Small Group

This post is long overdue. I can't believe I held off for so long from sharing this with my blog buddies. Maybe it is one of those times when something is so dear and so wonderful, you just don't want to jinx it by saying it out loud.

Tonight was our small group night. Small groups at Park are where people with similar interests - or the same free night - get together to have community, pray together, be authentic, have snacks, and oh yeah, spend some time going through a Bible study (a review of what was preached on Sunday).

When we were here for our interview weekend, we were told how important small group is to building community with people in church. J and I had discussed working at spending more time with people last December. So, that fell in line with our goal as a couple.

We were in a different small group at first. It was a great group of people that we would have loved to have gotten to know. But it was just too far and I would have needed a part-time job just to pay for the child care each week. Sadly, we just couldn't do that group.

After several months, we were connected with a different group. Tonight was the third or fourth time together.  I came home tonight and am just soaring. I love our our small group. It's a great fit. I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone better.

One Word Meme

Lit and Laundry tagged me for this one-word meme:

1. Where is your cell phone? Kitchen
2. Where is your significant other? Work
3. Your hair color? Brown
4. Your mother? Joyce 
5. Your father? Frank 
6. Your favorite thing? Reading 
7. Your dream last night? Dunno
8. Your dream/goal? Prius 
9. The room you're in? Living  
10. Your hobby? Reading
11. Your fear? Poverty
12. Where do you want to be in six years? Chicago 
13. Where were you last night? Home
14. What you’re not? Skinny
15. One of your wish list items? Louboutin
16. Where you grew up? Canada 
17. The last thing you did? Phone 
18. What are you wearing? Perfume
19. Your TV? Off
20. Your pet? None
21. Your computer? Mac
22. Your mood? Tired
23. Missing someone? Sleep
24. Your car? Jeep
25. Something you’re not wearing? Makeup
26. Favorite store? Babies R Us
27. Your summer? PERFECT
28. Love someone? Yes
29. Your favorite color? Purple
30. When is the last time you laughed? Hour
31. Last time you cried? Weeks

I need to pass this along, but I'm not sure who's done it yet. I'll tag The Mommy Project, Tales From the Fairy Blogmother, A2eatwrite, 

Family Fun Night - Canadian Thanksgiving

This week's Family Fun Night is a shout out to my Canadian friends and family who celebrated the Canadian Thanksgiving on Monday. 

When I saw the turkey in my freezer, I realized I didn't have to miss out on my Thanksgiving. I had everything in my cabinets I needed to bring Canada to Chi-Town!

Table Centerpiece 

(by my husband)

My mother taught us to always invite someone to Thanksgiving dinner. 

This is Cr8ve Chaos. He is J's brother 

from another mother

Tonight was a night of many firsts:

1st turkey I cooked

Got my directions from:

How to cook a Thanksgiving turkey

I called my mother-in-law when the turkey didn't turn brown on top. It was juicy, but white. I looked for where it said to cook uncovered. I must have missed it. 

1st stuffing I made

1st time making gravy

Mashed Potatoes

Corn

Cranberry

Rolls

Banana Pumpkin Cupcakes

Dessert was a yummy new creation I made. 

J came home raving about a banana pumpkin bread he had over the weekend. I could not find 1 single banana pumpkin cupcake recipe so I added 1 mashed banana to this one from Southern Cooks.com. I figured it had to be good because it was 'southern' and 

southerners know their food!

Some facts Americans may not know....

Yes, Canadians have thanksgiving too. 

Yes, we eat turkey and stuffing and pumpkins too. 

Yes, we have football on this national holiday.

Our Thanksgiving is to give thanks for the harvest.

Our Thanksgiving is held the 2nd Monday of October

The men had seconds on my firsts.

Everyone loved the banana pumpkin cupcakes 

with cream cheese frosting.

The grownups enjoyed our guest and the kiddos 

had a blast getting to know Cre8ve Chaos.

Of course, we all gave thanks for 

one thing before eating.

Please check out Whittaker Woman 

for more great family fun night ideas!

