A funny thing happened on the way to the psych ward...

(Excerpt from my latest book, "Help I'm raising kids while doing ministry" by Josh Mayo)

"David Roshenhan illustrates this principle in a study he conducted with a group of psychiatric patients: Eight mentally stable people, including three psychologists and one psychiatrist, were asked to pretend to have symptoms so they could gain admission into the psychiatric wards of several hospitals for treatment. During the initial interview, they falsified only three pieces of information: their name, their occupation, and the admission of hearing voices. All other questions about their personal background were answered truthfully. All were successfully admitted.
Once diagnosed and admitted, the eight people stopped faking all symptoms, but the staff never detected their deception. They continued to relate to the eight volunteers as bona-fide psychiatric patients. Embarrassingly enough, many of the real patients could tell the difference. At times they voiced their suspicions strongly: "There's nothing wrong with you; you must be checking up on the hospital."
Rosenhan's point was clear. Once a diagnosis was made, even normal behavior was reinterpreted to match the clinical diagnosis. The people who evaluated the disturbed patients labeled them incorrectly. In the same way, prejudices regarding P.K.'s (Pastor's kids) can result in them being treated as if they are going to rebel, whether or not it is a reality. These labels can come from other pastors, teachers, leaders, and parents. Usually those closest to a P.K. know the truth, but it's hard to convince the rest of the world."


This particular chapter was SO interesting and full of good information for parents in full time ministry! As a P.K. or just a ministry kid prejudices and labels are most definitely put on the kids and false expectations are also part of that deal. Why can't people understand that pastors and ministry leaders are human too and no one is perfect and everyone WILL make mistakes? By EXPECTING a child to act a certain way or do certain things you speak over their life -for words have the power of life and death so as a Youth Pastor and a Parent do me a favor and speak life over your ministry leader's kids. Please.

LOVE THE PIE party entry!

FRENCH SILK PIE
(a special recipe from my BFF Jaci Laney)

Pie:
1/2 C. Butter (softened, NOT melted - very important)
3/4 Sugar
1 oz. Semisweet Chocolate Square (melted)
3 TBLS Cocoa
1 Tsp Vanilla
2 Eggs
1 Pie Crust (Pillsbury frozen kind is an excellent flaky one to use)

Topping:
1 C. Whipping Cream
1 Tsp. Vanilla
1/4 C. Powdered Sugar

Bake pie crust so it can be cooling. Beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add semi-sweet chocolate square, cocoa and vanilla until very well blended. Add 1 egg and beat on high for at least 5 minutes. Add the 2nd egg and beat another 5 minutes. Make sure your chocolate has turned a lighter color. Then pour it in baked cooled crust and refrigerate 2 hours (I sometimes freeze it to make sure it sets!). Meanwhile in another bowl beat whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Add vanilla and powdered sugar to whipping cream. Pour over pie. Garnish with your choice - I take another semisweet baking chocolate square and shave off some onto the top.

(Because I didn't know about the awesome LOVE THE PIE party until today I didn't have time to make the pie and take pictures as I usually would so this picture is courtesy of BakeMeMore.com - just click the photo for link)

10 Reasons I DO and DO NOT drink coffee...

Yes it is an oxymoron. But my life has a lot of oxymoron's so I just roll with it. So for a moment I ask you to do the same. If you are OCD and can't take reading an oxymoronic (and no it's not a real word) post then exit your screen now and go back to reading the latest Thanksgiving recipe you just found.

So I found this idea from Twitter - one of the gals I follow posted a funny sounding tweet and in the next tweet she said something about a Writer's Workshop so I checked it out in curiosity. I don't know the blog but the assignment sounded fun so I did it anyways! It's from Mama's Losin' It! blog and it's Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop. There are several prompts to pick from and I picked the one of list 10 reasons why you do/don't drink coffee. Okay so I DO occasionally drink coffee but I by no means drink it on a regular basis so I wasn't sure what to do with this and it occurred to me the reason I will drink coffee is for a few reasons but why I don't drink it regularly have other reasons so I'm combining my list to allow you to see my dilemma!

Ten Reasons Why I Do AND Don't Drink Coffee:

1. I DO drink coffee because it is a delicious warming beverage (or cooling if it's the iced version) to indulge in.

2. I DO drink coffee with lots of creamer or should I say I drink creamer with a little coffee. And it MUST be the real deal liquid creamer - milk, sugar, half and half or powdered will NOT work and I've tried.

3. I DO drink coffee because it's a great excuse to meet up with my busy working BFF!

4. I DO drink coffee because our church staff is addicted so everywhere we go we automatically pull into the Green Round Sign!

