Joyverflow: January 2014

Friday, January 31, 2014

Columbia Mall

source:DMG photography -- other beautiful photos there, as well.

What do you say, what do you do, when somewhere you're so familiar with, somewhere you grew up and where you spent countless hours as a tween and a teen, shows up in the national news for an outburst of human violence?

After you call your family and make sure they're fine, you commiserate with your friends about the solidarity of the community. And most importantly, you turn to prayer. I foresee people recognizing need and seeking counsel. Pray for receptivity to the Spirit. God is on the move.

Pastor Randy Lovelace's sermon at Columbia Presbyterian Church (CPC) (the church I grew up in) from the following day, "Hope in the Face of Danger":

Tangentially, an interesting Baltimore Sun article on the 40th anniversary of the mall, including 1971 photo below.

And a resource on talking to kids about the event.

As an aside, I find it interesting how upset I am by this attack on "my" community, my "safe" community. Why am I not surprised or even alarmed when Harrisburg has yet another shooting, or Baltimore?

Come, LORD Jesus!

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Growing as a person

Vicki, to the class:

You've all improved so much over the last 12, 18 months. I'm so happy with how you've grown.

...Now do it again.
And make me happier.

Monday, January 27, 2014

The Happy Formula for Raising Successful Kids

Shawn Achor has cropped up a few times in my life of late.

As far as his Happy Formula for Raising Successful Kids article, there's a secret, and the secret is in the title!

Sunday, January 26, 2014

God is at work in Harrisburg. God is at work in Hershey. God is at work in Mechanicsburg. And God is on the move!

Beth Moore is coming to
Hershey PA this spring, Fri-Sat May 2-3.

Who wants to go with me? I even have an extended-early-bird discount code good for $10 off, bringing tickets to $59. I will be placing my final order on that discount code this Thurs, Jan 30. Please contact me ASAP if you want in on that order!

This is Beth's one event on the entire East Coast this year.

I have gone through three of her video series: Esther, Daniel, and Deuteronomy. Each has hit me exactly where God's Spirit has needed me to grow and go, which needless to say is not Beth's doing but God's. Fortunately, God has seen fit to honor her thorough study, powerful preaching, and intimate style. She is the only person I know who can take an auditorium of thousands viewing live, broadcast through a video series into classrooms and small groups across the nation, and still make it feel as though she invited you to sit down in her kitchen for cup of tea. That happens only through prayer for the preaching and teaching and prayer for the hearts to receive.

To that end, CLA hosted a dessert rally on a cold (but thankfully not snowy) January evening to call together the prayer warriors to pray for God to impact our community through us. Nearly 200 ladies gathered to join in the vision to pray, prepare, and invite.

photo source: Jessie Seneca, Action Team coordinator

The city coordinator, Wendy Walters, passed along to us a scripture from Beth to pray over Living Proof Live: Hershey.

Psalm 20

May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble!
May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!
May he send you help from the sanctuary
and give you support from Zion!
May he remember all your offerings
and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices! Selah

May he grant you your heart’s desire
and fulfill all your plans!
May we shout for joy over your salvation,
and in the name of our God set up our banners!
May the Lord fulfill all your petitions!

Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed;
he will answer him from his holy heaven
with the saving might of his right hand.
Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright.
O Lord , save the king!
May he answer us when we call.

We also got to hear from Beth via video. She recognized that many of us have done her studies before, some many studies. Her encouragement to us was that Bible study reunion nice but what about those who have not yet come? and urged us to focus on outreach. God provided new manna, "fresh baked bread" as Beth put it, not only in the past in the wilderness, but here and now as well.

That being said, Beth is only here for a weekend. The event is good but after the event what have we built? Please pray for the churches in the community and all up and down the coast to be able to minister effectively to meet the ever-increasing need.

There also were rally awards:
Farthest was the trio of ladies who drove in from Medford NJ.
Biggest group - two groups tied for 6, including US! Each of us received a two-disc set-your-head of Beth Moore 10min devotionals, perfect for Automobile University. Plus, our fearless leader received The Resolution for Women, the companion book to the movie Courageous AND an event ticket to be able to bless someone!!

The Giant Center has 7,000 seats on the floor and first level.
But in a prayer walk thru the building, there was such need perceived in the upper section. 2,000 women far from the LORD.
So the goal is to fill Giant Center to the rafters - 9,000 seats! That's 4500 women of God each bringing a friend along. Who can you invite?

103 days to the event. 6300 seats are open. Pray for those filling each and every seat.

UPDATE: as of the 1/24 LPLHershey newsletter, 3052 seats have been sold!

Official website: Living Proof Live Hershey Videos and marketing info available for download.
Facebook page: m, LPLHershey

Do noodles make you happy?

Noodles make me happy.
So does getting together with college friends.
And cousins.
And nieces.
And a nephew who, today at least, likes me strictly from across the room, but ADORES Uncle Big Frog enough to scootch across the floor on his bum with a treasure to share. Really.

