Love My Husband, Love My Ministry

Frank and dance are not usually mentioned together in the same sentence. He makes sure of that. He is a behind-the-scenes kinda guy, and although he has some wildly entertaining dance moves, they are unfortunately only accessible to the audience of myself and our offspring.

But this past weekend was an exception to the rule (the association, not the Frank dance, darn it), and Frank volunteered to accompany me on a trip down to Southern California with a big chunk of the Royal Stage dancers. And he agreed to drive. And it was our anniversary weekend.

Bless his heart. Because really.....

But I digress. The weekend was fantastic. The dancers ministered in a convalescent home and were incredibly gracious when they got comments like, "Wow! What a group of gorgeous girls! I'm serious! Not a single one of you is ugly!" (spoken from an old dude in his late 70s while he checked out their booties), and some also helped work at a thrift store to benefit battered women. Then they went on to rock the 15th annual Southern California Christian Dance Concert, where many of us experienced that our dance with the faux blindfolds quickly became a case of REAL blindness when the fabric hit the stage lights.

Oops.

Then, we went to Disneyland. It is really one of my favorite things in life to go to Disneyland with people who have never been there before. Two of the dancers never had, and it was so funny as they were practically in tears going into the park. Love it.

But then we ditched them, and went to a fancy dinner.

                                         Our 7th anniversary pic that came out like crap.

                                          Our fancy schmancy all-you-can-eat dessert feast!


It was an incredible time! I hope to post videos of the dance performance  soon <3

That's It. Moving to Finland.

My goodness, this is a great idea! And the stuff is actually cute!

A big Finnish baby shower!

We've Lost Joy

When I was in college, I was involved with a group called Davis Christian Fellowship (DCF). I was told by a hometown church friend to not come home for a visit until I had been to DCF. He wanted a full report, because it was that good of a group.

He was right. I made some lifelong friends through DCF, and met some of the most incredible leaders. DCF saved me from some crazy stuff - it also introduced me to dance ministry. Really, without DCF, nothing about my life would be the same today.

My very first time at DCF, a girl named Joy was the first person I met. She walked right up to me, introduced herself, and sat with me. She then gave me her phone number and said if I needed a friend (since I was the new girl on campus) or just encouragement and prayer, I could always call her. That little scrap of paper stayed in my bible for years. I never needed to call Joy, but I just found the little piece of paper she wrote on in an old bible I used in college.

I smiled when I found it, and remembered my friend, who all throughout college, asked me if I needed prayer for anything. And I know she prayed. A lot of people don't when they say they will, you know.

This morning, I got a facebook message from the pastors of DCF. Over the weekend, while I was dancing in Southern California and playing at Disneyland with a ministry I founded because of DCF and Joy's "hook" into it, Joy passed away.

Joy did not only pass away. She committed suicide. The happiest girl I knew during my entire time at college killed herself.

Please remember to pray for and encourage those in your life that seem the happiest. Those people who seem to be upbeat, and who "don't need" all the love and edification possible (just like us more gloomy folks), please remember Joy.

Joy knew Jesus, and His love sustains. She will experience the comfort of the ultimate Comforter. But it didn't have to be this way. She had a lot more life to live, and many more people to love and encourage. And we are sad today as we realize she didn't seem to know it.

My Halloween Dream Foiled

I had the perfect plan for Halloween. Sam had asked to be a pirate, and so I was going to dress up Charlotte as his parrot. Don't even tell me that isn't beyond adorable.

Yesterday as we were excitedly anticipating the first rain and doing arts & crafts indoors, I decided to risk it and take the kids to the Halloween store down the street. Sam has been excited about Halloween for weeks already. I have no idea how we are going to make it until the 31st. He trick or treats around the house everyday and he loads up on imaginary candy.

So off we went, and Sam LOST. HIS. MIND. Costumes galore, he wanted to try them all on. He fell in love with a haunted broom decoration and was awestruck by the sheer variety of trick or treat bag options. Three year olds are fun :)

We went straight to the toddler section and picked out a 3T pirate costume right away. We were on our way to the dressing room, when Sam all of a sudden started jumping up and down and screaming with glee. He had found a display of Yo Gabba Gabba costumes. If you do not know what Yo Gabba Gabba! is, see here.

"Mommy!" Sam exclaimed, "I don't want to be a pirate!"

My heart sank. Bye bye, parrot costume for Charlotte. I forced enthusiasm "Oh really? What do you want to be?"

"DJ Lance Rock!"

Again, for those not familiar with DJ Lance Rock, here is a picture of him.

Or, my personal favorite:

He's the host/MC/cheerleader/enthusiastic-spandex-wearer of Yo Gabba Gabba!, and there is my extremely Caucasian little boy dying to dress up as him for Halloween.

Oh whatever. If he is old enough to have an opinion, he should be able to be whatever he wants, right? And if he wants to be a gumby-shaped, African-American DJ in a neon jumpsuit, who am I to stop him? Lord knows he has the dance moves to pull it off.

So that is how we decided to be DJ Lance Rock for Halloween instead of a pirate.

Until, that is, the costume store lady wouldn't let us take the hat and glasses out of the package. Then Sam lost interest and decided to be Plex instead.

