Previously on Me & Mr….

So, you know how on television shows with story lines that span multiple episodes, they often start out with “Previously On…” and then proceed to show a montage of clips to get you up to speed? These snippets of information are not nearly enough to adequately catch you up on all the details, but gives you enough of an understanding that you can comprehend what is happening in the present.

This is my “Previously On”. For those of you whom I have not seen/heard/hugged recently we will still need a skype date soon (Mrs. Ford, this means you) to fill in the missing sections, much in the same way you know you will have to go to hulu or Netflix and watch the previous episodes you missed in order to fully understand how the characters have come to find themselves in their current predicament.

So, here is what has happened to Me & Mr in the last several months of blog silence.  Grab a snack and settle in, it’s a long one.

1.       MR. RATLIFF IS GETTING A DIPLOMA IN ONE MONTH!!!!! Caps Lock and exclamation points do not give this statement justice. It is seriously the single most exciting thing to happen to us in a long time. I cannot begin to describe how proud I am of him. Clay commented to me recently as I designed graduation invitations not to get my hopes up that many people would be excited by this fact since he “should have graduated 4 years ago” I proceeded to tell him that this is specifically what makes his endurance so admirable.

    
Where many would have given up after making mistakes that set them behind, my husband decided to go back to school, take the long way to do it right and correct mistakes made the first time around, choosing a highly competitive and difficult major and totally ROCKING IT!
I also find it truly lovely to look at where these “mistakes” have brought us. If he had graduated 4 years ago, we would never have come to Tallahassee. To think of all that we would have missed out on makes me very thankful that we were called to this place at exactly this time. Which brings me to #2

 

2.       City Church Tallahassee is one of my favorite things…. Ever. They’ve kept us busy as we’ve spent many an hour over the last few months serving coffee for First Impressions, running umbrellas to cars on rainy Sundays, watching some of my favorite people get baptized, and hosting “our kids”, a.k.a. our Co-Ed College Community Group which we held in our apartment. Most of my kids are gone for the summer now and I need them to come home ASAP. I recently found a quote about one of the benefits of hosting a community group being “You get to see the kingdom of God show up on your couch” and I couldn’t agree more! It is truly amazing and I love those young men and women with whom we got to share our Tuesday evenings more than words.

 

3.        My family is finally here in Tallahassee (for the most part). Kimberly graduated and she and Mom finally live here 7 days a week rather than having to drive back and forth from Niceville for the weekends. Liz will be here in 24 days and I will be able to hug her any time I want! No offense Texas, but I prefer having my sister less than 14 hours away. Heather is the only one I will still have to travel to see but I will have several opportunities to do so over the next few months as we prepare for her wedding. Love being a part of the planning and celebrating this time with my big sis.

 

4.       Finally, the last few months have been a time of great emotional growth for me. I have been through the wringer emotionally in so many different ways. Some small things, some big things, but they all seemed to come together at once to knock me off my feet. The biggest things I am taking away from it all are:

• Don’t be selfish! Demanding your way will not ensure that you get your way it only makes you and everyone else miserable.
• Forgive even if it means you must do so 490 times per day. Do not hold hurt around you like a blanket that will keep you from more hurt. Does anyone else see how that doesn’t work? Well, let me tell you, wrapping yourself up in your own entitlement doesn’t make you feel better.
• Do not convince yourself that you are too “tired, upset, busy, etc”  to include the people who love you in your daily schedule, when you do this you are not given them the ability to encourage you, and you give yourself no one to focus on other than yourself. Believe it or not you really do come out of your “funk” when you spend time talking to God, family and friends, and care more about them than about yourself. I don’t have it down yet but I’m trying. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

So, now that you’re caught up, I’ll try to update more often.

Every Number has a Face a Name and a Story

It's only 4 weeks until Easter. For the majority of my life this news meant little more to me than the fact that I had to start looking for a new dress. For the past 2 years it has meant that it's time to help plan a truly extraordinary event...

