Mary Poppins and the 2016 Election Cycle

Picture source

 I love Mary Poppins. It might be referred to as a “kids” or “family” movie (which it is), but I think you can never be too old to watch Dick Van Dyke dance on a rooftop. I laugh so hard I cry when Uncle Andrew hosts a tea party of the ceiling, I snicker at Mrs. Banks’ ditzy household management, and I choke up when Julie Andrews sings “Feed the Birds”. You could make a lot of cultural and relational observations from the film: the relationship between Jane, Michael, and Mr. Banks, the relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Banks, the relationship between Mary Poppins and the children. The following scenes are classic (please, say I’m not the only one who wants to live on the same street as Admiral Boom!) but it makes an interesting point.
 

George: “I suggest you have this piano repaired. When I sit down to an instrument, I like to have it in tune.”

Winifred: “But George, you don’t play!”

George: “My dear, that is entirely besides the point!” 

While laughing for the umpteenth time about this particular scene, I had an odd revelation. I, along with the rest of our family, have been more involved in this election cycle than in any other. It is obvious that we are at a massive crossroads – and most of the routes that we currently see are not that desirable. We have socialism, illogical promises, and antichristian candidates on one side, and a few RINOs, an incomprehensibly proud billionaire, and Ted Cruz on the other. That, by the way, is not a “diss” on Cruz – at the moment, we are supporting him and praying for wisdom and integrity on all sides. 

However, George’s silly rejoinder to Winifred’s sweet logic is a bizarre analogy of what will go down in the history books as one of the strangest election cycles in history. I feel that this could be applied several different ways, one of which is the Trump campaign. 

Christians and non-Christians alike are, rightfully, pointing out the issues and inconsistencies the Donald displays – but he consistently is winning primary after primary, even in states that were expected to vote differently thanks to their Christian, conservative population (can anyone say South Carolina?). Of course, a part of me wonders where all these people and their Trump-warnings were four years ago when Obama was campaigning for a second term… but it’s a little late for that now. Back to the point, though, it is amazing how many people – conservative Christians, no less – have thrown themselves on the “Trump train”. Their leader is “an unrepentant serial adulterer…who has openly and unapologetically boasted of his many sexual conquests and who famously cheated on wife number one by ensconcing the woman who became wife number two in a penthouse apartment at one of his casinos in Atlantic City”, as Bryan Fischer aptly states. Fischer goes on to say that “[a]s recently as last week he was defending taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood.” How on earth does that kind of man become the “hero” to so many people who recite the Ten Commandments every Sunday morning? 

Of course, for those who count themselves fiscal conservatives and not necessarily social conservatives, Donald isn’t that hot of a choice either – “he has over-leveraged four different business enterprises into bankruptcy and yet wants us to believe he’s just the man to do something about our $19 trillion federal debt.” (Thanks, again, to Fischer.)

I could elaborate further – how Trump doesn’t hold the biblical view of sexuality, how his rudeness and immaturity will make us even more of a laughingstock, and even how the selfish, evil actions of other politicians have caused the panic that drives people to support Trump – but I will restrain myself for now.

Here’s my point:

Donald can’t play.

Not at all.

Yet, he and his supporters consistently reply, “Madam, that is entirely besides the point!”

The piano needs to be played. It needs to be played with love, talent, and integrity. For the sake of us all – and especially, as Ben Carson stated at CPAC, “for the children” – please, please find a pianist who can play a song of freedom, virtue, and life.

That is the point, after all.

Mercy Time

Checkout line at Walmart, 5:30 p.m. I've made it through the entire shopping list - apples, milk, rice, chicken broth, salt, and whatever else a family functions on - and am ready to be home two hours ago.

The kind checkout lady swipes the last item: "$44.47."

I dig in my wallet, pull out the card, and swipe.

The sound that everyone dreads: beep. "Transaction could not be completed," says the sassy little touchscreen. (Don't you hate those things sometimes?)

