Mime 4 Jesus

Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set the example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity. I Timothy 4:12

Jul. 22, 2008

Claire's Here!

All right, now about Claire. She is here in Branson at the moment! So here’s the deal. Katie went to Virginia because the team there (in Pville) wanted someone there to help them with their training camp (they even offered to pay the airfare!). So she and Amy K and the Browns, eventually, planned and led a two-day training camp out there, last Friday and Saturday. So she was gone. She got back Sunday morning during church (Dad went to the early service and picked her up) and took Andrew to a Go Fish concert, which he totally loved.

The Rolfs went to Christian Family Day at the STL Cardinals in St. Louis, so they were gone. By the way, the Cards won 6-5, which I’m very thankful for, due to some kind of cool hit by Albert Pujols (I think it was a 3-run double!).

All that to say that we went to go pick Claire up at the airport. So after a whole lot of problems, delays, and connections, we picked Claire up without her duffel bag. It was coming in on the 9:00 from ORD and we decided we didn’t want to wait for it. Of course, I’d completely forgotten the next day was Sunday.

That night, we talked over Taco Soup, looked at pictures, and headed to bed. We talked for a long time about churches and then I rolled over to go to sleep on the couch cushions. Claire was on my bed. Suddenly, Claire sat bolt upright in bed and said, “We should do something.”
“Like what?” I mumbled sleepily.
We tossed around ideas, like going into the pasture across the road and riding the horses, or going for a midnight swim, but finally Claire said, “Well, maybe we should just go to sleep,” and so we did, although it took a while.

The next morning we were up early. We picked out some of my church clothes for her to wear and she felt better after she’d showered, but she still didn’t have a toothbrush. We ate breakfast, took pictures, and gathered supplies to write our long and completely random letter to Hannah, who’s on the MWMT08 right now. Claire wore Mom’s shoes and we hopped in the car and began to write.

Here's Claire and I in our church clothes with no shoes on. =)

I don’t think this letter is very private, since mostly all we said in it was random, dumb stuff. We gave her some advice, like “Remember the Alamo! Beware of flying squirrels. Try to stand on your head once a day.” We also told her the things she should have brought with her: “a steamroller, Claire AND Jessica, a ski pole and an outboard motor.” We made a message with stickers: “WOW! You’re SUPER NICE!” and compared soccer with football. It was so stupid but it was fun. I also printed out some pictures from our jaunt to the swimming hole and stuck them in the envelope with the letter. I think our letter will be worth singing for.

Claire helped me out in the nursery, because there was nothing else for her to do. Actually, most of the teachers didn’t show up and so it was just us and the lead teachers. We did puppets. I was so hoarse it wasn’t funny, but it was hilarious.

When we got home, I was concerned that Tess would be there soon, and I didn’t know how much longer Claire and I would have together. I tried to call her but had to leave a message. Later she called me back and said they were still in STL and they wouldn’t be back until 11 and was that OK? Of course, Claire and I had no problem with it. We jubilantly grabbed some towels, dressed Claire in Katie’s swimsuit, and headed to Round Mountain Road with Josiah.

My protector and defender, strong and handsome, and - contrary to this picture - very much taller than me: Josiah, my younger (no longer little) brother! I've decided I like having a brother taller than I am.

I bet there were 30 cars there. I have never seen so many people at a swimming hole, but only a few of them were actually in the water. Jo, Claire and I dove in. Claire has a beautiful dive and we got to admire it more than once. Jo swam around with my goggles underneath the strong current. We tried going through the bridge – it had chutes like at the lower water bridge – but we cut ourselves up pretty good. I don’t know how the rest of them do it.

Eventually, there were too many people in indecent swimming suits smoking cigarettes for our tastes. We left, but not before enjoying a good hour or hour and a half of swimming at a swimming hole, which apparently is not a frequent experience for Claire. Then we went down under the 160 bridge because there was nobody down there and what looked like a copperhead almost bit Claire. I saw it and backed up, telling the others I thought it was a snake. By the time they reacted, I had lost sight of it and couldn’t answer Jo’s demanding questions. When I saw it again, it was perhaps three feet in front of Claire and swimming right for her. She played it cool as a cucumber and just stood there and watched it. Eventually it turned to the side and swam under a rock. Whew!

We may be friends, but we still dunk each other. This reminds me of when we went to Big Rock with Simone and she dunked me. I was so mad at her. Actually, Claire and I posed for this shot, as well as one where the roles were reversed. I do look evil, don't I? >;)

We played a Nancy Drew game for a while, had dinner, played Dutch Blitz, played the piano, and played more Nancy Drew until Jorge and Kristi (who were coming back from the MWMT training camp in OK) came around 10:20 PM to pick her up. We had quite a lovely time together and made many memories that we will have fun reliving over phone conversations in the months to come. Claire will also be here for our practice Thursday and our presentation Saturday, so I will hopefully chronicle those events as they happen.

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Jul. 20, 2008

I Know, I Know...

I'm overdue for an entry. I have been writing some in my personal journal, just not all stuff that can be shared on the World Wide Web. Claire's here! Hopefully I'll make time to write about that soon. We had a wonderful time together. For now, here's a bit of Thursday's news (=D):

I finished math and science (the latter of which I’m hopefully restarting next week), and I have been insufferably bored, which is incredible to me. For years, “bored” hasn’t been in my vocabulary, and now it is my constant companion. NOTHING is more aggravating than being bored and feeling that there is nothing substantial you can do. I’ve tried to help Mom out and do things that matter, but I know that I’ve not always been a good steward of the time God has given me. I think stewardship is one of the most impossible virtues to learn and practice. I’m determined to figure out something to do, though… something that matters.

In this spirit, and because we only have practice once every two weeks, I took Madison on a picnic to Round Mountain Road. We ate and talked mentorship for about an hour at a very lovely spot. See, we waded across a facet of the creek and parked on a little island. You could hear the water flowing constantly, feel the sun on your back, see the butterflies (and dragonflies) flitting all around… and except for our talking, there was no other noise. It was beautiful.

Then we put all the mentorship stuff and the picnic basket in the car, took off our accessories, and dove in. The water was wonderfully refreshing, and it was way cool to spend time one-on-one with Madison just doing nothing. We had a lot of fun, did stupid things, and laughed a lot. After swimming for perhaps an hour, we decided to go get Moriah, who had been really bummed that she had to stay home with her brothers while we went swimming. She was very glad to come with us and we swam with her for perhaps an hour and a half. Well, maybe “swam” isn’t the right verb. Moriah doesn’t know how to swim. We tried to teach her but we didn’t know how, so basically we just floated around, caught her when she started sinking, and enjoyed swirling around in the current. And now I’m brown as an Indian. I think I’m getting too tan. Anyway, it was a lovely afternoon, something that we can hopefully repeat sometime.

