You can go ahead and put this under the funny weird category. Even though some of it might bring a chuckle now, when it was happening it wasn’t so funny.

I’ve been working on GodlyGals online for about 8 years now. A little longer if you count the time before it made its WWW debut. In the beginning, well, things were rocky. I knew very little about the administration of online communities before I jumped in the deep end. Mistakes were made. Trolls were mishandled. Disputes happened. And I learned, quickly, just how out-of-hand a heretic can make everything go real, real fast.

For a while it bothered me and I let things get under my skin. Now, they weren’t little things, but at the time I didn’t know how to deal with them and it soon became clear that I was going to have to learn as I went along.

I’ll say that the ministry itself had a few people with a “difference of opinion” (to put it nicely) come in and ruffle feathers from time to time. But those people, now that I look back, were the easiest to deal with. Because being inside the ministry I had the support of others in leadership. It’s the stuff that I faced on my own, outside of GodlyGals, that has been the real challenge. Because for the most part the weirdos haven’t been interested in the minstry itself, just whoever they hear is the “leader.”

(The following two cases are true stories — the second story will be featured in part two. I won’t mention names because I’m not out to assassinate someone’s character, I just want to share these as a sort of cautionary tale. You don’t even have to be in ministry to experience something like this. I think being a citizen of the Internet is enough to make you a target of any of these folks.)

Incident #1: In the early days of GodlyGals a lot of the advertising was done in Yahoo chat rooms. We gained a few new members that way, but the amount of time spent advertising there compared to the people that eventually joined the community showed that it was one of the least fruitful ways to get our name out. After a year or two of that I stopped. But what happened one day whenever I was in a chat room telling people about GG was enough to keep me out of there for a few months.

I was in a Christian chat room one day when I started receiving instant messages, one after another, from a person in the room. Random messages were things that I rarely answered unless someone was asking about the ministry. Usually it would end up that they were in an Internet cafe in Nigeria looking for a wife. I didn’t need that. (Little did I know…) So I just let this one go like all the rest. After signing off I didn’t give it another thought.

Later that evening we had a new member on the boards. Their first post was a long thing, paragraph after paragraph saying that they were seeking someone named Liz. Well, that was me. It wasn’t long before we figured out this was a guy and had him removed from the boards, but that didn’t stop him from emailing me. Weeks went by without him stopping. He was just begging for me to answer him. I would block one email address only for him to create another or pose as a girl to try to get my attention. He said he just needed to speak to me.

Finally, in an act of sheer idiocy, I said, “Okay, what do you need to tell me?”

I wish I’d kept the email. It was gold.

He proceeded to tell me that whenever I had been in the chat room that fateful day my username had lit up in yellow (as it did in those days whenever you selected someone’s name) and because he had been praying for some time before, he took it as a sign that I was to be his bride and travel to the Philippines to be with him forever.

Umm…okay. “Not interested,” I said.

“It doesn’t matter,” he told me. “God has mandated that we be joined together as husband and wife and serve him together for the rest of our days.”

This went on and on. I just let the fella talk. Then I told him, “I’m not going to tell you that it was or wasn’t God speaking to you. I don’t know. What I will tell you is that I have no intention of going to the Philippines, be it for a long or short term visit. Also, I’m 19 and have no intention of marrying anytime soon. Lastly, if it was God speaking to you and we’re meant to be married, I’ll leave it to Him to speak to me, too. Because I’m certainly not going to move to the other side of the world because some stranger tells me it’s a ‘mandate from God.’”

And that was that. I never had any more to say to him. He’d drop a line from time to time, reminding me that we would be wed soon, but I finally learned to let it roll off my back. I wasn’t worried about being kidnapped (I don’t think he had those resources). However, this whole thing could have been really scary if he was some guy in a cabin in Arkansas. Luckily, I haven’t had any of those.

Funny, haha…yeah.

I was pleasantly surprised to find this cute book in the mail the other day. Being in a ministry that targets women of all ages, I like to keep informed about what’s out there for the youngest of our sisters. For Girls Only! Devotions, written by Carolyn Larsen and illustrated by Leah Sutherland, is right on target.

