A quote.

  

Rachel Held Evans tweeted this the other day. I retweeted it, but I also wanted to put it on the blog.

"I'm pretty sure that folks who delight in damning others to hell are already living in a hell of their own making."

Amen. 

Joy.

 This is what joy looks like.

 

When this kid watches a tv show or plays a game that he 

really loves, his whole body sort of freaks out. 

For example, Bubble Guppies. 

The second you turn the show on for him he's mesmerized. 

As soon as the music starts, he can't help but start dancing around. 

Tenth time we've watched this episode? Doesn't phase him one bit.

But the best part is that throughout the show he'll periodically turn 

and look around to make sure that everyone else in the room is 

enjoying this moment as much as he is.

It's difficult to explain, but his face lights up, and he does this 

gasp/giggle/smile thing as if to say "Guys! This is the best day ever." 

It's like he wants everyone else to understand how awesome life is.

Suddenly you're willing to watch the episode for the 11th time
because of how freakin' excited this kid is.

This is just a reminder:

Today can be the "best day ever".
Life really can be awesome.
Awesome really can be contagious.

There can be joy...
Even in the moments where life feels like one giant re-run.

Confusing Altar Calls

One thing I'm thrilled about in my adult life is that I don't find myself in altar call situations as often as I once did. I can remember sitting in my seat at church camp, convocation, Sunday service, true love waits rallies, heart pounding because I was never sure if I was supposed to stay or go.

The altar call men were always strategic. They had lots of moves. Many a time I stood, only to then be riddled with doubt, "Wait, was I supposed to stand? Hm, it's only boys standing. Oh, you know...he definitely just asked the boys to stand and commit to being good husbands one day. Yep...pardon me while I have a seat."

Also, I'm sure I messed up a few of the salvation counts these speakers went back home with. My bad, guys.

There are some standard moves that I can recall: 

The "Speak in confusing sentences so people don't really know what they're coming forward for" move.

He just said come forward if you want to dedicate your life to Jesus. I already did that. Do I need to go again? He sure is yelling a lot, and I can't really keep track of what he's saying anymore. Hold up,'super Christian' is going forward and the cute boy from our brother dorm is too. Ahem, right behind you guys.

The "If you aren't saved come forward. If you hate babies, stay in your seat. If you love Jesus come forward.  If you love Satan, stay in your seat." move.

Well, I certainly don't hate babies and I do love Jesus. Hey guys, I'm already saved! I don't hate babies though and Satan's a jerk so I'm just gonna make my way to the front.

The "Write your sins on a piece of paper and nail it to this cross we've placed at the front of the room" move.

It's not that I'm knocking this little exercise, Mr. Speaker man who was "almost in the NFL". It's just that, if I walk up there someone is very likely going to hug me, or cry at me and I'm not really comfortable with that. Plus, me and a hammer in front of all these people? I should save us all that embarrassment. How about I just stay put, and me and Jesus will have a little chat here. In my comfy seat, that's not at the front of the room.

Lest you think all my church related anxiety is gone. Altar call anxiety has since been replaced with communion anxiety. The church I attend does the "come forward in your own time" communion. You're talking to a girl who had communion hand delivered to her for a long, long time. So, me, walking to the front of the room to grab communion all by myself? Anxiety city.

Saturday Night Live.

***I realize this is kind of detailed. However, I found the blogs of other people SUPER helpful when I was searching for information on camping out for tickets- so figured I should include some details that may help other people***

Back in August, Liz and I decided to enter the SNL ticket lottery and we won. Once we found out that Christina Applegate was hosting, we knew we had to go.  Courtney decided to go and this meant we needed a third ticket.

So, we googled the mess out of the whole "how to get standby tickets" process and found out it would involve camping out the night before at NBC studios.

So, that's what we decided to do.

Friday night Liz got into NYC at about 5:00 and went straight to the studio to get in line. There were about 35 people in front of her. Courtney and I arrived at about 9:30 that night and got to the line as soon as possible.

We brought with us sleeping bags, blankets and lots of layers. There were others in line who brought air mattresses, folding chairs, laptops. By morning time there was around 90 people in line I assume.

Sleeping out there wasn't bad. There's even a security guard who watches the line all night. I did have some moments in the middle of the night where I thought, "How does one know when they're too cold? Would I know if my toes were frostbitten? Why did I think this sleeping bag would be warm enough?"

Around 6:45 a.m. a man came by and gave out free donuts and hot beverages to the people in line. Then at 7:00 the NBC staff came out and started handing out tickets. You could choose between tickets to the rehearsal (right before the show) or the live show.  Courtney chose the dress rehearsal ticket since that's what we had. Also, the dress rehearsal has more sketches. She got number 11, so we felt like her odds of getting into the show that night were pretty good.

That evening, Liz and I went in to the studio about 30 minutes before standby people could, and then we sat and watched for Courtney. I was SO excited when she came through the door and even more so when they seated her near us.

It was an incredible experience. The amount of time these people have to change for each skit, and the amount of dialogue they need to be able to spout off each week is unreal. And the constant set changes? All of it was just crazy to watch.

The host of the show has a staff member assigned to them. This person would literally grab Christina off the stage and drag her to her next location. It made me laugh to watch this.  If people got in her path,  that lady just shoved them out of  the way. It was fantastic.

Christina did a great job. She seemed super comfortable, and everyone just seemed to be having a good time.