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Jul. 15, 2008

And Now...

Some events of interest around the Ozarks.

I don't usually look like that, really I don't. The boys kept saying it was really scary, and Andrew wanted to know why I was wearing eye shadow. It wasn't of my own free will! I was forced to do it! This was after "Cinderella Wore Combat Boots," during which I was forced to wear a bit of foundation and eye shadow. Annoying stuff, eye shadow. As you know, I don't wear makeup. I kept forgetting it was on and rubbing my eyes, causing me to look like either A) somebody punched me in the eye, B) I just woke up, or C) I'd been crying. Profusely. For a long time. OK, so I'm exaggerating. I just don't like makeup. Enough about that. It was a good picture of Hannah, and so I'm posting it for Claire.

Simone is here! This is the new intern, all the way from Germany. Isn't she pretty? And yes, the green ball in her hand does have a story behind it. Simone and Hannah went to Silver Dollar City to hang out and each bought a gonga jawbreaker. They raced to see who could eat theirs first. Due partly to her self-admitted "big mouth," Hannah won by a mile at two hours, ten minutes, eight seconds. I'm not sure when (or if!) Simone ever finished hers.

Well, you can't tell, but we really were soaked. This is immediately following the rainy presentation at the Farmer's Market and all the things we were holding - not to mention the things we were wearing - were dripping wet. It was pretty gross, but laughable all the same. Melissa and I squished around the church for a while organizing props.

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Jul. 13, 2008

AIM Bites

On the fourth of July, we had Simone over so that the Rolfs could enjoy the 4th, their 10th wedding anniversary, and the 10th anniversary of the ministry with just themselves and their family. We showed her a gazillion videos and pictures, jumped on the trampoline (Katie twisted her ankle), and made paper flowers for Jory and Tess. I taught her Redeemed and Jo and I taught her Strings. I showed Watch the Lamb and all of them were amazed. I really didn’t do all that well – especially poorly on the cross technique – but I guess the song is so powerful that it makes a poor job look good. That mime is amazing. Too bad it’s a guy mime. We also took Simone down to the creek and swam for a while, but we didn’t stay long because Katie couldn’t swim with her ankle. Then we took Simone to the presentation in the morning. Details on that presentation have already been written, thankfully.

On that Sunday, there was a barbecue at church. Jo and I obtained permission from Pastor Jef to do some stroll miming there, so right after service we dashed out to the car to get into costume. It was blisteringly hot and sunny, but thankfully neither of us got a mime tan. It was a little awkward with all those people we knew… especially since neither of us are especially good stroll mimes. We did some box mimes – for the media director’s camera and in front of Pastor – I did What If I Give All, and Jo and I did Not 4 Sale (three times) and Pledge to the Flag (once). Pledge was completely spur-of-the-moment, so I made up the main signer part. Jo jumped in and did all the freedoms. It was pretty cool, but not really worth all the sweat. It was so nice to take a cool shower when we got home. Pastor did thank us for doing it, though, and we were labeled among the “workers.”

Thursday we had practice and Hannah was there! She had flown in early for the Midwest mission trip and was there to help Tess out for a few days before she headed out with the Madrigals to Tulsa. It was so great to see her again, although we didn’t get any time alone, so I never got to tell her what I wanted to tell her. =( Oh, well. We both gave each other hugs on Claire’s behalf, which was pretty funny. She had a lot to add to the Bible study.

That brings me to the Bible study. It was amazing! EVERYBODY did their homework! And even more amazing than that, I think everyone contributed to the discussion. It was a really good discussion; deep, with challenges and thought-provoking questions. We’re going to write a Bible study and it’s going to be awesome. I’m geared now. We talked about the tools that we can use to stand for what we know is right, and we talked about the things that we need to stand for or up against. We talked about the background to a lot of passages and everyone had something to say and something to glean. It was rich. It was awesome. We ought to have Bible study like that every week.

We put together Always Been and America the Beautiful (wow, that’s going back a ways) for this high-profile presentation we’ve got coming up in August. Then we started choreographing a new song – that needed to at least have a good concept ready for the MWMT to take with them in two days. Hmm. It was pretty repetitive, but we all worked together (yes, Hannah too) and came up with some pretty good ideas. I really like the way it’s coming together. It’s kind of like Go and Stand squished into one song. Except for it’s only four minutes long. Oh yes – it’s called “Preach the Word.” I’m sure you’ll hear more about it, and if we end up doing it on our team, it might be posted on the website… if Tess will let us.

Well, that didn’t take as long as I thought. Maybe I’ll write more sometime soon. Hehe.

And I know that y'all are probably wanting pictures. I have a zillion pictures on my phone, but I just have to download them and label them. Pester me and I'll get it done.

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Jul. 9, 2008

Motherella

Sorry I haven’t been very faithful in getting entries up lately. It’s just been so crazy! I used to think that life was hectic and wondered when it would get back to normal. Now I long for hectic, because hectic has become normal. Right now it’s especially busy because I have Children’s Theatre Workshop (CTW) every morning from 9-12. Andrew has it in the afternoons from 1-4. He has gymnastics three nights this week. Dad just got back from overseas even though he wasn’t supposed to. We have a visitor from the East Coast here in Branson. Everything is weird. I’m so ready for things to settle down.

Let’s see. Quick news. In CTW, we’re doing a play called “Cinderella Wore Combat Boots.” We were going to do a little third-grade play, really short, boring, and pointless (OK, so the one we’re doing now doesn’t exactly have a point either), but some of us students talked the teacher out of it. She was concerned that we wouldn’t have time to memorize all our lines. I have to admit that the main people (namely Cinderella and the Prince) have a lot of lines, but I’m confident that they can do it. I’m going to sound really prejudiced here, but several of the stars (the King, the Prince, and a narrator or two) are homeschooled, which makes me really excited and optimistic for the outcome.

As for me, I’m the evil stepmother. Not exactly the part I would have picked, but then I’m not sure which part I would have picked. The only part that’s big enough for my tastes is Cinderella, and I couldn’t pull that off. She has to dance with the prince. I have this weird aversion to doing anything physical with guys that I don’t know. Well, actually, any guys outside of my family. =) So being the evil stepmother suits me just fine. I’m going to be the “most garish and tacky,” yell at Cinderella a lot, and maintain a superior attitude. No commentation on my capability is necessary. ;-)

Also, I have officially finished high-school math. Well, I guess it isn’t official. Dad hasn’t yet told me what the verdict is. However, I have done everything Katie did: Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry and Trig/Pre-Calculus. I’ve been off math for a week and I’m loving it. It somehow shaves so much time off my academic day. And I still don’t have time for blogging! Maybe after I get my lines memorized.

And Hannah’s here! I’m going to see her tomorrow, because she’s coming to practice. I’m so excited. It’s going to be a blast. So. That’s my life in a nutshell. Got to go.