I give this one my stamp of approval. They succeed in using language that is relevant to pre-teens (Wait, you call them “tweens” now, right? I’m old. Forgive me.) with images that are just cutesy enough to appeal to those on the younger end of the spectrum they are aiming for, without making it feel too young for the older girls. I enjoyed this and I’m 25.

The subject matter is definitely age appropriate and focuses on key Biblical concepts that are important to grasp early on. Devotions are labeled by topic, all of which were things that girls of this age deal with (friends, relationships with parents, and one topic I found that accurately describes the opinion of many a middle school girl — “It’s Not My Fault!”).

For Girls Only! Devotions would make a great gift for any pre-teen girl and is the perfect starter to get our younger ladies in the habit of doing devotions.

A complimentary copy of this title was provided to me by the Tyndale Blog Network for the purpose of reviewing.

Yanking this from Misti and making my list before I forget anymore of what’s happened to me in the past ten years. Oh, and before I forget, for all you sticklers out there I realize that the decade isn’t over until the end of this year. The sticklers. You never cease to amaze me.

1999

• Maybe kinda sorta had a boyfriend at the beginning of this year. But it didn’t amount to anything, other than both he and his mother claiming to this day that I was his first girlfriend, so I don’t think it counts.
• Lots of personal tragedy this year. Lost a number of people. Very depressing.
• I turned 15 this year.
• Got really active in online forums, creating my own websites (I’d been doing so since 1997), and general internet culture. The very beginning of me being self-taught at all this stuff.

2000

• I got my first Livejournal this year and starting writing online more regularly than before. I’d had journals that I kept online, but this was the first one that I stuck to.
• Almost died of pneumonia. Lost 20 lbs in two weeks and looked like a stick figure. I missed 2 weeks of school and came back with 2 weeks left. I had A’s in all but one class and most of my teachers didn’t make me make up the work.
• Turned 16. Spent my birthday with Nannie (great-grandmother), Great Aunt Geraldine, her daughter Susan, and Susan’s twins, Brooklyn & Britton. We went to a soda shop and they played “Sixteen Candles” on the jukebox for me and I had a banana split. One of the girls said something I’ll never forget (they had to have been about 5 or 6 at the time, now they’re in high school): “We’we like twiplets, only youw biggew.” Ladies, if you’re reading this, I hope it doesn’t embarrass you! It was the cutest thing ever.
• Crazy ice storm at the end of the year that left us stuck in Nannie’s house for a week without running water and barely any electricity.
• Close friend’s family member committed suicide. Stricken with grief for them is the only way to describe that.

2001

• One of my paternal great-grandmothers died (not the one from the ice storm) and I sat behind Heather at the funeral. We didn’t speak, but I knew who she was and remembered her from vacation Bible school when we were 4.
• The summer that I discovered eyeliner.
• Started my junior year of high school. Everything was different. I think because of aforementioned eyeliner.
• Really began thinking about where I was going to go to college. I had it narrowed down to a handful and OU was not one of them.
• Finally got my driver’s license in August (before I turned 17 in November; I had been eligible for almost a year) when Mom dragged me to the DMV. Failed the first time in July because the instructor said I ran a stop sign. Apparently “running” a stop sign is sitting there anything less than 8 seconds, cause…dude. I stopped.
• Moved into my great-grandmother’s house after she moved to the nursing home. It was just next door, but over twice the size of the house I’d grown up in. Also, made me realize just how much I hate moving.
• Dad had the end of his right index finger pinched off right before the move by a spring in the garage door. Scary scary.

2002

• Junior prom. Good. Grief. Shy little wallflower girl (as I was and still can be) had five guys ask her to prom. Because I thought it was the only fair thing to do (and HELLO! I didn’t know what to do) I went with the first one that asked. I should have gone with the one who was my closest friend. It’s actually a regret of mine and I don’t have many.
• All the drama that accompanied said Junior Prom.
• Got involved with the color guard that spring to prepare for the fall.
• Spent a week during the summer representing my town at Oklahoma Girls State. I learned so much about myself. I opened up, became more confident, and really began to understand where I stood politically.
• Started my senior year. Dad suggests that I apply at OU. I do. And end up saying, “What the hey, I’ll try it out for my first couple of years.” Still do not know exactly how I ended up going there. My plan was to attend Chatham in Pennsylvania.
• Talk of GodlyGals started in 2002.

