COLORFULLY, EDIBLE CHRISTMAS TREE

Twenty years ago God blessed me when Denise Gregson (then Bouchard) befriended me. I was brand new to Swaziland and she took me out to her rural home to stay, introduced me to the folks who would become my Swazi family, and taught me so much about the Swazi culture and everyday life. She was one of the best parts of my two years in Africa.

She is still a blessing to me twenty years later.



She and her family serve as TransWorld Radio missionaries in Guam. She's the mom of two beautiful girls and enjoys creatively celebrating special occasions and holidays with her family and those that God has placed in her neighborhood, church, and homeschool group.


Today she sent me an email with the details and photos of an adorable, edible Christmas tree. I thought some of you might like to try it yourself.


Here's what Denise had to say:

We had fun putting this together. Easy to put together and healthy - a great
alternative for the usual Christmas sweets.

I made it from brocoflower, cherry tomatoes, black olives, yellow bell peppers.

Just cover a styrofoam cone with lettuce attached by toothpicks.

Then add the veggies on top. I blanched the brocoflower first a few seconds in salty boiling water and chilled before adding.

Got the idea here http://www.recipezaar.com/Christmas-Tree-Edible-Centerpiece-149199

How fun is that?!? And good for ya, too! Might even get the kids (and hubbies) to eat some veggies this holiday season.

IT'S CHRISTMAS BUT I'M FEELING BLECK!

The last couple of days had been emotional ones for me. I'd really been missing Swaziland and just feeling weepy about things. After a good two hour long phone talk last night with a kindred spirit and fellow Swazi tripper, Christi, my spirit was feeling so much better. She really helped me gain some Godly perspective and blessed me with the stories of how God was moving in her life.

And then this morning I woke up sick.

BLECK!

I've succumbed to the stomach virus that has struck down about half of my family. It's not a pretty sight...I can guarahnteee that (as Jerry Clower used to say). That said, it's still Christmas. And Christmas is my favorite time of the year so I wanted something Christmasy to blog about but not something that would require much eloquence.

My purty and fun-as-the-fair friend Rhonda (mentioned in yesterday's post) sent me a Christmas meme. I figured since most of the work was done, I could handle using it for today's post. I'm not going to tag anyone, but if you want to use it on your blog, feel free. Just let me know so I can enjoy reading your answers. We Extroverted Intuitive Feeling Perceivers get a kick out of this kind of stuff.

So here goes:

CHRISTMAS EDITION of "GETTING TO KNOW YOU"

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I like both, but having 7 kids and lot of others to wrap for means gift bags are faster and easier.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Definitely REAL! And I love going to a tree farm and picking out just the right one with the family.

3. When do you put up the tree? Whenever hubby's schedule will allow us to go get one sometime after Thanksgiving.

4. When do you take the tree down? I don't, hubby does (LOVE THAT MAN!) sometime during the first week or so of the new year.

5. Do you like eggnog? It has the word "egg" in it so the answer is obviously "no". Too many cases of egg-inflicted nausea during numerous pregnancies.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Too many wonderful ones to pick just one but the Barbies and baby dolls were always among my top favorites.

7. Hardest person to buy for? One of the grandparents who will remain unnamed.

8. Easiest person to buy for? Me! ;) LOL! I'm very easily pleased.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Definitely yes!

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Both.

11, Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Green socks in the school classroom gift exchange.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? CHRISTMAS WITH THE CRANKS

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I shop all year round. I LOVE buying gifts!

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yepper.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Sausage balls, chex mix, venison sausage, cranberry meatballs, and rotel dip with tortilla chips. I know. I'm weird. And yes, I know that was more than one thing...but how can I choose just ONE favorite?

16. Lights on the tree? Absolutely! There is nothing like that initial tree lighting...especially with the little children oohing and aahing.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Traditional one is CAROL OF THE BELLS. Contemporary favorites are by Steven Curtis Chapman and Amy Grant.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Both.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? It's been different things over the years. I THINK that this year it's a big, silver star.

21. Open presents on Christmas Eve or morning? One gift Christmas Eve, the rest in the morning...though our gift exchanging gets spread out over a few weeks because of far flung extended family.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Greedy, materialistic attitudes.

