just thank her from the bottom of my heart! She’ll be singing a song I used to sing every Christmas at malls and airports and schools and churches from the early 1980s on, “Merry Christmas with Love,” by Sandi Patty. I KNOW she will be amazing!!!
The FIRST FIVE grandbebes are in the production, which is so cool.
They even got headshots done for the lobby board! Gavin and Hunter are both part of the principal cast. I cannot wait to see them!
or th
ALSO – an INTERMISSION band that is so crazy good and they also just so happen to be my kids, but they are REALLY good either way! :)
These peeps:
+ this one = GOOD STUFF!
Omygoodness!!!
So exciting! Several of my besties are in the cast! Music, dancing, laugh-out-loud funny, I’ve been told. I haven’t actually seen it yet, but the rumors are out there. :) Plus heartwarming and some Christmas magic – how can you lose? I am so proud of my talented husband, the infamous Dave Rhoades, who wrote it (he is a great character-writer!), and is directing and acting in it and all of the WONDERFUL cast and crew who make it all come together so I don’t have to, haha!
And he is directing it. And he is acting in it. And so are other people related to me by blood. And so are many of the cast from last year’s Merry Gentlemen ~ A Christmas in Mediocrity, but it is a whole new story and feel. In fact, the infamous and ridiculously good-looking Bill Barrow (and he needs to be because he is married to the ravishing Candi), whose character has a much more expanded role in this show said,
Bill Barrow, himself
“Last year’s play was good. It was really good. But this year’s is fantastic. It is so much better!”
Well, then! Last year’s production was amazing. REALLY good. Two sold-out, standing-room-only nights of fun with live music and great acting. So – wow, then…THIS YEAR will be even better!
It is slated for two performances, December 20 and 21 at Community of Faith in Broomfield (90 Emerald Street), which is sponsoring the whole shebang.
All I know about the story is what Dave will let me know until the performance: It’s about a children’s pastor who has been assigned the task of putting together the church Christmas pageant even though he doesn’t really care for Christmas and doesn’t even really like children, either. But poor Pastor Mike is stuck. He is stuck with overbearing assistant directors, a Joseph who wears football pads, a little superhero who calls himself The Pigeon, a prima dona named Twinkle and a skate board riding redhead known as Dorito. Can Pastor Mike pull it off without losing his sanity?
Well, here is the deal~~ it’s a Christmas story through and through, Christmas as in Jesus was born. It’s written by a man who LOVES Christmas like crazy – so you know it will be Christmas-y in every good way. And it is laugh-out-loud funny (I have this on good authority) and yet heartwarming, too. There is great music (PLUS live music with Rocky Rhoades, Tris and Stephanie Kelley, Stormie Rhoades, and Dave and Tara Powers – which is worth a huge ticket price alone and I am not just saying that because they are my kids, hehe). And, because it’s Christmas? It has a little magic, too! So COME ON people! Soooooo worth the $5 ticket price! BUY TICKETS online www.callbacktheater.com.
Plus: check out the cute director. I know him. He is a talented writer and director. And actor. So come to JESUS, MARY and JOSEPH! :)
Omygosh…I JUST realized I sort of married my very favorite actor from the High Chapparal 1960s TV show…Manolito Montoya, of whom this website says:
The classic 60s Western centered on The High Chaparral ranch in 1870s Arizona where Big John Cannon married Manolito’s sister…Manolito himself was a dashing rogue who’d rather make love to the local ladies than get involved in fighting. Read more here…
Um yeah-the actor’s actual name: Henry Darrow? Manolito to me!
Happy Birthday to Rocky Rhoades, who turned 29 on September the 29th
My son – I am so pleased with you.
I have told you the story of your birth so many times, haven’t I? You arrived early and the doctor had told me not to leave town in case that happened, but I left town and I was so stressed out because I don’t like to get caught breaking the rules. And Tara just reminded me the other night how stressed she was, too, as a 5-year old, because we started on our trip, got halfway there, went home, and then decided to go anyway…and barely walked into the grandparent’s house before it was time for me to zoom right on over to the hospital. Well, I mean, I had planned to make it home so the doctor wouldn’t be any-the-wiser, but you were like, NOW! ~which is so still you. :)
And I have told you that you surprised me beyond anything I could have imagined. I could not believe I got the boy, THE boy I secretly hoped for even though in reality I was totally FINE with having a girl. I already had 3 girls, one more made such sense for balance and symmetry. Omygoodness – the words, “You have a boy” sent me into delirious happiness.