What I learned this week: that no matter how bad something looks, God is going to use it for good. It’s not a maybe, it’s a definitely. God is faithful and we can’t understand His ways, but they’re always legit.

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Jul. 6, 2008

Proven

It’s been proven. But I won’t tell you what’s been proven until after you read this post. 

Yesterday, we had a presentation at a farmer’s market scheduled for 9:30 AM. We didn’t know the lineup and some things had to be practiced because Jacob was back from his mission trip and we needed to review things without Jorge. Well, actually, we didn’t end up practicing anything for that reason. However, it was an interesting practice nonetheless.

We met at the church at 8:15 in full makeup and costume. Melissa and I ran for props as Tess told us which songs. At that point here are some of the songs that we either practiced or decided we could do without practicing: America Again, God Bless, Honor to Serve, Pledge to the Flag, Spirit, Fallen, End, In the Light, Via, Courtroom, There is a God, Larger Than Life. We practiced three of them (America Again, put together God Bless and Pledge) and left with a gazillion props and no idea of what we were going to present.

When we got to our presentation area (a sloping parking lot), it was cloudy but not threatening. Ten minutes later it was downpouring. All the girls were huddled into our little Toyota, sweating great guns and watching the rain pound off the windshield. Tess decided we were going to wait out the rain, and sure enough, it tapered to a drizzle and stopped after about ten or fifteen minutes of rain. The girls and I discussed how to spare our pants from getting soaked and headed out to set props.

After some haggling, Tess handed us this lineup:
Pledge 2.5
Honor 7
Fallen 4.5
God Bless 3
End 5
There is a God 6
Courtroom 7
America Again 6

Originally we were going to do two 30-minute sets. However, after the rain there weren’t very many people there and so Tess downsized it to a… 45(ish) minute set. Melissa and I (along with random team members who pitched in) set the props, then slanted the stage after instructed to. Thankfully, we didn’t attempt Spirit.

So, the presentation (with 10-15 people max in the audience) went something like this:

Pledge. Yay. That was fun.
Honor. Whoops, I’ve got my cell phone in my pocket. Hmm. Probably wouldn’t be good for this to go off while we’re presenting. I guess I’ll just take it out to turn it off when we’re in double zero as soldiers and catch Katie’s raised eyebrows and open mouth. Lightening streaks across the sky and there is a HUGE clap of thunder, but it doesn’t start to rain.
I heard something about the soldiers locking the door before it was closed, or something like that, but I can’t validate that.
While in double zero, Tess whispers to us that we’re cutting Fallen. Got it. Now we’ve got to pass the message on. Between the two of us, Melissa and I get the message to Josiah and Jacob. Everybody else just goes with the flow.
God Bless. Jarek and I have accidentally switched spots. Who cares? We’re the same height anyway. (Actually, he’s a smidgen taller than me, but we won’t discuss that) Simone learned the sign language lickety-split and signs with vigor during the chorus.
When we go back to line up for End, Tess tells us to go to There is a God. Eventually we all get the message.
There is a God. Nothing much to say.
Courtroom. So we line up for this song. Of course, I once again forget that I have a narrator part before I’m supposed to be part of the jury. Jarek doesn’t have a chair, so he looks really short. After I get back to my place and begin signing “sitting before you is a structure,” it begins sprinkling. No big deal. We like rain, right?
By the time we get to “on the other side of the courtroom,” it is absolutely pouring. We’re talking bone-chilling drenching. Well, not cold, but very wet. I giggle in double zero as Jorge stands over the amp and battery pack with an umbrella, he himself getting soaked. Katie’s sitting in a lawn chair on the other side of the amp trying to keep the battery pack dry. All the costumes are completely soaked. The team is trying not to laugh. We start signing the chorus and our audience is looking at us sympathetically as we grin with makeup dripping down our faces. Well, my makeup is running, but nobody else’s is.
We end the song. Tess has already packed up the Bibles, trying to avoid another Baltimore Harbor affair. We break really fast, grab props and anything that needs to go back to the church, dump it in various vehicles, and jump in the cars to begin taking off our makeup. The rain slows to a drizzle.
By the time we get back to the church, the sun is out and it’s HOT. Melissa and I stay at the church an extra 20 minutes to organize props. Simone and Katie give Tess a gift for her and Jory’s 10th anniversary. Tess commends the team for their excellent teamwork. Everybody smiles and laughs. We all go home.

So it’s been proven. The presentations in the rain are the most fun.

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Jul. 1, 2008

Various Random Thoughts

Josiah was proud of the fact that he had six Jesus parts, several of which he had learned in the last 24 hours. It was definitely a stretch for him, but a positive thing. Moving along.

Today I went over to Tess’ house to help out for the first time in more than a month. It was pretty fun. Simone and I worked on making up five new start-up packets. She had them organized pretty nicely, and she was handling the printing, so I wasn’t complaining. It went a lot better than the first time Katie and I tried to do it. I guess things are easier once you do them once.

After that, I got to teach Simone What If I Give All. That was fun. I always think of Amy when I do that song. As always, she caught on quick. It was fun teaching her how to get crucified. Not that I’m an expert on being crucified, but it was certainly a new experience for her.

And last but not least, Simone and I worked some on organizing the Rolf’s pantry. It’s a pantry in name, but it doubles as office closet. More than half of the shelf space is taken up by paper, envelopes, labels, and other office miscellany. We went through there, organized as many of the office supplies as we could, and threw out a bunch of phonebooks. Overall, it was satisfying, although I had to leave before we finished.

Because of the flood, it looks like Dad’s ball games for the rest of the season may be cancelled. It’s a major bummer. We schedule our Thursdays around his ball games, and they are a time of great enjoyment for all of us. We’re all hoping that the Parks and Rec department will find another place for us to play, but I’m not sure how likely that is. Dad says that there is debris piled three feet high on the left field fence.

We had more homes flooded a few miles from us due to the immense amount of rain. I love rain, but we’ve had way too much lately. When people’s lives start getting ruined because of it, I start praying against the rain. However, Dad, Jo and Andrew (various combinations of the three at various times) had a great time floating Bear Creek for a total of about five or six miles. Total floating time? Maybe an hour and forty-five minutes? Isn’t that incredible? They had the time of their lives doing boyish things, filling the canoe with water, and nearly tipping over.

I almost got myself killed trying to swim out to the bridge pilings of the highway bridge Bull Creek runs under. The current was a whole lot faster than it looked like and if I hadn’t started upstream, I wouldn’t have reached the pilings. As it was, I was so tired by the time I got there I didn’t know how I was going to make it back. By the grace of God I did, but my muscles were burning and I was still shaking half an hour afterwards.