23. Favorite ornament ? It's not just one particular ornament but one type, the "1st Christmas" ornaments for my 7 children. My mom gave each of them a Hallmark one after they were born and they are so sweet.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? We eat fancy sandwiches on Christmas Eve complete with gourmet cheeses and nice meats. But my very favorite Christmas dinner is the fried quail, country supper my Grandma McElhaney used to make every year. I miss it.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Books by Lisa Samson and Claudia Mair Burney, black socks, brown socks, and vanilla body spray. Ooh! I'd also love someone to paint our beyond-boring mailbox.

26. Shopping in stores for Christmas or on the Internet? Both.

27. Snow for Christmas or no snow? Snow but as that's never, ever happened in my life, I'm not counting on it.

28. Do you go to Church on Christmas day? No. Our church has it's special service the Sunday just before.

29. Fantasy Christmas gift? Loving families for every orphan child and airline tickets for my entire family to travel to Swaziland.

Who's next?

HAVE YOURSELF A BLOGGY LITTLE CHRISTMAS

Looking for some kid-friendly craft ideas, good Christmas music, or just a little holiday cheer? Head on over to my darlin' friend Rhonda's blog. It's full to overflowing with holiday wonder.

http://amerrylittlechristmas.blogspot.com/

STILL GOT LEFTOVER THANKSGIVING DRESSING/STUFFING?

I used up my leftovers in a recipe I saw Rachael Ray make on her 30 MINUTE show while at my mom's. I've tried to find it online, but to no avail. So here's the "fly by the seat of your pants" version:

Put a good heavy skillet on a medium burner and heat it up.

Add just enough of your favorite cooking oil to lightly cover the bottom. I used
safflower oil, a "good for you" oil.

Crumble up your leftover dressing or stuffing in the bottom of the skillet after the oil heats up. Allow the dressing to heating up. I stirred mine up a couple of times so that it wouldn't get too brown on the bottom.

Then sprinkle enough shredded cheese over the stuffing to cover it in a thin layer.

Pour raw scrambled eggs (add salt and pepper first) over the stuffing. You want there to be enough scrambled eggs to cover the cheese and seep down thru the cracks in the dressing layer but not so thick it'll take forever to cook.

Then sprinkle Parmesan cheese (fresh or from the green can) over the eggs.

Put in an oven preheated to 375 and cook just til the eggs are firm.

Since my stuffing was already pretty warm when I poured the eggs, they cooked and firmed up pretty quickly.

If you're a big cheese eater, you can add more on each individual serving.

This tastes a lot like the traditional breakfast casseroles using bread and eggs so it can be served as a breakfast dish or with a meal like you would a frittata or quiche.

All of my family liked it and this will become an after-Thanksgiving tradition in our household. I liked it not just because it tasted good, but because I was able to make it with items I already had on hand and it was super duper quick to fix --- EASILY under 20 minutes from start to finish.

BTW, in your family, is it stuffing or dressing? Around these parts, dressing seems to dominate as the preferred name and it's usually a cornbread based dish. I'd love to hear about yours.

CHANGE YOUR WORLD

CHANGE YOUR LIFE

My friend Jeff Goins, of Adventures in Missions, asked me to help get the word out about an awesome new opportunity for young adults. It won't just change the participants lives, I can pretty darn guarantee that it will change the world around them as well. Here's what Jeff has to say:

This year at AIM, we've started a new discipleship program in Mexico for
18-25 year-olds who are yearning for something more - an opportunity to live
and grow in community with other Christ-followers who are intent on seeing
the kingdom come.

So, this is a call to all you youth leaders, parents, and disciplers to send us your young people. Before they go off to college or start their careers, getting caught up in the world, we're encouraging you to send them off for the better part of a year to get
discipled and expand their worldviews.

The Journey Missions Program is not so much a program, but
more of its namesake - that is, a journey.

It is a discipleship opportunity - a journey that is shared with others, and led by those who have been traveling it for some time.

The beauty of this journey is the discovery that awaits you. The Apostle
Paul talks of presenting every man and woman complete in Christ, and that is the
goal of The Journey, as well (Colossians 1:28).

We want to teach others to abide in Christ and walk with Him. This is facilitated through one-on-one discipleship, physical labor, ministry, creativity, art, music,
community, and leadership.

Read more about The Journey Missions Program: http://www.adventures.org/thejourney/

Feel free to re-blog this, forward to a friend, etc. Help us get the
word out!