... My first experience with Easter on the Moon began with 2 hrs of sleep + 1 redbull + cleaning up beer bottles, cigarette butts, and who knows what else off of the walls, floors, seats, and tables of a nightclub at 4a.m. You can see why I'm hooked can't you? If you had also seen the service that followed later that morning and the way people's lives were literally changed, you would be hooked too.

For those of you who are thoroughly confused at this point, let me explain what Easter on the Moon was. The church that we are proud and blessed to call home does not have adequate space to hold the large number of people who come out for Easter in Tallahassee. So we started holding holiday services at The Moon, a local nightclub.

Those of us who get to be a part of the event show up really early to pick up the mess of Saturday night and get the place ready to celebrate on Sunday morning. We've seen incredible things happen in that place. As much as we've loved our time there, we will not have Easter on the Moon this year.

We will have Easter at the Civic Center! Last year we had the opportunity to welcome  approximately 3,000 people and we ran out of room. We are praying that this year we double that number... And to do so we are gonna need a bigger boat.

It really is not about numbers... at least not because we think higher numbers make us a bigger deal or anything dumb like that.

But in a way it is all about numbers because every number has a face, a name and a story and every one of them  matters to God.

Every person who walks into the arena at the Civic Center, 4 weeks from now, gets to experience the love of a Father who gave more than I can comprehend to establish a relationship with them, and the love of a group of people who really get the concept that Found People find people.

If you are in Tallahassee, or are a short drive away, you should come experience it for yourself. If not please help City Church prepare by praying for a few specific numbers. The 130 people we will need to welcome and serve those who join us that day, the 50 volunteers needed to share their love and energy with the kids who attend, the approximately 25 members of the band, staff and production team, the 1 pastor who has the great responsibility of leading and speaking, and the  7,000 seats we hope to fill.

Every number has a face a name and a story and every one of them  matters.

An Audible Expression of Inward Joy

I really love laughing. I love watching the people I love laugh. When my mother laughs really hard she just shakes uncontrollably in a state close to hyperventilation because she can’t breathe and just when everyone starts to get worried she gets a breath in and wipes the tears that are rolling down her face. When my sister laughs really hard she has been known to snort once or twice which usually sends the rest of us into laughter too. When my husband laughs really hard it makes my day. It doesn’t happen often (although the most common stimulant for Clay’s uncontrollable laughter is Pixar movies) so when it does I revel in the glory that is watching my usually reserved husband give in to uncontrollable giggles.

I made him laugh like that twice last weekend, I consider this a fairly astronomical feat.

I recently became consumed (there is no other word for it, I read 3 books in 4 days) in a book series called The Hunger Games. If you have read it you know what I mean; if you haven’t read it, you are missing out. Last weekend I sat in an armchair in our apartment unable to break away from the story. Clay told me later that at several points he would just watch me reading and marvel at the terrified expression on my face. At the conclusion of book 1 I came over to where he sat at the computer and asked how many dollars we had in the bank and could I please use $15 to go buy the next book. Apparently I had such a desperate sound in my voice and crazed expression as I pleaded my case for why I needed to go get the book right that minute that Mr. couldn’t contain it anymore and started laughing. It was such a wonderful thing to watch. Especially because I knew that he laughed like that because he enjoyed watching me enjoy something so much. After finally catching his breath he said “I haven’t laughed that hard since Tortilla” which sent us both into another fit of giggles. Less than 24 hours later I again set down book 2 and just came and sat on the floor by his chair. Before I could get a word out he started laughing again and said “we have $15 more dollars, go get book 3!” I could still hear him laughing as I nearly ran out the door to do so.

I love that we laugh a lot, I hope we always do. I hope we raise a family that has fun together. I think we will because he’s my best friend. We really just enjoy spending time together and truly find the other person funny. But mostly I think it’s because we know how blessed we really are. Mr says often that good theology shapes the way you live. For example: When you know that you really should “Rejoice in the Lord always” you find more reasons to be joyful. You more naturally respond to the humor and the happiness around you.

Laughter is an audible expression of an inward feeling of joy.  I hope you are joyful today and encounter something beautiful or ridiculous or hilarious enough to make you laugh until your sides hurt.