(What? Me, jealous? Just because I picked you up and you burst into hysterical tears? See if I kidnap you and take you to the Ren Faire.)
(OK, I probably will, but not this year. But your sisters? Mine.)

I've had a yearning for knife-cut noodles for awhile now. Weeks? (Months? Years?)
I haven't had any since the 90's. Too long. And Big Frog had never had them ever, although he's seen enough Ching-He Huang on the Cooking Network to drool with Pavlovian anticipation at their mention.

Thanks to Yelp, I discovered that the best hand-drawn noodle and knife-cut noodle place in the "Harrisburg area" is in fact Nan Zhou Hand Drawn Noodle House in Chinatown Philly. That's not at all surprising, but I do wish it were closer.

If you're not familiar with the wonder that is rustic freshly made noodles, check this street vendor out on Youtube. (Primericans and mathematicians will appreciate the doubling that goes into hand-drawn nooodles. It's just 10 doubling periods to go from 1 to 1000.)

Hungry yet?

So, with a leadership event on the calendar in Philly, Big Frog and I made our usual inquiries into stopping by the Philly (Philly suburbs) cousins' place afterwards.
Alas! Alack! They were already committed for the afternoon. But if evening wasn't too late for us to come by they would be home.

Hmmm.
That might give us enough time to pop by Chinatown.
And perhaps nosh a bit? (In my world, both Yiddish and Chinese are food languages. True? Of course true.)

Our RVP, who knows we usually visit our nieces and nephew after a Philly event, asked us for carpooling/caravaning reasons if we were doing likewise this time.
He's a gourmet chef. We mentioned Chinatown, and he would have joined us in Chinatown if he weren't driving the going-straight-home van.

'Twas the night before Star school and I was on Yelp...

And it occurred to me that several of the people who had commiserated with me about noodles were in the right geographical area to join us. The other advantage that provides is that with more people to feed and an expectation of family-style dining, we can try a LOT of different things.

Fortunately, some college friends were game. And they brought their kids and a Chinatown-loving friend. My dad asked me after the fact if they were Chinese. I said they were every bit as Chinese as Big Frog and I. We're all 余s, now.

Others sent regrets and requests for 1) pics and 2) takeout.

Pork and chives and shrimp dumplings. (We also had pork and chives dumplings. They look the same from the outside.)

Pea tips, with a tip of the hat to my Aunt M, who introduced them to me several years ago. My YenYen, dad and Aunt M's mom, used to grow them. Although my dad says he'd never had them until I introduced them to him... ummm...
Fish ball soup with hand-drawn noodles. And props to J for dishing them out all around the table! Bear in mind that it's technically all one enormous noodle. Longevity for New Year's indeed! I was surprised and pleased that the youngest kid liked the fish balls the most.

The Yelp absolute-must-try, and my personal favorite, Beef brisket with knife-cut noodles.

UNfortunately, although we got a few snapshots, we dived into two of our dishes before getting photos. Forgive us! Fortunately, they were stir-frys. We had a chicken with hand-drawn noodle and a roast pork with knife-cut noodle.

Eight people ate four entrees, a veg, and three orders of dumplings. We figured we'd start there and order more as we figured out what we liked best. Except that we ended up with leftovers from just that much. (Do noodles multiply? I could definitely see Jesus feeding 5000 Chinese on nothing but umami. Stone soup is real, friends. Sometimes it's the best soup you can make.)

But wait! Cousins! Nieces! A small but surprisingly ravenous nephew! Their function finished, we arranged a rendezvous and ordered... Takeout! More noodles!

Three orders went to their home with us. We ate and were satisfied... and once again had leftovers.

See you Monday, Coach! It is your lucky day.

Tangentially... New Year's is this coming Friday. Just FYI, here's an intriguing Feng Shui take on this year. Happy year of the Horse! Gung hay fat choy!

Baltimore Stallions (Coulda been the Hippos!)

I don't remember the Colts moving away in the dark of night on Mayflower moving vans.
(Why? Well... I was four.)
But I know it happened.

Did it affect me?
Not so much at that point.

In fact, I wasn't really into football of any kind until I married Big Frog.
(And not just because one week after I was married, the Ravens became SuperBowl champions.)
(But it doesn't hurt.)

I do remember the excitement of football coming back to Baltimore.

But the Ravens (which are my boys!) weren't the first.
Before there were Ravens, there was the CFL (Canadian Football League) in Baltimore.

Interesting oral history of the Baltimore Stallions available at The Baltimore Sun: Baltimore's Forgotten Champions.

I remember the naming competition. And I remember (of all things!) that if we had the Baltimore Hippos, we could "Hipp...O!" in the National Anthem, much like we do at Orioles games.
(There's no "O" in Ravens. But that has never ever stopped a Baltimoron.)

Anyways, read the oral history. You'll be glad you did.

Saturday, January 25, 2014

That's Key! Safford Star School (the last of its kind!)