2003

• Went to senior prom alone — by choice. Wasn’t going through the previous year’s fiasco again.
• Graduated from high school.
• Saw my best friend from high school for the last time. (Well, there was once more but I don’t count it since it was in passing and unplanned.)
• GodlyGals started out as a community on Livejournal on June 12, 2003.
• Went on a trip driving to the east coast with my grandparents. Saw so many things and had the time of my life with them, only to be almost killed by a semi-truck on I-40 west of Nashville while driving home. God was with us that day.
• We were rushing home from that trip because my youngest cousin had been placed in Children’s Hospital in OKC because she was extremely ill and they weren’t really sure if she was going to make it. She is alive today. Diagnosis: juvenile diabetes.
• My parents moved me into Adams Tower, McCasland 701 in late August. They left and I cried. How on earth did I ever think I would make it in Pennsylvania?
• Met Ronnica shortly thereafter. She was discipling my roommate and cousin, Heather.
• Met Kevin for the first time downstairs outside of Burger King. It pretty much meant nothing to either of us.
• Had my most successful semester at college (up until my last one, which I finished with a 4.0). Very sad considering I had two D’s. I blame it on the fact that I had never studied before in my life for anything. Ever. Kids, pick up some study skills before college.
• Was majoring in Elementary Education.
• Saw John Mayer on my 19th birthday with two of my closest friends (Heather and Delisa)…and Colt

2004

• We started picking up “Crumpy’s Printer” on Heather’s wireless connections on her computer. I asked if “Crumpy” was his real name. Nope. Kevin Crumpler.
• Finished the school year not so well.
• Spent the summer at home laying out in the sun and reading for my summer classes.
• Started the school year in a pink & green room that was the delight of our hall. Not. Found out it was not cool to be an unpledged sophomore on a predominately sorority hall at the University of Oklahoma.
• Became friends with Aaryn.
• Close friends lost their dad. Spent a long evening sitting on the floor of our (private) bathroom while I was on the phone with them. Suicide, depression, and grief multiplied by 2 are just not pretty things.
• Disaster struck and I started dating The Biggest Jerk I’ve Ever Met.
• Came down with a stomach virus that took me out for a week starting on Christmas Day.

2005

• That awful “relationship” escalated into worse territory and it took me forever to get over it. Could not understand how someone could treat another person that way.
• Had to change my phone number (for another reason).
• Started looking for a house with Mom and Dad.
• Spent the end of May moving into the house I live in now. Painting, decorating, and all that fun stuff.
• Took a summer course at OU and sat next to Rhett Bomar. I didn’t know who he was until the class was over. Ha.
• Kyle started school at OU and moved into the house with me.
• Sang a few solos. In front of people.
• Started ballroom dancing.

2006

• Sat next to Kevin at Aaryn’s 21st birthday party and we talked the whole evening.
• Went on a few dates with another guy that spring.
• Got my puppy, Lulu in April.
• Kyle moved back home to work for the summer.
• Lived alone this school year.
• Began working at the day school.
• Got ridiculously ill for about 4 months from working with babies and toddlers.
• Kevin started talking to me and running into me at the BSU.
• Kevin asked me out on November 27.
• We went on our first date on December 9, 2006.

2007

• Made things official with Kevin on January 5, 2007
• Spring semester of 2007 was my English Capstone, plus a writing class, PLUS 2 other English courses. Which basically meant the first few months of our relationship I was doing homework. And little else. I think my friends though I was ditching them for a boy, when in reality I was ditching everyone because of school.
• Did really well on my final project and was officially done with the English portion of my degree.
• Flew on a plane for the first time.
• Met Kevin’s parents in Pennsylvania that May.
• In an interesting turn of events (have I ever explained this?), Kevin told me he loved me.
• Oh, and I loved him back
• Helped Heather here and there where she needed it for her wedding.
• Heather moved in with me for the summer and fall.
• Life was spent working and going to pilates class. That’s all. It was fabulous. (We should do that again, Heather)
• Kevin spent Christmas with my family and then we flew to PA to spend it with his parents, Brian (his brother), and Brian’s new girlfriend, Beth.
• Got back in time for Heather’s bachelorette party.