Since I know that this is a problem with the bank, and not with how much money I have to spend, I start taking things out of the cart (bye bye, apples) and the lady rings a smaller list up for me.

Beep again. You get the idea.

After another unsuccessful try, I hear a soft voice behind me.

"Excuse me, ma'am?"

I turn around and see a tall man standing there with a kind look on his face.

"Do you need help paying for your groceries?"

I am awed by this sweet question and how he just shows up out of nowhere.

"Well, yes, my card isn't working."

"I can help you," he says, again in that so-soft voice that I can barely hear.

All the things I removed from my cart are re-scanned, and the sweet cashier once again gives the total: "$44.47." The stranger pulls out three $20 bills and sets them on the counter. He waits for the receipt to print and the change to be given, then he takes the change and walks away.

Just like that.

I thank him for the third time as he is walking away with his back to me. He doesn't stop, just turns his head and nods.

I push the cart out to the parking lot, load up the car, and sit there completely amazed at what God does, thanking him for someone that saw a need and stepped in, not wanting any accolades or compensation. I wish I had thanked him twice as many times, gotten his name, given him a hug. I pray that he knows that he has blessed us that night, and I pray that he is blessed himself.

Words can't express what I feel about what he did.

Three $20 bills and a tall stranger with a heart of gold have given me an inspiration.

I want to be that person who just shows up - in the check out line, at Starbucks, in the parking lot, at church, at home, at school - and takes care of something. The person who pays for the couple in the car behind them, the person who is poof, there, and poof, gone, when someone can't pay for what they have in the bags. The person who sees someone struggling with a door and a load of stuff and runs to help. The person who sees a serviceman/woman or first responder in the restaurant and picks up their tab.

The person who sees someone struggling with all those things that run deeper than groceries, heavy doors, and a $5 latte... and is there. With help.



So that's part of what I believe is the mission God has sent us on. Show love and mercy. Leave an impact on people that leaves them feeling knocked out of their socks and wondering what it is that makes you do that. I will be looking out for those who need help - whether it's a $20 bill handed to the cashier without pause or a long hug and tissue for the tears.

I want to give others that unbelievable feeling I had while sitting in the Walmart parking lot last Saturday.

Why don't you join me?

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.   James 3:17 (NKJV)

#scrapper -- 12.12.15 travel journal

What is one to do when one of your best friends decides to go on vacation - without you - for a month?

Pull out the scrapbooking supplies... and go on Pinterest to make her Christmas present.

After some searching, I found pins detailing smash journals and various travel journals and knew I had a winner. Thankfully, I already had a pack of appropriate paper from Walmart (Colorbok) and plenty of other supplies - twine, scrapbooking squares, fancy scissors. Off I went to Michaels - and let me tell you, friends. Michaels has amazing sales. Basically the Kohl's of the craft world... Thanks to, first, a 50% off coupon and then 3 uses of a 40% off coupon 3 days in a row, I managed to get all of these supplies for super, super cheap. Google "Michaels coupons".

What you're about to see - drumroll - is my version of a travel journal. The goal was to make something in which my friend had plenty of room to write, paste pictures, and insert "paper souvenirs".

First, I started with a regular 6x8, 80-page, unlined journal from Michaels. I wanted thicker pages - not your regular notebook thickness - so they could actually hold some weight.

I really didn't want something with words on the cover, since I wanted to decorate the cover. However, this phrase ended up fitting very well with the whole theme of the journal.

The rest of the supplies were pretty basic - a few different kinds of scissors, glue sticks, super glue, Bic markers, a black fine tip Sharpie, scrapbook paper, scrapbooking squares, rulers, glitter, stickers, charms, twine, and quotes I designed and printed on beige cardstock.

Can you tell I'm OCD/type A? I wrote down every single day she would be gone on an index card so I could keep track of how many pages I had made already and how many were left. This also really helped me lay out the journal, since she will be in more than one state during her vacation - thanks to the index card, I could design certain pages differently based on where she would be.

