Jenny B Jones--I Love your Writing!

I attended the American Christian Fiction Conference in September and got to chat with one of my favorite authors, Jenny B. Jones. She's the kind of person who can handle unexpected situations with humor. She's fun to be around because she doesn't take herself so seriously. She's discovered the secret of laughing at herself, which puts everybody around her at ease.

Jenny has the uncanny ability to laugh through weird, unpredictable, crazy things. I attended one of her classes on "Writing with Humor" and her laptop presentation somehow malfunctioned. She never missed a beat. She had the class laughing in one of those awkward-type moments.

I've decided something--if you can laugh, you can get through just about anything.

Go here to read the first chapters of her novels. http://www.jennybjones.com/books/

I'm predicting you'll love her and her writing as much as I do.

Love,

Julie

Tis the Season...For Holiday Forwards

It's that time of year again. Christmas carols. Tinsel. Jingle bells.
And Christmas emails.

I got this one last week and thought I'd share. Feel free to contribute your own or pass it on to others. Some of us are not afraid to halt some work or school day productivity to participate in some mindless emailing. Especially when it's in the name of Christmas!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Paper. Duh. If it’s too easy to get into, it’s no fun. I like to delay the big reveal.

2. Real tree or artificial? – Call me a Grinch, but I don’t do trees at all. If I had one though it would be a 1950s silver aluminum one like my grandma's.

3. When do you put up the tree? First of Never. I used to, but my cats just didn’t appreciate it as much as I wanted them to.

4. When do you take your tree down? I do put out some decorations. Sadly, last year they never made it back to the attic, so they’ve been in a spare bedroom FOR TWELVE MONTHS. And THIS is why I don’t decorate for Christmas! If I had a tree it would still be in a corner of the living room.

5. Do you like eggnog? Eggs are not meant to be sipped.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Probably my bike with the ribbon handle bars and daisy covered basket. Or my first CPK. That’s Cabbage Patch kid, if you’re down with that.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? No, knowing how much dust it would collect at my house, I think that would probably be pretty sacreligious.

8. Hardest person to buy for? I dunno, but easiest person is myself. I’m usually out shopping like a maniac (and crying and downing Starbucks and Diet Dr. Pepper) on the 24th because I’ve spent the whole month shopping for myself cause everything is marked down so much. It’s a sickness!

9. Easiest person to buy for? See above. And my cats. They get free water bowl refills.

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever got? A toss between the cat-related home décor items and one that I can't share online, but I sure wish I could. Oh, it was SO horrible! Like unrecognizable HORRIBLE. But funny...

11. Mail or email Christmas cards? I totally prefer to get them in the mail. Oh...you meant how I send them. Um...no comment?

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Elf. I like White Christmas a lot too. And Christmas Vacation. And last year I discovered the old movie Christmas in Connecticut. I highly recommend it!

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I usually start buying for myself (in bulk) the day after Thanksgiving.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yes, but nobody would take the kitty bath towels or the gift-which-shall-not-be-named.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Christmas breakfast

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Lights are a fire hazard, and I’m not allowed around them.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Do You Hear What I Hear. Also I love O Holy Night. And anything by Alvin and the Chipmunks.
Just kidding.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travel to two different locations. Both about 15 minutes away, both with populations less than 3k. Not glamorous, but at least nobody frisks at security checks. Well, maybe that one crazy uncle, but he's senile, so it doesn't count.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Yes. I can’t tell you who our Lt. governor is, but I can name the reindeer. And the members of N*Sync in case anyone ever needs that information.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? I dunno, but one time I took out my mom’s glass tree topper because I was compelled to climb a tree and sing into the shiny ornament. We had a great concert. Then right at the doorway in, I broke it. I will never forget that. It wasn’t pretty for me. I think the only reason you don’t hear me on the radio today is because of that moment.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Both. And we still do stockings on Christmas morning. Even though my brother and I are old. And crabby. And probably didn't make anybody's "Nice" list. And every year Santa brings me chocolate covered raisins. Except for one random year he didn't. I never knew what I did that ticked him off so much.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Um...myself? Seriously, I get a little wired and weird at this time. I’m usually behind on shopping, I have a calendar full of events, and I’ve started some insane house-painting project. I shouldn’t be allowed in public shopping places during this time.

23.What does Christmas mean to you? It means we stop and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. It's so easy to forget what it's really about. But this year, I'm really going to try and focus on that. And some fudge.

Okay, so copy and paste that and send it to 1,000 people you know or your whole year will be cursed, your hair will fall out, and the reindeer will tinkle down your chimney.

-Cross-posted from MY BLOG.

