this is going to be fun

TV Land has compiled a list of the 100 greatest catchphrases on TV. Being a fan of pop culture trivia, I am hoping to catch the countdown special that begins airing on December 11.

Here are some of my favorites that made the list:

"Come on down!" (Johnny Olson, "The Price is Right")

"De plane! De plane!" (Tattoo, "Fantasy Island")

"Hey hey hey!" (Dwayne Nelson, "What's Happening!!")

…not to be confused with…

"Hey hey hey!" (Fat Albert, "Fat Albert")

"How you doin'?" (Joey Tribbiani, "Friends")

"I know nothing!" (Sgt. Schultz, "Hogan's Heroes")

"Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids" (Trix cereal ad)

"Up your nose with a rubber hose" (Vinnie Barbarino, "Welcome Back, Kotter")

"Well, isn't that special?" (Dana Carvey as the Church Lady, "Saturday Night Live")

"You rang?" (Lurch, "The Addams Family")

And my all-time favorite…
"Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis?" (Arnold Drummond, "Diff'rent Strokes")

So I came up with a few TrueNorth catchphrases:

"This ain't yo mama's church" (The core group)

"We ain't skeered" (The staff while preparing to move services to the gym)

"Hear me this morning" (Steve Davis...we had to break him of this one)

"You've just been slammed!" (Walt Tanner, closing out announcement videos)

This is just an abbreviated list. If anyone has more to add, please feel free to leave a post!

the three of me

I am the proud "baby mama" of these three children.
This is a picture that I took for our Christmas cards, although I decided on the family one instead.
Sometimes I wonder "who are these people anyway and where did they come from?"
They might not look like me, but they act like me sometimes...bless their hearts!

eating humble pie

I am not on stage today.

Our youth band is leading worship and I am able to experience our service from a different point of view. This is the second time in over two years I have had the opportunity to be off from the band and not be out of town.

And I like it. I really like it.

My daughter is to my left, my sister is to my right, my friends are seated around me in every direction, and I’m watching my husband do his SOUL team thang. There are other people around me who I don’t know and I am hoping to get a chance to speak to them.

A few things I am learning today:
1. How to check my kids into Kidzstuff. Alan usually does this part.
2. Clapping during several consecutive songs makes my hands tingly.
3. People want to stand up during a song, but they are waiting for someone else to stand first.
4. I can focus better when my thoughts aren’t drifting to the next set list and when to head backstage.
5. I don’t have to be a super-worker, just a super-worshipper.

Today is a humbling experience. TrueNorth Church can happen with or without me and I realize I’m just a tiny part of God’s big plan for this church.

And I am okay with that.

pass the cranberries, please

I've never gotten a voicemail devotional before until yesterday when my uncle left a message, reminding me that Thanksgiving isn't about food at all, but about being thankful to God for all the blessings that we have received from Him.

I'm thinking he was trying to invite himself over for dinner, but I'm not sure.

I had to memorize Psalm 100 as an elementary student at the Baptist school that I attended. I was probably not a happy camper at the time about memorizing something so lengthy. But I am thankful now, because it is a passage that I continue to hide in my heart.

So as you are deciding whether you want white meat or dark meat, pause for a second and remember what Psalm 100 is asking us to do:

1. Make a joyful noise to the Lord
2. Serve the Lord with gladness
3. Come before His presence with singing
4. Know that the Lord is God
5. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving
6. Enter into His courts with praise
7. Be thankful to Him
8. Bless His name

We don't even have to get up from the dinner table to do these things! Actually, this passage should be our way of life...a spirit of thanksgiving every day.

Thanksgiving riddle: Why was the turkey allowed to be in the band?

If you know the answer, post a comment...

mom, it's not fair!

...that's what my kids screamed last night when we had to bury another cat...Frisky. Does this story sound familiar? It's because we just went through this 3 weeks ago with Frisky's twin, Socks.

I have friends who are having issues at home like plumbing, microwave, dishwasher, termites, etc.

We have to be different and have ANIMAL issues.

In the past three weeks:
1. Our cat, Socks, died.
2. Someone left an ugly pig head on a platter on our front porch as a Halloween joke. A real, dead pig head. Not funny.
3. A snake showed up at our front door during Journey Team. We found out AFTER the guys played with it with a plastic fork and let it go that it was a rattlesnake.
4. My parents' cat, Buddy, who I've known for 15 years, was put to sleep.
5. My sister's dog, Dixie, ran away.
6. And now...Frisky is dead.

We are heartbroken again.

That's it...I'm not blogging about any more animals!

Jesus is not their homeboy

According to recent news reports, a company in Los Angeles offered to donate 4,000 brand-new Jesus dolls to the Toys for Tots program, which distributes toys to needy children during the holidays. The doll is used as a witnessing tool for children, reciting over a minute's worth of various scripture. The Toys for Tots program refused the donation for fear of "offending someone".

