Archive for the ‘Stuff I actually think’ Category

Grandbebes A-to-Z

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

A is for Averi

Averi is sprouted ponytails and bananas and cream oatmeal with blueberries on the side. She’s “I’ll do it myself” in her big girl panties and scrunchy-faced smiles. Averi is red-flannel pajamas and cheeks that won’t quit. She’s “Rocky? Rocky!” when calling for her beloved daddy’s attention and she is 2 going on 32. Already a pro at being a bit of a sassy, independant and directive firstborn, new baby Rhoades (due any second now) will already have her life’s itinerary planned out for her…by Averi.

But oh when she stops to have a little conversation and thens melts into you with a committed hug, {sigh} Averi…what a surprise!

G is for Gavin

G is for Gavin who is growing up fast. He is all boy and football and friendship and freckles. He has loose teeth and thick hair and he’s white, but that kid can jump! He is responsible and organized and such a wonderful big brother. He is 6 and he’s 1st grade and he holds my heart and my confidence like no other. He is the firstborn, the firstfruit, the heir to it all. Zealous and hard-working, he is always ready to tear into whatever project I have wondered about starting with his “let’s get to it” attitude. And he said to me last Sunday, “Nonna, I sure wish we had some garden tomatoes. Maybe this week we should start gardening?”

The boy is a genius, I tell ya! He knows the best of everything and loves tomatoes like me!

G is for Guinivere

I love the flower girl. And that is my Guini. She tip-toes through the tulips and petunias and orange daylilies right into my heart. We play school and she ever-so-meticulously colors hers papers until there is not a naked spot left or until the washable Crayola marker she is using has run completely out of ink! And while she works on her masterpiece, she peppers me with the important things in her life. “Hey, Nonna, can I watch some Sprout when I’m done with this?” “Hey, Nonna, can I have some popcorn? Oh wait – do you have crackers? I LOVE crackers!” “Hey, Nonna, we got a trampoline and I can jump really high.”

And a couple of weeks ago when I asked her if she got to eat some of the Oreo/chocolate-chip/milk-chocolate mousse I had sent to her house (leftover filling from Jovanie’s cake). She clarified, “The cookies in pudding?” An oversimplification, if I do say so, yet she warmed my heart with her enthusiastic review, “Oh, it was TASTEEEEE!!”

G is for Gemma

For Gem-Gem, not only is everyone she meets her newest and bestsest friend in the world, everyone she meets is also an audience for her interpretive dancing, for she lives to make people smile with her art. But not “Miss Hannigan.” ”I don’t like Miss ‘Cannigan’, Poppa. Miss ‘Cannigan’ is a bad person,” her little voice quivers in fright as she speaks of the orphange-woman in the Annie play. Gemma is spunky and two, a little lamb and a tiny dancer. She is cuddly and independant and will smile for any reason she can find. She performs and she sings “Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow,” with arm flailing exuberance.

She is our own Annie, our very own Fancy Nancy with maybe a smidge of Pippi Longstocking mixed in! She makes my heart giggle!

H is for Hunter

Hunter’s a thinker, a little guy who reasons big. He’ll argue his point until you give in by sheer exhaustion. He is right when he’s right and right even if he is not. He is as smart as a whip and smarter than most adults. He will call you on every inconsistency, hypocrisy and duplicity. The kid is cute and loves his cousins, his mama and the world. He has already planned his life’s path to fly mission supplies around the world where he will be able to speak all languages fluently and touch the world for Jesus. He is currently in love with theater due to his poppa being in Annie and enjoys theatrically answering “yes” questions with a big, long, loud, “You’re daaaaaarn tootin’!”

When I said I needed to snap some photos for a blog post I’d written about them all, Hunter turned to Gavin with the wary look and said, “That’s what she always says.” Hunter is the Little Prince, wise beyond his years, fit to rule the kingdom.

Soon? Our alphabet will be turned upside-down with a brand-new bebe! Any second now…

Posted in Garden/Food/Seasons, Grandkids, Mi familia, My most unforgettable people, Photos of the Fam, Songs I am singing, Stuff I actually think, TV, Movies, Books, and Entertainment | 4 Comments »

A WORD FOR ELIJAH

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

Go back the way you came

Sometime in to the “meltdown of ‘06″, God decided to make me aware that not only were my circumstances and brokenness not unusual/out-of-the-ordinary nor “special,” but that those nice little Elijah-Sunday-School-stories I had heard so many times held more insight into my own turmoil and God’s plan for my deliverance than I’d ever realized. I wrote about it months later as part of a series of things God taught me during that time (you can read about it here). I remember feeling sheepish to say that as I read about the mighty prophet, Elijah, I truly believe he was depressed. Clinically depressed. What? A mighty man of God depressed? A man who could be God’s instrument to bring the miracle of oil to a widow who thought all was lost and then cry out to God over her dead son’s body and see life return, yet he, himself, scraping bottom, being unable to “pull himself up by his bootstraps”, unable to pray enough, fast enough, read enough Word to just “snap out of it?”