Adventures of the 3 M's - Chicago Marathon 2008

The Continuing Adventures of the 3M's

This morning, the 3M's walked to the end of our alley.

45,000 Chicago Marathon runners running past our home

Even ELVIS was in town!!!

Wheelchair Runner

See the street vendors at the other side? 

They are selling tamales, not hot dogs.

That building is a carnicera which sells deli meats, tortillas, etc.

Man with a spray bottle, to cool down runners

Can you see the man in the tree, holding a hose?

He is known as "The Hose Man"

There is music blasting from his house. 

First, it was just upbeat music, later it was army marching/running music, then it was inspirational running music: 

"You can do iiiitttt!! You can do iiiittt!! Yes you can! Keep on going, you can do it!!" 

The man in the red shirt was VERY happy to be hosed

On the sidelines people were clapping and cheering.

Tall dude, wearing a big wig

Notice the orange leg warmers??

See the pink crown?

Front row seats

And then Motor Mouth spilled red pop all over himself and the chair, attracting no less than 10 bees. We had to pack it in before we got stung.

Adventures of the 3M's - Rain, Rain, Come Again!

A few weeks ago, it rained for several days straight. I lost count of how many puddles we stepped in. My favorite shoes are worse for wear, as a result. With fall upon us, I needed a solution for the 3 M's to walk comfortably in the city. After searching 7 stores - including pulling over when Mommy saw rain boots in the window of one store - everyone got cute boots.

About to head out

On the way back from karate class.

Now Motor Mouth & Mini Me can walk through puddles, not around them.

On the way back from a bus ride.

Pants can be worn under or over boots.

It's Been a Looooooooooooong Time

I haven't done ANYTHING in terms of potty training Mini Me in a very long time. Well, I don't think you can count the 3 or 4 minor, feeble attempts that ended within 3 hours. 

The last few days, I did start telling Mini Me she was a 'ba-by', not a 'big girl'. I told her she was a baby because she wears diapers and if she were a big girl, she would wear underwear. Yes, I am appealing to her sense of self. Not sure that is endorsed in the potty training books, but it worked for Motor Mouth.  

MotorMouth was capable of being fully potty trained, but he was lazy and wanted to be babied. Then, Kai Kai stayed with us for 3 - 4 days. I told Motor Mouth: "Kai Kai is a BIG BOY! Kai Kai goes pee pee on the potty like a BIG BOY." It worked!! We never looked back!

Yesterday, I got a phone call from Bee Momma whose daughter, JuJu Girl, has a weekly play date with Mini Me. Bee Momma was so impressed with Mini Me. She said Mini Me had gone pee pee on the potty twice when she was over at their home. That Mini Me seems to LOVE the bathroom and potty training must be going so well for us. Hahahahaha. Ah. Hahahhahahah. 

This morning, motivated by Bee Momma's confidence in Mini Me's abilities, I had Mini Me go pee on the potty. Daddy asked if she could wear her big girl underwear. I said okay. Then we told Mini Me that she was NOT to pee on Dora. To go pee in the potty and not to get Dora wet. 

I just asked Mini Me if she had to go pee. She said she did, and went in the potty. 2 hours and counting and her underwear is DRY!!

Widney Wednesday - ER

Regular viewers of my blog, may remember Labor Day,

when I almost killed my husband. For real.

While at the ER, I managed to 'acquire'

some authentic ER items

for Widney Wednesday.

Hospital Food

- Cups with straws

- Soup type mixture

- Jello

- Applesauce (remember the dude that fed it to J?)

Ummm...Self-medicating...?

Dr J and the Patient

Hospitals like to keep you undressed and cold!

Patient's eye doesn't look so well...

Throwing up in the pan

Debris pile left after treating critical patients

Please check out the queen of Family Fun Nights

WhittakerWoman

New Feature

I cut and pasted this directly from Cre8ve Chaos. It's the second time this week. What can I say, Tim's great!