I am inordinately proud of the above page (the cover page). It was easy to make - write each letter of her name in a different style on my handy-dandy cardstock, cut out a modified circle and paste on scrapbook paper, cut out another modified circle, and slap it all on the page. However, deciding how to lay out the letters was NOT fun. In retrospect, I should have taken a closer look at the amount of space I had on the page before recklessly cutting all those letters so big.

Obviously, I just grabbed pieces of scrapbook paper and started cutting. The imperfect circles were super fun, since I can't cut a circle to save my life. Notice how these layouts are extremely simple. I left a lot empty so she could write and paste everything in the journal.

I think the biggest thing, for me, about this journal was the fact that it was such a mishmash of colors and styles. Some of it was typed, most of it was handwritten (and no, I am not that girl with gorgeous handwriting). A lot of it was romantic/modern vintage in style, but there were smidgens of modern black and white and bright colors. I really liked this, because I honestly think perfect projects are not only very discouraging to try, but also unrealistic, especially for someone with OCD (like me). So, the point to that little dissertation is: it's completely and totally fine if you hand write a quote on your paper and glue that in. Mix up the colors. Switch back and forth from styles. And, this is supposed to be accessible, right? So, you will probably not have time (or want to take the time) to type everything you want to say on the computer, format it, and print it. That is a-ok.

I admit it, I think like a teacher. However, what else are you supposed to do when there will be a 5-year-old on this trip as well? You just have to give them a space to journal (i.e. color, doodle, and write down hilarious stuff). I put two sections of these "kid pages" through the journal. These were, frankly, the easiest ones to make, since all those letters, frames, symbols, etc. were premade and perforated. Can I get a cheer?

One of my favorite web resources is Dafont. This site has thousands of free fonts in all different styles - Gothic, Serif, Celtic, Script, Wingdings, Christmas, etc. All of the fonts I used in this project, except for about two, were downloaded from Dafont.

I think the two pages on the left were some of the best in the whole project. If someone is going to an amusement park, you just have to incorporate tickets in there somehow... and I found a whole 12x12 sheet of paper covered with tickets at Michaels. To make the pocket on the left, just cut a triangular piece out of your paper, slap glue (not scrapbooking squares) on the two legs of the triangle, and align it with the edge of your paper. This is a basic, redneck-style pocket. (At least I think so - there are some serious pocket tutorials out there that I would love to do.)

I love, love, love this Emerson quote:
Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not. Perfect for a travel journal, right? I thought so.

Finally, one last detail: a bookmark. This was so easy. Take three strands of twine, cut about 3 inches longer than the length of your notebook (in this case, 11 inches). You're going to braid them together, so you have to tie the tops together. Just tie two of them together and then add the third one in and make a second knot. Braid until you have about an inch left. Then, take a charm (again, I found mine at Michaels, but these are literally all over the place - your choice) and thread one of the strands of twine through the loop. Braid the strands again about 1-2 times, then fold them back up against the long braid on whatever side is the back of your charm. Hold them there and dab super glue on near the bend so they will stick to the main braid. Once the glue dries, cut off the end of the braid (you see why I glued it at the bend, not at the very end. Oooh. Rhymes.) You will probably have to put something heavy on top of the bookmark for a little bit to straighten it out.
Next, open up your notebook farther than 180 degrees - this may depend on your notebook and how it's built, but the outside binding on this notebook wasn't glued to the spine. This gave me a little hole to stick things into, so I used a pencil to spread super glue down the inside of the hole and then stuck the top end of the bookmark in there, shut the notebook tight, and clamped it down so it could dry.

Gotta have a hashtag, right?