If this story is true, I think "Someone" WAS offended.

forget about it

Audio Adrenaline performed "Ocean Floor" at the concert Sunday night. I knew that song before, but never paid it much attention until I heard it live:

Your sins are forgotten
They're on the bottom
Of the ocean floor

These lyrics remind us that not only does God forgive our sins, but forgets them! Satan reminds us of our sins, but God will always keep his promise of forgetting. So why do we continue to bring them back up? They're gone...buried and forgotten.

Isaiah 43:25 (New International Version)
"I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more."

Micah 7:19 (NIV)
"You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea."

mercy me concert

MercyMe put on a great light and video show. Bart even presented a mini-message. He talked about how God doesn't need us, but He desires us and that "It's all about Him". Not just mostly about Him. ALL about Him.

The first words in The Purpose Driven Life are "It's not about you". This has become the buzz-phrase of the century. After the first two hundred times of hearing that phrase, it has started to become cliche for me. It has been so overused that the impact has been lost, especially when it is used as a weapon. Isn't it more meaningful to say "It's all about Him"? That's where our focus should be anyway.

obstructed view

Our Journey Team went to the MercyMe/Audio Adrenaline concert last night. My ticket stub did not say I would have an "obstructed view" seat.

Can you guess who this person was that kept leaning forward?

(Just kidding, honey!)

i can't always get what i want

‘Tis the season to start Christmas shopping. I have accumulated quite a large stack of catalogs in the mail recently from LLBean to Pottery Barn Kids. We have a tradition where our kids take the ToysRUs Big Book and mark their initials by the toys they want. They always choose too much, so the list is narrowed down and then sent to Santa.

I remember what Santa brought me for my ninth Christmas. My very own CASSETTE PLAYER…complete with a built-in microphone. I actually had to talk into the player, not a handheld microphone. I also got my first two cassettes…Carly Simon and Captain and Tennille. I memorized every word to every song on both tapes. Don’t laugh.

I also remember what I didn’t get that Christmas. I asked Santa for a Stretch Armstrong. Even though it was a boy toy, I really, really wanted a Stretch Armstrong. I wanted to see how far I could pull his arms and legs and if they would go back to their normal shape.

I didn’t get Stretch Armstrong. Santa got confused and gave him to my sister, who didn’t ask for one. So what’s a Santa to do when he finds that out?

Bless his heart.

Isn’t it difficult sometimes when God doesn’t give us what we want? It’s even harder when someone else gets our goods. I am thankful that God sees the big picture and gives me what I need.

Stretch Armstrong wasn’t all that anyway.

have you noticed?

Over the past six months or so, I have noticed a phenomenon that has blown me away. It seems that on just about every street corner, there is a “cash advance” business. I checked out switchboard.com and found that in North Augusta alone, we have Ace Cash Express, Advance America (3 of them!), Advance Till Payday, Affordable Cash Loans, Approved Cash Advance, Cash Now, Check Advance, Check Into Cash, Check Max, Express Check, Express Check Advance, Great American Cash Advance, Mr. Payroll, Payday Your Way, Quick Cash, and Stewart Cash Advance.

I am amazed that this town can support eighteen check-cashing businesses. Obviously they are doing something right and reaching lots of people! Hmm....

the rumors are true!

We DO play with snakes in Journey Team. This one showed up at our front door Sunday night!
Snakehandler for the evening was Brad Wasden.

guilty pleasure

I spent Friday morning at Stacey's 'gettin my hair did', which means an hour and a half of peace, a captive audience, and someone to play with my hair. The employees at Reynolds Wrap will be getting a bonus next week, based on the amount of aluminum foil I had sticking out of my head.

One of my favorite guilty pleasures at Stacey's is the thirty minutes I spend with my foiled head under the dryer and also....well, I don't know if I should say. I mean, some people might be offended by the fact that I'm a real person. But, here it goes...

I like to read her tabloids...especially The Star magazine.

There. I said it.

I don't read them for the articles though, only the pictures! Sometimes I just want to NOT use my brain (which is in motion 24/7), and reading The Star does not require much brain power. I secretly enjoy seeing pictures of these supposedly beautiful people, without makeup and airbrush, being caught off-guard. And there's more drama in one of their days than a month's worth of Days of our Lives episodes.

It makes me thankful for the simple life that I have...and reminds me of what is really important in life.

Guilty pleasure? Maybe it's not a pleasure at all in the end...but I AM guilty.

the way NOT to make candy apples

I wanted to do something 'special' for my kids for halloween, so I decided to try my hand at making candy apples. It was a relatively easy task once I got the caramel to the right consistency. I even rolled them in nuts AND red hots for extra flavor! This is a picture of what we came home to after trick-or-treating. All of the caramel and toppings slid off the apples, because....what part of "refrigerate immediately" did I NOT understand?