America, You've Got Talent...(seriously)

I grew up in a small, rural, ultra traditional church. If you were gonna serve the Lord, you worked in the nursery, you taught Sunday school, or you sang in the choir. I wasn’t really good at any of those things. (Well, I sang in the choir, but that’s another story ENTIRELY.) Growing up like this gave me a very limited impression of what ministry looked like—of what serving God looked like. I didn’t pray out loud well, didn’t have the desire or gift to teach Bible stories, didn’t do ANY of the stuff I thought God expected us to. Soldier for the Lord? My only
talent was warming the pew with my heinie.

Fast forward many years later, and I’m attending a new church. I volunteer to work with the elementary kids, not knowing what else to do to be of assistance. And then they find out I teach drama, and suddenly we’re putting Bible stories into mini-plays for the kids, I’m teaching at Bible school (in drama form), and helping fine-tune the occasional script.

It just never occurred to me that my love for being a ham could be of any use to God. I’m a little slow, I admit. But doesn’t it make perfect sense that if God gives me gifts and talents, such as acting or just the ability to act crazy (yes, it is an art), that He would also want me to use them to glorify Him?

So yeah, I was an old lady when I discovered I had something to give back to God. Soooo unnecessary that it took that long. What gifts do you have? Can you write, sing, or play an instrument? Are you good on the phone (and what teenager isn’t?), have the gift of compassion, organization, or decorating? All these things can be used by God. Pray and ask Him to show you where you are needed. If you’ve got a talent—let it be His! I have a friend, Salle Anne. She’s an expert clogger and plays the spoons like nobody’s business. I can’t wait to see how God is going to use that… And yeah, that's me in the army getup above. I didn't say I looked especially cool while being useful for Jesus.

Have a great weekend!

You, Me, and Alec Baldwin

It's been all over the news this week. Updates on the Middle East? Nah, Alec Baldwin.

If you haven’t heard the hideous things he has said to his daughter, Ireland, don't bother Googling it. Take my word for it--it's not nice. Alec Baldwin is an actor who has been in a very long custody battle for his now eleven year old daughter. A tape was released to the media of Mr. Baldwin leaving his daughter a very unkind voicemail. Unkind doesn't even begin to describe it. More like inhumane and abusive. While, I'm blown away by what I heard, there are some things to be learned by this.

1. Own your words; you never know who's going to hear them. This actor had no IDEA that the entire world would hear his voicemail. Granted, what you and I say today probably won't be aired on the nightly news, but what if your parents heard you? What if your teacher overheard you? What if what you said got back to the target of your words? And believe me, you will not go your whole life without someone finding out what you said about them. If it hasn't happened yet, just wait for it. Run your words through God's filter--what if I had to repeat these words before my Father. Would he be disappointed in me?

2. If you're mad, cool off before you react or speak. Proverbs 14:17 says, A quick tempered man does foolish things... I'm a teacher, and I have said some pretty stupid things out of anger. My favorite moments are when I have this really powerful retort that I shouldn't even say in the first place and then it doesn't even come out of my mouth right. Proud, proud moments. We need to NOT react and to just wait until we calm down to respond. God totally knows what he's talking about in Proverbs.

3. Take responsibility for your actions. So you messed up and said something stupid--apologize, acknowledge your failure, and accept the consquences. After watching Mr. Baldwin's explanation from The View on YouTube today, I was disappointed that while he did apologize and admit fault, he spent the majority of the time explaining why he was the victim. Let me say this: People who are the constant victims are NOT on the top of anyone's invite list. So for the sake of your social lives and that next sleep-over invitation, don't give into woe-is-me. Be the girl who says, "I made a mistake, and I plan to learn from it."

4. Finally, I don't know all the circumstances of this situation. I know it's ugly and there are two sides. But I know this child was called on her phone, yelled at, cussed at, threatened, and insulted with words like "thoughtless pig." Mr. Baldwin called his actions "inappropriate." No, inappropriate is making armpit noises in class. Inappropriate is your little brother passing gas in a packed elevator. Girls, if you find yourself in a situation in which you are verbally abused, you need to tell someone. There is such a thing as emotional and verbal abuse, and it is serious. Even Hollywood adults do it! This is a hot button for me (obviously) because I see the effects of verbal abuse on children ALL the time. It can hurt and harm as much as a slap. And it's not okay. If you are unsure if lines are being crossed, then please seak out a school counselor, a teacher, or an adult you trust. Ireland Baldwin now has an entire country outraged and acting as her advocates. Most girls--not so lucky.

A total rant today, but as a speech teacher, I know words have power and words carry weight. There are adults walking around today carrying pain from words that go back decades. Shine with the light of Christ today and know that what comes out of your mouth tends to stick. And if you have a lot of verbal trash consistently glued to you, tell someone.