The Tale of a Facebook Folly
I had a phone conversation recently with a dear friend. She told me about how her best friend just had her baby, and how during the labor, the friend kept her in the loop as they live many states away from each other. But the friend having the baby didn't call for about two hours, at which point my friend was pretty sure she must have had the baby.
My friend got a phone call from another friend asking her, "Have you heard?!! It's a girl!! And her name is... and she weighs..."
Now, naturally, my friend wondered why this other friend, not nearly as close to the mama delivering, knew all of this before she did. The phone friend said she had read it on so-and-so's facebook status. And then my friend wondered how so-and-so knew. Because so-and-so definitely was not as close to her best friend having the baby.
Turns out, the father of the baby to be born had called his sister. And his sister posted the news joyously on her facebook page. And then other friends wrote congratulatory messages on their facebook pages. And it turns out that my friend, living in a remote area was out of cell signal. So even though her best friend was trying to reach her all the while, she had been unable to get through.
But it still sucked. Because my friend wanted to hear this most happy news from the mouth of her best friend. And her best friend wanted to be the one to tell her first. But because social media moves faster than wind, she heard it from a friend of a friend of a sister of a husband all through that handy status update.
This isn't the first time I've heard this story. I have another friend who learned of her own sister's baby being born through the husband's twitter update. And it just didn't feel right. The baby had barely taken it's first inhale before the dad thumb-typed the news. The problem being he hadn't told his wife he was going to do this. So she missed out on telling people herself, person to person, voice to voice. And in the midst of this highly charged moment of birth, they had a little fight because she was so disappointed that people were calling her to tell her the news that she had wanted to call and tell to them.
All I'm saying, is that I think there have to be some rules put in place of common etiquette and due process with social media. Because sometimes I think things move just too fast as it is, and we're missing the whole point of intentional community and sincere relationships.
get your tickets!
The concert on Thursday night was really great...nicely thought through, with lots of media used during each song. If you are in Minnesota, I really, REALLY encourage you to get tickets for the show in Alexandria on the 17th or the show in the twin cities on the 18th. You will not regret it.The concert began with a reading by Sara, wondering what it was like for Jesus to leave paradise to come to earth for the sins of man. And wondering how excited the angels must have been for that moment, when God was born in baby form, God with us. The whole concert kept this depth of the Christmas story...told anew in many ways, but always the same true story.
God's big picture
The first day of 10th grade, I walked into my 1st hour English class. There I found that a mistake had been made on my schedule and that the AP English class I had registered for was right next door to the class my schedule had me in. The teacher in this classroom was Mrs. Groves. Wanting her to know this misunderstanding, I walked up to her, explained that I was actually supposed to be in the AP class next door but because the office wouldn’t do any schedule changes until the following week, I would just be in her class for a week.
She began class by telling us of how she was currently living at her in-laws because there were bats in their house. She told us this news by acting out what bats look like when they waddle around your bedroom floor. She was freaked out by these things, and laughed hard as she explained how she and her husband tried to fight these things for a while, but finally just had to call a batman. The lesson for that first day was comparing an Elie Wiesel poem to a song by Sting, with the words written side by side on the overhead.
I was spellbound. This woman could tell a story. She loved words. She loved searching for meaning in life. She was smart, articulate and hysterical. The bell rang for first hour to be over, and she announced that we needed to be back in the room by the time the second hour bell rang. I checked my schedule. This was a block class…English and history for two periods with Mrs. Groves.
By the time the next Monday rolled around, when I could finally straighten out the whole scheduling mistake, I had decided to stay in Mrs. Groves class and drop out of AP English and AP American studies. All because of Mrs. Groves.
She told stories using her entire body, acting out scenes and using sound effects. I’ve always been a storyteller, but that year, it was like I was in English class with an emphasis on oral communication. And not just through class speeches, but by watching this teacher captivate her entire class bringing books and authors and American history to life.
That spring, my mom was diagnosed with a rare cancer, and I often would stay after school just to talk with Mrs. Groves about how I was feeling and we’d pray for my mom and for the doctors. And we’d get into long conversations about the church and how I saw God at work. We came from very different church backgrounds, but our conversation was equally passionate and excited about what God is doing through the whole body here on earth. She talked about how she was about to begin recording a few songs for a CD, and I was so excited to hear what her music would sound like.
I thought about all of this at her concert on Thursday night…how amazing our friendship is, starting the first day of 10th grade as a teacher and a student. After college Troy (Sara’s husband) asked me to join their ministry as the assistant, road manager, and babysitter. During that year I met Troy’s brother, Rory, and fell in love fast. Rory and I were married a year and a half later, making my 10th grade English and History teacher my sister-in-law.
