Imajean

I was asked to play a character named Imajean in the 2002 VBS at our church. Imajean is a naive, but lovable (if I do say so myself) hillbilly. Who would have thought that this character would catch on and I will still be playing Imagene 7 years later. I used to have overalls, a flannel shirt, and big clunky boots, but eventually got rid of the original costume to make room in my closet for items I actually wore. So this year when they asked me to play Imagene again I did the best I could to come up with something that resembled a hillbilly. Our pastor said that the boots were a bit too Wellington for a hillbilly.

Okay, so maybe a hillbilly wouldn't wear J. Crew rain boots, but it was the best I could do with what I had on hand. The reason I have these boots is because when we were in Colorado last year there was a freak snow storm at the end of April and half the time I couldn't get out of the car without stepping into a foot of snow. So we searched for some hiking boots with no luck, but really anything would have been better than the Birkenstocks that I had on. Being springtime J. Crew had rain boots for sale so I bought the green ones and wore them proudly.


I think VBS is the only other time I have worn them, but the kids loved them and didn't think anything of them being too "wellington". What's more fun than a hick with pig tails and green rubber boots right?



Photo 1- Imajean and her brother Jethro (a guy from chruch)
Photo 2- Me, J, and Z in Colorado

Look Back and Laugh: VBS Innuendos

Unfortunately in our dirty minded society everything can be turned into some kind of sexual innuendo and our children’s pastor somehow found himself stumbling over some in the middle of VBS. Now just to clarify this guy is a good ol' boy to the core and the furthest thing from having a filthy mouth. To him booty is still something that pirates steal. That is why when coming up with ideas for names to go with our camping themed week he thought nothing of the title “Camping Gone Wild”. However, someone else did and recommended not using anything “gone wild” for church promotional material so we went with “The Great Camping Adventure” instead. To go along with the camping theme the kids were divided up by age groups and each group had a forest animal name like, skunk, raccoon, or owl. Every night when the children’s pastor was trying to rile up the kids he would say things like “Are there any skunks in the house?” and the kids would scream. One time when addressing the owl team he said “Do we have any hooters in here?” he caught himself and immediately correcting it by saying owls, after his face turned completely red. The kids didn’t even notice (which is quite refreshing to know there is still some innocence left in the world). The adults on the other hand couldn’t hold back the laughter.

VBS

I live in the buckle of the Bible belt. Plus we are in Texas where people have enormous belt buckles so that means there are churches EVERYWHERE. You thought Starbucks was bad? Here we literally have one church, next to another, next to another. This also means that in the summer the whole town turns into VBS central.

We are in the thick of Vacation Bible School season, but luckily our church already had theirs. Don't get me wrong I think VBS is great, but it is quite the undertaking and ours isn't even that big compared some. Our VBS is like Polly Pocket in a world of Hannah Montannas.

I have been involved in VBS from the time I was in kindergarden. WAY BACK THEN it was more of an actual school setting. We had projects and lessons during the day. Remember flannel board? Then as I got old enough to be out of VBS I began going as a volunteer. So I have pretty much been going my entire life. This got me thinking, how did this VBS business get started? I wonder if they will have something on wikipedia, which is like saying maybe I can find something Sweet at Dairy Queen. Here is what I found out. "They" say it started in Hopeland Illinois back in 1894 by a school teacher who wanted more time to teach the children the Bible. The first Bible School enrolled 40 students and lasted 4 weeks.

Of course these days VBS is usually one week tops in the evening and is more like a kids crusade rather than a classroom. Every year is different and I always walk away with plenty of stories. This week I will be sharing some of the humor, turmoil, and success of my week at VBS.

America

Although it was unannounced the theme for this week was America. Seemed fitting for the 4th of July. So I shared some of things that great country that I live in.

Monday- Having 4 Distinct Seasons
Tuesday- Cultural Diversity
Wednesday- The beautiful and diverse landscape (see below)
Thursday- The little things that I take for granted like clean water and internet access.
Friday- The American holidays and traditions.