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Jun. 29, 2008

Visiting Rockaway

Ah, so our last presentation. There is much to be told. We presented in Rockaway Beach at the 5th anniversary celebration for an organization called Bronze Wall Ministries, that works specifically with the RB folks. No, I don’t have any idea what they do. The last time we were in Rockaway I sprained my ankle, an injury which I am still very, very slowly recovering for. I’m so ready to be done with it! The time before that we were there for the Christmas parade and then we presented several songs (some thrown together on the spur of the moment) during a dinner.

We had a few problems with some people on the team (who shall remain nameless) talking while in face. OK, so I did it too, a little. After the kids noticed us we did our best to stop, but we hadn’t been very disciplined in that area so it was a little difficult.

Apparently this was a greater problem than we realized. When we got to Rockaway to present this time, a girl came up to me and told me that she’d seen me talking at Christmas, along with “that little boy and a tall guy.” She STILL remembered, from six months ago! This hampered our witness significantly, as any who had seen us talking – or thought they had – didn’t stick around to watch very long. We had some problems with people talking this time too. It became quite the nightmare as Katie and I tried to stop those who kept forgetting that they couldn’t talk – or that whispering was OK. Some people saw us talking; some people thought they did, and if they fell into either of those categories, they immediately lost all respect for us (and, assumedly, our message). It was a little discouraging.

The presentation itself was fun too. It was sweltering hot, but thankfully we were presenting under a pavilion. There was a fine dust all over the floor of the pavilion, however, which made it interesting for anyone who had to fall or kneel on the floor (which was a category that everybody fell into at one time or another). Our first lineup was as follows:

Larger Than Life
Jesus Real Loud
2 Sets
Forgiven
Courtroom

2nd Set:
Gifter
In the Light
Via
End
Champion

Four of those had been choreographed at training camp. All of those had to be choreographed/rechoreographed without our main guy, who is (was) in Nicaragua on a mission trip. And we did them all with Jorge and Simona, who don’t know some of the songs. I was actually very impressed with the speed with which we got them done – it took us less than two hours to put together and polish all of them (“polish” being a relative term).

For Jesus Real Loud, we did something fun with Jorge and Simona, who had never been in the song before. Simona was a celebrity – something she excelled in (she’s amazing at characterization) – and Jorge was a bodyguard. Just picture that intimidating frame with his arms folded, glaring at the main character. Yep, it was pretty awesome, not to mention hilarious.

More... later?

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Jun. 26, 2008

An Excerpt

From my assigned "meditative essay." Entitled, "On Team Size."

During the past three sessions, our team has grown very close. There were a lot of times when there were only six or seven of us presenting songs we’d thrown together in the past half hour. Of course, this made things more difficult, but difficult – one of our watchwords since the mass exodus – seemed to draw us together.

We froze together in the Adoration Parade signing “Happy Birthday, Jesus.” We laughed together when we presented Gloria with six people. We sweated together at a Rockaway Beach cleanup project. We stood together when two of our team got injured. We brainstormed together to choreograph three new songs for Young Christian’s Weekend. We’ve stood in, made do, worked hard, sweated, laughed, discussed and enjoyed our time as a tight team.

Now we have perhaps 20 people at each practice. We have eight people on our team. We separate genders for Bible studies and have more of a discussion format for the studies, so we’re able to involve everyone in the studies. The SALTeam is being mentored by the leaders and in turn mentoring the team. It’s almost as if we’re one big family.

On this team… I know that nobody will talk bad about me behind my back, that I’ll be accepted for who I am, and never shunned for who I’m not. I know that if there’s something that needs to be accomplished, we’ll work together to accomplish it and do what needs to be done until it’s done. I know that we will delve into the deeper things of God’s Word and try to find out what He has to say to us. I know that we’ll support, encourage, pray and love each other through every time, good or bad. I know that we’ll all be challenged to be more than we are and do more than we think is possible. I know that my team will be there for me when I need a shoulder to cry on or a hand to hold and that I can do the same for them.

I also know that in the fall, we’re expecting at least five new people on the team. That’s going to jack our numbers up to what we haven’t seen in more than a year. It also means that we’re going to have to sacrifice our closeness and bonds to let others in. I refuse to be a clique because I’ve been on the outside of them and I know how much they hurt… but it’s going to be really hard to give up what we have. I’ve loved the security of this team. I’ve loved having a group of girls that I can trust with everything. I’ve loved the laughs and tears of being so tight.

However, it’s time for me to put my feelings aside. The new people that are joining our team will be just like me when I joined – looking for a friend. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for me. Now I need to learn to sacrifice for others. I guess now’s the time to prepare to jump out of the boat… I’ll stay in my comfort zone no longer.

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Jun. 23, 2008

Of Roads and Rocks

It's been rainy recently.

The first big rain was on March 18th, 2008. Actually, that was the MAIN big rain, the one that paved the way for all the minor floods that have been invading our neighborhood for the past three months. At the peak of the flood, I’d estimate the water to have been at least seven feet above the dirt and gravel road that runs along the creek. Of course, the extremely fast and furious current washed out all of the gravel from the road, leaving in its place either very bumpy bedrock or very slippery mud.

Since, we’ve had perhaps five or six major rains, along with the subsequent flooding caused by said rains, which of course has left the road behind the house more bumpy and impossible to drive on, or more muddy and impossible to drive one. Oh yes, and there is one part of the road that has several inches of extremely loose gravel on it, which is (you guessed it) impossible to drive on. Either way, you see, we have the same problem.

The Missouri Department of Transportation (MODOT) has wisely refrained from repairing the road until the rain stops, as any additional rain would simply wash the new gravel down the creek to join its tons of cousins. Well, wisely refrained… until now.

I took Dwight and Melanie – the kids I baby-sit – down to the creek to swim on Friday night, following a drenching rain the night before. Of course, since it’s been raining so much, the ground can’t absorb any more moisture, which sends all the water into the creek, which continues to rise… you see the problem.

Anyway, when we got down there, there was a “road work ahead” sign (to which Dwight said, in a slight panic, “We can’t go down there! We have to turn around!”). I thought this was very interesting. We’d seen a couple of MODOT dump trucks going down there, and now what did I see but a freshly gravel-coated road. The dip back behind Mr. Bill’s house had been raised a couple of feet (it used to come down right to the water) and the bumpy bedrock had been covered over. It was nice – even though the muddy part was still muddy, just muddy gravel – to be able to walk/ride without having to hop from rock to rock.

The current was so strong at Big Rock that we had to go upstream a hundred feet or so to float down to Big Rock, and I couldn’t take the kids over without borrowing this lady’s inner tube. We had fun anyway, and saw several river turtles – you know, the kind that are as big as a dinner plate (a large dinner plate) with the pointed noses and webbed feet? – and a kayaker down at the low water bridge (which the kids called their “show” while they had a snack). It was fun.