Don’t you just wonder what God must be thinking when he watches us walk through life, knowing all, everything that happens from the beginning to the end of time? I just wonder how big God was smiling, watching me on the first day of 10th grade, explaining to Mrs. Groves that there had been some sort of mistake.
She began class by telling us of how she was currently living at her in-laws because there were bats in their house. She told us this news by acting out what bats look like when they waddle around your bedroom floor. She was freaked out by these things, and laughed hard as she explained how she and her husband tried to fight these things for a while, but finally just had to call a batman. The lesson for that first day was comparing an Elie Wiesel poem to a song by Sting, with the words written side by side on the overhead.
I was spellbound. This woman could tell a story. She loved words. She loved searching for meaning in life. She was smart, articulate and hysterical. The bell rang for first hour to be over, and she announced that we needed to be back in the room by the time the second hour bell rang. I checked my schedule. This was a block class…English and history for two periods with Mrs. Groves.
By the time the next Monday rolled around, when I could finally straighten out the whole scheduling mistake, I had decided to stay in Mrs. Groves class and drop out of AP English and AP American studies. All because of Mrs. Groves.
She told stories using her entire body, acting out scenes and using sound effects. I’ve always been a storyteller, but that year, it was like I was in English class with an emphasis on oral communication. And not just through class speeches, but by watching this teacher captivate her entire class bringing books and authors and American history to life.
That spring, my mom was diagnosed with a rare cancer, and I often would stay after school just to talk with Mrs. Groves about how I was feeling and we’d pray for my mom and for the doctors. And we’d get into long conversations about the church and how I saw God at work. We came from very different church backgrounds, but our conversation was equally passionate and excited about what God is doing through the whole body here on earth. She talked about how she was about to begin recording a few songs for a CD, and I was so excited to hear what her music would sound like.
I thought about all of this at her concert on Thursday night…how amazing our friendship is, starting the first day of 10th grade as a teacher and a student. After college Troy (Sara’s husband) asked me to join their ministry as the assistant, road manager, and babysitter. During that year I met Troy’s brother, Rory, and fell in love fast. Rory and I were married a year and a half later, making my 10th grade English and History teacher my sister-in-law.
Don’t you just wonder what God must be thinking when he watches us walk through life, knowing all, everything that happens from the beginning to the end of time? I just wonder how big God was smiling, watching me on the first day of 10th grade, explaining to Mrs. Groves that there had been some sort of mistake.
sara groves
We're heading out this afternoon to Des Moines for Sara and Troy's christmas concert. I can't wait!
Candyland
My sister posted a picture of the gingerbread house her girls made this weekend. And I was so envious. I have never made a gingerbread house from scratch. So when yesterday turned into a snow day, I seized the day!
I made my dough from this recipe. I didn't have molasses, but the friendly people all over the internet said you could substitute corn syrup. The only thing that it really changed was the color of the walls.
I made my own pattern from cardstock. I basically sized it based on how much dough the recipe made.
The genius part of this recipe was the helpful hints written at the end of the directions. It suggested rolling your dough on the back side of your cookies sheets and baking them that way. This way, you never have to move the pieces after you cut them out. You just remove the dough around the cutout pieces. The dough is just too big and fragile to move after it is layed out.
After each cookie sheet of gingerbread house was baked, I let them cool and then placed all of the pieces in the oven at 200 degrees for three hours. This makes each piece super hard and brick-like.
It took both Rory and I to assemble. I started with the back and sides and waited until these parts were cemented together with the frosting. I had to keep the frosting covered at all times. It hardened to cement within 10-15 minutes, depending on how thick it was piped on.
I had limited goodies on hand to decorate the house. So I colored noodles and used other things I found hiding in the cupboards.
We had lots of pretzel sticks, so it quickly was decided that this would be a log cabin gingerbread house. Surprisingly, it didn't take too long to cover all the walls. We were watching Disney's Prep and Landing and I was so full of the Christmas Spirit I could hardly stand myself!
This morning we went out to our grocery store and got a few more candy-type goodies. I finished with the chocolate stars, dots, caroling cinnamon bears and peppermints.
I think gingerbread houses will be my new snow day tradition. You sort of do need a whole day for the project. But it is so fun to play with food, so fun to create and construct and to binge on the candy as you create your own happy home. Plus, our apartment smells amazing, inviting and cozy. 
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