I think that the biggest piece of advice I have is: don't get a journal with eighty pages!! It ended up being way too many for the timeframe I had to work on this. If you know you're making this project a month in advance, and you start a month in advance, you can fill all eighty pages. If you try to do it in five days, no way, Jose. Ain't happening. And, related to the journal question - if you can find something along the lines of a sketchpad with non-perforated pages or a spiral notebook with thick paper, my guess is that it will be a lot easier to work with.

I hope this post gives you some ideas or some inspiration! Go out there and do something... remarkable.

What an original quote.

At Least

My grandma is dying of congestive heart failure. As I write this, we have made plans to go see her for what we think will be the last time. I've already (being the planner that I am) come up with things to do while we're there - I'm going to borrow a keyboard and play for her. I'm going to ask her to retell all those stories that I always thought should be written down. We will sing for her, let the dog inside to be loved on by her, entertain her with our antics, and take pictures. Lots of pictures.

It's almost impossible to give you the full essence of who she is through a blog post. She has a magnet on her fridge that reads "showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord" (from Psalm 78). That is probably the best summary I can give, and my aunt's blog post that I read this morning is further proof that she is one of the brightest "lights on a hill" on this earth.

My mother was admitted to a hospital in Pittsburgh that has a reputation for good doctors, but a place I would never recommend.  An old hospital under construction with narrow drab hallways, boring rooms, marked up walls that should have been painted years ago, broken blinds (her middle blind wouldn’t open), and dirty windows.  I had to ask for towels and toiletries, clean up after her because it took over an hour for anyone to respond to my requests, buy her bottled water, and even buy her meal the first night because she was in the emergency room when dinner was served.  The view in front of her bed was primarily trash receptacles and a board with the rarely updated names of her current caregivers and the goal of her visit: “home”.  My sister brought lots of photos and decorations from home on the third day which was wonderful…

My mother’s experience: Every morning she pointed out the “beautiful sunrise” – she is a country girl who is used to seeing the sunrise through trees – this one was over another drab and dirty hospital building.  She enjoyed walking the hospital hallways, admiring how wide they were, and looking out at the city through the window down the hall since there was no view of it from her room.  Mom told me several times how impressed she was with what a great job the cleaning woman did.  She was so kind and friendly to the nurses and aides, even when they came in all night every couple of hours.  One nurse said she was the sweetest patient he’d had. We sat together for hours looking at movies I’ve made of her grandchildren, and pictures from trips we made together as well as my travels.  I even showed pictures from my walk through the nearby park in the afternoons, and she never complained that she could no longer do those things.

Enjoying the sunrise - through a horrible view. Watching Pittsburgh live its life through a window in the hall. Loving the nurses who came to help her, no matter when. Noticing how well cleaned her room was. Admiring how wide the hospital hallways were.

That last one really gets me.

She is finding ways to see the good in where she is. By the grace of God, she has found it, too.

To me, this is a huge lesson to learn. She, as I know from numerous phone calls, emails, and texts, was very uncomfortable, thanks to the fluid building up in her lungs and the general discomfort of a heart that no longer will cooperate. Yet she saw an "at least" - which is what she always does - in everything.

Nasty, ugly buildings? At least I can see the sunrise - and God did such a great job on it, too.

Look, Deborah, the cleaning lady did such a great job today! This is so nice!

Pictures from the walk my daughter took, that I can't do anymore? At least she's here with me and I get to spend time with her.


So I am going to start looking for "at leasts". Because we just celebrated Thanksgiving. We were grateful for what we had - stomach bugs and colds changed our plans and so we cooked a big dinner at home and had a sweet, snowy day with just the six of us. Because we have so much. Because, no matter what we do or don't have, we have victory in Jesus, which never changes.


Dirty dishes on one side of the counter? At least we had the food to make them dirty.

An annoying sibling that won't stop? At least I have him/her in my life.

Snowy paw prints on the (freshly mopped) floor? At least we have this bundle of joy we call a dog.

My beloved grandma is sick and getting ready to leave us?

At least I get to see her one more time.