A BABY CHANGED EVERYTHING

I love Christmas. It's absolutely my favorite time of the year. The music, the parties, the food, the gifts...all those things I look forward to all year long with anticipation. But the reason there is even a celebration --- the reason I even have a reason to celebrate --- is because of the baby born around 2,000 years ago who changed everything.

As this Christmas Season 2009 starts, I pray that I won't lose sight of this.

COMPASSION IS HARD

"Let us not underestimate how hard it is to be compassionate. Compassion is hard because it requires the inner disposition to go with others to the place where they are weak, vulnerable, lonely, and broken. But this is not our spontaneous response to suffering. What we desire most is to do away with suffering by fleeing from it or finding a quick cure for it. As busy, active, relevant ministers, we want to earn our bread by making a real contribution. This means first and foremost doing something to show that our presence makes a difference. And so we ignore our greatest gift, which is our ability to enter into solidarity with those who suffer. Those who can sit in silence with their fellowman, not knowing what to say but knowing that they should be there, can bring new life in a dying heart. Those who are not afraid to hold a hand in gratitude, to shed tears in grief and to let a sigh of distress arise straight from the heart can break through paralyzing boundaries and witness the birth of a new fellowship, the fellowship of the broken. "

Henri Nouwen

WE'RE HOME

After spending the last few days at my mom's house celebrating Thanksgiving, we are home. It was a nice and relaxed time.

We had all the yummy traditional fare...turkey, cornbread dressing, gravies (two kinds) , mashed potatoes, sweet peas (or English peas as my mom calls them and I grew up calling them), cranberry sauce (also two kinds), broccoli casserole, string bean casserole (LOVE those french fried onions on top!), sweet potato casserole (again, two kinds...marshmallow topping and pecan praline), French bread (it's the Gulf Coast, for goodness sakes), strawberry cake, and pumpkin pie (and can you gess how many types?).

Super Dad (my Hunky Hubby) took time to read CRANBERRY THANKSGIVING ( an annual favorite for us thanks to the Five in a Row curriculum), a psalm of thanksgiving from the Bible, and lead us in prayer.

We also watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special. The holiday wouldn't be complete without those big floatie balloons and Snoopy's toast, jelly beans, and PoPcOrN.

My favorite brother, Edward, and his beautiful and smart wife Stephanie joined us along with their three kids. Those kids are definitely my favorite Harvey nephews and niece. By far. No contest.

We're home now and with Thanksgiving over, it's time to officially start celebrating Christmas around Graceland. But I tell you, I think that Christmas is all the more precious because we take the time to start the season by saying "thank you" and acknowledging that all good gifts come from our loving Father. After all, at the heart of the Christmas season, it really is all about love and the greatest gift ever...Jesus.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
AS THE CHRISTMAS SEASON BEGINS

AS WE EXPRESS OUR GRATITUDE THIS THANKSGIVING

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.

~John Fitzgerald Kennedy

FAR TOO MUCH OCCUPIED

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"Our business is neither to ask nor answer foolish questions, but to avoid them altogether; and if we observe the apostle’s precept (Titus3:8) to be careful to maintain good works, we shall find ourselves far too much occupied with profitable business to take much interest in unworthy, contentious, and needless strivings." Charles Spurgeon

50,000 PAIRS IN 50 DAYS

My pal Jeff Goins, of the Adventures in Missions organization and Wrecked for the Ordinary online magazine, sent me this opportunity to get involved with a really cool ministry. I thought that some of you might be interested:

Hey gang,

Here's a great way to "give thanks" during this time of year - buy a
pair of shoes for someone living in a third-world country. During this
season of buying gifts and thanksgiving, I can't think of a better way
to express gratitude to a scandalously gracious God than to bless
those who are walking around barefoot.

Here's how it works:

Go to 50000shoes.com.

A $5 donation buys two pairs of shoes. Everyone that's reading this
has $5, and everyone has 2 minutes. From start to finish, donating is
literally three clicks. No fluff. No hassle. Anyone can donate.

Spread the word.
Use the widget code on the landing page to post a link on your blog.
Email everyone you know. Join the facebook group. Ask your friends to
do the same!

Win a trip.
Besides the fact that the blogging world can literally impact 50,000
people before the end of the year, one person (and their guest) will
be chosen at random to hand-deliver the shoes they purchased on a
Soles4Souls trip to Mexico. Imagine handing someone their first pair
of shoes… ever.