The next day, since the water was so high, we were going to go tubing in our inner tubes – of which we have a lot, since Dad likes it so much – from Shady Rapids to the 160 bridge, a distance of about two miles. We were going to take Dwight and Melanie and it was going to be a gala event with Dad, Jo, Andrew, the kids and I.

And then it rained.

Man, did it rain! Just as we left, it started sprinkling, then pouring. It rained Sunday, too. So Dad and Andrew went floating on Sunday afternoon after the rain stopped. I heard it was high and fast and furious. I think they had a great time.

But here’s the kicker. Last night, it rained – poured – for hours. The creek looks angry. The ditch in our backyard was raging. There was a river down Coffee Road. And that new road MODOT just put in? All those tons of gravel? You got it – they joined their friends down the creek and (according to Andrew) the road is now in the same condition it was before MODOT fixed it.

Hmm… maybe we should just pave it. Or maybe we just shouldn’t bother with it at all.

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Jun. 20, 2008

Character Ramblings

Have you ever heard an author talk about how his characters run away from him, or how he doesn't really know what's going to happen next?

It's true.

Jo and I were talking in depth about this last night. My characters have surprised me going the way they're going. Tabitha, who I always thought of as down to earth, reserved, and calm, has morphed into an emotional control freak. It's really weird. But as events happen, her character has reacted to them in a way that I didn't (or couldn't) really anticipate.

I wrote up character profiles on all my characters a while back and discovered that one of my characters has absolutely no flaws. She's completely perfect. Hmm... this could be a problem, as a perfect person is somewhat unrealistic. I'm still wondering what kind of flaws can be worked into her character.

I gotta go to bed. I'm desperately in need of more sleep. Maybe more on this later. I just had to post SOMEthing.

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Jun. 17, 2008

A Boring Entry

About not so boring events. The session has begun!

Training camp (yesterday) was great. We got to train our new intern from Germany, 17-year-old Simona. She’ll be here until early August. She’s amazing and she learns really fast. She had her first presentation tonight and did wonderfully. And she’s so sweet. We all love her.

We learned Honor, Fallen, 2 Sets, There is a God, and America Again for tonight’s presentation. We also learned Courtroom and Gifter. Unfortunately, Jory couldn’t come and talk about the Bible study because Anthem was really sick. The Rolfs and Simona got in at 2:30 Monday morning, so they were understandably drained.

We also spent about an hour reviewing our session Bible study methods and going through an evangelism training course, which we’ll be doing for a while and then going out and witnessing every other Thursday.

And we had Madison’s birthday party. She turned 15 last Wednesday. We had cake and we sung to her and then we had ribbons for her, Melissa, and Simona. It was pretty cool. A new Wal-Mart just opened 8 minutes away, so we went to check it out (and do some college shopping) and discovered that they didn’t have a table for cutting the ribbon, but just sold it by the spool. And they were cheap. So of course we got the spools, cut the ribbons, burned the ends so they wouldn’t fray, and gave them away. It was fun.

Tonight was amazing. We presented at this campground to this audience of roughly 75 who weren’t exactly welcoming toward our Christian message. We tried to stay away from songs strictly about Jesus, as the guy who booked us said there would be Jews in the audience and we didn’t want to offend them. So we stuck with the relatively safe lineup of Honor, Fallen, 2 Sets, There is a God (losing safety…), America Again (OK, so not so safe).

It was pretty awesome. I mean, a lot of the people there weren’t Christians, and it seemed like some of them might have resented our message by the way they looked at us while we were presenting, but that was what was exciting – that we had the chance to present the message of hope to these people. It was a little different… but it was really great.

There were a few little funny things, like when Melissa and I forgot the flag (OK, so that wasn’t funny) and Tess found another one that was so long that it would have dragged the ground if we had put it in a flag stand. Or when Jacob slid down the gravel incline and almost landed on his face. Or when I didn’t get a good grip on my Bible in America Again, dropped it, and had to bounce down to pick it up.

But mostly it was a time to experience God. The hardest presentations are always the most rewarding.

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Jun. 12, 2008

Camping Completed

This is a normal Roberts campsite. For your viewing pleasure, I shall now proceed to walk you through it.

The white arrow identifies the sorriest looking tent this side of the Mississippi. One of the poles that hold the tent up had snapped in the middle, producing the sharp tip at the top. This, of course, caused the tent to loose its uprightness and it continued to sag (a la the Leaning Tower of Pisa) until we finally gave up and took it down.

The yellow arrows indicate the bag chairs that we left sprawled all over our campsite and of course had to retrieve when it started raining at 4 AM.

The red arrows are pointing to our two vans. We were only allowed to have one vehicle (other than the camper) on the site. But then, we were only allowed to have six people in the site, two. The campground host came by while Grandma was in the bathroom and when Dad told him we had seven because Grandma had come, he said, “Grandma? I don’t see Grandma. Enjoy your camping trip!” =)

The green shows the very safe and strategic place we kept our suitcases… under one of the wings of the camper.

Orange? Our tubes, of which we had four – three single and one double. Being the light packers that we are, we left the kitchen sink at home and settled instead for a Shop-Vac to blow up and de-inflate the tubes. Hrm…

And last but not least, the blue arrow points to the lovely canopy over which Mom has sweated much sweat and shed many tears. … Just kidding about the tears part.

Here are some other fun pictures from the trip:

Don't they just make your mouth water?

The statue of... Jessica?

In the dank recesses of the cave, Jo plays Satan.

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Jun. 10, 2008

The Marvels of Camping

We got back yesterday from a three-night camping excursion at Buffalo Point, Arkansas. There was an extra participant to this crazy embarking: Mama Kay, our grandma on Dad’s side. She’s 74 and quite the stud. Here are some random memories from our trip. By the way, you don't have to worry... we all smell much better now.

Watching Mom struggle with the canopy we put over the picnic table. It’s quite the hilarity every time we camp because we never label the pieces and some of the labels that were already on there have rubbed off, so it usually takes at least thirty minutes to set up. This time Mom took the initiative and labeled the pieces (more than 40 of them) before we took it down. She came up with enterprising names, too.

Chicken (or is it rooster?) fighting with Katie. I was on Dad’s shoulders and she was on Jo’s. She probably would have won, but Dad is a little more sturdy than Jo. We sent both of them splashing into the water along “the sandy beach.”

Rescuing Grandma from the dead water that her tube seemed drawn to. We did several short floats from the Point down to our campsite (a 20-30 minute affair) and one longer float. Each time Grandma would get stuck somewhere or was about to run into a rock and one of us (usually Jo) would go drag her out into deeper water.

The kabobs! Grandma wanted to make shish-kabobs to eat while camping. I was a bit wary at first, but although they were a lot of work, they were certainly worth it! Mouth watering steak grilled on a skewer along with some assortment of squash, cucumber – or was it zucchini? – red and green pepper, pineapple, and onion. Some of the kabobs had chicken on them as well. They were delicious, and we got to have corn on the cob with! What could be better?