5. I DO drink coffee because it seems to just be American to do so!

6. I DO NOT drink coffee because I know many of the reasons it is bad for your body

7. I DO NOT drink coffee because I get jittery

8. I DO NOT drink coffee with my hubby because he hates it.

9. I DO NOT drink coffee in the mornings - I'm avid about starting my morning right nutritionally so Green Tea is for me when it comes to the AM!

10. I DO NOT drink coffee on a regular basis because I remember as a child my dad's heart starting skipping beats at one time and the doctor's told him the number one thing to do to get rid of the problem was to stop drinking coffee or at LEAST reduce the amount dramatically (he was drinking around a pot a day at the time) Ever since then I decided if he likes it there is a good chance I will and I don't want my heart to start skipping beats so I will not allow myself to drink it regularly, ever.

So there are the real reasons why I don't drink coffee and yet the reasons why I love to and do.

Hidden Blessings

Around holiday time things get hectic. Stressful. And down-right nuts. Which allows things such as forgetting a backpack at home or realizing you don't have a clean bra because you haven't done laundry in...well awhile, to happen. The other day was a day just like that. Yet God gave me the grace to see through the oops'. It started like this...

We have dropped my son off at his school and my daughter and I are headed to our school (she attends and I work as a Teacher's Aide). I had realized by this point I forgot to put the bills in the mailbox this morning before leaving and had just missed calling my hubby to do it for me (and they HAD to get out THAT day) The radio was off and so the car was quiet and out of nowhere my 3 year old starts singing "Open the Eyes of My Heart" and she sings it all the way through perfectly. I was smiling away in the front thinking that sound makes every care disappear, even the mail oopsey.

Then after getting into the school I realized we had left her backpack, yes with her lunch in it, at the front door! So I frantically get someone to cover my work for 40 minutes or so and run back out to the car and proceed home totally flustered. On the way home I'm talking to God about the lovely start to my day and He reminds me - now I can mail my bills. Because I'm headed home. Okay so a smile came once again to my face and I realized even though I could have REALLY let all that chaos of the morning get to me (cuz you know when your morning begins like that the rest of the day is set...which some other things did come after) yet I chose to accept that God works around our silliness and sometimes offers us huge blessings and grace THROUGH our seemingly bad circumstances.

So this holiday season when something seems to be going wrong - look for God's grace and blessing in it because I guarantee it's there!

Starbucks in Heaven

Starbucks. For a lot of people you just say that word and it brings relaxation (and perhaps a sudden overwhelming craving). For me it means special time with my daughter. You see I love enjoying a good mocha or if I want to be good a hot Tazo Green Tea, however I'm not a daily coffee drinker by any means. Mainly because I know it's bad for me and God has told me not to drink it regularly. Pretty good reason if you ask me. And this is for me - not you so don't worry you can indulge if you must. But this year as you know 9mainly from my absence of posts) I started working a couple days a week at my daughter's Day School. We get done with our school an hour before we can line up (yes LINE UP) for car-rider line at my son's school to pick him up. So with not enough time to get home and actually get out of the car before turning back around a Starbucks right near the Day School has become our special mother-daughter time. I cherish it and I encourage you to find simple little treats for you and your kiddos for some one-on-one time. However what does this have to do with heaven?

Well lately the kids learned about going to heaven when you die if you have Jesus in your heart in Sunday School. So of course it was weeks of questions over that one. I loved some of those convos: "Mommy I want to wear a Cinderella dress for the big party in heaven" (when explaining in kids terms about the Wedding Banquet when we all get to heaven). and of course my son in sobbing tears, "But mommy I don't want to have to go to heaven, I like it here in Texas". Oh good times. And too cute and funny!

So with that in mind out of the blue the other day we are in the bathroom at Starbucks (of all places to be) getting ready to head out and my daughter says, "Mommy can we live in Starbucks when we go to heaven?" (Because yes I had explained we would have beautiful houses to live in.) Now this is not the funniest part - I then of COURSE had to tweet and Facebook this funny quote and in a response back from a dear friend of mine she wrote:

"OK, now we just need to rewrite the song.

This world is not my home, I'm just passing through.

Starbucks is waiting for me too, somewhere beyond the blue,

the angels beckon me through Heaven's Drive-thru door,

and I'll have a Venti Mocha Extra Hot No Whip in my cup forevermore!

lol, I'm likin' Gracie's thinkin'!"

P.S. here is a pic of my fave Starbucks drink - Peppermint Mocha, steamed to 120 please!