For Peep’s Sake

Do you have Spring Fever? Are you feeling like a chicken with her head cut off? Are you ready to break out of the shell you’re in and become the Super Cool Momma Chick you are meant to be?

Then join me as I hatch this little plan.....

Lately, I’ve been hen-pecked by my hard-boiled conscience and the pick-a-little-talk-a-little chick in me is ready to fly the coop. “Fly! Be Free!” I cluck to myself. Since birds of a feather flock together I decided to celebrate finding my wings by hosting one of those “web contests.” The biggest newspapers in the country do it every Easter. Can I steal their chicken lickin’ good idea? Sure! Why not. So here we go.

Imagine it now.

On your dining room table is a box. A shoe box. Craft glue. Scissors. Markers. Paper and maybe some toothpicks. Easter grass. And, oh yes, Peeps. Purple Peeps. Blue Bunny Peeps. Imaginative Peeps to whom you are related.

You’re all brainstorming.

Little Bo-Peep has Lost her Peeps?

A Village Peeple Concert?

Easter Island?

What will your Peep-y theme be?

Post your Peep Diorama and its title on your blog or send me a photo via email by Wednesday, April 7th.

Me and my little peeps will vote on the best entries..... and will send you a free gift!

And if you think I’m not entirely serious, that I’ve gone a little quackers.... check this out!

People take their Peeps seriously, for peep’s sake!

I hope I don’t end up with egg on my face but since “A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked” I’m hoping we’ll have a more than enough entries to choose from! No party peepers out there! Give Peeps a chance!

Rules

- Don’t forget to TITLE your Peep Diorama.

- Please DO NOT ALTER your Peeps considerably. Dress them up, by all means. You can even paint them, just don’t take a blow torch to them, okay?

- We will accept Peep Dioramas from individuals and families. Please LABEL NAME AND AGE of the creators/participants so we can take that into account when judging.

- Use at least 2 individual Peeps marshmallow items in your diorama.

Who wants to play?

If I Lived in Redding

One of my best friends lives in Redding. When we moved back to CA, I contemplated moving where I could be close to her. Naturally. Joe and I determined that you can't move where people are because God is in the business of moving people, so we moved to Oakhurst, where we knew no one at all. Sure enough, my friend is planning to move out of Redding and is hoping that that is God's plan for her, too. Guess it makes me gladder I landed in Oakhurst.

One of the benefits of having a friend in Redding, however, is visiting her church. I'm a 'ghost attendee' of the Neighborhood Church trying to keep tabs on what's happening there. I listen to a few sermons when I can and I catch the pastor's blog. Here is what he wrote most recently. I wonder if you agree?

Here’s the best advice I can share about preaching. All sermons are either enabling (grace) or obligatory (law). We’re either preaching YOU CAN or YOU SHOULD (or YOU CAN’T or YOU SHOULDN’T).

Obligatory sermons pile up over the years. We wear people down and send them home feeling terrible about themselves. Soon, they’ll take it out on God. They’ll either give up or fake it. We become legalists when we decouple of duties of the Christian life from the divine power to do them.

Enabling sermons also pile up over the years. We build people up in their confidence in God. I’m not suggesting “positive thinking” sermons. I’m suggesting messages that communicate the good news of all that God has promised to do for us and be within us. Sermons that show off all the sparkly facets of the “I can do all things through Christ” diamond.

Good, theologically rich preaching shouldn’t just inform, it should enable. It should open your eyes to how God, by his Spirit, conforms you to Christ, even when you’re a jerk. How God overcomes your jerkitude to reveal Christ in you. It should make you believe that God hasn’t given up on you, and that this coming week is another chance to tap into his power when you’re weary.

I want people to leave my church trusting God for greater things than when they came in.

Most of the Bible is declarative, and therefore enabling.

How come most sermons are imperative, and therefore obligatory?

Great preaching lays the bulk of obligation on God… and exhorts listeners to turn to him. Isn’t that the Bible in a nutshell?

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

In all seriousness, I love my little girl. Yet, here she is, with another blog worthy episode.

Jillian: Momma, you should be a housekeeper and clean people's houses.

Mommy: Really?

Jillian: Yes, Momma, you'd be really good at it.

Anybody else havin' a Sun Shiny Day?

What's Wrong with this Picture?

Can anyone tell me what’s wrong with this picture?

She’s 9. I thought she was becoming a pretty good little artist.

Maybe she needs lessons? Or maybe I need to lose weight?

I was under the impression I looked more like this......

Joe is wondering if those are pockets or my saggy boobs....

What do you think?


Punish 9 year old, penalize aging husband or purchase pink mumu?

Too Busy to Blog

Are you ever too busy to blog?

Not me. Not usually. If I don't blog it's most often because I have nothing to say. Sometimes, I have lots to say and just can't find the words. Those blogs end up in my "not-posted" blog folder and is a living file of ideas that go through my head that are lot like dreams; disjointed, nonsensical and surreal.

But tonight I am too busy to blog because I have something better to do. I don't mean to be insulting, but there ya go.

Tonight I have something to do because someone was really nice to me. Someone who reads my blog, was thinking of me and brought me a gift. Can you guess which of my February blogs inspired this act of kindness?


I love this part of life. The part where someone thinks of you, surprises you, just because they want to and not because they have to. It makes me want to pay-it-forward and when I do, I will remember fondly this night...when I was too busy to blog because someone wasn't too busy to do something nice for me.

Thank you. Chugga...Chugga....Choo! Choo!