TEN THINGS ON MY DESK

• 2 AP stylebooks
• Glamour shots
• Piggy bank
• Copy of the 2008 State of the World’s Children
• A blow-up microphone
• Invitation to a baby shower that happened a week ago
• A purple lei
• Pictures of my sponsored kiddos
• Calendar that is currently turned to November 2007
• 13 CDs with pictures from Africa

Good grief. I really do need to clean off my desk.

When I was a kid I believed…
-That every time you hiccuped you grew an inch. I don’t know why, but at some point in my childhood, my mom told me, when I had the hiccups, “Oh, that means you’re growing!” I don’t know where I got the hiccup equation (1 hiccup=1 inch of growth), but I think it verifies that I’m a genius. Well, until the night that I got the hiccups, and they wouldn’t stop, and I started crying because I was afraid I was going to grow into this weird giant child who wouldn’t fit in her bed anymore.

-I was dead. This belief came from a rather dim-witted nurse who told then 6-year-old me that I didn’t have a pulse. Apparently, when I’m sick, my pulse becomes pretty faint, and she had a hard time finding it. “Oh, you must not have a pulse,” she joked. But I didn’t know it was a joke. I thought I was dead.

-There was a pirate ghost living under my closet. I don’t really know where this came from. My stepsister convinced me that she saw a peg-legged ghost near our house. And somehow, in my mind, he had taken up residence in the crawl space under my closet. Every sound that I heard at night, I attributed to that ghost. Arrrr.

-People lived in my walls. Our hallway walls were this wood paneling. And sometimes, I thought I could make out faces in the grain. So, I of course to the conclusion that people lived in our walls. Maybe they were friends with the pirate.

-My failure to know the days of the week was my undoing. One of my most vivid childhood memories comes when I was being tested for my school’s gifted program. It was the end of kindergarten, and I sat with a kind lady who was asking me a series of questions. One of those questions was “How many days are in the week.” I boldly answered five. By the time she moved on to the next question, I realized my mistake. “Seven, I meant seven!” I said. She patted me on the head, and continued her questions. I thought my life was over.

So this fun little blog reminded me of a few things. Namely, I was a weird kid who grew into a weird adult.

I literally get chills from a well-turned phrase. So, I would like to post for you, in no particular order, some of my favorite song lyrics. Consider this part 1. Because I know as soon as I hit publish, I will think of some glaring oversights.

And please, don’t just skim this post. Read the words. Let them soak in. Then go buy CDs by these artists. Because they’re phenomenal.

———-

The day’s last sight turns to cool night’s breeze
And this love hangs thick like these willow leaves
I’ve hid myself away from this
But your silhouette is the Judas kiss

-On a Night Like This, by Dave Barnes

———-

A thing resounds when it rings true
Ringing all the bells inside of you
Like a golden sky on a summer eve
Your heart is tugging at your sleeve
And you cannot say why
There must be more

-More, by Pierce Pettis and Andrew Peterson

———-

So he held her and he prayed
Shafts of moonlight on his face
But the baby in her womb
He was the maker of the moon
He was the Author of the faith
That could make the mountains move

-Labor of Love, by Andrew Peterson

———-

When they tell you all their troubles have been nailed up to that cross
Then what about the times when even followers get lost?
‘Cause we all get lost sometimes…

-Silence of God, by Andrew Peterson

———-

Jesus says Mother I couldn’t stay another day longer
Flies right by me and leaves a kiss upon her face
While the angels are singin’ his praises in a blaze of glory
Mary stays behind and starts cleaning up the place

-Mary, by Patty Griffin

———-

You could cry or die
Or just make pies all day

-Making Pies, by Patty Griffin

———-

But I’d pretend to be sleeping
When you’d come in in the morning
To whisper goodbye
Go work in the rain
I don’t know why
Don’t know why

-Top of the World, by Patty Griffin

———-

Long before I was covered up in gray
Before the old had bent my bones
We grew our children in the red Georgia clay
They were our garden and our home

-All That I Have Sown, by Bebo Norman

———-

Grace’s amazing hands, they’re ugly,
They’re bruised by the blows that I have blown.
She knows well I don’t deserve her,
But she laughs and says, That’s the way love goes.

-Grace’s Amazing Hands, by Dave Barnes

———-

It don’t matter if it has no taste, cause it’s all in the name
Soon they had a one brand town with pantries all the same
It left them with no appetite for stuff that broke the mold
And a faith that was as shallow as the milk left in the bowl of holy flakes

-Holy Flakes, by Andy Gullahorn

———-

I am Jerusalem, I am the temple of the Lord
Holy of Holies, the Lord dwells within
Lord God Almighty, maker of men.

-Jerusalem, by Randall Goodgame

———-

If you love
Be prepared to lose.

-Cartoon Auction, by Randall Goodgame

———-

I was standing at the gates of hell
with a heart as black as coal
and you saved my soul
so I sing…

The Wind, by Randall Goodgame

Four jobs I’ve had: camp counselor, baseball park concessions worker, baby sitter, and feature writer

Four places I have lived: Pamplin, VA; Nashville, TN; Hannibal, MO; Colorado Springs, CO

Four movies I watch over and over: You’ve Got Mail, White Christmas, Lord of the Rings, The Incredibles (What a weird combination)

Four favorite foods: white chicken chili, pulled pork, apple cake, butter beans

Four favorite TV shows: Lost, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Good Eats, Ugly Betty

Four places I’d rather be right now: Ethiopia, Brazil, hanging out with my family in VA, at home taking a nap

Four things I wonder about: Will I get married and have a family? Where will I get to travel next? How does prayer work? Is it possible for me to finish my to-do list today?