NEWS: Smokin' Weed Pays the Bills

    No,no, no, you sillies, selling a jar of rubber cement at a garage sale is the closest I've ever come to drug doing or dealing.  I'm talking about dandelions.  They are smokin' awesome this time of year.  Adults don't understand them, because God made them strictly for kids (and photographers who act like kids).  I want you to think deeply about these little splashes of yellow and the spiritual lesson they represent.  Then, I want you to communicate it to my readers so they don't get disappointed in my blog.

Sorry about the crummy post guys.  I really want to share something a bit more spectacular, but I've got three photo shoots worth of pictures to edit, with more on the way.  That's more than 5,000 images! (Mother's Day is my busy season.)  But to hopefully make up for being more ordinary than extraordinary tonight, I'm sharing some of my photos (my kids) with you. (Click here.) Thanks for understanding.  One more thing, your comments have meant so very much to me.  I smile as I read each one of them.

Love, love, love,

Ordinary Me.

She did it for my own darn good.

    When I was five I received some jewelry making supplies. (Sorry, whoever gave them to me - back then I only checked the cards for money and never got to the bottom part where your names were. I look for names now, but I still shake the envelope to see if I missed something important.) I loved creating my own jewelry.  I remember making one necklace-bracelet combo I was particularly proud of.  It was stunning and I wanted to wear it on school picture day.  I picked out my dress I was going to wear days in advance and informed my mother that I would also be modeling my trendy bling.  Her reaction was not what a brilliantly gifted-in-beadwork kindergartener wanted to hear.  "You are NOT wearing that to school on picture day young lady."  Ouch.  I had hoped my mom had more style sense than that. We went around quite a bit about it.  I eventually came to the conclusion that being in her eight month of pregnancy had affected her fashion judgment as much as it did her judgement on how many times a person really needed to use the bathroom in a day.
        I decided to give it one more shot.  Picture day morning had arrived and maybe, just maybe, if she actually saw how nice it all looked ON me she would change her mind.  (Unfortunately my mother is as stubborn a person as I am.)  "Christina Middle name Last name I told you that you CANNOT wear those to school."  I thought about her words as I went to my bedroom and removed my beaded treasures.  Then I slipped them into my back pack, zipped it, and skipped myself to the bus stop.  After all, she said I couldn't WEAR them to school, right?
      Right before our class had our pictures taken, we were given a moment to fix ourselves up a bit in the bathroom to make sure we looked nice enough to be displayed on the fireplace mantel the following month.  I looked decent I guess, until I slipped that beautious artwork over my head.  Then I was sharp enough to cut diamonds.  Fortunately for me, I remembered to remove the jewelry before getting off the bus.  Not sure why it never crossed my mind that Mom would actually see what I had done.  Hindsight is 20-20.  (She gave birth right about the time pictures came back. She was too distracted with the new baby to woodshed me.  God's mercy was evident in my life at a very young age.)
       Several years later as we stumbled upon my kindergarten photo, I immediately recognized her good judgment.  It turns out the beads really were hideous. "You were right, Mom. Those things are goofy looking.  You were right to tell me not to take them."  Her reply stunned me.  "I liked your beads because they were so important to you.  I didn't want you taking them because you lost everything you touched, and I knew you would cry when your necklace was gone." Whoa.  Revelation.
        I thought with all her "Do this", and "Don't do thats" she was just being stern for the heck of it.  Turns out she did that stuff out of love for me.  You know where I'm going with this. (I stole that from your blog, M.H.)
       The Bible is a big book of dos and don'ts.  God the father put them there because He loves us - not because He thinks we deserve to be beaten with a stick.  His commandments are there to keep us from harm.  He tells us plainly what will happen if we don't heed them, and He tells us plainly what will happen if we do.  He delights in our pleasure. The choice is ours.  Check out all the good he offered to the Isrealites (fancy word for Jews).  There are even bigger and better benefits available after Jesus was made alive again.  I hope you embrace His rules for your own darn good.  Because I, like God, delight in your pleasure.

As always,

I LOVE YOU

Christina Middle Name Last Name

P.S.  I DID lose the jewelry.

P.P.S.  I did something techie that I'm kinda proud of.  See that envelope icon down there?  If you click on that you can email this post to, well, whoever you want to.  May I recommend your mother?

I bet it was a noogie.

I feel a little clumsy coming to you with this post after a "popcorn night".  Oh boy, I shouldn't have used that term because now I have to explain it, and after explaining it, I may forget to write anything about noogies, which is what you are all dying to read about.

