Kirk Cameron and My Fireman Drew

I'm a fan of Firemen (especially my own personal fireman Drew), Kirk Cameron (the first boy to make my heart start racing), and I'm also a fan of marriage and good marketing. So when I was at the SmartMarriages Conference in San Francisco in July I was drawn to the booth with wedding rings making the OO's in FIREPROOF. Kirk Cameron, my earliest crush, is the star- I'm sold...

I was really drawn in because at Marriage Matters Jackson we have been working on the idea for a long time to take our marriage workshops to the fire departments around Jackson County. Since Drew is a firefighter in Parma and Spring Arbor I was extra intrigued in combining firemen and marriage! As I got talking with the people from FIREPROOF I found out it was a movie, produced by the people who did "Facing the Giants" a few years back.

I was able to preview the movie FIREPROOF at the conference and I'll be honest, I was a bit skeptical about how good it was going to be because it was given the constant disclaimor of "Christian Content". I assumed that meant lacking in budget and abundant with cheese. To my great surprise and delight I truly enjoyed the movie and the powerful message of marriage, it's complexities and the importance of forgiveness and healing. I laughed and I cried. Don't overexpect because I think people ruin movies with over the top reviews. Please underexpect like I did then you're pleasantly surprised with how much you like it. But I DO recommend that everyone go and see this movie.

There is a book they use in the movie that is coming out along with the movie premier in late September that is a great companion to the marriage message. I'm hoping to find a way to use it in my work with Marriage Matters Jackson. People are hungry for marriage support and something positive to encourage keeping things healthy and weathering life's storms together.

A group from Trinity Wesleyan got it to come to Jackson but I couldn't help because it competes with an event we are already doing for Marriage Matters on September 26th. I will be going and taking as many friends as possible that opening weekend. So check out their website that I have linked here and go see this movie!

It comes in waves- Calgon take me away...

Isn't it funny how you can be simultaneously overwhelmed and delighted by the chaos of your everyday life? Sometimes I just hold on tight and try to survive the ride. I try to remember that it's a short ride and someday my house will be empty. It will be quiet, perhaps organized if I have some sort of accident that changes my default programming. I guess my fear is that I won't be organized and tidy and I've spent decades blaming it on the kids. I'll deal with that when we get there.

Today I was trying to clean something, anything, chasing Grace, picking up our friend Brian from school, Sam & Faith stayed home for a "mental health day", Meg & Duncan were supposed to come for the afternoon but John didn't have school because of a power outage. So, I'm feeding, arbitrating, facilitating, and supervising tiny Tazmanian Devils. One minute I'm tearing up and taking photos to preserve the moment they discover a field of dandelions and how to blow their puffy things. Then I snap out of it and see how crappy our yard looks and these stinkin dandelions are taking over, now the kids are kicking each other and someone just stepped in dog poop. The phone is ringing, the baby is screaming ba-ba and I can't find it anywhere, I'm chatting with Brian's dad who is here picking him up, the dog just jumped the fence and got loose, the kids are screaming that he is getting away, "don't let him die mama!" I just calmly say to myself- fall apart or laugh it off? What's it gonna be? Praise the Lord I've gotten better at choosing the latter.

Now comes another precious moment where I snap just a mental picture of my cherubs playing together so nicely, playing pretend of some sort- store is it? school? how darling. Oops... not so fast, if you listen closely, Sam just called faith "Fart head" and she called him "dummy face" (we'll need to help her with the come-backs they're a little lame I'll admit). The baby is probably going to grow a tail soon with the amount of cat and dog food she keeps stealing and scarfing down before we snatch it out of her tiny fists.

But in between the crashing waves of adorable then horrible I really find I am delighted at how rich our life is. Just about every time I'm ready to throw in the towel and beg Calgon to take me away, I get that glimmer of hope that reminds me "for such a time is this" and I take a mental picture of the beautiful chaos that is the Raines family.

Please Be FUNNY!

I NEVER go to movies anymore. Too expensive, too hard to do when you have little kids and usually too disappointing. Don't you hate it when you're anxiously awaiting a new movie and you just KNOW this is one you'll add to your personal "classics" list? Only to have your hopes crushed by it being over the top obvious humor or too dirty or they ruined all the good lines by playing them over and over on the TV previews. I have pinned my newest cinematic hopes on "Baby Mama". PLEASE let it be funny! PLEASE let it be funny! I made my sister PROMISE to go with me because we have died laughing over the preview "sorry I farted in your purse" line. We're going tomorrow night- opening night. The last movie I saw in the theatre was Alvin & The Chipmunks. Not bad, and maybe I downloaded a few of Alvin's tunes onto my ipod but it was FOR THE KIDS!

PLEASE BE FUNNY "Baby Mama"!!! I'm the only one who even reads my blog so this is more of a note to self or a diary to reflect on hopes and dreams and see if they come true. So this one's shallow. Maybe next week I'll tackle world peace. For now it's "Baby Mama"....