Mr. Tootyhead

Last night at bedtime Kylie and I had a conversation.

Kylie:  Did you know the red on the candy cane means that Jesus bled when the soldiers killed him?

Kyle:  Wow.  Did you know that the soldiers also called Jesus names and made fun of him (I was hoping to lead into how we don't make fun of others).

Kylie:  Did they call him Mr. Tootyhead?

I quickly changed the subject and we said our prayers.  Kylie had one more comment.

Kylie:  What if someone's Mom and Dad named them Mr. Tootyhead.  Then you won't be ugly when you call them that.

Generous

Last night and tonight we hosted Photos with Santa to benefit the Orange Santa program for kids in need in Hutto.  Santa was awesome (as usual).  We had a lot of help from other groups in the community, which really made it a great event.

With the economy tanking, we fully expected to run low this year.  But last night and today, some people came through in BIG ways.  It's encouraging to know that, even in hard times, people can show generousity.  It's a blessing for both parties.

On a different note, as I was heading out the door for our event, I got a call from a man in Ontario who is excited about our Sister City relationship.  He grew up in Chililabombwe, is a Canadian citizen, and is of Indian descent.  I love the global village!  His passion was contagious!

What joy we have when we give ourselves away.  

Making Dough

In our ongoing attempts to be frugal (we've cut our grocery budget almost in half), I spent an hour today making pizza dough.  After making 12 full-size pies, I'm pretty good at tossing them in the air without punching a hole in them on the way down.

Also on the plate are freezer cinnamon rolls.  Put some out the night before and in the morning they are ready to bake.  This should limit trips to the donut shop. 

I'm intrigued about the bread making process.  My grandpa used to own a bakery in the days where you bought your bread fresh and not from Wal-Mart.  Almost every culture has a type of bread as a staple.  

The process is very relaxing for me.  Hard work, focused thought, and you can eat it when you're done.  What's not to like?

Courageous Sucking

I just read an interesting post from Merlin Mann about the "Tolerance for Courageous Sucking".  He's writing about learning to take better photographs, but I think the lesson is great for church planting as well:

"Nobody likes feeling like a noob, especially when you’re getting constant pressure on all sides to never stick out in an unflattering way. And, in this godforsaken just-add-Wikipedia era of make-believe insight and instant expertise, it’s natural to start believing you must never suck at anything or admit to knowing less than everything — even when you’re just starting out. Clarinets should never squawk, sketch lines should never be visible, and dictionaries are just big, dumb books of words for cheaters and fancy people. Right?

I think finding your own comfort with the process (whatever that process ends up being) might just be the whole game here — being willing to put in your time, learn the craft, and never lose the courageousness to be caught in the middle of making something you care about, even when it might be shit and you might look like an idiot fumbling to make it. What’s the worst thing that could happen?

Well, you could quit, because it’s too hard to make stuff you aren’t already great at. You could convert all that pointless effort and practice back into MySpace updates and the production of funny cat pictures. No, it’s not technically the worst thing that could happen, but it’s a damned common pathway for fear to molder back into an emotional impulse to put on jammies and watch Judge Judy."

I've been working on managing my expectations and enjoying stuff more.  Rather than just looking for that day I arrive at perfect execution (any day now!), I'm joining myself for the ride.  So, while some of our tries may be "teh suck", at least we're trying.  Right?  

If I'm going to suck at something, at least it should be something worth it.