For me, even thinking that about Elijah seemed almost sacriligious. I kinda grew up around a bunch of people who didn’t think true Christians could get depressed – unless they were doing something to deserve it. Or maybe NOT doing something religious they should be doing. (Brennan Manning has wisely advised we’d be better off if we quit “shoulding all over ourselves.)

“I know from experience you can be doing the work of God at a pace that destroys the work of God in you.” Mark Buchanan in The Wild Goose Chase – Reclaim the Adventure of Pursuing God

I was afraid to ponder the fact that you can be working for God and hearing from Him and being used by Him, but get so physically depleted you become a danger to yourself, others and Kingdom work. Yet, God, the God of the universe, actually seemed to have revealed it to me, for me, this Elijah-may-have-been-clinically-depressed thing. He seemed to want me to know it happens. As part of the human experience, there is sorrow and heartbreak and loss. These are the risks we take for living, for entering relationships with vulnerability, for being alive. There is, in living and loving, the good, the bad and the ugly. There is receiving love and losing it, too. There is joy, but there is pain. There is acceptance and rejection. It rains on the just and the unjust…

The Volcanic Eruption

The meltdown-of-’06 was a tumulteous time, a place of obvious disruption, a clashing cymbal’s worth of huge loss and pain coupled with bitterness and anger that would have made anyone say, “Well, no wonder you’re freaked out and totally empty.” My skin had been melted by the molten lava of an ugliness that affected so many and the resulting ash permeated every gulp of air I tried to breathe. Catastrophic to my heart, I could see no way out. Until God…

The Slow Leak

But hopelessness and heartbreak, despair and loneliness, or a blackness of the soul does not always happen during some volcanic eruption. Sometimes there is a slow drain, a leak in the lifeline, an open door in your storehouse where bandits and thieves walk right in and begin emptying you of your resources and life. It is quieter. No one seems to notice. You ignore the signs yourself. Then one day, you are in the darkness of your own soul and suddenly you hurt everywhere, inside and out, and your pain is hurting everyone around you. The accusations and taunts of the enemy echoes throughout the hollow hallways of your heart. You feel condemned. Depressed.

How did a nice person like me end up in a place like this?

It can’t always be explained. It just is what it is. Sometimes there is no big upset to point back to, no huge event that would make people say “No wonder.” Yet, there you are in the black void trying to act normal. Attempting to “get on with it.” Trying to fill it with something, anything. Usually the wrong thing.

So maybe you know how you got here, to this place of bewilderedness because it was a monumetal event or extreme loss or ripping of your heart. Or, you may not know how you got here bcause everything was fine, good actually and you were smack dab in the middle of God’s will when you woke up to find you’d crossed the border into a painfully lonely place, heavy and hurting, empty and parched. The point is: it happend. You are here.

And just like Elijah, after going through the desert, through discouragement and fear, you are in need of refreshment. Stop for a minute, maybe longer. Just stay put and get some rest, healing.

After his time of refreshment, the prophet Elijah was instructed by God to go back the way he came to finish the task of anointing the next king and get help (in the form of a young prophet) in the process. It can be a long way back, but God’s call on us isn’t finished yet. There is something to be completed by the Author and Finisher of your faith story. There are things you’ve yet seen unleashed for you and through you. A surprise from God awaits you right in the very place you were once drained of life, the dry, and deserted path. What was once barrenness will be different this time – water will gush forth and barren places will bloom. Don’t miss it. All is not lost. God is not through with you. His love will not let you go. He is at work, even now. Turn back. The wilderness will rejoice and blossom…

THIS VIDEO: From about minutes 2:30 to 5:00, you see an African desert become flooded by a mountain rainfall from over 100 miles away and the desert gets soaked and begins to bloom and is fruitful. It happens there 2 or 3 times a year. It’s what I see in my mind reading the words below. And you can see how if it is true in that natural desert, that a place barren and dry and seemingly dead can come back to lush life unexpectedly and quickly, you can see it is true for you, too. The desert and parched land will be glad…

Point me in the direction of restoration and recovery~

(adapted from a sermon from Grace Church in the UK and from the Book of Isaiah, chapter 35)

Go back the way you came…

The desert and the parched land will be glad

Go back the way you came…

Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert

Go back the way you came…

The burning sand will become a pool and thirsty ground bubbling springs.