Afterwards the 3 of us were pretty much in awe. On the way out of the studio we saw DotCom from 30 Rock, and stopped to talk to him for a minute. None of us knew what to say. Some might call it awkward. It was worth it though, to see Courtney and Liz so speechless.

So, was it worth the camping out? Heck. Yes.

EmoCo is heading to New Zealand.

I've told you before about my best friend from childhood, Emotional Courtney. Well, Courtney is about to leave me and move far, far away to a little country called New Zealand. She's all grown up.

This means it's time for me to put some of my favorite conversations with her from the past couple years.

Courtney, reflecting on the night we went to a Miranda Lambert concert in VA Beach during severe weather and tornado warnings. 

"There's no way we were going to die in a tornado on the way to, or at a free Miranda Lambert concert on the beach...We're not going out in such a dramatic way."

My immediate thought once she made that statement:

"Have you met yourself? That's EXACTLY how you're gonna go out. Beach tornado, at a free concert."

I mean, seriously, this is the girl who, on that same trip managed to knock my car into neutral while I was driving 75 mph on the highway.

The same girl who, while visiting the Vatican several years ago, managed to fall down the spiral staircase.

While sitting in a plane headed back from Disney World, we hit some crazy turbulence. Courtney, who is rarely afraid of things, tells me to put my iPad away, grabs our beverages, and proclaims:

"This is how we're gonna go out? With drinks on our laps?!"

She's nothing, if not logical. There really is no dignity in ones plane crashing while they're still drinking their free airplane soda.

This is all for now.

I'm gonna miss Emotional Courtney, and the ridiculousness that she brings to my life. 

Jess and Zach are getting married.

Last month I had the opportunity to take Jess and Zach's engagement photos in North Carolina. It was hot, and we had to deal with a short rain storm, but I was happy with the outcome.

Click the slideshow below to view some of my favorite shots from the day, or you can click here to visit the album directly.

If you can't tell, the couple loves fishing :-)

You look good normal

I love instagram. I fully intend to instagram the crap out of my pictures for the next 100 years. Or until phones are obsolete, and humans no longer communicate because they've forgotten how to use their words.

Several weeks ago, I took a picture of my best friends 6 month old son, Austin. One of his brothers, 6 year old Liam, watched as I searched through instagram filters. After a few seconds he looked at me and said "Can you just use normal? He looks good normal." I chose a filter, and showed him the picture. He gave the picture a passing glance and said, "But he looked good normal.".

Then he got bored and ran off to play Wii.

I know he's 6, and he probably wasn't thinking too deeply. However, in his mind, there wasn't anything that needed to change.  The real version of Austin was just fine, and no filter was necessary. He wanted the picture to look like his baby brother- not an altered version of him. Normal was good. Normal was enough. Reality was just fine. 

When do we start to believe that normal isn't good? That normal is not enough and reality should be edited a bit. We take the bad things in life, and apply filters to make them appear less bad. But reality still exists under that new light. We have the ability to look at beautiful things, but want them to look just a little bit better. A sunset. The ocean. The people we love. The situations we find ourselves in.

If you change the lighting enough then people can't focus on the imperfections. If you make it look artsy and creative,  no one will care that the photo was taken in a bathroom. If you portray your life to be just a little better than it is, then people won't know just how broken you truly are.

When it comes to photo's a little instagram magic isn't a bad thing. When it comes to life, and what we portray...let's just do "normal".

After all, you look good normal.

In 2011...

I went on an air boat ride in the everglades with friends.
(Bonus: The guide let Stephanie pet an alligator. I now realize how dumb that was.)

My mom and I went to LA and stayed with her friend Barbara. Highlights of that trip were Santa Monica Pier and meeting 3 of Barbara's kids (Kirk, Melissa, and Candace).

One of my very best friends gave birth to her son, Austin. I got to spend time with their family throughout the end of the year, and am so glad that I got to. I can't wait to see Austin's growth in 2012- especially since he'll become mobile- and that's when the fun starts. 

I went on a retreat to Grace Bible Camp. I spent so many summers there as a kid, and a few winters as a teen. It was awesome to go back as an adult.

My mom and aunt got to use their timeshare in Myrtle Beach for the first time. It was great to spend family time there for a few days.

I went to Disney World with 3 of my childhood friends. I'm 28, and found Disney World to be more magical than ever before.

A plain old recap...because some things you just want to remember

Tuesday, we had an earthquake. During the harrowing, 10 second experience I was thinking, "That must be a huge truck passing by. Wait, that's an earthquake. Wait, Virginia doesn't have earthquakes."

Then it was over, and we moved on.

An hour later I got the text from my best friend from college- she was at the hospital, and about to give birth. Baby Sike!...or is it psyche...Either way, baby boy took his time and made his debut at about 10:30 the next morning. We all got to meet him a few hours later.

Austin Levi is awesome, and his mom's a rockstar.

Now, we have this big ol' lady named "Irene" coming to town. She sounds big and scary and I think she's out to do quite a bit of damage. Every time I see someone on TV saying that this storm's not going to be a big deal, blah, blah, blah, I can't help but think, "You're an idiot".

Of course, I could be the idiot. We'll know Monday, I guess.

Since my mom and I had already planned a trip to West Virginia this weekend, we packed our bags and hit the road last night. Now, here I sit, outside of a cute little coffee shop in Buckhannon. I've seen some sights today, sitting where I'm sitting. One was gross enough to make me leave earlier though, so here's hoping we don't have any repeats.

And of course, here's a pic of Austin. Yes, I know all babies look the same when they're hours old. 

All except this one, of course.