And of course there is so much more. I guess this would be a good time for a chorus of I Am Proud To Be An American or America the Beautiful, but luckily this is not an audio blog.

Now then, by request here are the names of the places shown in the photos I posted on Wednesday.

This first photo was taken at one of my favorite place, the white sands in New Mexico.


This covered bridge photo came from what I call "my happy place" which is Vermont.


This next photo was taken on a whale watching tour out on the Atlantic which left out of Massachusetts.


This was taken at a drive in theater near L.A. in California. We watched Pirates of the Caribean 2.


These are some mountains somewhere is Colorado, sorry I don't have any more details after a while they are start to look the same.



This photo was taken on our 5th anniversary and it was sunrise in Fort Worth Texas.


I know it doesn't matter where this one was taken, but funny enough it was Flagstaff Arizona.

Traditions

We live in a society where we are constantly being bombarded with what are considered the hottest trends. Our mobile devices, computers, and televisions are giving us instant updates on all the latest gossip. It's non stop coverage of Jon and Kate plus 8, then all of the sudden Michael Jackson dies and then that's all we hear about. We twitter it, we blog it, and we text it, then we take a break to go shopping only to find out that all the one piece swimsuits now have holes on the sides and are called monokinis!

"and how do we keep our balance? That I can tell you in one word- TRADITION!" I stole that line from Fiddler on the Roof, but it is seems to be true. There is just something comforting about traditions, customs, and holidays. It's a chance to take a break from whatever the new thing is to just enjoy the old thing. In this pop culture, consumerist era, it seems like there is very little opportunity for old world tradition. Maybe that is one reason I like being in the wedding industry, because weddings are full of traditions.

This is also the reason I like the 4th of July so much because it is an American tradition. For my family this tradition includes getting together at my in laws house where you can still legally set off fireworks . There is an unspoken competition between all of the neighbors there to see who puts on the best fireworks display. So that is what I will be doing tomorrow, eating hot dogs, seeing family from out of town, watching the little kids play with sparklers, watching the men play with the "big sparklers". That's tradition, it's the same old thing year after year and yet somehow the same old thing never seems to get old.

I AM RICH!

This afternoon I felt like getting out of the house, so I filled up our blow up pool and Z and I spent part of the afternoon getting wet. I laid my head on one end of the pool and propped my feet up on the other and just enjoyed the moment. I felt like a queen hanging out with my little prince. I know a $10 inflatable pool from Wal-Mart isn’t exactly what comes to mind when you think of royalty, but the point is that we are very fortunate. When you think about the fact that millions of people do not have access to safe water it seems extravagant to be dumping gallons into a kiddie pool. I am not saying I feel bad about having clean water or allowing my son to play in it when it is 100 degrees outside. What I AM saying is that I am grateful for it.

My grandpa always sends out a lot of email forwards... everyday. Some are political, some are funny, and most are never read by me. However I did see one the other day that somehow finagled it's way through without getting deleted. I don't remember it word for word, but it went something like this:

"I am grateful for driving in bumper to bumper traffic, because it means that I have a car."
"I am grateful for a boss looking over my shoulder because it means that I have a job."
"I am grateful for having to do housework because it means I have a house."

You get the idea and can add your own like "I am grateful for tons of ridiculous forwards from grandpa because it means I have a computer".

The truth is we are all rich. I may not know you personally, but if you are reading this you have access to the internet, which makes you rich compared to most of the world. I hate saying it that way because it might be motivation to get us to stop taking things for granted, but we shouldn't have to compare ourselves to impoverished countries in order to feel privileged. If suddenly everyone that was hungry no longer was in need, would that make the rest of us any less blessed?

Usually when you hear spiels about the wealth of America it is a guilt trip about how selfish we all are. My intent however is to see the abundance around us and acknowledge that as a nation we are TRULY BLESSED.




FILL IN THE BLANK: I AM GRATEFUL FOR _______________________ (insert something that annoys you) BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE _______________________ (look on the bright side of what it is you are griping about).

Wordless Wednesday

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photos by: Memory Weaver Photography (me)