Do the Math.
If 500 people influence 10 people to donate, and those people
influence 5 more, that's 50,000 pairs of shoes ($5 buys 2 pairs).

Get Started.
Sign-up at http://www.50000shoes.com/, donate your $5, and start
spreading the word.

For more on this campaign, read an article I wrote on it at:
neueministry.com/2008/11/shoes-social-media-and-justice/

Thanks,
Jeff

SMILE

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Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.

Mother Teresa

YOU



What a difference you can make.

For more details, check out Tom Davis' blog: http://www.tomdavis.typepad.com/

RENOUNCED THE CONFUSED

"The Christian is a new creature, born and taught from above.and has renounced the confused, distant, uncomfortable notions he/she once formed of God.He/she sees God in Christ, reconciled, a Father, a Savior and a Friend, who has freely forgiven him/her all his/her sins and given him/her the spirit of adoption; he/she is now no longer a servant, much less a stranger, but a son/daughter; and because a son/daughter, an heir already interested in all the promises, admitted to the throne of grace, and assured expectant of eternal glory."

John Newton, Letters of John Newton, 1781

We're Thankful? By 13 Year Old "B"

Alright, my mum - aka, the person in charge of this Blog - is going to be watching 'Breakfast's at Tiffanys' tonight (starring my all-time favorite actress, AUDREY HEPBURN!!!) for me to see if it's "appropriate" or that other sort of rubbish. She's been promising to "preview" it for the past month or so, but, you know how mums NEVER do like they say they will.
So, anyhoo, she wanted me to write a Blog post for her since she just MUST have a Blog post a day or something like that. So she asked me to interview my little, hooliganish brother and sisters. Here goes:

7 Year Old LG: "Ummm, I'm thankful for Jesus. I'm thankful for mama. I'm thankful for dad, my friends, AND for my brothers and sisters, my cousins and my Grandmommy. Grandma Little Mac (Hey! Don't kick so hard, "T"!), Christmas (OK, as soon as I say, "GO" we have to start fighting. OH! No biting, and you're a Christian....). OK, that's it. (OW!)

5 Year Old Brother T: "I'm thankful for ---- OW!!! ARGH! ----Sister B, I'm thankful for (OYE! Not the privates!!) the people at the nursing home, and Indy, and Mom, and Sister B.

7 Year Old LG: "What about me?!" Says as she tackled poor "T".

5 Year Old T: "Oh yeah, LG too. -OOOOOHH! Don't tickle me!"

3 Year Old Miss M: "I'm happy for my crayons.....I'm gonna go color now." She ran away.

So yeah, they're VEEEEERY thankful for SO-OOOOOO much. *Rolls eyes*
Now, I'm going to interview my bestie, Barron, sitting next to me.

Me: "Barron, what are you thankful for?"

Barron: "Ummmmmm....?(Hehehehe) Ummmmmm, my friends. My family, that we can worship the Lord. Of course you "B" (((She actually said that, I didn't add it!))). That my Grandmother's surgery went OK."

Me: "Is that it?"

Barron: "That's-that's all I'm gonna put on there."

Now, do you want to know what MOI is thankful for? Well, even if you don't you are about to find out!

Me: "I'm thankful that pimples eventually go away!"

B!

STRIP CLUB ADVENTURES

I don't know about you, but those ladies up above don't look like the type that would be found frequenting strip clubs. But then again, looks can be deceiving.

THE FIRST TIME I WALKED INTO A STRIP CLUB

By Carole Turner, Baton Rouge

Sometimes I get to answer the question "what is midnight outreach?" I love talking about it because I think it is one of the most amazing outreaches I get to be a part of. What's even cooler is I get to do it once a month.

Midnight outreach is to strip clubs, and the streets of north Baton Rouge. We go into the strip clubs (only ladies go into the clubs, men stay outside and talk to the bouncers and give them Chocolate) and we give every lady in the club a rose. Tied onto the rose with pretty ribbon is a business card from Healing Place Church which reads "We hope this small gift brightens your day. It is a simple way to say God loves you - no strings attached. Let us know if we can help you." also on the card is the church web site address, map to the church, service times and church phone numbers.