Company 2yr commitment to regional cross-hierarchy conferences; we're the guinea pigs (cuz we always get the biggest #s & most enthusiasm when they have regional events): Philadelphia Area Leadership Schools (PAL school)

"Of the Year" at different levels:

Make a difference, do it fast. ~Faith Brown

What happened in the past doesn't matter. ~Reese Kagal

Are you glad to be alive today? ~Jeff Lathrop

What do I do with this gift? ~Jeff Lathrop

If your life ended today, what would your legacy be? Fortunately, you're still here, so you get the chance to make it count. ~Granville Goldsmith

Change your fear: not fear of talking to people (ttp) but fear that if don't talk to that person, that person will be the next Safford or Lavin or ___ and I'll see them at convention and recognize them from my past and they're getting promoted to RVP and I didn't talk to you. ~Jackie Ashford.

Anthony Hines:

Problem of sabotage - convincing self to take a step back.

Problem of complacency.

Get out of a rut by doing something!! take steps in the right direction - the moment you start doing it it becomes a way of life - a good groove.

Already on a paradigm but it's a broken paradigm and you've made it a way of life.

Frustrated to see others' success and wanting it but not doing.

Stop wanting it and start doing it.

Take more action.

A baby doesn't think to self "I really wanna walk I really wanna walk I really wanna walk"; baby gets up and does it!

Without activity you can accomplish nothing.

Are you frustrated with your business and want it to be more? Do you have 16 interviews and 16 kitchen table appointments scheduled for this week? Well that's why you're frustrated.

Ben Sheppard

Find something that gets you out of bed in the morning that you want to get after. Something bigger than you, something that captures your heart.

Everything in your business that you think is uncomfortable, that's what you need to do to get better.

The stuff I hate doing is what's gonna help me get big. The stuff that's easy for me is going to keep me small.

Stop worrying about your upline and take resp for how many downlines you have.

Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. ~Thomas Edison

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Be FREE!

Getting unstuck
Breaking the chains.
Getting free.
Running like the wind!

Rapunzel - getting out of tower song (Also I've got a dream)

Really Rosie
What did 5yo me believe I could do? ANYTHING!

"Really Rosie"

I'm really Rosie
And I'm Rosie Real
You better believe me
I'm a great big deal!

BELIEVE ME!

I'm a star from afar
Off the golden coast
Beat the drum! Make that toast!
To Rosie the Most!

BELIEVE ME!

I can sing
Tea for Two and Two for Tea
I can act
To be or not to be
I can tap
Across the Tappan Zee
Hey, can't you see?
I'm terrific at everything!
No star shines so bright as me - Rosie!

BELIEVE ME!

I'm Really Rosie
I'm Rosie Real
I'm Really Rosie

BELIEVE ME!

Hip issues Joel 2

Joyce Meyer - Everyday Life Daily Devotional - day 101

God Can Raise the Lazaruses in Your Life

Remember when Jesus visited Mary and Martha after their brother Lazarus had been dead for four days? When He finally arrived, Martha said, "Master, if You had been here, my brother would not have died" (John 11:21 AMP).

Martha was clearly in a state of despair. Then, "Jesus said to her, 'Your brother shall rise again.' Martha replied, 'I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day'" (vv. 23-24). I don't think she really understood what Jesus was saying. She was looking toward a future possibility, not a present reality. She didn't really expect things to change.

A lot of us are like Martha, stuck in our troubles, not realizing that God can turn things around. But Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, and He can raise the 'Lazaruses' in your life.

Don't lose hope. You might be hurting now, but out of every disaster, God can bring a new beginning. Believe in God, and watch Him show His glory in your life.

Prayer Starter: Lord, I know that You will work every situation for Your glory. Instead of getting caught up in my problems, I believe that You can raise the 'Lazaruses' in my life.

That's key! Jimmy 2014 kickoff - Maniac Millionaires in Training

Live the stories you want to tell.

Richie Falcone:

If you thought about overrides every day, every day you'd get an override.
Use company credibility -- a huge company, that gives us a chance! That doesn't happen in corporate.
We get paid to handle adversity in the business more than product.
We get paid to make people happy.
Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn. -John Maxwell
A shot is not shot if you don't take a shot.

What's possible?
Understand the chance we have.
The bigger you win, the bigger our story is.
It ain't over until I win. -Rodney Jackson

Life is like a hockey game -- and it'd be pretty easy, except there's a goalie. The goalie's game it to keep you out of the goal.
In Primerica, there's no goalie.
But when you see someone who discourages/disparages, it's a goalie. Chargebacks, etc, that's a goalie in the net. Commits but no guests, goalies.
Went from no goalies to a crowd of goalies.
Learning to handle nos
Managing the self-talk

Checkers: You move, they move. You move, they move. If they don't move, don't get mad at them but don't spend time with them. If you spend too much time with them, you don't want to move.
Mentals: there's gonna be SOMEBODY THERE tonight who wants what we do.
If you sell ppl on a great life every day, you start to believe your life is great.
If you're not dreaming about this bus, it doesn't eat you up yet. -Joe Ensor, quoted by Gina Penn

What is stopping me and what do i need to do to get past it?

Where there is no vision the people perish. (Prov 29:18)
Where there is vision, the people flourish. -Bob Safford

Joyverflow