I love three :)

Here are some preview pictures of Sam in his Yo Gabba Gabba! Plex costume. He loves it. And Charlie is just going to be a ballerina, I guess.

The real Plex: 

 My Plex:

Mommyhood, With a Side of Granola

I'm not what you would consider an "earthy" sort of person. The idea of cloth diapers completely freaks me out, and I DO recycle....probably about 60% of the time. I knew when I had kids I would formula-feed, disposable-diaper, and instant-breakfast the heck out of them. And sure enough, that is what happened with Sam. He has turned out to be kind, intelligent and wonderful despite such lazy efforts on my part.

Charlotte ended up being totally different. I was not looking forward to the few days in the hospital after I delivered her, when the legion of nurses would come in and inundate me on the benefits of nursing her. Breast is best, and the rest of that coercing fest that I just was not interested in hearing.

Then I had her. Okay, let's give this a try, squirmy, screaming one. You definitely look more sturdy than your brother did on HIS birth day. So we did. And she took to it like a champ. In fact, between the time she was born and the time the lactation consultant came in to convince me to breastfeed, we had totally gotten the hang of it.


Charlie is well into her 4th month of life now, and this past week I started weaning her. We had exclusively nursed since day one, and I was really worried about how she would do. I read so much online about baby rejecting formula, growing super clingy, etc.

Well, she did great. And guess what? I am a complete mess! I've cried, felt so distant from her, want to cuddle her all the time. I am a wreck. That's when I realized just how connected nursing makes us. She still tries to root toward me, get a little snack and such, but then she realizes the restaurant has shut down and she moves on. But I haven't yet. My heart still wants to cuddle her little self with every meal, and experience that amazing emotional intimacy with her I never even expected.

It's strange to think that she is, quite possibly, our last child. And all of her 'firsts" are all of our "lasts." Bittersweet. But it is also so beautiful to see her grow. Maybe I am a little granola after all.

We Are Family

Shameless promotion of my offspring. Cannot even express all the ways I love them.

                                             Telling secrets

                                                  Eskimo Kisses

                                           Is Sam about to get punched in this picture?

                                                   Bounce!

                                          Riding his first pony at the Gourd Festival

                                          Woo! Doesn't get more awesome than a gourd festival!

                                          Christmas trees in training!

                                          Cuddling with my girl on the tractor ride :)

                                          Guess they didn't exactly want to take a pic with me...

                                            Cousins <3

                                          Charlotte's remaining fuzz blowing in the autumn breeze ;)

Streets Gone Cold - Or Maybe I'm Just Getting Old....

I've been meaning to write this blog post forever, and I apologize to the prayer and financial supporters of Royal Stage who may have been waiting to hear how it went! At the end of July, we took 11 of the Royal Stage participants to the bay area for a mini missions trip we called the Heart of Arts Blitz. It was a pretty incredible time. They danced in San Francisco and San Jose, did some public speaking, and collected money for charity:water.

It gave me a whole new perspective about where I grew up. Especially when we went door to door raising money for clean water in Africa. The response really surprised me. I would tell one of the groups of collectors - oh, go to this house, they are so and so and really nice! I had fond memories of them giving out the best Halloween candy on the block, or playing at their house as a child, etc. There were a lot of homes that held special spots in my heart.

Then I watched one by one as the people who were a collection of good memories from childhood closed their front doors in the faces of my dancers who were simply asking for 50 cents toward clean water resources in 3rd world countries. A former neighbor actually said "I can't be bothered with this."

Some people pretended to not know English. People I KNOW DO because I spoke to them decades ago. Maybe they've forgotten the language since then? ;) Anyway, it's been almost 7 years since I permanently moved away from my bay area bubble, and I was disillusioned and kind of disappointed.......at first.

Then I realized just what a beautiful area I grew up in. We met a man named Fred, just randomly as we walked through the park by the Central library. He was really itching for someone to talk to, and spent quite awhile telling us his story. We asked to pray for him, and he asked us to yes, please do so. But not with him there. He had an opposition to religion, and told us how it caused wars, broken relationships, etc.

We told him how it wasn't about religion - that we hated religion too! It is about a personal relationship with Jesus. He seemed pleasantly surprised by that, almost as if he had never heard it before. He then went on to tell us about how he was HIV positive, and how his girlfriend of many, many years had just broken up with him. He was sad and lonely, and I will never forget him.

There were probably a lot of Freds around those parts while I was growing up, obsessed with my own teenage angst, not bothering to give any of them the time of day. And many likely remain. We met at least one. I am ashamed I did not reach out and love sooner, having focused on foreign missions fields when there was one in my own backyard. I am also so grateful to have met Fred. I will never forget him.

The rest of the weekend was incredible too. We danced at a church in San Jose, and we also performed on Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. People sat chairs out in front of restaurants across the street from where we were dancing, and watched. The younger girls had opportunities to do some public speaking too - something many of them had not done before, including a recently adopted foster kid that was on our team with a powerful testament to God's goodness.

Anyway, here is the weekend in pictures! Heart of Arts Blitz #1 = success! Next stop, Orange County in October!

Pictures of our time in the bay area