Go back the way you came…

You’re not the only one

Go back the way you came…

Build in time for rest, food and drink

Go back the way you came…

What are you doing here?

Go back the way you came…

The wilderness will rejoice and blossom, like the crocus it will burst into bloom

Go back the way you came…

Be strong. Do not fear. Your God will come.

Go back the way you came…

May gladness and joy overtake you and sorrow and sighing flee away

Go back the way you came…

Build in time for rest, food and drink. This is probably a Sabbath-season for you, a time holy to the Lord, for you ~ from Him.

ARISE [from the depression and prostration in which circumstances have kept you--rise to a new life]! Shine (be radiant with the glory of the Lord), for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you! Isaiah 60.1, Amplified

Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.

Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.

The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs.

In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.

And the ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads.

Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. Isaiah 35.6, 7, 10 NIV

Posted in God's Word, Health, Sleep/Sabbath Rest, Stuff I actually think, Worship | 2 Comments »

“Seasons may change, winter to spring…”

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

Seasons may change, winter to spring

He sings.

But I love you until the end of time

Come what may

Come what may

I will love you until my dying day

She sings.

Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place

Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace

{deep, satisfied sigh}…Sun. Spring. Green (remember St Patrick’s Day! CLICK HERE)!

NOTE: Videos from the movie “Moulin Rouge,” which I was not cool enough to like…at all. But there is some great music in it!

Posted in Garden/Food/Seasons, Songs I am singing, Stuff I actually think, TV, Movies, Books, and Entertainment | 3 Comments »

Jumping Ahead

Saturday, March 13th, 2010

Daylight Savings Time.

I prefer to think of it as jumping ahead, or springing forward rather than “I’m losing an hour.” I actually like to get where I am going as early as possible, so this works for me.

But as for “saving daylight?” Like manna, you get what you get in a 24-hour period. You can’t really save daylight. You just get what you can use today. Tomorrow there’ll be more.

Posted in Garden/Food/Seasons, Stuff I actually think | 1 Comment »

The coffee in my cupboard – a list

Saturday, March 13th, 2010

COFFEE

I love coffee, but I am not a coffee snob. I mean, I grew up in the Folgers era and still like their commercials (plus they signed Danny Gokey on for a jingle contest, so, you know). I love Starbucks, but I grab coffee from McD’s and Del Taco sometimes, too. I mostly like like it plain, black and piping hot, but occasionally imbibe the icy Caramel Frappucino as dessert. And I prefer the bold, strong blends, although while in Maui 2 years ago, I became thoroughly addicted to the gentle Kona. I know these things:

I love the smell of the house as it brews and the morning ritual of it means more to me than the flavor of it.
Enjoying it with friends at a shop in the middle of any day is a major treat.
Some people take it all way too seriously.

Those things said, here are the coffees I had to choose from this morning when I opened my cupboard:

Great Value Decaffeinated. Why ever do de-caf? The CAF is what makes it great. But because I am a caring person, I keep a can around. Some people prefer it. But I must not be that caring or else it wouldn’t be Wal-Mart’s “Great Value.”
Archer Farm’s French Vanilla. This is Stormie’s coffee of choice. She adds all the cream and sugar and gooeyness to it she can. I am not a fan, really, and sadly whenever she brews it, my next pot of plain. black coffee is French Vanilla, too. It lingers.
Archer Farms Pumpkin Pie Spice. Dave bought this for me because I do go a teensy-bit crazy over Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Lattes when they arrive each fall. Here at home, though, I drink it black and though the picquant is pleasing, still, it does rather pale to the cream and sugar and whip-cream-on-top version. But drinking it this morning as I write, that seems appropriate. For it is sunny and bright and spring-y and not the warm, heavy comfort drink of autumn.
Folger’s Classic Roast Instant Coffee. Why? Well, have you seen the library episode of Seinfeld? The one with the library investigator, Mr Bookman? He made a compelling case for having a jar. So I complied.
Barnie’s Coffee and Tea Company Santa’s White Christmas. It is a bit much. It has actual white chocolate shavings in it and vanilla, I think. It smells wondrous while brewing, but I almost always regret drinking it.
Boyer’s Coffee Supreme Blend’s Rocky Mountain Thunder. From our very own, local coffee company, a really dark roasted, rich and strong brew. My current coffee of choice almost everyday.

Inventory complete. For now.

Library Investigator Scene: Mr Bookman

Note to self: More coffee out with friends! And kids.

