1000 gifts: jokes, songs and spangles

Continuing my list of gifts, blessings that I write down to remember all the wonderful things that God gives me along life's journey (from Ann Voskamp's book and her blog, A Holy Experience).

428.  Grade school jokes
10 yr old Blaze had me cracking up when she brought these home: What is a surfer with no water? Board. What does the horse say when you pull it's tail? Hay! Why did the chicken cross the playground? To get to the other slide. 


429. Red Rose Tea
Every since I was a little girl, I remember my mother buying Red Rose Tea, a Canadian brand. It's still my favorite kind but for the longest time you couldn't get in Laramie. For many years Mom would send me boxes, and then we got the point where we could find it in Colorado and would always stop to buy a box or two while we were down there. Now I can buy it right at my local Wal-mart! Even better, the last box I opened I found they had included a small travel tin, which is perfect for carrying three teabags in your purse without them getting battered.  


430. A "tense" joke
My wonderful friend N.L. emailed this to me where I found it when I showed up to work on a Monday morning with the blahs.  Truly a great joke for a writer!

431. Boyfriend jeans
Stars went shopping with her mom and showed off all her purchases to me, including her new pair of "boyfriend jeans" - this is an actual type of girl's jeans (it even has a label). They are made to look like a girl borrowing and wearing her boyfriend's jeans - big and baggy, full of holes!  They are actually kind of cute and I really like that they are baggy - maybe they will start a new trend away from super tight jeans.


432. Understanding travelers
This year it was Dreamer's and Serious' turn to travel with me to Hilton Head to visit Mom & Dad for spring break. Unfortunately, our plane was delayed and we missed our connection, and had to stay overnight in Atlanta. Not fun! Though the airline paid for dinner and a hotel, everyone on the plane got sent to the same hotel, which meant a LOT of WAITING in LINES - first to get rescheduled for the next day's flight, then to get vouchers, then to get on a hotel shuttle, then to check in, and last of all going through security, AGAIN. But, the blessing with all of this was how kind everyone was, seeing that I was traveling with two small children. Twice, people motioned us to the front of the lines. Also wonderful was the shuttle driver for a different hotel who saw that after waiting a half hour for my shuttle, me and the girls would have to wait another half hour (at 9 at night) since the first one filled up. He offered to take us to our hotel, no charge (though I did tip him generously for his kindness!) 


433. Moonlight walk on the beach
The beach at Hilton Head was wonderful, as always. It's especially magical to take a stroll on the beach at night. The moon was too bright to see many stars, but it turned the ocean into silvery magic. Mom couldn't resist going swimming - she went right in her shirt and shorts.  Also, speaking of swimming, Dreamer and Serious spend every day in the pool (and waves). Dreamer is now able to dive down to the bottom of the pool to retrieve pennies, and can swim short distances. Serious can swim all over the place with water wings!


434. Crab races
The latter part of our Hilton Head visit was hard, because Dad fell and broke his knee and had to spend 5 days in the hospital, in a lot of pain. But I'm glad it happened while we were there, to help him and Mom. We spent a lot of time at the hospital, but on our last night Mom insisted on taking us out to the Crazy Crab, one of our favorite seafood restaurants. There is gigantic wall-size aquarium there that the kids adore, and out on the deck they were also holding hermit crab races, where you could pay a dollar and pick your own crab, put him on the "race track" (a large round table with a rim) and then win prizes if your crab happened to reach any one of the prize patches on the table. 

435. Finally seeing alligators
The kids always look forward to seeing alligators sunning on the banks (Blaze actually saw a mother alligator and four babies in March when she visited), but it was unsually warm this year that by April, all the alligators were keeping cool in the depths. Dreamer and Serious went the whole week without seeing nary a glimpse. But on our very last day, in fact as Mom was driving us to the airport to leave!! - they got to see two alligators on our way out.

436.  1950's music
Seventeen year old Stars had to show me the video of a modern re-mix of the old fifties' song, Run-around Sue. She says she loves fifties music, which makes me shake my head in wonder, because after the movie Dirty Dancing came out in 1987, when I was in high school, my friend M.C. and I got crazy about 50's music too (in fact,  I still have 20 or 30 small records of some of the songs we collected).  One of our favorites was Stand By Me, by Ben E. King, and Love is Strange, by Mickey and Sylvia (we used to sing take turns singing the Mickey parts and the Sylvia parts to each other!)


437. Spangles
Stars has a shirt covered in spangles. One night when she was wearing it, she sat down next to me on the sofa to show something on her cell-phone. The light from her phone reflected off the spangles on to her face - like she had a bunch of dancing, shimmery freckles. (might have to use that in one of my stories someday)


438.  Christ is Risen
We sang this song (by Matt Maher) at church Easter morning. Such worship!


Let no one caught in sin remain
Inside the lie of inward shame
We fix our eyes upon the cross
And run to him who showed great love
And bled for us
Freely you bled, for us

Christ is risen from the dead
Trampling over death by death
Come awake, come awake!
Come and rise up from the grave!

Christ is risen from the dead
We are one with him again
Come awake, come awake!
Come and rise up from the grave!

Beneath the weight of all our sin
You bow to none but heavens will
No scheme of hell, no scoffer's crown
No burden great can hold you down
In strength you reign
Forever let your church proclaim

Christ is risen from the dead
Trampling over death by death
Come awake, come awake!
Come and rise up from the grave

Christ is risen from the dead
We are one with him again
Come awake, come awake!
Come and rise up from the grave

Oh death! Where is your sting?
Oh hell! Where is your victory?
Oh Church! Come stand in the light!
The glory of God has defeated the night!

Oh death! Where is your sting?
Oh hell! Where is your victory?
Oh Church! Come stand in the light!
Our God is not dead, he's alive! he's alive!

Christ is risen from the dead
Trampling over death by death
Come awake, come awake!
Come and rise up from the grave
Christ is risen from the dead
We are one with him again
Come awake, come awake!
Come and rise up from the grave

Rise up from the grave...