2008

• Heather and Colt got married!
• I caught the bouquet!
• Started the last class I needed to graduate. Spanish 4. Gah.
• Lulu had started acting very strangely a few months before, but finally snapped at the end of January. I lost her in the middle of the night and was really distraught. It took a long time for me to realize that it wasn’t my fault.
• Kevin and I went out for Valentine’s Day and I cleverly suggested that we waste time before dinner walking around the mall (this was a ruse to look at rings). Found ring and little did I know that Kevin drove back the next day in an ice and snow storm to buy it.
• Got hired at EGM as their temp receptionist and met some of the best people I know. That job was a huge blessing.
• Started looking into the Alternative Certification Program for teaching in Oklahoma. Took my first test.
• Kevin started working during the week in Tulsa. Boooo.
• Started the GodlyGals Podcast with Jolene.
• After my time was up there I got hired at Fowler Productions, Inc. Worked as their receptionist for the next year and made some wonderful friends. I miss those folks.
• One week after I started working at Fowler, Kevin took me to see Phantom of the Opera in Tulsa and proposed to me later that evening. June 28, 2008.
• Then began The Great Wedding Planning Saga. Literally chunks of my life are missing. I have little recollection of this period of time for other, more stressful reasons.
• Took our engagement photos.
• Applied for the rest of my teaching tests.
• Spent Christmas without Kevin. I couldn’t get off work and he went back to North Carolina to celebrate with family. It was depressing.

2009

• Still planning the wedding…
• Dress fittings, showers, making my invitations…
• Fallout with a coworker.
• Panic attack at the end of February. Everything had been closing in and I just could not take it anymore. Funny thing is that it had very little to do with the planning of the wedding. It was all the other stuff that was going on.
• More wedding showers, fun times with girlie friends, bridal portraits…
• Took the last of my teaching tests (and passed!) exactly one week before the wedding.
• Our wedding was June 6, 2009, with all the sparkle and splendor I’d imagined.
• Honeymoon in Maine and Prince Edward Island.
• Got back with one day left before returning to work. Started looking for jobs in schools as soon as we returned.
• Flew to Baltimore and drove to Virginia for Brian and Beth’s wedding on July 4.
• Interviewed for a high school English teaching position. That was a total shock.
• Didn’t get that job, but got hired on at another school. As soon as I got the call I put in my notice because I had to report to work in less than a week. I know. I felt awful.
• Got acquainted with things at the new job and really started enjoying the new work I was doing. Something different every day.
• August was a painful month and I kept it to myself far too long.
• Visited Branson with Heather and Colt and my family.
• Time really flew by during the school year.
• Thanksgiving and before you knew it The Christmas That Almost Never Was.

And here we are. Wooboy. Glad to be done with that.

Guhhhh.

That’s the noise my sinuses are making. It’s better than the screaming. So glad the screaming has stopped.

Some links for you:

• FACT: Middle Schoolers Stink
• The Biblical Qualifications of the Teaching Office in the Church OR Why churches are going to hell in a handbasket expecting lay people to do all the deep, theological teaching.
• Melissa is ditchin’ the fiction in favor of the non-. I, too, have a shelf of non-fiction that I need to get to work on…
• The Friar reviews Sherlock Holmes and I remain confident in my decision not to see it. Basil Rathbone you are not, Mr. Downey.
• Mmm. Just what we need in Oklahoma right now — Four Warm and Cozy Soups from The Pioneer Woman.
• The 2009 Okie Blog Awards are calling for nominations!
• Rare in utero images of animals — This stuff fascinates me.
• Speaking of soups — PICKLE SOUP! Oh my goodness, I hope you know that pickles have been one of my favorite foods since I was a wee little thing. I’m trying this. Pronto.
• Oh, in case you missed it, we’re now subservient to INTERPOL. Faaaab.
• Kim counted down her top 10 movies of the decade. Some good ones in there and some I still need to see.
• Signs that you shouldn’t be awake. Sounds a lot like my college experience.