Posted in Garden/Food/Seasons, LIST! I love lists!, Stuff I actually think, TV, Movies, Books, and Entertainment | 4 Comments »

Dear Jovan~

Friday, March 12th, 2010

Dear Jovanie (and Rocky, too, I guess),

Baby Rhoades is due anytime. And I know you are ready-ready-ready, but I am hoping you will wait until after your due date (the 20th)…just a smidge, mind you, and stop taking all these walks and eating all these things your friends are suggesting to get your labor going. I think when you understand my schedule, you will agree that waiting until March 21st or after will be best.

Tonight, fundraising dinner at The Stonebrook.
Tomorrow night, fundraising dinner at The Stonebrook.
Sunday-a day of rest. I will need one, don’t you agree?
Monday-plan for next week’s dinners and some meetings.
Tuesday night speak at a mommy’s group at New Hope
Wednesday night: Family Dinner for Wrex’s Wrunza’s on St Pat’s Day
Thursday night-taking some grandbebes to Annie for the last chance I will have to see it. (Dad will be performing in Annie through Saturday)
Friday night another big ministry event
Saturday night, yet another “Heaven Fest is coming!!” fancy-schmancy event-party-thing.

Whew!

So, you see, Jovan? Sunday the 21st is really the best option. Don’t you think so?

Haha. I didn’t think you would! : )

REALLY~ I can’t wait! Cannot wait!! In the midst of everything happening, there is NOTHING more important to me than the arrival of GRANDBEBE #6!!

And remember: I tried to help!

Forever 21 at Flatirons

We did a hardcore shopping marathon last Sunday: Jovan and Averi and me, Stormie, Stef and Tara and Dessa. I don’t like shopping much and Dessa hates it, but the company was delightful. And we thought if we walked Jovan all over for hours and hours, maybe labor would start. Nope. Huh-uh. Nothing. Didn’t happen. Just wore her totally out. But we tried and got some cute stuff in the process. So-that is something!

Watching and waiting and can’t wait for, you, sweet granbebe #6!!!!

Posted in Birthdays/Anniversaries, Grandkids, Health, Mi familia, Stuff I actually think | 6 Comments »

Hello, Dolly!

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

In the early morning dark, when you shouldn’t really be awake, I reach over and feel Dave’s temporarily-bald head.

“You feel like GI Joe,” I tell him, referring to those really great GI Joe dolls of the 1960s that looked like Rock Hudson and had this short, fuzzy hair. Dave has 2 days’ growth.

“You can be my Barbie,” he replies, referencing the fact that when I played Barbies with my friends as a young girl, I let the others have Ken and opted to use my bothers’ GI Joe as my particular love interest.

In totally unrelated news: And, by the way, I got to see the colorful, bright and delightful Carol Channing star in “Hello, Dolly” in the 90’s. It was soooooo cool!

Dave with hair, in the kitchen; Dave without hair for his performance in Annie, onstage.

NOTE: He is rumored to have been advised to start growing his hair long, really long – which he is able to do easily, for a possible starring-pirate kind of role next year. People, I implore you! Did Carol Channing ever have to change her hair this much?

Posted in Marriage, Memories/Melancholy, Mi familia, My most unforgettable people, Photos of the Fam, Songs I am singing, Stuff I actually think, TV, Movies, Books, and Entertainment | 3 Comments »

HEAVEN FEST 2010 at Longmont, Colorado!

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

WE GOT OUR PERMIT!

http://www.timescall.com/news_story.asp?ID=21145

Longmont is a beautiful city with an amazing view of the Rocky Mountains. We have been in a most incredible location and it has been “home” (on the Northern Hills Church property www.northernhills.cc). What a blessing that has been. The drawback has been the 2-lane highway which makes for crazy long car lanes in every direction. Traffic flowed very smoothly…just very slowly this past year when we had 22,800 people there all at once!

www.heavenfest.com

This new property is a beautiful park and reservoir with lots of farmland, which is going to allow for “raw” camping. It is just west of I-25 on the north side of the 4-lane highway 119. 70+ bands on 7 stages, interactive worship, a Petra reunion…come on. Start making plans! WE GOT OUR PERMIT TODAY!

A partial look at what you’ll see.

Remember 2008 – our first year? We did this the day we got our Adams County Permit LESS THAN A MONTH out from the festival!

We’re still together. Still going strong and doing the happy dance. Still love each other! The GREATEST miracle of all!

