December 15th

Been reminiscing lately about a pretty incredible day one year ago....
Those of you who have heard the story in person know that it can be a long - but great - story. Here's the Cliff Notes version:

Josh told me he had plans for Saturday AM (our dating anniversary)
He said he wanted to surprise me - and I said I'd let him
Sat AM he picked me up at 4:45am and it's snowing
He drives me to the airport (!)
Says - Merry Christmas, we're going to Chicago for the day
Me - Wooooow. YAY! I can't believe we're flying there!
We fly to Chicago (despite nasty snowy weather)
We land and he says - we have to RUN
Run where?
Run to our next gate (!)
While running, I find out we're going to NYC (!)
I start freaking out - because I HAVE to be at church on Sunday AM
We make the flight, and he starts explaining.
He worked it out (for me to miss church - which is a big deal), we have a place to stay (mission house where I'd been before in Brooklyn), and we have show tickets (Mamma Mia).
Merry Christmas!
I was - VERY surprised.

We got dressed up (he had my best friend pack me a bag)
We ate an amazing Italian dinner
We walked around midtown Manhattan (which was AWESOME)
We saw Mamma Mia
And we went to Rockefeller Center, where he proposed in front of the BIG tree
(I figured that might happen once I found out about NYC - but it was great.)
It was really amazing and surreal.
We ate dessert, called our families, and rode the Subway back to Brooklyn.

It's been really fun this year seeing the BIG TREE on TV and remembering being there. Even though it was a whirlwind of a day, I have so many really vivid memories -

• the way my heart sped up when I realized we were going to the airport
  
• the travel bag (w/ magazines and notes of reassurance from work)


• having to wait for 2 flights from O'Hare to get our bags in NYC


• how fun it was to not know the plan - but to keep being surprised


• seeing the skyline from the cab (holy cow we're in New York today!)


• getting dressed up at the mission house


• the energy of the city - and both of our excitement (and Josh's nerves)


• leaving the theater and the beginnings of light snow (Josh: "perfect")


• the MASS OF HUMANITY in midtown Manhattan


• the jewelry box with a light in it


• the excitement of our families (over the phone) and the congratulations from strangers in the restaurant


• the subway ride back to Brooklyn where we got to talk and make plans for BIG stuff


• being exhausted - but totally unable to sleep


• the church team from Mayberry, NC who were staying at the mission house - they were SO excited for us that over breakfast they each gave us a piece of marriage advice and prayed for us.


• loving every minute of being together

Internet Ramblings

Just a few things I've run across lately that I thought were worth sharing/processing:

This article on CNN about a highly successful music producer made me sad. Pop music is a guilty pleasure of mine - and it's not a surprise that it's more of a science of figuring out what sells vs. making music. It maybe just surprises me to have someone be that transparent/self-aware about their intentions ($) and desire for control (rather than collaboration).

I'm almost done with my Christmas mix. If you want one, let me know. Fortunately for everyone, I found a new instrumental album this year (that I didn't have when I did my Christmas Music of 08 review) - Jingle All the Way - Bela Fleck & the Flecktones. If you combine banjo, bass, reeds, and throat-singing (!!!) together with Christmas music - you get the most unique holiday album ever. I've only had it a few days - but I like how creative it is. You can listen to clips on the website. If you do....you're welcome!

For other worship planners that might read this blog, I've found a couple more blogs/places to see what other churches do in their services. I always enjoy getting away to worship other places - just to see another church family, to be able to be a part of the congregation (vs. being up front), and to get ideas. Thanks to the internet, I can do some of that in my office. So here are some of my new worship feeds:

• Sean Bublitz at Community Christian in Naperville, IL.
  I've been sad that Bill Carroll hasn't blogged since the summer - but now Sean is doing weekly overviews from CCC's services.
• Parkview Christian Church in Orland Park, IL redid their website and now has a media site where you can watch whole services.
• **My favorite recent find: Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, IL has a cool Advent site up - which includes daily devotionals (which you can subscribe to via email). Really cool.

Just as it's fun to see what other people are doing - I also want to be excited about what is happening in my church family. Every community is unique - and that's a good thing.
A few videos that we've made for services - including all of the In Plain English series are now on the WSCCMedia YouTube channel. My personal favorite is Esther In Plain English. I'm also excited about Feed500. If you're a WS-er, don't forget to bring food this week!

And thus ends my random internet ramblings...for today.