We've been using texting in our services at Park. We are only doing it at our 5:30 PM service on Sunday nights right now since that tends to fit the crowd that goes to that service. When whoever is speaking begins their message, we flash up a reminder that people can text in questions... any questions... throughout the message and at the end of the service we take about 10-15 minutes to answer them.

It's been cool to see how people have responded and are asking some really good, tough questions.

Here's just a few questions that were texted in this week:

• Why doesn't God use miracles to prove God is God now like He used to?
• How do you convince someone who values worldly wisdom and knowleddge that this is wrong and spiritual wisdom is soley important.
• Can you explain 1 Corinthians 2:15? If it says we are able to judge all things, why do we often have such a hard time making decisions?
• Does God give the Spirit to everyone so the Gospel can become clear?
• What is Park's stance on the emerging church?
• The cross is central to our faith, but can the actual symbol of the cross become an idol in our lives?
• Why are Christians so afraid of pluralism? Isn't a good thing to have so many contrasting views converge so thatw e can sift through and cultivate the truth?
• Why Jesus? Even with him, life is still hopeless and lonely at times.
• Can God defy your will?

Pretty deep stuff, but great questions... and questions that would have gone unanswered if we wouldn't have given people the opportunity to ask them.

Works For Me Wednesday!

What works for me? Our professional serving tray!!

Our kitchen and dining room are separated by a long hallway. It is nice to be able to put our full plates, cups, condiments, and napkins on this tray, reducing the number of trips back and forth. 

There are several restaurant supply stores near Harpo Studios (where Oprah works). J picked this tray up one day, many months ago. It was a fabulous investment. We love, love, love it!!

Makes clean up a snap, too!!

So tell me? What works for you??

And please don't forget to visit the home of 

What Works for Me?

Tackle it Tuesday - Bathroom Cabinets

I love organization. I love opening my cabinets, knowing I will find an organized space. It does my soul well. I posted the before in a previous blog. Knowing how much I love my cabinets, I'm not sure why I didn't post my AFTER photos before. Better late than never!!

MASTER BATHROOM

BEFORE

A tossing of expired and unused items, 

a trip to The Container Store and Wal-Mart

and VOILA!!!!!

AFTER - RIGHT CABINET

(Empty toilet paper rolls being saved for a craft project)

AFTER - LEFT CABINET

Now, please be sure to visit the home of

Tackle It Tuesday

What Does Widney Man Do? - Pt 2

Cross and Stage Backdrop by Widney Man

Tim Schraeder, the Communications Director at our church wrote the following. I cut and pasted directly from his blog at Cre8vE Chaos because he did such a great job!

Park's media/lighting/video/sound/staging genius Widney Man (who is rumored to start blogging soon) along with our team hit a home run in our services this weekend. (God did the work, but our team did an excellent job creating space for Him to do His thing!)

Our lead pastor Jackson talked about the cross, and how our lives as Christ-followers are meant to show Jesus to others. The message is awesome, you can listen to it here.

The backdrop of our stage had a standard wash of lights on it, but slowly but surely throughout the service light illuminated the cross that was hidden in the 'mess' of our back drop. It was a powerful visual to see.

At Park, we light a candle every weekend to symbolize the lives of people who have accepted Christ. Jackson challenged people in the audience to evaluate their own walk and relationship with Christ. 

We had stations set up around our sanctuary with candles, and while we had a time of worship at the end of the message, he invited people to make a symbolic movement to show their journey from spiritual darkness to spiritual light by going to one of the stations and lighting a candle.

After all of our services this Sunday we had 13 candles lit. 13 lives transformed. 13 people responding to the cross and moving from spiritual darkness to spiritual light.

I held back tears as I saw people going to the stations... that's what it's all about.

What Does Widney Man Do? - Pt 1

What does the Widney Man do? 

Well, here is a taste of what he has done in the past.

(Press the 'Play' button below...There's sound, too)

Widney Wednesday - You Asked - I'm Answering, Pt 4

By popular demand, I bring you...

The Elopement Story

The Engagement Story can be found HERE, if you need to catch up.

When I got off the phone with J, his mother and father were waiting outside the door. They were so happy and excited we were engaged!! We went into their bedroom to talk.

