Sing it louder

I used to blog, journal, whichever you like to call it.  Then life got busy...er, busier.  It's really hard to figure out where to start writing.  I guess I need to introduce myself to this again.  So....who am I?

I am a child of God. I am a wife.  I am a daughter.  I am a sister.  I am a friend.  I am a teacher.  I am a student.  I am passionate about children with special needs.  I am passionate about children in general, but that needs a blog dedicated to it all by itself. 

I typically find that I can express my feelings best by using song lyrics. You may see a few here.  My writing is not nearly as eloquent as Sara Groves or Bebo Norman, and they seem to know me better than I know myself.

I was sitting in the youth room at VHUMC last night talking to Robin about her plans for Wednesday nights during Lent.  She is doing different, creative ways to take communion.  She got the ideas from http://tabled.ca/ . Check it out.  It's going to be really incredible.  There is one night where she is talking about "our recipe".  She's going to be bringing brownies made with her grandmother's recipe, and I'm making my great grandmother's cookies.  The night is not really about a food recipe, but what makes us up, our recipe.  And since I was having trouble coming up with something to write about I figure this is a good place to start.  It is on my mind at least.

I have some very vivid memories of my great grandmother.  We called her Granny.  My mom put this cookie recipe in one of our church cookbooks and titled it "Granny Gertrude's Sheet Cookies".  I L-O-V-E these cookies, but when I think of my Granny and food, I think of her peanut butter sticks.  I can still smell them.  In fact, I remember writing my very first descriptive paragraph about the smell of these things in 4th grade in Mrs. Danford's class.  Granny died in 1992.  I can't remember anyone making them since she died. 18 years and I can still smell them.  That's a powerful memory.  The night of the recipes at church I get to share a little bit about Granny with the students.  I'm going to start with one of the songs that we sing fairly regularly at VHUMC, How Great Thou Art.  I absolutely love that song.  It's one of those songs that if you were sitting next to Granny while we sang it, she would elbow you and say "Sing it louder".  My mom heard her say that frequently.  Sing it louder.

It's funny how ramblings that start from nowhere can lead to somewhere.  Sing it louder.

I believe in a God who loves unconditionally.  I believe in a God who is ever present.  I believe in a God who yearns for us to choose him.  I like to think of God elbowing me and saying "sing it louder", but not in a shake the bible in your face sort of way....but in a love the world with your whole being sort of way.  I'm still working on that.

So, here's my start.  Hopefully here I can organize my thoughts.  Hopefully here I can let my passions run wild. But for now I've got to pack for Tuscaloosa, and go to bed so I can be functional at work tomorrow.

TTYL