Posted in My most unforgettable people, Photos of the Fam, Songs I am singing, Stuff I actually think, TV, Movies, Books, and Entertainment, Worship | 7 Comments »

St. Patrick’s Day Blustrification

Monday, March 8th, 2010

The 2 Movies You MUST Watch for St. Patrick’s Day Celebrating~

THE QUIET MAN {1952}

If you can see one and only one movie during the month of March, I must insist, for your own good, that it be The Quiet Man starring John “the man” Wayne and Maureen O’Hara. Oh yes. I must insist.

John Wayne plays a disgraced American boxer who returns to Ireland to reclaim his homestead. Maureen O’Hara plays the part of a poor, young maiden/”spinster” who catches his eye. The movie follows the tension-filled and spicy relationship that forms between them as they both struggle to maintain control while her brother tries to keep them apart.

There is a cast-full of charming villagers, the matter of a dowry, advice on the duties of a married wife, some kissing and a slap, a kiss in the rain at a graveyard (note John Wayne’s nice silk shirt), Maureen O’Hara’s enviable red hair, the wedding night and the broken bed, a drunken brawl that has everyone placing bets, the townspeople helping the Reverend look good, and the importance of a good Matchmaker.

John Wayne is beautiful in this one, a perfect mix of testerone and tenderness, manliness and mild-mannered good graces. And don’t forget the shirt and the kiss in the rain!!! Watch for this fun line from the Matchmaker: Impetuous!

The Quiet Man – DVD Trailer | Movies & TV | SPIKE.com

Just see it. Really and GOD BLESS ALL IN THIS HOUSE!

FAR AND AWAY {1992}

If you can see only two movies during the month of March, the second must be, without question, Far and Away starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.

Though pretty much critically panned, it is majestic in its’ panorama taking us from Ireland to New York during the great days of immigration in the late 1800s and finally to the legendary Land Race of the Oklahoma-territory. Add to this beauty, Tom, playing Joseph and Nicole, playing Shannon, as the poor potato farmer thrown together with the sassy, well-to-do land lord’s daughter and the adventure begins! Attempting to hide their growing attraction under the cover of hostility, the movie spans thousands of miles and many months culminating in the grand feel-good scene at which two of the movie’s taglines hint:

“They needed a country big enough for both of their dreams.”

and

“He left behind everything he knew for the only thing he ever wanted.”

Ron Howard directed and I love the history it reveals, but it is really about the story, the relationship between a red-headed Irish girl and a hard-headed boy, and about a dream. See it. Seriously.

6 Other Movies with a Bit ‘O the Irish in them:

WAKING NED DIVINE {1998} What if you won the lottery and then died from the shock of it? Cute, charming and set in a tiny Irish village of less than 50 people. THE SECRET OF ROAN INISH {1994} “It’s a beautiful story.” AUGUST RUSH {2007} starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers who is Irish and very cute and some girl. Beautiful movie about music and sound and song and love…THE FUGITIVE {1993} starring Harrison Ford has an “escape” scene in Chicago’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade which is helpful to him… THE COMMITMENTS {1991} I haven’t actually seen, yet, this movie about a band in Ireland, but have it on order from Netflix because I hear it is good… ONCE {2006} A quiet, beautifully melodic story that takes place in Ireland. For the music alone it should be seen more than once!

Three Meals You Can Eat~

Lucky Charms for breakfast. Corned Beef Sub for lunch. Runza {aka Nebraskan Mystery-Meat Sandwiches} for dinner.

The clothes you could wear.

4 Fun things to do.

Kiss an Irishman.

Read The Scarlet Feather by Maeve Binchy

Get an Irish-themed tatoo.

Attend the 48th Annual Denver St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 13th at 10am

http://www.denverstpatricksdayparade.org/

No, I am not Irish. But I do watch The Quiet Man once a year and I am making Wrex some Wrunzas and wearing green on the 17th ~ which makes me pretty darn blustrificating, if I do say so myself!

Blustrification: the action of celebrating boisterously

Posted in Garden/Food/Seasons, LIST! I love lists!, Stuff I actually think, TV, Movies, Books, and Entertainment | 5 Comments »

You May Quote Me on This

Friday, March 5th, 2010

“Sometimes

when I let my mind wander,

it comes back with some pretty

good ideas.”

ALSO: the decor at the fundraising dinners by MayDae is going to be amazing. We had a girly night Thursday (May and Dae, aka Stephanie and Stormie, Tara, Stef, Tredessa and me), listened to Rosemary Clooney, Jo Stafford and Tony Bennett on the stereo, laughed, ate Chinese and helped work on the grand and glorious projects. It’s going to be breath-taking. And you may also quote me on that.

Note: Dave helped, too, and got to experience the mysteries of a “girly night.”

Posted in Stuff I actually think | 3 Comments »