   The original popcorn night began one evening in Argentina when we were bored out of our minds and hungry for a cheap thrill.  Ok, actually we were moving soon and we were working our tails off packing items from the kitchen cupboards.  In the process, we came across about two pounds  of popcorn kernels.  That's not an exaggeration. We always had a lot of kids over, and movies and popcorn were expected; so we bought it in bulk.
      Mmm... popcorn... We were a little hungry. "Poop", Michael exclaimed, using the word he favors when he is deeply disturbed. "We packed the lid to the pot." (Note, Don't make popcorn in a pot without a lid - just TRUST ME on this one.)  And I'm not sure what kind of conversation lead up to what we eventually did with the popcorn, but somehow we ended up with a bonfire and a bucket of kernels soaking in a quart of canola oil. (Note again, ALWAYS use sufficient oil when making popcorn.  I learned this the hard way.  Really, ask Matt or Shaena Poehner, or their dutch oven, or their stovetop, or their counter top, upholstery, smoke detector... ( Look for my upcoming bestsellers, "Military Kernels" and "Microwave Kisses".)
    So anyway, we dumped two pounds of kernels onto the fire.  The neighbors later confessed they were concerned we had machine guns.  It was just that glorious.  Popcorn flew out of the pit in every direction.  At first we tried to catch some of it in our mouths.  However, upon succeeding to capture it with our tongues mid-air, we discovered things flying directly out of the fire pit were uncomfortably warm in our mouths, and then we just ate it off the ground. (Yeah, yeah, eeww,... whatever.)

    And back to the term "popcorn nights".  See, I knew it would eat up my whole post. Popcorn nights are when the kids conspire against us, using their telecommunication skills to come up with excuses to "pop" out of bed.  And they are just like the heaven bound pieces of popcorn.  As soon as one goes back down, another jumps up in its place.  Last night was one of those nights.  "Can you scratch my back?", "Mommy, can we pray?", "I just had such a powerful bowel movement my sheets need to be changed." - That last one was Noah, just for the record.  I got to bed around five.  Lucy has to be on the bus at 8:20.  You do the math.

  You still really want to know about the noogie huh?  In a nutshell (where does that phrase come from ?), In Mark 10:16, special mention is made to Jesus touching the kids' heads and blessing them.  Personally, I think he was givin' 'em noogies, but I'll let you come to your own conclusion.

My sincere apologies for the meaningless detour,

Christina

It's a hookah, It's a bong, it's SUPER... HOT!

I have received various requests for STORIES, STORIES, and MORE STORIES.  Here's one from our earlier days in the ministry.

     Only days after giving away nearly all of our possessions, we boarded an airplane, baby (and diaper bag, and stroller, and computer, and camera, and backpack, and car seat) in arms,  and headed to  South America.  Nineteen-ish hours later we landed in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina.
  
     We were met in the airport by three young men holding a white piece of paper with the word "LUSK" on it. Although we were exhausted, they seemed like fun people and I was excited to meet them.  The only English they spoke however, was catch phrases from the highly popular reruns of "Mork and Mindy" and "Alf".  Go ahead, say "Nanu-nanu", and "Cats are tasty." out loud in your best latino accent.  You get the picture.
     They guided us to a white van with the famous "praying hands" custom painted on the doors.  We had no idea we had FIVE MORE HOURS to drive before reaching our final destination.  About half an hour into our journey, we stopped at a gas station to use the potty.  I had been waiting for this moment for years. "Ok Christina," I said to myself, "you are finally south of the equator.  When you flush,  find out if the water really does swirl in the other direction."  The toilet was a powerful one though, and with one mighty woosh, the water just went straight down.  I was kinda miffed about it.
  
     Walking back out to the van I saw our three guys at a vending machine.  It didn't dispense sweet and salty goodies though.  You put a coin in this machine and it dispenses boiling water.  The guys filled a thermos and we loaded up again.  Curious about the whole hot water thing, I pointed and asked (with my eyebrows) what the hot water was all about.  They were only too happy to show us.  They took from a backpack a "mini-mug" with two handles instead of just one.  "Aww, that's a cute little tea cup.", I thought to myself.  My thoughts of cuteness vanished when they took out a metal pipe straw and filled the cup with crushed green plant leaves.  I, being rather sheltered and innocent as a teenager, racked my brain with all the paraphernalia terms I had heard tossed around back then.  Was it a "bong" or maybe one of those hookah things?  One of the guys poured water from the thermos over the green stuff in the mug.  Then he passed it to one of his buddies.  They kept filling it and passing it between the three of them, then the unthinkable happened.  They filled it up and INSISTED we drink from it too!
     "Ok, Michael.  What do we do?"  "Uh...well...we don't want to offend them, but obviously we're not going to ingest drugs.  Especially you, breastfeeding the baby."  In that split second we silently begged God to give us guidance.  Both feeling peace about it, Michael went first.  Poor guy, the water was so hot tears ran down his cheeks.  Sensing it may be too hot for the unaccustomed Americans, they added some bottled water to mine to cool it down some.  This was our first taste of Mate (mah-tay).  No drugs in the Argentine version, but you might not want to drink it in Peru.

