GO 'SKINS!

There was chilli. There was corn chips. There was cornbread. There was veggies with dip. There was even chocolate cupcakes AND yellow cake. And to make everything taste better or make the calories worth it, there was VICTORY.

We do not care about the Panthers. We do not care about NC State OR UNC. We, WE are a Redskins family.

All gooey victory feelings aside, we chose to use this game as an opportunity to connect with couples we have recently met in our neighborhood and church. I am discovering that DESPITE my personality/spiritual gifts test results, I do have the gift of hospitality. I'm just kinda bossy about it.

I do love to open my home and prepare a "party" as a way to reach out and connect with people. And so does Danny. Its a difficult thing to do sometimes when all the pictures aren't hung up, and you don't have a living room set yet, or enough chairs for everyone. But I think there is something so vulnerable about sharing your home in a way that says, "I don't have a lot, but what I have, I'd love to use to serve and bless you with."

The other blessing in return for me was to see our family all pitch in. Michael did all the baking. Lauren helped with cleaning and set-up. And everyone was excited to be a part of the fun. Its one of those things where I think we had a successful get together. We had success in our football team. We had success in forging our new friendships. But we shared success as a family unit. Many of you already know what that feels like, for me its a brand new blessing.

PS -- I made a mean chilli :)

A Star is Born

C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S
to Lauren as she tried out for the school play and landed the lead female role!! This is her first production EVER and she is both excited and scared! I'm so proud of her for going out of her comfort zone and going for it! The plays is "Web of Murder" a dark comedy/mystery. She plays the role of Minerva "a forceful domineering woman in her sixties who is outspoken to the point of rudeness. Being the queen of her house, she rules it with an iron hand."

Hmmm.... wonder whose life she'll draw from to give her inspiration for this character.....

Interestingly enough, Michael is part of the Theatre Tech crew so he will be a major player BEHIND the scenes of the production. How cool is all that??!

Lauren's Idolatry: The Tour

I think I mentioned in a previous post that we got "into" this past season of American Idol. What started out as watching TV just for the sake of watching TV, turned into full-blown out obsession for Lauren. Yes, yet another example of my great mother skills.

>>> CLICK HERE TO SEE SLIDESHOW <<<

She fell in love with Jason Castro (seen here), who by the way is a Christian although since he is a dread-head is accused of being a druggy ditz. But we all know it is David Cook ("Cookie") who won. All those in contact with Lauren all spring and summer were bombarded with American Idol this or David that, or Cookie this or Archie that..... It has been an endless detailed conversation of every and ANY detail about them, the tour, and on and on.

As a belated Christmas gift, we got tickets to see the tour in Charlotte. She got to bring a friend. They camped out at the venue at 11 am and got to meet the idols on tour --- got pics, signatures and talk to them. She even got to give Jason and David Cook T-shirts that she and her friends made them. A serious highlight of her summer. But then we swore her to "Stop the Idol talk!" rule immediately after the tour.

It was understandable for a 16 yr old girl to get all "crazy fan girl," but what was most disturbing was watching the 40 plus yr old females acting the same way. Hopefully, Lauren won't be like that at 40!!!

The tour was fun -- all idols are very talented and great in concert/person. The only thing that was cheesy was the low budget light show. But its obvious American Idol could have just had 1 cheap spotlight and the girl fans would still show up. Even the 40 year old ones.