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Shaw-awn is in the Dominican Republic with Compassion right now.
And these two posts just blew me away.
p.s.
If you sponsor a child through Compassion, you can create an account on the Compassion website (you have to have your donor number), and you can compose and send letters to your sponsored child(ren) online. It’s so simple – and if you wear a computer on a chain around your neck like I do, then it’s oh-so-convenient as well.
I realized yesterday that I never finished telling y’all about the ASCAP Awards, mainly because I got a little sidetracked by an overwhelming desire to take lots of naps.
April has been a little bit tiring, y’all.
But there are two things (TWO!) that I want to make sure I tell you because they made such a huge impact on me, only wait, I think there were three (THREE!) things, and that is what is so nice about blogging, you can just switch your whole thesis LIKE THAT, and had that option been available to me in college I would have never finished a single paper, I would have merely written a series of evolving thesis statements, called it a day when I hit four pages’ worth, and then wondered why I was making straight D’s.
(I mean, I like to think that my professors would at least have given me a D for effort.)
(Unless it was that one professor who gave me an F in graduate school because I was, in his words, “unable to submit any papers for grading.”)
(That was such a nice way to say that, wasn’t it? Because he sort of gave me the courtesy of pretending like I’d actually written the papers and then opted not to turn them in.)
(It is somewhat unfortunate that he did not seem to appreciate all the Quality Doodling I did in my notebook while he lectured on Utopian Literature, because I’m telling you, some of those doodles revealed deep levels of artistic giftedness. You’ve never seen such detailed swirls and renditions of one’s name in various forms of cursive handwriting.)
(In fact, I bet if I’d submitted the doodles for grading I would have TOTALLY passed the class.)
(I have no idea what I’m supposed to be talking about, by the way.)
(This is really no different than any other day in that regard.)
(Okay. Three things. THREE THINGS!)
The first thing is that Mercy Me and Steven Curtis Chapman were part of the tribute to Brown Bannister at the ASCAP Awards, and it really was humbling to see how talented those guys are. It was also humbling to see how, well, humble they are. And normal. And approachable.
Even if I did not personally approach any of them because I have some issues as far as the approaching is concerned.
Which actually leads me to the second thing.
(DID YOU SEE THAT? A TRANSITION! SUBMIT THAT FOR GRADING!)
The second thing is that Louie Giglio and his wife Shelley were at the ASCAP Awards, and I really, really admire them. I love their heart for college kids, and I think Louie (Mr. Giglio? Mr. G.? LG? Help me.) is one of the best communicators I have ever heard.
Also: I think God is doing something huge through the Passion movement, and if I were about fifteen years younger, I’d probably drop everything and grab a backpack and volunteer on their World Tour.
So when the awards were over, I looked at Sister and said, “I would really like to talk to Shelley and Louie Giglio, but I don’t want to bug them.”
And she looked at me like I had a sword sticking out of the top of my head and said, “WELL GET OVER THERE.”
But I couldn’t do it. COULD NOT. Sister and her friend Carrie spent the next ten minutes trying to convince me that the Giglios wouldn’t care, that they might even remember me from one time when I cooked supper for them at my church, that they are totally down-to-earth and blah blah blahdee blahdadee blah.
But I couldn’t do it. I was so worried that I would bug them or that they were tired or that they were ready to go home and so I decided that the very best thing I could do would be to change into my jeans and load up my computers and hit the road.
Finally – FINALLY – Carrie convinced me to FOLLOW HER while she went over to their table, and I agreed on the condition that I could hide behind my camera and take pictures of her with the Giglios. And if you think I’m exaggerating about any of this, let me just assure you that no, I am most certainly am not, and by the way: WELCOME TO MY CRAZY.
So my Sister, because she is tricky, jumped ahead of us and walked up to the Giglios and whispered something to them and I think she even told them about my blog, WHICH DIDN’T MAKE ME WANT TO THROW UP OR ANYTHING, and to make a very long story short, we all ended up having a lovely conversation about their last trip to my church and my super smart pastor and whathaveyou.