Whew!  There's a lot more story to tell here,  but it may have to wait for another posting.

Seriously, I love you for being interested.

Christina

Not by the hairs on my chinny chin chin...

    My new friend, Ebony (Hi, E!) recently wrote about how you never know who is watching you.  Just days later someone sent me this message, "I follow you on Facebook and I read your daily blog posts.  You seem genuinely happy and your life seems so perfect.  How do you do it?  Are you just naturally positive or are you (I don't mean to offend you I just really am looking for some answers) on some sort of medication?  Please tell me the secret to a happy life."
I'm excited to answer this one.  Here goes.

   1.  Nope, no dope.
   2.  I'm sure I've out-meaned Satan himself on occasion, so don't go canonizing me just yet:)
   3.  Storms of life do come my way because tragedy and pain are an inescapable (not the way God wanted it  - Read more in Genesis.) part of human life.  But here's the difference you recognized in my life:

I have a solid faith in a living Savior who guides me daily and never leaves me.  He gives me grace to withstand the hardships.  And when the big bad wolf of life wants to blow me down and consume me,  he might as well just save his breath, because my Shelter, (Jesus Christ) is unshakable.  Christ shows me daily His love for me.  Even in the midst of losing a child, I had strength.  There were (and sometimes still are) tears.  There were (are) questions.  But His grace was (is) sufficient to get me (and you, too!) through the storms.  Jesus himself says it better than I could.  He explains it here in Matthew 7: 24-27

                        CLICK HERE!-(No great spiritual lesson, but it made me smile)

I hope this helps.  Although I'm no "Dear Abby", I will do my best to answer any questions from anybody.  Hugs to you all!

Christina

What we do in hotel rooms

Ha!  You thought you were getting something juicy, didn't you?  Sorry, just a short video to show you a glimpse into the lives of the traveling ministers.  This was shot last week while we were in Tulsa.  Hope you enjoy!  Also, for those of you who are utterly disappointed with me for not posting something a little more thought provoking, I've provided a link to a friend's blog.  It should fulfill your yearnings.  (Don't let me down Mark.  I hope you posted something good;)  As always, I treasure my readers.  Thanks for reading.

P.S.  He didn't really hurt the kids.  It's a pretend head bashing.

P.P.S.  This is where I usually invite you to share a similar experience, however, I am choosing to NOT ask you what you do in hotel rooms.  (Did I just write that?)

Have you ever eaten a booger?

Michael, my husband, is a wonderful violinist.  Last night he performed with a chamber orchestra.  I took two seven year old girls with me to the performance.  We arrived an hour early so Michael would have ample time to tune with the group.  Although the performance itself was beyond beautiful, the warm up, as always, sounded like somebody was lighting both cats, and elephants on fire.  Running low on asprin, I decided to take the girls to a nearby ice cream shop for a before-the-show treat.  I sent them to a booth to wait for me as I purchased vanilla cones and some horrific brown liquid the store claimed to be coffee (NOTE, Christina's advice on Dairy Queen - Blizzard yes, Coffee NEVER).

     Anywho, I got to the table just in time to catch a rousing game of Truth or Dare.  When it was my turn to ask them a "Truth" question I was ready.  I had just the question to incite giggles that would make soft-serve fly through their noses.  I looked right at them and said, "Have you ever eaten a booger?" To my great surprise they looked at me with poker-faces and said, "Yes." in unison, and then they rolled their eyes at me like I was stupid.  "We already asked that when you were gone, Mom.", said the blonde one. "Yeah, everybody asks that one right away.", said the brunette. "Oh.", said the one who paid for the ice cream.  They explained to me that it wasn't a very good question because everybody has eaten a booger.

      And while that's probably true, most people probably think about their booger eating days as, disgusting, and most likely don't want anybody else to know about the fact that they've indeed done such a nasty thing.

   Although it never specifically mentions booger consumption, the Bible does say that there is something that we've all done.  Sin.  The Christina Lusk definition of that word is "bad stuff we shouldn't do".
It also says that we cannot be sinners, (people who don't ask Jesus for forgiveness for the bad stuff they do) and enter Heaven.  God doesn't want anybody to miss out on Heaven.  He made it possible for us to live a peace and joy filled life on earth, and BONUS - proceed directly to Heaven from there.  Here's how it works.

Step 1.  Read 1st John 1:9

Step 2.  Go to this page and say the prayer on it.  You will also be able to download a FREE BOOK!

Step 3.  Don't sin anymore (You're gonna slip up sometimes (I do too.) but try hard not to.)

Step 4.   Trust him and do what you know how to do to find out more about a life with Him in it.  Reading your Bible and finding a church are good starters.  If you have any questions, or would like help finding the right church in your area, PLEASE let me know.  I would be thrilled to help you.

I really do love you all -  Christina