You looked directly at me, your eyes blinked in slow-motion and it knocked the breath from my body. I was dizzy in love, unable to even think about sleep that night, all night, as an oxytocin and dopamine cocktail surged through my veins as if it were coming directly through the IV drip. I had a boy…my very own baby boy!
And you may not realize it, but every time I ever see you, even now, I am thinking the same thing: THAT is MY boy!
I am so proud of you, Rock, not only for the man you are, but for the man you are becoming more and more everyday. This whole flood thing has been a devastation in some ways and an aggravation, for certain, in the life of your family, your ministry. There was loss that probably feels overwhelming and unbearable (as $40-50,000 plus time and effort and re-building will be). I know you look forward to getting your wife and baby girls back home, safe and sound. And then you’ll look and see the possibly long-haul ahead for replacing all the instruments and computers and sound equipment and the studio you’d spent time assembling ~ lots of time and money and hard work ahead.
Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness,while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God. For …this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God.. . 2 Corinthians 6.10-12
But it will come back to you. The things you have sown will take root and grow. And I have watched you and Jovan these past few years grow in grace and grow in giving and giving selflessly and giving big and making the conscious decision to live a life of giving and whenever it has been in your power to do so, you have given away anything and everything you could.
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows…whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Galatians 6.7-8
And God isn’t unaware. He’ll see to it that the seeds of kindness and giving that you have already sown will grow and flourish and you’ll reap all that you have sown. Even when you didn’t know you’d need it – you were planting, you were dropping the seeds of compassion and kindness and generosity into the ground – and what you couldn’t see was that God wasn’t surprised by this thing that happened to your house, your home and belongings and He was smiling, I just know it, because He knew you were already doing what needed done – before it needed done. God knew you were planting for a harvest of big-time reaping, financially!
“The Lord then said to Noah, ‘Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.'” Genesis 7.1
For Noah, for all mankind, the flood was a line in the sand. It was a before and after. It was : things used to be like that, then there was the flood, and now they are like this. The flood was an ending AND a beginning. Things were lost in the flood, but the promises of God are found there, too. Not just for an ark builder for thousands of years ago, but for a worshiper/songwriter right now, in Frederick, CO – man who leads his family and wants to write songs that literally bring healing.
Of course certain things had to die and float away for a dream, a calling, a vision like that. But it is all just so you’ll never forget that the LORD is the promise-keeper and you didn’t do it by yourself, because you couldn’t have. How many times have you told me, since you were 18 or 19, “God won’t share His glory.” You have pointed out highly celebrated, gifted musicians and singers and recognized the call of God on their lives, but watched as they held it for themselves. That is not the standard you are living by and this flood is just a yes and amen to deep-down determinations you have already made to give God all, everything that is His and His alone – you have already said it. The flood is a checkpoint – do you mean it, Rock-man? And I know you do and I know the healing songs are going to pour out from here, like flood waters for the glory of the LORD.
But [the time is coming when] the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord just as the waters cover the sea. Habakkuk 2.14
Do you know what I think?
I believe, and I actually know this to be true because I have known you every second of these 29 years+ and you have made me cry and worry and laugh like nobody’s business and also so very proud because you are forthright and honest and talented and thoughtful and honoring and you love your mommy. So this is what I think:
No one is more beautiful or handsome than my boy, my Rocky ~ from the inside out.
“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Luke 6:38
This is the post-flood promise of God! On the occasion of your 29th birthday. It is coming back to you, all of it and more! I love you!
NOTE: Rocky and Jovan got flooded out during the Colorado rains in September. I have written a little about it here and here. You can learn more about helping them re-build {HERE}!
Here are my {humble and extremely astute, hahahaha!} observations on what happens when a lot of rain comes quickly…
Nothing profound or scientific here. Just my thoughts running downstream…
You may be praying for it (in arid, semi-desert areas, we often do), but it shows up in the night while you are totally unprepared, sleeping, minding your own business.
Rocky and Jovan had no warning, when at 3 am, their electricity was out and within 20 minutes they watched water rise from the second step to just a couple of feet from their main level, reaching nearly 6 feet high in their basement. They couldn’t drive out of their cul-de-sac because the street was already rushing and deep, but had to pack quickly for three baby girls. It can be sudden. It was in this case.
It rips your belongings from their places and they just float away.
The next day, Rocky went to his house and everything downstairs was just floating around on its side: furnace, hot water heater, washer, dryer, computers, musical recording equipment and sound systems. All of Rocky’s guitars and instruments (the ones he learned to worship on), were soaked and floating or submersed. Material things float away in a flood, in an abundance of rain.
