A very girl-y Valentine's Day

Katie, Julie, Audrey & Chan

Want to know a fun way to celebrate Valentine's Day? Spend it with a few girlfriends. The menu: sparkling cherry juice, pork tenderloin with cherry sauce, heart-shaped pasta, cherry sorbet, and almost-Martha Stewart chocolate chip cookies. Dinner conversation: favorite TV shows, best time to take a college class, how to cook, and facts about two-year olds. Interesting.

On the day of love, it was so great to spend a little time with some girls I love. A special day!

Happy bIrthday, dear sister

I've known her over half of my life. She's not my birth sister, but she is my sister. Linda is married to my brother. Last weekend, I had the honor to celebrate Linda's Jubilee birthday along with seventy of her closest friends. Here's a few things about Linda:

She's fun
She's' serious
She's creative
She's a good friend
She's a great sister
She's pretty
She has three amazing daughters (than she has graciously shared with me)
She loves people
She loves Jesus


And I love her... Happy birthday, dear sister!

P.S. Do you know what the Jubilee year is? It's referenced in Leviticus 25:11

Jumpstart!

If you were to ask me, "What's one of the best things about co-authoring a Bible study for women?," I would answer by saying, "Just look at this photo."

This is a shot of eight really cool gals who participated in the launch of our newest Jumpstart Bible study. They did the study together and then, for graduation, they celebrated by having lunch together. I love that! It represents so well what Becky (my co-author) and I feel Jumpstart is all about. 

Jumpstart is a short study that can be done as a group, or with just one girlfriend. But however you choose to do it, it's a relational approach to how God wants us to interact with others in His world. 

If you participated in the study but didn't have the chance to go to lunch with someone afterward, let me challenge you. Take another study of some kind! Then--invite someone to lunch with you. Celebrating is half the fun!

If you're interested in doing Jumpstart with a friend, go to our website and click on Jumpstart. There, you will find our first study: Jumpstart your Heart. Soon, our new study--Jumpstart Your Relationship with God and Others--will also be available online.

So what are you waiting for? Grab a friend (or two!), set aside some time, and jump into Jumpstart!

Water tower & waffles

What a wonderful way to spend 24 hours...with my son, Jack!

Jack attends Auburn University, a mere 14-hour drive from our home. Because of the distance, he doesn't come home much during the school year...so I go visit him. I fly to Atlanta, rent a car and drive one and a half hours to Auburn. As soon as I see the water tower with the Auburn logo, I know I'm close.

My recent visit included breakfast at the brand new waffle house. Judy, the waitress, was as pleasant as she could be. I learned new hash brown terms: smothered, covered, chunked, diced, peppered, capped, topped and country. (You'll have to visit a waffle house to understand.)
During this visit, the weather was glorious. Auburn had been stuck in a rain pattern and most days were rainy or cloudy for two weeks. This day, however, the sun appeared. One person tweeted "Hey Auburn people, look outside and notice the bright ball in the sky." My son and I enjoyed walking, talking, eating and shopping--all things a mom loves.

With my love tank full, I depart the town of Auburn, leaving behind the water tower and the waffle house. But I'm not leaving my son behind, for he remains in my heart. 

A good story deserves to be told

I love a good story.! Always have loved hearing them and telling them. 

My friend Stacie (pictured above) also loves a good story. In fact, listening and recording people's stories is what she does for a living. I think this is brilliant because listening to someone's life, firsthand, is way better than being told it secondhand. 

What's really cool about Stacie's job is that she loves doing it! She loves to share in people's memories. I can't think of a better way for a parent, grandparent, or friend to pass on important, serious, fun and personal recollections than to have them recorded. 

Or, how cool would this be--to have your entire family share how they came to know Jesus!

Wouldn't it be neat for each family member to recall and re-tell their story of firsthand encounters with Jesus? You don't have to do it in a recording (although that would be really special). Why not have a special dinner together where everyone shares? How about doing it tonight?

P.S. Let me know if you do this...I'd love to hear about it.

Creating the new normal (part 2)

Freedom of the Seas. What a perfect name for a boat when you are trying to create the "new normal."

Freedom. Walking from dry land onto a gigantic cruiser was a little like "crossing over" into freedom. Here are a few reasons why a cruise at Christmas and Freedom of the Seas made me feel that way:

• Freedom to put away all the busyness and yes, crazy customs of Christmas and simply focus on the main Person of Christmas
• Freedom to spend less money and more time on the people in my life
• Freedom from worrying if I will have enough food for all the meals (the cruise ship had plenty!)
• Freedom to risk changing traditions, and then to discover that Christmas still came
• Freedom to know that God loved me no less and no more because of my "new normal"

Thank you, Lord, for letting me take a cruise that reminds me of You.

"Now the Lord is Spirit, and where the Spirit is, there is freedom." 2 Corinthians 3:17

Creating the new normal

2012. I like it! The number 2012 is a lot easier to write then 2011. And this is going to be an unusual, but very hopeful year for me.  

One year ago, on January 1, 2011,  I was dreading the New Year. Both of my parents were very ill and I knew that 2011 wasn't going to be fun for them or me or my siblings. I was right. It was a very difficult year. Both parents passed away -- three weeks apart in January and February. 

The rest of the year was an attempt to recover from sadness. The holidays were going to prove to be a challenge. Until this year, I had spent every Christmas day with my parents. And so my brother, sister and I decided to do something very un-ordinary for Christmas because we knew it was time to create our new normal. My entire family took a Caribbean cruise. It was crazy fun -- our parents would have loved it (they loved fun and travel). It was different -- we decided to draw names and bring only one gift aboard. But mostly, it was memorable. 

We will always miss our mom and dad, but doing something they loved helped us bring them along while experiencing the new normal. For you who read this, Happy New Year! To my brother, sister and the rest of the family, Happy New Normal. We survived one year.