the case of the disappearing spoons

One of the most perplexing questions in a home can be “Where is my other sock?” You probably have asked yourself that question and have a pile of lonely socks to prove it.

It is safe to say that the question that runs a close race is “Where do all the spoons go?” That has been the issue around our home these last couple of weeks. All of a sudden, our family of five is fighting over four spoons. The last person in the kitchen each morning ends up with a big honkin’ serving spoon. That ruins a good bowl of Lucky Charms!

So, where are the spoons going? Is someone throwing them away with their empty yogurt container? Is there a hidden surveillance camera in my kitchen, being monitored by spoon thieves? Perhaps the spoons teleport themselves to a faraway spoon planet. It is a mystery that would baffle even the experts on CSI.

I went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond this weekend to get me some more spoons. I found the open stock container where you can buy individual pieces without buying a full set. And do you know how many spoons they had? None. The bin was empty! Plenty of knives and forks. But no spoons. Apparently this is a bigger phenomenon than I thought. Either the spoons in the stores are disappearing as well or there are other folks like me who are replacing their wayward spoons.

Maybe the case of the disappearing spoons will never be solved. I just know I need more of them and I need them quick! My cereal is getting soggy!

i give up

Today marks the beginning of the Lent season, meaning we are on a 40 day countdown to Easter, not counting Sundays. I don’t know much about the rituals surrounding Lent except that it is easy to identify the season when the cloth doo hickies in church are changed to purple. I also know that Catholics get ashes put on their forehead on the first day of Lent, Ash Wednesday. This must be a pretty important symbol because I tried to wipe the ashes off my chemistry professor’s forehead in college and she almost had a heart attack.

Sorry, my bad. I thought it was dirt.

In addition to the color purple and ashes, I understand that certain religions practice the discipline of fasting. In today’s culture this is commonly translated as “giving up something of significant value” for the 40 day period, not counting Sundays.

So I asked myself what I could give up for Lent to show God that I can prepare my heart through sacrifice.

Not that I have to, but I want to.

I have decided that I will give up drinking coffee for 40 days, not counting Sundays (I will celebrate during Journey Team). And it will actually be 39 days, because I had my last cup this morning.

Giving up coffee may not seem like a sacrifice, but every time I think about my morning coffee in my favorite faded out Dunkin Donuts cup, I will instead turn my focus toward God and the huge sacrifice he made for me.

randomness

Stoned. That is the word to describe our pastor Steve. In the "kidney stone" kind of way.

Gene stepped up to the plate with very short notice to speak on Sunday morning due to our stoned pastor. Gene, Steve owes you big time!

I love having Journey Team at someone else's house. Thanks to John and Julie for letting twenty crazy people take over your house last night.

Our icebreaker question last night was "Who is the wildest man you've ever known?" It took us an hour to figure it out. Jesus! Duh!

We did something fun yesterday morning. We started a song over! Thanks to Kevin for making that call.

My husband is THE BEST for keeping the kids away while I took a power nap yesterday.

Our daughter Kacie got her acceptance letter to the Promiseland this week. That would be Clemson in case you weren't taught that in Sunday School.

Can you believe that daylight saving time is March 11? Isn't it usually in April???

Bargain of the week...Taco Bell has 39 cent tacos through today.

a great time was had by all

Some thoughts and photos from the CHICKS retreat weekend:

Every picture I take of Mama Chick on stage looks like this one. I think she might be singing "Oklahoma" here.

Annette won the prize for wearing the most animal print on Friday night. 50 something pieces...and some of them we just had to take her word for.

The CHICKS Gone Wild dancers...well I can't tell you what they did because I'm sworn to secrecy.

Our speaker, Lisa Harper, did a great job encouraging women all weekend. She spoke of how God is able to use women, regardless of their past.

Awww, look. It's Amy and Vince. Just kidding. Jill Phillips and her husband, Andy, led worship. It feels like they are part of the TrueNorth family now.

I will never hear "Girls Just Wanna Have Fu-un" and NOT think of Tammy. Ever.

These Chicks finally won a door prize after sitting at the grouchy table last year, when no one at their table won anything. You would have thought Bob Barker had called their name for the Showcase Showdown. So cute.

edward scissorhands

I thought Jessica Simpson was dating John Mayer, not Edward Scissorhands!

Okay, okay...that's my last post about Mr. Mayer. Promise.

guitar faces

That John Mayer knows he can make some crazy guitar faces. The concert in Columbia was awesome!

Kacie has decided what she wants to be when she grows up.

She wants to be the "guitar puter-outer' for John Mayer. You know...the person that brings out the guitars and switches them out. She was practicing her "Here you go, Mr. Mayer".

Mayer, not MYER!!!

Hey! This is Kacie and I’m posting on my mom’s blog. Mainly because she asked me to. We are going to see John Mayer today in Columbia. He is SO pretty! I heard that a sixteen year old girl held a poster up for him that said, “Sweet sixteen and never been kissed” and he came out and kissed her. I wouldn’t be that lucky.

So we are on our way out of NA and jamming to John Mayer in the minivan. She will post pictures tomorrow.

relevant answer

My bandmate, Brent, attempted to post a comment about this entry on my blog. But it is lengthy and worthy of it's own space. Posted on edgefielddaily.com was a letter in which someone was praising a local church...here is the pastor's reply:

"...There are many good things happening here, but good things are also happening in many of the other churches in the area. I strongly encourage anyone who believes they are in a "dead church" to pray fervently about what God would have them do in their own church to help "revive" it before they just move membership somewhere else. It may be that God wants to use you to facilitate change in your own setting whereby blessing others. If, however, you feel God pulling you out of a situation, you must commit that to prayer also. I encourage anyone looking for a first church home or a new one to not go by all the talk around town. Experience those churches for yourself, and most of all pray that God will lead you to the place that He would have you go..."

relevant question

When is it okay to leave a church? This question has been heavy on my heart lately. Not because I would leave my church, but because I know people that have left or have become irregular in their attendance, which oftentimes leads to an exit. When these breakups involve people that I have a relationship with, you better believe I am running after them, asking "What went wrong?". Some problems can be fixed just by listening to a person and some cannot be fixed, like compromising the vision of the church.

Relevantmagazine.com has an excellent article which addresses this question and you can read about it here.

Mike dusted the cobwebs off his blog and also explores the question here.