J's mom asked when we were going to get married. I said maybe next May. (Recall, it is May 1999). 

"Next year!! Why so far away?" She asked. 

Shocked, I said, "Well, we have to save up for a wedding and a house." 

"A house? You can live here!" DonnaMomma said. 

My in-law's house

"Really? Live here? Wow. But we still have to pay for a wedding. The sit down meal alone is expensive." 

I replied. 

"Sit down meal? We don't do sit down meals for weddings down here." 

"You don't? What do you do?" I asked, dumbfounded. 

"Cake and punch."

"Cake and punch? That's it? For a wedding?" 

"Yes. Cake and punch, nuts and mints. Sometimes light hors d'ouerves are served." 

"Oh, well okay then. Maybe November. That would be the one year anniversary of us realizing there was more than friendship." 

The next day, J called. He asked when I wanted to get married. I told him November. "November??!!! That's too far!" In my mind, I was wondering what on Earth was wrong with these people. Where I came from, you got engaged, and one year later, or more, you were married. "Okay, maybe October. My family can come down on the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. They'll miss less work then." J wasn't thrilled with October, but it made sense. 

In June, my mom was driving me insane because she didn't want me to tell a bunch of people I was engaged. I was thrilled! I wanted to shout it from the rooftops! In my mother's defense, it was not the first time I had been engaged. Or even the second time. But I KNEW it was gonna stick this time. We were best friends!! And his parents loved me. And I loved them. 

What could go wrong?

Soon, I was on a plane to Tulsa. It was easier to plan the wedding and get the immigration paperwork taken care of stateside. J was working for his dad. We traveled a lot that summer, with his dad and a pilot, providing ground support for the helicopter. It was great. 

Then, due to US immigration laws, I learned everyone would be able to attend my wedding in October - except for me. If I returned to Canada, I would not have been able to cross the border for my own wedding! So we decided to get married on Labor Day and have a small, immediate family only wedding. My parents and siblings would come to the wedding.

J couldn't find his birth certificate.  We needed it for my immigration paperwork.  One Friday in July, we drove to Oklahoma City to get the birth certificate and then weekend at the farm, to visit with J's cousins. J's mom called and asked if we were eloping. We were not. A few days earlier, my mom had called and asked if we were going to elope. I said, "No, Mom. J has this big, grand, elaborate wedding planned with opera singers and all kinds of stuff!!"

On Monday, August 2nd, J and I looked at each other and said, "Why are we waiting? Let's get married." We finished our last premarital session at church. J called to see if OJ could perform the ceremony that Friday evening. I already had my dress. J found a suit. We got rings. And, on Wednesday, we told our parents. We had to. We needed someone to be our witnesses, so we had to tell Jason's parents. My parents couldn't come, so they gave us money instead. 

J asked a friend from church to videotape the wedding. He used the church's TV camera so we have awesome quality video. We found a photographer the night before the wedding, so we have pictures. On Friday, August 6th, 1999, at 7:20 pm-ish I carried pictures of my grandparents, parents, siblings, nieces and nephews with me, as I walked down the "aisle".

I got dressed at the bridal salon but I had the wrong size nylons (6 inches too short) and they didn't have any tall nylons in stock. DonnaMomma raced to Victoria Secret at the Mall to get a pair of stay ups.  Only, she went to Frederick's of Hollywood, instead. My fault!! I used to joke the founder of Frederick's was my uncle - my maiden name is Frederick.

Anyway, she made it back, but we got to the church 20 minutes late. J wasn't concerned I was standing him up. He was concerned he was losing light for the video! Our wedding DVD, from start to finish, including some bonus footage is 7 minutes.

I wanted a small, intimate wedding. J wanted an outdoor wedding. J wanted a big reception. I wanted a reception we could enjoy our guests at. Three months after our elopement, we had a huge wedding reception in Tulsa. We wore jeans and visited with everyone. In January, we had a reception at my parents' home. We both got what we wanted.

If we had to do it over again, would we elope?

In a heartbeat!