The rain at four in the morning on the last night. We heard the thudding on the roof of the camper and stumbled outside in time to see our various belongings – library books, bag chairs, clothing, suitcases, sleeping bags, you name it, it was out there – getting soaked. Dad, Grandma and I went around with flashlights in the rain grabbing things and placing them under a canopy. Andrew’s tent was lacking the rain fly – something we’ve still neglected to place blame for – and he was sound asleep in a dripping sleeping bag. Then, the rain was an inconvenience, but looking back, it was pretty fun. =)

Side note – the whole time we were there, we had marvelous weather. Hot, but not blistering hot (i.e. high 80s), no rain, a nice breeze… it was beautiful. The last day turned a little dreary on us, but we have nothing to complain about.

The bridge. Man, did we play that game! I think I was only involved in a completed rubber once… well, actually, maybe not even that. Since we had six players – yes, Jo now plays bridge – players swapped around a lot. I lost about every hand I was involved in, but that’s OK. Grandma got to play, and that’s what counts. We even had some bridge mix to go with.

The sunburn… I think everyone got burned, or at least severely tanned, somewhere. I burned on my face, of course, like I always do. Jo’s shoulders, Katie’s hair part, Dad’s stomach (from laying face up in the tubes)… I don’t think the other three got burned much. Either they’re very blessed or they’re very smart.

The death hike. That’s what we nicknamed it after the fiasco during our last camping trip, when we thought Mom was going to pass out after the three hour – at least – miserably hot hike with little water. It was frightening, exhausting, and full of bad memories. Somehow Dad convinced me to go again, this time with the guys and Grandma. We had a blast. Since I was wearing my swimsuit, I got to go swimming in the natural bathtub and kept cool for the whole hike. We explored the Indian Rock House with Grandma and took her up to one of the side caves. We watched crawdads and spotted lizards. It was pretty fun.

The amazing, two-hour long conversation Katie and I had the first night. We talked about all things AIM-related. It was “pretty much amazing,” as Melissa would say. We talked about songs, parts, character (both kinds), concerns, elations, and ideas for the new session. It was so cool to be able to spend so much time one-on-one with Katie. I was hoping we’d be able to talk like that again, but it never happened. Maybe later, I guess… although we’re running out of “later.”

The time with God on the beach. Why is it that it’s so much easier to connect with God when I’m out in His creation? Usually when camping, I never make time to spend with God and come home feeling guilty. I also usually don’t stay caught up in my Bible reading. This time, however, I was determined that it would be different. I didn’t pray the last morning – not sure why – but the other two mornings I got up and spent some time just talking to God.

During the evenings, when the canoeing crowds had left , the temperature had dropped, the family was playing bridge and I was “alone,” I’d sit on the sand and watch the sun set as the river rushed by next to me. I guess not much constructive was said during those times, but I think God was speaking to me through His beautiful creation. Those times were precious, and I’ll treasure them. Thanks, Father. I love You!

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Jun. 3, 2008

Trying to Catch Up

So on Tuesday Andrew and I got to help Kristi get ready for the AK mission trip, food-wise. We spent about two hours shopping (first at Jubilee and then at Wal-Mart) while Kristi tried to extinguish the fires languishing in the Kansas City airport. That of course is a reference to the inevitable lost team member in the wrong terminal of the huge airport. Without a cell phone. Anyway…

We got back to the Salvation Army, waited while these guys finished meeting in the big room downstairs, and then unloaded at least twenty plastic bags of cold and dry food. All the dry food went into the makeshift pantry, the office. We attempted to cram all the cold food into the bottom shelf of the economy sized freezer, and actually did a pretty good job.

Let’s see, what all did we do? We (or some subset of us) made a Texas sheet cake (no, I don’t know why it’s called that), made chocolate chip cookies, made banana bars, peeled carrots, cut carrots into carrot sticks, browned chicken, sliced chicken, washed dishes, and cubed bread for some sort of salad. It took us about four hours. Sounds like overkill, but when cooking for nearly 20 people, it takes a while.

Thursday was amazing. Mom and I (mostly Mom) prepped dinner for the team that day – salad, lasagna, breadsticks, and a choice between dump cake or Neimen Marcus brownies for dessert. AK took me to the Salvation Army at 12:15 due to a lack of cars. I brought the sweet stuff with us and we also dropped by the Lilly’s to pick up some tuna salad for the team for lunch. They couldn’t bring it themselves because their van was in the shop. Again. Don’t get me wrong; it was no problem, it just seems like that van is always breaking down. Guess that makes sense.

After waiting forever and a day at the post office to get AK’s stamps, we managed to get to Salvation Army. She took off to Ozark to see this friend of Dad’s who was interested in African missions and I began foraging in my natural habitat.  Katie and I organized shirts for a while – that’s shirts to sell, and yes we did dig through all our random shirts we keep around for good measure and found the strangest combinations of sizes – and I began to look for props for the team, a task I was halfway through when Melissa got there. We couldn’t find the other mallet for our lives, but we found everything else. They went real basic on the props this time because they had to fly everything out there.

Then we taught songs. Man, did we teach songs! It was a blast. We did Invitation, Via Dolorosa, Be Still, Statement, Courtroom, and Virtuoso (they already knew the dance). We also got to show them Larger Than Life with a scattered team. Let’s see, we had Jacob and Melissa in their regular parts, and then joining in were Tess, Jorge, KATIE – yes, you read right – and Nicky, who we needed to have because he was the only one light enough to lift safely. Katie and I did the rope, Jorge and Melissa did the statue, and Tess and Nicky did the juggling. It was a blast, and when we taught it to their team, their characters blew us away. You should have seen Caleb being the old man, or Keegan doing the nerd! It was hysterical.

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May. 31, 2008

Reviewing

Spoilers included.

I don't know if I've ever seen a film as thought-provoking and spiritually challenging as the most recent installment in the Narnia series. Prince Caspian has completely blown me away. Twice.

I guess I didn't expect the second time around to be as amazing. In a way, it wasn't. We were, of course, lacking the novelty and un-bias-ness of seeing it for the first time. But somehow this time, knowing what would happen merely increased its impact.

There are a lot of amazing scenes, threads, sequences and lines. One of the best - while also the most painful - is the whole battle sequence at the castle, when Peter's pride and refusal to wait for Aslan causes the horrible death of many brave - and innocent - Narnians. I almost cried when seeing that today, even though I've already seen it before.

To be continued...

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May. 28, 2008

Slightly Muddy

It was going to storm; I could feel it as well as I could see it. The dark threatening clouds were moving in quickly over our swimming hole and the rain began to patter on the still waters of the creek. Josiah stood and left the creek. “We need to leave. Come on, Andrew.” We quickly toweled off, donned our shirts, and headed for the creek road.