The managers and owners of these strip clubs know what these cards say, they know we are from a church, Aliece (the leader of Midnight outreach) tells them who we are when she talks to them about coming into the clubs. They know we just want to be nice to the ladies, give them a rose and treat them like a daughter of the king, not a piece of meat. The patrons know who we are, we have on bright red shirts that say "HPC" on the front and "SERVE" on the back. We drive up in a big shuttle that has "Healing Place Church" on the side of it. So, for some supernatural reason, they let us come in and give a rose to every dancer, bar maid, and female patron there. We don't give roses to any men, even if they ask for one to give a lady, we simply tell them we can only give them to the ladies ourselves.

About twice a year the team gets to go into the dancers dressing rooms and decorate them, like at Christmas and Valentines Day. Some of these girls get no gifts on these holidays, they are alone and they love that we give them gifts and treat them with dignity especially around the holidays.

I had wanted to go on Midnight Outreach for awhile before I actually did. Dean was afraid for me to go. Then he agreed to let me go as long as Summer went with me, within a few months Dean started driving the shuttle for every midnight outreach.

The first time I walked into a strip club I knew I was doing the right thing. I knew that first night that we were doing something completely unexpected in the spirit world. I mean, where is one sure fire place the devil knows he is safe from THE love of Jesus? Here are men treating a woman like a piece of meat, getting their kicks off of looking at a mostly naked girl completely torn down in her self worth to the point that she thinks all she can do for a living is take her clothes off for money. Girls so addicted to drugs that they feel they have to strip to get the money they need? When you walk in you can literally feel the darkness separating. The LOVE of Jesus does that. It's like the Devil is confused by the angels that surround us. The bewilderment on the faces of the male patrons, The dancers who look shocked and puzzled by this free rose handed to her by a smiling, unintimidated face of love. The smile we give, the eye contact and the lack of fear, is all God reaching out to show love to someone living in hell.

After we go to the two local strip clubs we then head down to north Baton Rouge. We go to two different inner city night clubs and the Alamo Hotel to hand out roses and chocolates but here we also give out fliers for the Baton Rouge Dream Center church services. After that we hit the streets. I love the streets cuz' we get to pray with people, talk to them, give them information about the church, the ladies roses and the guys chocolate.

We have had the privilege of praying with many prostitutes, drug dealers, crack heads, gang bangers, children, homeless people and just normal lost souls out late at night. And some of them have come to church, gotten saved and attend regularly.

You can click HERE to read all of my past post about Midnight Outreach. And HERE to read about our Midnight outreach on Bourbon Street in New Orleans last February.

After only a year and a half of being a part of midnight outreach, we are becoming a constant in their lives, they are seeing that we are committed to showing them the love of Jesus, not condemn them or preach at them but love them and offer a place they can come for real hope.

I can't think of anything more fulfilling in life then knowing I am walking into hell on earth to spread the love of Jesus.

THAT is midnight outreach.

HER MEMORIES...and writings...CrAcK ME UP

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If y'all've spent much time here at Graceland, you know that Claudia Mair Burney is one of my favorite authors and a dear, dear friend. Well let me just tell you, that woman is funny! She has this incredible gift for writing books that both CrAcK me up but also make me think more about God and how He wants me to live in this world. She often makes me examine my heart where the issues of racism and prejudices (and not just the prejudices related to skin color) are concerned but is always seasoning her sometimes hard messages with generous amounts of grace and love.

If you've never read any of her books, read 'em! And if you can't lay your hands on one of her books right away, or even if you can, check out her blog. The Ragamuffin Diva is Mair's personal chronicle of life and what's she facing...the good and the bad...and sometimes the bad is brutally bad and the reflections excruciatingly honest. But through it all is Jesus. She is mad about Him. Passionate about Him. Downright radical about Him.

So go meet Mair today over at her blog. You'll find that she can take even a silly meme about memories and turn it into something special as only Mair can do. And while you're there, get warmed by the love of God that glows bright in her life and thus in her writings.

ANOTHER "WHAT I WANNA READ"


Ooooh...I had to use some MAJOR self control today and not spend money on nonessentials. I was in Kroger picking up mostly meds for my 15 year old (who is covered from head to toe with a food allergy rash) and foods that don't need refrigeration (our fridge's compressor has gone out for the third time in 6 months). As I strolled by the book section, I thought I'd do a quick look-see in case any of my author friends had books on display. It just makes me so happy when I spy one of their books just waiting to be discovered.
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ANYWAY....I spied a book by a relatively new author, Vanessa Del Fabbro . I picked up FLY AWAY HOME and just reading the back cover blurb describing this story set in South Africa made me get misty eyes. And you KNOW when just a blurb stirs up this kind of reaction, you GOTTA read the book.
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I'm just sayin'.
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So family...if you're reading this, you know what I'm hoping for under the Christmas tree.
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Oh! And did I mention that this is number 4 in a series?
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I didn't?
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Well it is.
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And I've read the first two so I guess if you're going to get me this one, you'll need to get me number 3 as well.
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I'm just sayin'....again.

