June 27, 2003 - We got married.

June 27, 2008 - We are moving to Nashville.

Since we have been slowly leaking this information (work, family, friends)…I thought I’d try and answer most of the questions we have been getting…

Q: Didn’t you, like, just move to OKC?
A: Yes. Actually it will be six months to the day when we unload the moving truck in Nashville.

Q: Why are you moving so soon?
A: Why not? Actually, my husband has an amazing opportunity to do what he loves and earn a living doing it (film/music), and I have been praying for ways to support that. Be careful when you pray for something…about a month or so of praying about this, an opportunity fell in his lap, and we couldn’t say no. IT ROCKS TO SEE MY MAN PASSIONATE AND THRIVING!!!! Anyway, God has taken care of the rest in ways I could have never imagined.

Q: God’s taken care of the rest…what do you mean?
A: Like a place for us to serve and a place for me to use my gifts in an amazing local church (Cross Point Church in Nashville) with a great team of people (including these bloggers who I will be on staff with: Pete, Jenni, Pat, Chad, Matt, George, Jarrod. You also should check out these blogs: Brandi (Pete’s wife), Brian (He’s an elder) and LukeGiant Idiot (who’s a giant idiot), Kari, Jessica and Julie are also Cross Point peeps I have gotten to know!! )

Nashville also holds a bunch of welcoming friends…some who I have known since high school, others from the trip to Africa, and even more from our last few visits. I have no doubt this is the tribe I’ve written about in the past. We also found an incredible and insanely affordable place to live, exactly in the area we were hoping to live. And it all happened with perfect timing.

Q: So, what about LifeChurch.tv?
A: What can I say?? The last few months have been unreal and wonderful! Even though we have only lived here for six months, I’ve actually been working with Bobby and Terry for about a year. I never knew God could show me so much in such a short amount of time. I feel I should clarify (because unfortunately people typically assume there is something “more” going on that what meets this eye) There’s NO drama. NO scandal. Bobby didn’t throw chairs at me when I told him. We are honored to be walking away with their support, blessings and encouragement. We will miss everyone dearly. They have shaped and influenced us in so many ways. We are very excited and at the same time, not a day has gone by where I haven’t cried because we are really going to miss these amazing people.

SO THERE YOU HAVE IT!

I know we would both appreciate your prayers as we pack, say goodbye, and travel two days (June 27 and 28) to Nashville.

INVITATION TO PARTY!! (Or so I call it…) If you are in the Nashville area and want to help us unload (we don’t have a lot of stuff, I promise!) shoot me an email (anne [at] flowerdust [dot] net) and I will hook you up with the details.

I’ll share a little bit more this week some things we love about Cross Point Church and how everyone there has been an answer to our prayers as we have (quickly!) been put on a new and exciting journey!

ALWAYS HOPING!
Anne

i usually don’t answer my phone when i don’t recognize the number, but since it was a DFW area code, i figured…

what the heck?

on the other line was a very nice gentleman from american airlines. evidently they thought my online complaint from april had been resolved (because of this post).

he was super nice, apologetic, and even posted some miles to my american advantage account. and he told me my email to them was the first one to really ever point them to a blog post. and now they are going to pay a little more attention to their online reputation.

so…i wanted to share the happy ending with you guys. maybe there is hope for airline travel after all.

pinkhairedgirl.net (her real name is crystal) and i have been friends for about five years or so now. and, every year for the last three years, we’ve upheld a tradition of body modification (tattoos, piercings, etc.)

this year was no different. she flew down to okc, we made an appointment…and this is what happened. (and seriously…could my freeze frame be any more awkward?)

after you watch, click here for more information.

we have had a great time in nashville, getting to hang out with so many truly amazing people, some were old friends, and some were new. we are driving home now & we just passed through memphis and are driving through arkansas.

i met brock face to face at the compassion dinner last night and because he remembers stuff much better than me, i am stealing this from him. the guest speaker at the dinner was tony neeves, (VP of international development for compassion)…a lovely british gentleman with humble and challenging thoughts.

one that stood out to me was “children in poverty aren’t the problem. children in poverty are the solution.” he went on to say that these children are “bundles of potential” — and if they receive positive support, they have the potential to be world-changers in the best way possible. yet if they aren’t loved, aren’t cared for, they have the potential to be world-changers in the worst possible way.

wow.

