March 17, 2011: Happy St. Patty's Day to Ya!

Heaveno!

Although you're reading this on Friday, Happy St. Patrick's Day to ya!  Aside from some green in our wardrobe, the day was rather normal.  I did talk to the gal at the UPS store in an irish brogue the entire time from enter to exit, though.  That was fun.  One of my friends called me while I was in there and then I went on a full rant.  Aye.  All in good fun.

Ali got to hear Julian's heart beat at the OB checkup today!  That was cute.  Especially because it's the same OB that delivered Ali!  That must be a little bit of a trip for the doc.  She is relatively young, and we think was in her first year of practice when we had Ali, so it's not like she's seen this that much yet in her career.  That was cool to see.  She was genuinely tickled by the moment as well.

There is some real joy right now in this house about Julian's arrival.  Now that we know who's in there, and we've seen pictures and heard his heartbeat, it is so much more real.  He's already here!  He's just chillin' out for a while till everything has fully taken form.  Joy.  Man, that is welcome here.

By the way, Ali is ECSTATIC to have a baby brother!  She is so funny.  You may recall that she thought long and hard about the fact that she really likes her toys, and that a baby sister might want a piece of those toys.  So, when it came time to tell her the news, I simply said, "Ali, remember how you wanted a baby brother, so you wouldn't have to give up your toys?  Well, you were RIGHT!  You got a baby brother!"  To which she jumped for joy like she won the lotto right in front of her two pre-school teachers.  They preceded to smartly reinforce the happiness, joy, and excitement over it being a boy, and within 3-4 seconds, we IMPRINTED that joy!  Since she had been so fickle - one day a sister, next a brother,  I figured all we had to do was frame the news in a way that made either answer awesome and she'd be happy.  She is just so happy she gets to be a big sister again.  She was made to be a big sister.  She talks about Julian all the time, and is just very considerate of him.  It is so sweet.  Julian is a lucky guy to have such an amazing big sister, and Ang and I are lucky to have such an amazing daughter.

In other exciting news, tomorrow night, I have the honor of being a part of another movie premiere!  One of my mentors, Christine Stevens, appears in this new movie called Discover the Gift.  In part of it, they chronicle the work she did in Iraq using music to facilitate conflict resolution between the Iraqis and Kurds.  Her story is extraordinary, and it landed inside this movie and accompanying book.  Well, it is being premiered at Agape International Spiritual Center, and folks are going to be led into the Sanctuary by a drum procession, and I am one of the drummers.  Then the drummers will take the stage and create an ambient backdrop for a dancer who appears in the movie to dance.

Then, after 20 minutes of creating the energy, I step up.

My job?  To get the crowd participating in the rhythm.  For the last 10 minutes, I will be building the energy of the room by having the crowd play body percussion and vocalize until we bring the energy to a TEN.

Then, we turn the stage, the energy, and the Sanctuary over to our host, Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith. When I got to meet the Reverend Michael in November, I had no idea that 4 months later, I would be on his stage handing the mic over to him to introduce this film.  Christine is in Michigan conducting a HealthRHYTHMS training and can't be there, so she sent me in her place.



I tell you, this is one of the highest honors I have been given.  Agape is a world-class Spiritual Center, and this book is one of Crown Publishing's top priorities for 2011.  For Christine to trust me with this moment, I am so honored and humbled by this gift she has given me.  Thank you, Christine!

So, it is late, but I am WIRED on too much caffeine and way too much adrenaline.  I gotta figure out a way to calm down!  LOL.  So, off to PRAY.  Man, THAT feels good again.

God night.