happy mother's day!





(NOT our couch)

on spontaneously planned dancing

because dancing makes me happy.



we should probably organize one of these right away. i'm thinking metro lobby, sunday morning.

on american idol buffoonery: a memorandum

january 13, 2008

to: ryan seacrest
from: tina fabulous
re: disability awareness

blind people do not know when you are attempting to "high five" them.

that is all.

on growing up Godly

because Sara is my inspiration in all things...

there has never been a time in my life when i didnt know about God. growing up, i went to church every sunday and wednesday, summer Bible camps, and a christian school. i was in numerous christmas plays, memorized Bible verses, and went to VBS. i knew there were unspeakable acts of sin happening in the world... somewhere... but i never knew anyone who had participated in them. sometimes, they would show us scary videos about the dangers of various teenage rebellions with a story about some guy with tattoos and a dirty tank top who killed himself because he played dungeons and dragons once. or how "stairway to heaven" says to worship satan when you play it backwards. you know, stuff your basic middle class, church-going suburban kid can really relate to.

at the beginning of the school year, our first "assignment" from almost every teacher was writing our testimony. needless to say, most of us found it completely ridiculous since there wasnt much to be said. in an effort to ease the humiliation of having the worlds lamest salvation experiences, they would say "the best testimony is being able to say that God kept you from all the evils in the world". which is nice, but nothing to base a Lifetime movie on. i did, however, consider becoming an alcoholic or running away from home just so i would have something to write about. luckily, my genius ideas are almost always followed up with a complete lack of motivation.

i looked up "testimony", which is simply defined as "public profession of faith or religious experience". thats it. not "the horrors one experiences before salvation occurs" or "competition between Christians to determine who is more saved".

so how did something so simple turn into something so complex?

the other day, i found a cassette tape my mom had made way back in 1979. i was 3. a lot of it was me saying one sentence about something random and silly, then saying "i want to hear myself now!". but the rest of the tape was of me singing about 87 songs. everything from "jingle bells" to "the wise man built his house upon the rock". so i asked my mom "how did i memorize all these lyrics at 3?". she said it was because she used to sing with me all the time. no matter what she was doing, i was always right by her, singing or listening to her tell me all about Jesus.

it was then that i realized, testimony has nothing to do with who we were, but who we are now. its not about individuals, but about all of us. our testimony turns into someone elses testimony. i'm able to give my public profession because someone else shared theirs with me. i was taught to sing for the Lord before i ever sang for an audience. and because of that, i can stand on the stage at Metro and know that worship isnt about songs, but having something to sing about. my blessings can now be a blessing to others. we're all intertwined.

so maybe my high school teachers were right. what better testimony is there really than to know that God's love inspired someone else to share that love with me. that i was being prayed for before i was born and every day since. that i was protected from a world that wants to see me self-destruct.

not that i dont try from time to time. but, hey, no one's perfect.

can i get a witness?

on christmas

oh, christmas. how i love thee. you make the world all sparkly and radiant. you allow us to be annoyingly happy without fear of looking lame and watch endless claymation marathons without fear of judgment. you smile amusedly when we sing songs about mythical holiday icons and guarantee that there will always be at least one month a year when burl ives is cool.

now that its all pretty much over, i believe i shall place this years christmas in the "success" file. we had a sweet band party, (complete with carols for crazies and an intense game of "american idol"), chad and i entertained (and were entertained by) the homeless, and metro had quite a lovely christmas eve service, which almost went off without a hitch. and in the grand tradtion of "the great silent night debacle", the hitch, of course, occurred during one of my songs. i blame ian. you can too. but hey, whatev. i'm not bitter or anything. no. because one of my favorite parts of the whole holiday experience is the singing of christmas songs at church. perhaps because we only get to do it a few weeks a year. but it always feels very special. sort of like having breakfast for dinner.

i celebrated christmas with the parents last week since they went out of town to visit my grams. she celebrated christmas by falling out of a chair.
rockit celebrated christmas by sitting on a piece of green tissue paper.
a good time was had by all.