And then I took their picture with Carrie.
Oh, I am very composed and completely at ease in social situations.
Last thing.
Jeremy Camp won ASCAP’s Songwriter of the Year this year. And during his acceptance speech, he said something that just blew me away.
He was talking about how he’s almost constantly surrounded by music and activity, so he really values time when he can just be quiet with the Lord. He was able to do just that Monday morning, and he said (and this isn’t verbatim – I’m relying on my memory here), “I don’t want to be so caught up in trying to be a great man of God that I forget what’s more important: that I’m a man of a great God.”
And I pulled a full-on, full-out Emma Kate and said, “Mmmmmmph. MMMMMMMPH.” right there in the back of the ballroom.
Then Carrie looked at me and said, “Mmmmmmph. That was a good word.”
And you know what?
It was. Still is, in fact.
Have a great weekend, everybody!
If you’d like to better understand the level of tension I’ve felt since the blog went all kawonky (and that is in fact the technical term) yesterday afternoon, then take your left arm, stretch it across your body, then rotate your left wrist 280 degrees and grab your right foot. And do a backbend.
Then, when your muscles start to spasm uncontrollably, THAT’S IT! THAT’S EXACTLY HOW I’VE FELT!
Thankfully, however, I’ve entered the cool-down mode of my unexpected HTML / CSS / RSS / NEXTTIMEWON’TYOUSINGWITHME work-out. Everything seems to be back in good working order thanks to Anne, Ashleigh, Kat and Melanie, all of whom rushed to my bloggy rescue in some form or fashion.
It takes a village to raise a blog, y’all.
So now that everything is back to some semblance of normal in all possible browsers (even Internet Explorer, which is totally on my list right now, but I’m sure we’ll make up soon), I do want to thank y’all for your incredible response to the Bite Back campaign and encourage you to continue getting the word out (Shalee is doing something cool along those lines on her blog, by the way).
As best I can calculate based on comments and emails, y’all have donated around 125 nets so far (!!!!), and my friend Brian assures me that I’ll be able to get an exact number in a couple of weeks. Y’all really are changing kids’ lives – I cannot thank you enough.
So.
I’ll have my final ASCAP Awards post up in a little while, and also: today I am going to a former professor’s retirement reception at Mississippi State, where I plan to take and then post an endless array of nostalgic pictures (think along the lines of LOOK! THE WINDOW OF THE ROOM I SHARED WITH EMMA KATE! ISN’T THAT SO COOL?!?!?!).
It’s sure to be an experience that will enrich your life in ways you cannot even imagine.
Now do have a lovely Friday.
Trust me when I tell you that I have NEVER BEEN MORE DELIGHTED to blog about “The Office” than I am at right this very minute, because earlier today I thought that the blog had dissipated in a cloud of “parse error: syntax error” smoke.
No kidding: between the fear that I had singlehandedly RURNT THE WHOLE DANG THING and the realization that no one could get to the “Bite Back” post to donate mosquito nets, I’m think my heart rate elevated to a level that enabled me to enjoy all the benefits of an aerobic workout while doing nothing more than sitting nervously on the edge of the sofa.
Fortunately, sweet Anne came to the rescue and fixed everything for me (there may still be some Internet Explorer issues, but they’ll get ironed out soon). I am forever it Anne’s debt because there were about five hours this afternoon when I thought it was going to take a peanut butter scalp massage to make me feel better.
(SEGUE’!)
(THANK YOU!)
This was sort of a strange episode of “The Office” for me, what with the revelation that Ryan has a bit of a drug problem, not to mention Toby’s inability to suppress his love for Pam. And also: NOT NEARLY ENOUGH ANDY.
Still, there were some funny moments – here are my favorites.
1. “If any of you…makes fun of his half beard…”
2. KELLY KAPUR
3. “If I’m not in my bath with a glass of red wine in one hour, you’re both dead.”
4. “DO YOU HAVE POWERS?”