LITTLE DEBBIES, HONEYSUCKLE, & OTHER RANDOM MEMORIES FROM CHILDHOOD

I had been reading a funny thread on my favorite homeschool board about the crazy names that kids will often give their pets and dolls plus the names they say they want to give their children when they grow up and become parents. It reminded me of a doll I had, her name was Honeysuckle. I thought that was such a lovely name that I decided I was going to name my little girl that when I became a mommy.

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That got me started thinking about other childhood memories...some I've shared here before, some I've not, some I'd not thought about for a long time.

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I thought it would be fun to list a few random childhood memories and turn it into a "you're tagged" meme. Even if I don't tag you personally, feel free to snag the idea. Here are my memories on this cold November morn:

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*I used to call my brother Edward by a really wonderfully kind nickname, Edwierdo.

*I was ecstatic when the lady on Romper Room "saw" me in her magic mirror and said my name.

*I was even more ecstatic and convinced he was alive when the Paul Bunyan statue said "Hello Elysa and Edward Harvey"...I really did not get the concept of sneaky parents and intercom systems.

*David Soul gave me chill bumps in the good way.

*I loved eating toast with mayo as an afternoon snack.

*The first food I learned to cook was PoPcOrN sometime around the 5th grade.

*I had a dream once that a giant sized mosquito was sucking the blood out of my brother's hand. We shared a room when we were little so when I reached across to his twin bed to slap it away, I woke up.

*I slept walked to our new piano at around age 8 and proceeded to pee pee on the bench while playing the piano. Nice.

*My dad taught me how to whistle driving me to preschool in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

*I wore high waters in elementary school...a lot.

*I was the first girl in my 4th grade at Crystal Springs Elementary School to have feathered hair.

*My two friends, Kim Howell and Kim Grace, were Charlie's Angels. I was Sabrina, the smart one.

*I was the dunce on the PTA's bicentennial float and got my picture in the big city paper sticking my tongue out at the crowd.

*My mom was the only mom I knew who was cooking Tex Mex in MISSISSIPPI in the early 70's....she also made THE best packed-lunches around. Little Debbies, personal pizzas---need I say more?

*I wrote a song about Jesus based on the Band-Aid song when I was in elementary school.

*I was so hyper and social in 1st grade, I had to use a belt to buckle myself into my desk so I wouldn't forget and just start moving around the room.

*I used to wear rainbow suspenders and a red bowtie in 7th grade.

*I called my teddy bear Ursus, the Easter Bunny the Easter Sylvilagus Floridanus, and when I ate too much, I was being a Sus. Yeah, I was a geek kid with a scientifically minded dad. I won't even get into what we said when we needed to use the bathroom.

*I was the only kid in Mississippi that I knew of who said "ciao". Did I say I was a geek?

*My Ken doll was always named Charles Patterson. I thought that was the most wonderful sounding name for Barbie's love and wanted to marry a man by that name.

*When other girls were dreaming of being a cheerleader, I was picking clothes out of catalogs for my orphans I'd care for some day in the orphan I wanted to run .

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Okay...so enough of memory lane traversing. Now I'm tagging some online pals.

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Rhonda JUST A THOUGHT

Shauna SHAUNA RUMBLING

Mair RAGAMUFFIN DIVA

Drewe Llyn PALMS OF HIS HANDS

Stephanie THINGS FALL APART

Kelly THE RIGHTEOUS BUZZ

Carole THE WARDROBE AND THE WHITE TREE

Betsie LEAPING BEAUTY

Deidra FROM DEIDRA'S HEART

Paige GOING OUT IN JOY

Stacy A MAGIC MOM AND HER MANDALAS

Leslie JOYFUL MOTHER OF 6 CHILDREN

Karen FRESH FIXINS

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Btw, if you've got some free time and need another reason to stay online (don't we all?) then go check out the blogs listed above. They're also special ladies with great blogs.

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And if you do post this meme on your blog, let me know! I'd love to read about your random childhood memories as well.