It was a mass exodus. Nearly all of the party-seeking holiday goers were fleeing the swimming hole over the horribly rocky and dangerous terrain produced by the recent floods. We were among the few on foot. As the wind picked up, so did Andrew’s fears. He’d heard of a tornado warning in the area and was frightened that we’d be stuck in the middle of it down by the creek, in the midst of a bunch of drunk people, with trees all around.

As we struggled to get Andrew’s bicycle over the rough road and keep Josiah’s bare feet from becoming closely acquainted with a jagged piece of glass, a small, beaten up old truck stopped next to us. A lady yelled from the bed, “Want a ride?”

Seeing the dangerous situation we were in and remembering the inches-deep mud we’d waded through to get here, I was the first to accept. Josiah held back, but eventually accepted as the wind picked up and the rain began to pelt us like hail. Somehow we managed to get all three of us in the bed of the truck along with Andrew’s bike. We were in close quarters with the couple already there and their dog, but we were in.

We banged down the road and held tight to each other as our partners swore and laughed. The bone-jarring jolts were nothing to joke about, but they didn’t seem to have any problem with them. When we got to the deep mud, though, there was cause for concern. I ducked my head and chose not to look as the driver revved the engine and charged ahead into the thick, gooey mess.

It was bumpy and a bit scary as the wheels spun in the mud. Once we were over on two wheels and I thought we were going to tip, but we didn’t (thank God!). We finally made it to the end of the muddy stretch with the brown goop sprayed all over us. It was pouring now, the sky dumping buckets of cold rain down while the wind blew ferociously. We thanked our “saviors” profusely as we dashed off into the rain.

It felt like we were running through hail. We ran across the field, through the parking lot of the restaurant adjacent to our house, and made it onto the front porch. We were breathing hard, stinging from the rain, cold and wet, but we were alive, and that was what counted.

Whew!

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May. 25, 2008

Picture and Prayer

This is rather old news (I wrote this three days ago), but your prayers for this heartbroken family would be greatly appreciated.

This is the day the Christian music world mourns, as Steven Curtis Chapman’s adopted Chinese daughter Maria was hit and killed by a car yesterday. She was airlifted to a children’s hospital but died of her injuries. To make a horrible situation 100 times worse, she was hit in their driveway by one of her brothers, who didn’t see her when he was pulling in. Thousands of comments on a blog set up in tribute to Maria have shown the Chapmans that they aren’t alone in their agonizing grief. Many tears have been cried and many prayers have been prayed on their behalf today, and those won’t stop now. www.stevencurtischapman.com

Also, here's a picture of Jorge and Gabriel that Mom took at the Final Presentation for you to enjoy. Sorry that I don't have time to really write an entry now. We've got off school while Aunt Kristy is here, so I should have time soon. However, the AK training camp is coming through here soon, so I'll be gone for that a lot and I'll be spending a lot of time with Aunt Kristy. Hmm... well, life continues at its breakneck pace, and God is steady.

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May. 22, 2008

A Summary

Still Alive and God's Glorified: A Summary of AIM Branson's 2008 Spring Session

Well, the session is officially over. I guess it was officially over at the Final Presentation last Thursday (5/15), but now that we’ve finally done our last presentation of the session, it’s over. We actually had two presentations yesterday, but right now I’m going to do a summary of the session. I wanted to use pictures, but I don’t have pictures for everything, so I’ll use some pictures (only ones I haven’t posted before) and some words. Sound good? (you guys know all this already, but I think it’s fun, and I have time today [!!!] because we don’t have AIM, so this is what I’m going to do.)

Well, we started off this session on February 2nd (wow, that was a LONG time ago!) with a four-hour SALTeam meeting and a four-hour practice time. We assigned several jobs to each SALTeam member, discussed Bible studies and mentorship, and planned out the session as much as we could. During practice time we put together Be Still, Stand, and Virtuoso. We never finished choreographing Virtuoso and it never got off the ground this session. However, we did present both Be Still and Stand later. This is a picture of all our guys – 6, at that time – auditioning for the Saul part in Stand.

Jysaiah Bartholomew was born to one of our team families in February, bringing their family number up to nine – seven children and two parents. We threw a baby shower for her a few weeks before he was born and all oohed and ahed over him once he could come to practice. Here is the mother with her baby the day that she had him by C-section… doesn’t she look good?

2/17 - The Rolfs, and Madrigals and I were the Branson ambassadors to Leadership Camp. LC brought a lot of hard lessons to learn and a lot of challenges to face, but overall it was a good thing. One very good thing was that I was able to spend a lot of time with Hannah, the amazing SALTeam member from Blacksburg that came to LC. Lizzy (their director) commented that we were “joined at the hip” during the camp. =)

2/28 - While at camp, Jorge’s dad died. It was a really rough time for him and while he and his family were still in CA, we wanted to do something to help them get back on their feet once they got home. The team here cleaned their house and backyard and brought them so much food that Tess and I were hard-pressed to fit it all into their refrigerator. Jacob’s mom also made them a beautiful card. We were sad for Jorge and his family but we were very glad that we were able to help them out in some small way. It was a “family” bonding time. Here’s Jorge, the one who’s always smiling and willing to jump in – any way, any time, anywhere. What a great guy.

3/15 - The next major AIM event was a fun and tragic one: the volunteering project at Rockaway Beach. It was really cool to be able to help out and do what we could to be a blessing to those folks. It wasn’t really cool that I sprained my ankle very badly and couldn’t present the next day. However, it did make for an interesting session. The participants in the service project at the beginning were the Lillys and Jo and I. Later, after fixing? and replacing their broken down van, the Madrigals came with Jonathan and Josh. I was very thankful that the sprain happened AFTER Jorge and Kristi got there.

3/16 - The six-song (In the Light, There is a God, End of the Beginning, This Blood, Courtroom, Invitation) presentation was the next day, Sunday. We were presenting at a Salvation Army homeless shelter in Springfield. Tess jumped into all my parts and smiled while she did it. She did an amazing job at grabbing everything so quickly and the team did an amazing job presenting. It was a great presentation. It was also very weird, because for the first time that I could remember I wasn’t on the stage; I was watching.

We went out for ice cream that night – all of us except Josh and Jonathan – and after getting thoroughly confused and completely losing everyone, we managed to find ourselves at Dairy Queen. It was a nice half hour of just hanging out and talking about dumb presentation stories while enjoying ice cream. There aren't really any good pictures from it, though. :(

3/23 - Katie and I had a blast shopping for a dress for Tess’ birthday. We threw a big party for her at AIM. We had Apple Cake and we all said what she meant to us. That was a big deal for her – I guess she’s a words person – and it was really special. This hat was under consideration for an accessory, but it didn’t make it.