5. Meredith’s football-related injury
Chime in with your own favorites, but for the love of pete don’t look at the blog wrong or the whole thing could blow up in an HTML-fueled fireball.
Regardless, I can’t wait to sit here with a glass of olives and a glass of maraschino cherries and read all of your comments.
I’m livin’ the dream, y’all.
I’m livin’ the dream.
When we were in Kampala back in February, we visited an AIDS hospital that is funded in part by Compassion. After a short information session about the work the hospital does, our guide (his name was Damon, and he was seventeen different kinds of BONAFIDE AWESOME) escorted us to a lovely outdoor cafeteria so we could visit with some of the hospital staff.
Shaw-awn and I sat next to one of the hospital’s doctors, and after a few minutes of pleasantries, I asked him if it was frustrating to be a physician in Uganda. Much to my surprise, his eyes filled with tears. And he nodded.
“It’s tough,” he said, “because our children die from preventable diseases. AIDS is preventable. Malaria is preventable. But our people don’t have access to medicine. They don’t have access to mosquito nets. Mosquito nets are so inexpensive, and they can save children’s lives. But there aren’t enough to go around.”
I looked at Shaun, then looked at Spence, and I said, “Is there something we can do about that? Is there something Compassion can do about that?”
“Absolutely,” Spence said. “We’re working on something right now.”
And that something is called Bite Back.
This Friday, April 25, is World Malaria Day. And through the Bite Back campaign, people can give a one-time donation of $10 and provide a mosquito net for a child – or a family, if they’re all sleeping in the same place – who otherwise would have no protection from this completely preventable disease. That $10 will also provide education and treatment for people who are already sick with malaria.
My sweet friend Anne has challenged her readers to donate 50 nets in 50 hours. And I’m totally going to follow her lead here at BooMama: The Blawg. Remember, this is a one-time donation, not a long-term commitment.
So here’s how you can help.
Click here to donate $10 that will provide a mosquito net for a child (you can donate more than that if you feel led). Each net lasts three years, so for $3.33 a year – less than a penny a day – you can save a child’s life.
And if you just can’t spare $10 right now but still want to help, then link to this post from your blog. Help to get the word out and encourage your readers to give. Here’s the banner code.
Here’s a smaller button if you’d rather have that for your sidebar.
And whether you donate or you link, please come back here and leave a comment so that I can thank you on behalf of the sweet children you’re helping. All you have to say is “I’m in.”
However, you’re certainly welcome to say more than that. Because, after all, I’m not very strong with the brevity.
50 nets in 50 hours. WE CAN TOTALLY DO THIS.
I’ll close comments at 9 pm central Friday night.
Thanks so much, y’all.
Comments are now closed – thank you SO MUCH!
1. Judging from the length of my recovery period from Monday’s late night return trip from Nashville, I am a 90-something woman trapped in a 30-something body. Because SWEET MERCY I need some naps.
2. Laminin is very, very cool. (And thanks, Big Mama, for the video tip.)
3. Veronica has a real knack for noticing and then articulating the subtext of a conversation. But then I already knew that.
4. If your five year-old boy has a friend over for the afternoon, I highly recommend taking them to the carwash. Because GOOD GRIEF, PEOPLE, THAT CARWASH MIGHT AS WELL HAVE BEEN A ROLLER COASTER.
Seriously. You’ve never seen such excitement.
And when I had to drive back through the carwash because all the dead bugs didn’t come off of my front bumper the first time around, you would have thought I’d installed an endless fountain of chocolate in the backseat.
I think they even high-fived.
5. These crackers are a treasure.
I recommend eating them with some red pepper hummus from the Jason’s salad bar.
And a little asiago cheese sprinkled on top if you’re feeling sort of adventurous.
You can thank me later.
6. The Dove Awards are tonight at 7 central time. And our friend FryDaddy has three nominations in two categories. He will probably kill me for even mentioning it because he’s all humble and stuff, but still. I thought the internets would want to know. And you can get the broadcast information right here.
I believe that is all.
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