Have a great week, y’all. I’m grabbing the teapot I received from a coworker (who hated me) and refashioned into a neti pot.

Brr.

Okay folks. (I had a teacher in 8th grade who said that to get our attention. And then just got louder until we shut up. Folks. FOLKS.)

It’s freezing out there. Where I’m sitting in Norman it’s currently 18° F with a windchill of -1° F. Winds have picked up to almost 30 miles per hour here this morning.

Need I say, BRR again?

The puppy, who is usually an outside critter, has been spending the last few days indoors in the evening. Today, tomorrow, and likely Saturday she will be inside all day. I noticed her morning tinkle break took a whole lot less time today. That and now I’m thinking she may not be the early riser that I am. Brought the girl back in and she settled in on her pillow here in the living room to head back to dreamland. Lucky dog.

In the meantime, Kevin and I will be getting ready for the day and heading to work at school. Our district is one of the ones that has chosen not to close this morning, but there are many around the OKC metro area that called their closing yesterday. More have been added to that list this morning. I hear complaints from people raised in other areas of the country that they dealt with temperatures and conditions much lower when they were in school. You know, your typical, “I walked to school in 3′ of snow, uphill both ways!” Yeah, okay. This is Oklahoma. A lot of these kids live below the poverty line and don’t have pants to put on today before they walk to school. I think people might be surprised at the number of kids who wear shorts year-round. And maybe a hoodie. The fact is that not all these kids are prepared and I feel like the Oklahoma City and Edmond districts made a smart decision in closing for the cold temps. The students are the most important thing to consider in a situation like this, not whether mom and dad are going to be late to work because they have to drop them off somewhere or find a sitter. Kids who have a regular ride to school and their parents might not understand the necessity of closing, but if you were in the group that had no choice but to walk and had no parent or family member who cared to clothe you or make sure you had a safe way to get to school, I think you might get an idea.

Now I’m having coffee. And putting on a parka.

Jud, I don’t know who you are, but when I read your comment on this blog I could not keep myself from saying, “Amen.” Thank you for your willingness to speak truth.

I’d love to give you more credit than just your name, so if you’re reading this, please let me know!

1) I’ve read and heard enough from Mclaren.

2) Most American Pastors now refer to themselves as “followers of Christ”. Mclaren considers himself a “follower of Christ”. Ghandi considered himself a “follower of Christ”. The Dali Lama considers himself a follower of Christ.None of the latter three speak as to the ATONEMENT and the BLOOD of Christ. Myself? I follow the Chicago Cubs.

2) It’s ridiculous for McLaren or anyone else to use “the American Church” as a political pawn the way he does. As much as 80% of American Christians are “people who said a prayer” not in fact Born Again Christians. So it’s pathetic to say that American Christianity represents Jesus in the first place. A LONG time ago evangelism became a NUMBERS game. We are a people who create “experiences ” and manipulate peoples emotions… they say a prayer before they even think about the COSTS… we chalk one more up and they walk away ever battling doubts confident in the prayer they said.

3) The Holy Spirit represents Jesus. MANY in the Church (Pastors included) are Lost as can be… their lives are not led by the Spirit. Look around… our worship services are about the FLESH. The senses MUST be addressed because an emotional experience has replaced solid Bible teaching and discipleship, Godly sorrow and Repentance. WORKS and Social Justice are the fillers for opiating the carnal conscience.

4) Our creativity, our innovations, our “vision casting” our egos and our cleverness have replaced the cornerstone. We’ve become a people of self promotion. We aren’t broken and humble, we are smooth, we are slick, we are successful, we are appealing to the flesh. We are approved by the World. The pale echoes of the martyrs haunt us.

-Jud

Our resident scamp turned 2-years-old today. The yard is still full of snow and she’s been enjoying it so much over the past week. I’m sure the (far, far) below freezing temps that we are going to get later this week won’t be welcome for the pup, so we will be bringing her inside.

Happy birthday, Clarabel!

Nothing weird about craving a grilled peanut butter sandwich with fried bananas and just a touch of Nestle syrup, is there? I inherited my crazy food preferences from my dad, but I will say that he’d never go this far.

Don’t worry, Mom. It’s sparkling grape juice.