… just kidding! =)

Speaking of birthdays, we had a LOT this session! Let’s see… Jonathan, Jory, Tess, Katie, Melissa (in a few days), Lily, Nicky, and Gabriel. Whew! I’m sure I forgot somebody, but we’ve really had a blast celebrating all these birthdays. We must’ve had a cake almost every other practice! This is Katie with her 18th birthday cake. Doesn’t it look yummy?

3/29 - Next was the thing that we spent the majority of the session before it preparing for: Young Christian’s Weekend. I spent at least five blog posts on that! It was a great challenge and team building activity. We got to put on our makeup in the van… that’s always a team builder. It was cold, wet, windy and drizzling, but we had a blast. It was HOT in the Saloon where we were presenting. We were able to issue a challenge to the audience: will you STAND for Jesus and what is true? It was pretty awesome and all the hard work beforehand made the presentation and surrounding events all the more fun. Not to mention the girls beat the guys to the van.

4/10 - We had fun at BransonFest, mostly because sometimes our main guys wouldn’t show and then we had to throw stuff together. When Jonathan and Jacob weren’t at a presentation, Tess and Jorge had to jump into their parts. Tess was narrator in There is a God! It was pretty hectic, but it was also pretty fun. I love a challenge, and it was hard, that’s for sure!

BransonFest is always fun because of all of the spur-of-the moment presentations, weird weather and volunteer projects. One day it was raining and we had to use Melissa’s umbrella for One Time Show to keep our faces from running. One day it was stinking hot and when we all got offstage we probably smelled like a bunch of elephants. One day we found out about our presentation three hours before it happened. It was great fun, and an exhilarating message to present. There are so many people at BransonFest, and the chance to reach them all with the Gospel is a HUGE privilege.

4/12 - Then there was the Teddy Bear Tea. Mostly a time to hang out and laugh, we enjoyed this presentation. We had half an hour before the presentation to sit around and do nothing (which of course prompted lots of randomness!), and then afterwards they served us little cakes and fruits on glass trays. It was very exquisite and cute, and we got to show to Gospel to the kids with Jesus Real Loud, End, Devil is Bad, and Strings. Got some good pictures there, too.

4/17-18 - Ah yes, the girls’ night. A night of laughing, loving and learning. We had a blast hiking, playing games, baking, scrapbooking, and just hanging out. It was a late night but a good one and the Bible study at the end was a great way to cap it off. The next morning we went to a service project at a local non-profit tree farm and helped de-hay the trees (they had hay on them for the winter) and move them around so they could be sold (the proceeds go to a boys’ camp, I think). Lily was a wonderful helper that day. She never complained and she kept working no matter what. We were all very proud of her.

4/29 - Those of us 16 and older (well, Jo came too because we were desperate for people) volunteered at Worldview Weekend. It wasn’t very exciting, but it was a service and that was a good thing. I’ll never forget that: the day a girl asked my brother for his phone number. HA!

5/3 - Talk about a humbling experience. When we presented at a local church’s fundraiser for African missions, I bet there wasn’t a single one of us who didn’t feel God speak to us in some way. Those people had every reason to be depressed and discouraged – no one was showing up for the fundraiser – but they were singing praises to God just as heartfelt as ever and smiling bright enough to light up a dark room. It was such a blessing to be able to minister to and encourage them. The presentation itself – an hour long – was a bit of a flop, but the heart was still there. I think we’ll all remember that presentation for a long time.

5/15 - Our final presentation! We did the same lineup here that we did at Young Christian’s Weekend: Larger Than Life, One Time Show, Jesus Real Loud, Champion, Our Turn Now, Stand, Not Ashamed. There is much to say about this presentation but I’m planning on saying it in another post. I have to post about that practice anyway. We did paper plates! We got video from this presentation but it isn’t all that great. Once Katie gets back from Family Camp we’ll figure out what to put up.

5/21 - Katie’s birthday and our last two presentations of the session were both really fun. The first presentation was for a Senior Luncheon at the church where we practice. However, one of the ladies that usually comes had recently died and so most of the people that would usually be there were at her funeral (which was at the same time as our presentation). This gave new meaning to the phrase, “Audience of One.” There were three or four people we didn’t know at the beginning. By the end we had maybe six or seven. It was an interesting presentation because Jacob wasn’t there, but we worked hard, stretched, and worked together and it looked good. Oh, by the way, the lineup was: Larger Than Life (Melissa took Jacob’s part!!!), 2 Sets, End, Pledge, Honor, God Bless, In the Light, Forgiven, Courtroom, Invitation. Lotsa songs. This is what the guys do before presentations:

Then we presented at Red Roof. It took a while to get there because the people we open for always use our sound system. This means we had to go over to Tess’s house to get it. This means that we drove to her house in separate vehicles. This means that Jacob was behind us. This means that he felt compelled to be silly. And this means that I took this picture:

You pretty much already heard about the best part of that presentation. We also presented Honor and Spirit, both of which went off without a hitch. It was just an amazing presentation. The people were very responsive and the songs went beautifully. Then afterwards we got to help put away chairs, which was cool too – I think it’s neat when we don’t just present, but we serve too. The funny thing was that we only had time for a 15-second prayer before we had to rush over and get sound set. And it went so well. I guess that proves that God doesn’t care about the amount of words or the eloquence, only about the heart. I think I can truly say that we put our heart into that presentation, and He clearly showed up.

And now, ladies and… ladies, AIM Branson, Spring 2008!

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May. 21, 2008

Teamwork is supremely satisfying

Melissa, Madison and I pulled something off during the presentation today and it felt so good. We were presenting America Again, our last song in our three-set order at the Red Roof Mall (Honor, Spirit, America Again). After Spirit, Melissa had run to grab the towers and put them in the prop bag, I had grabbed the “America Bless God” banner, and we both forgot to set a Bible on stage right for America Again. We both realized this, of course, as soon as we were in double zero and could do nothing about it.

So my mind was whirring overtime to try to figure out how to get a Bible over there without being overly conspicuous. Finally, I hit upon an idea. When I came out for the teaching part and “eliminated God,” I set the Bible on a chair right behind me (they had chairs set up for the army band that was going to perform after us). Then, when we rejected as the guys marched, I grabbed the Bible. As soon as we were “frozen,” I passed the Bible to Madison. And my plan didn’t go further than that. I didn’t really know how the Bible was going to get to where it needed to go because I didn’t know what was supposed to happen with it.

Madison passed the Bible to Melissa, who held it until the “150,000 kids carrying guns” part, when she set it down and did her part. Then when we all started marching, she took the Bible with her to her place and set it down right where it was supposed to be. When I looked over there, it was set perfectly. It was a beautiful sight. And I have to mention – that was one of the most amazing America Again presentations in a long time. The people were so with us as we “want God in America Again,” and Jacob rightly said he had goosebumps. It was just really moving.

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