It fills the creeks, the rivers, bursts through dams, flows down it’s normal contained path in ever-rising power then through streets and places that cannot contain it.
It gets dangerous. It shows up where we were glad to have it and where we weren’t. But it is the nature of abundance. It’s everywhere. It rains on the just and on the unjust, in good ways and in ways that we were not expecting and don’t know how to handle.
Everybody wants to claim they got more of it than some one else.
I don’t want to say too much about this for fear I’ll end up totally snarky. So let me just say, if you lost anything at all, if you are now faced with mold growing where the basement flooded and your childhood keepsakes are gone – it is a loss. It is horrible. And I hope you have some one in your life who will acknowledge that and let you say why the loss affected you and how sad you feel. I really do. But there were people whose houses stayed completely dry who acted like they had been banished to a completely undeveloped third world country because a road half a mile away couldn’t be transversed for 24-48 hours. Keep perspective and get into gratefulness. Maybe the next big tragedy will be all about you – won’t that be nice? There! See? I got into snarkiness. I cannot be trusted.
Some people will lose a lot and then be recompensed with piles of pious platitudes.
Mourn with those who mourn. Maybe what they lost didn’t mean anything to you, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t mean anything to them. They are tired. They have a lot of work ahead. When they say, “Oh-I just found out I lost {some, silly, ridiculous, sentimental, inconsequential thing} in the flood,” we should commiserate, we should sympathize, and maybe if we know what that is like, we should empathize. For how long? Until they are done. My conjecture is that if we’d stop and mourn with those who are mourning, their mourning would turn into dancing a whole lot sooner. Sometimes what is lost isn’t recognized right away anyway, in the shocking aftermath of a new normal, of material loss. Encourage, literally give them some of your courage. Listen, let them tell you why that {silly, ridiculous, sentimental, inconsequential thing} meant something. But refrain, pleeeeeease, from pious-sounding-cliches and especially from a “knowing look” that God sent this hard thing to work something in their lives that you totally knew they needed. Because you will not want that coming back on you!
The rushing water brings a cleansing, but cleansing strips away things we didn’t count on, too.
It is a heavenly do-over. Now what will we do with it? It’s a chance to right wrongs, fresh slate, build better, travel lighter, haul away the concentrated, contaminated mud for good.
But in the cleansing – I have one friend who lost everything including her home in Lyons. There is nothing for her to even go back to, her home and those who lived near – all gone. The land will be cleared and maybe eventually that will seem fine, safer for the future, but right now – it represents many families, people who have nowhere to call “home.”
So? A fresh slate can be good, it is also very empty – much work to do!
If the water gets stuck in one spot, it will become stagnant.
There is so much contamination throughout our state now, as the rain has ceased and the rushing has subsided and is sitting still. I have read about the revivals of old, Azusa, the Welsh Revival. Powerful moves of God flowing through and changing the landscape, were eventually dammed up, “named”, coined phrases were assigned to them for categorizing the flow of the Holy Spirit. The rains can be administrated and basically contained…to death. Choose life from this wet mess!
The bug population will suddenly be crazy after it happens.
Because even where the rains have made the grass and trees greener than ever in our state at this time of year, when the good stuff is increased, the annoying stuff {fatigue sets in, bickering, backbiting, distrust, unrest, eye-rolling, offense} increases around it, too. Be aware. Be wary. Be on guard. They seek to destroy the green-life we are enjoying.
See? Nothing profound or scientific. Just a bunch of thoughts rattling around, things I see.
The Bible says where the river flows everything will live. This will eventually probably be one of the most beautiful autumns Colorado has ever seen {both in the natural and because it is bringing people together to do good for one another}. It will take time to rebuild, to get “back to normal,” to regain what was lost. But even now, are we not seeing clearly the great grace and love of God, His heart poured out in love towards us, His great grace at work through His people. He is good. We know this now. But – in the looking back someday, how amazed we will really be, I am sure of it!
~~~~~~~~~~
Zumba, baby!
Meanwhile, the amazing Tammy Brown (the outrageously gorgeous woman married to the ineffable Lewis “Proxy” Brown, yes THAT Tammy) is doing a fitness-fundraiser {how fun is that?} to help Rocky and Jovan as they work to recover their losses! It’s a ZUMBA-thing! You should ALL come! Seriously! THIS kind of abundance – it’s a love-rain!
Thanks to so many who are helping so many others and especially those who are loving on my familia.