other things (from brock):

third world people press their faces against the windows of our lives because of technology, internet, tv etc. and they feel as if they have no hope. it is because they are seeing soap operas and game shows on tv and see how we live. they cant afford a bowl of rice. they realize they have nothing and have no hope.

also, churches in western world are far more introverted than third world churches. this must change.

and, third world churches are growing fast in some areas not because of a great pastor or sermons but they are loving people and meeting needs. then the community sees the love and want what they have.”

a few other highlights from the trip:

i honestly don’t listen to much christian music. but i did when i was 13. a little bit of me thought it was cool when toby mac walked into starbucks. then i realized how truly cool i was when jenni went to hug him. (julie, i thought you’d get a kick out of that!) :)

we got to hang out some with mark and stephanie lee. mark plays the guitar in amazing ways for a band called third day. again, it’s probably been a good decade since i really listened to third day, but as we saw them play at a showcase, some of their new material really really touched chris and me in ways only god could know.

it was just truly amazing to reconnect with some of the uganda bloggers. twice.

i really wish i could link to everyone we met and hung out with but i am about to have to drive. so to all of you, thank you for making us feel so welcome!!

chris and i are headed to nashville tonight for a little mini-vacation and i am not going to be blogging while we are there. i will be twittering and maybe even live video-casting via mogulus (if i’m having an adequate enough hair day). :)

to keep you busy during my absence, i thought i’d leave you with a few blogs (people from nashville to keep the theme) i am enjoying, and also one more opportunity to sponsor a child!

you should check out:

–pete wilson
–brody harper
–brock gill
–spence smith
–shaun groves
–randy elrod

is it just me or does everyone in nashville have great hair?

and you should sponsor:

liz.

LIZ HAS BEEN SPONSORED. THANK YOU! click here to go directly to liz’s sponsor page.

kim from baltimore sponsored pravallika earlier today. pravallika is an orphan. when i was searching for another child to post on here, i noticed something i guess i had skimmed over for some reason in the past: you can select a child with special needs.

liz is obviously a beautiful girl from uganda. but what you can’t tell from the picture is that she is both deaf and mute. and she is an orphan, too.

from the site:

Liz lives on the plains of Kyesiga Parish, Kyamukaka Subcounty, home to approximately 12,000 residents. Typical houses are constructed of dirt floors, mud walls and thatch roofs. The primary ethnic group is Bantu and the most commonly spoken language is Luganda.

The regional diet consists of maize, beans, bananas, fish, cassava and potatoes. Common health problems in this area include malaria, worms and HIV/AIDS. Most adults are unemployed but some work as subsistence farmers and earn the equivalent of $5 per month. This community needs capital for income generating activities, scholastic materials and farming tools.

LIZ HAS BEEN SPONSORED. THANK YOU! click here to go directly to liz’s sponsor page.

you guys and gals are making a HUGE difference by sponsoring these children. it means the world to me, but more importantly, it means life and freedom and love to these children and their families. so thank you.

see you all in a few days!

for some reason, the travel gods have blessed me with smooth travels my whole life.

i have flown hundreds and hundreds of times - to almost every state (minus the northeast and northwest corners) and to several foreign countries - and i have never lost a piece of luggage or suffered any inconvenience, sans a few weather or other delays.

i have never even imagined i would reach across a ticketing counter to punch someone.

but i almost did.

(almost).

this weekend was great. i flew into alabama, drove to atlanta, hung out with ragamuffinsoul and whittakerwoman, even ended up crashing on their couch friday night because it was too stormy to trek three hours back to alabama. i was in my friend lynse’s wedding, spent some great time talking to boomama, slept in, went to the airport, checked in for my flight home and…

no ticket is available.

um, i’m sorry?

i proceeded to the woman at the american airlines ticketing counter who also confirmed i had no flight home.

my confirmation number on my blackberry will prove you wrong.

she looks again. nope. gone.

evidently, a few weeks ago when i had called to bump my arrival flight up several hours, the reservations “specialist” forgot to re-confirm my flight home.

and thus it disappeared.

the woman got her supervisor, who got her supervisor. they told me to call reservations to straighten it out. i did. the lady on the phone confirmed the things i already knew and told me to work it out with the ticket counter.

so, back to the ticket counter i went.

however, in the 30 seconds it took for me to walk back, the most recent reservations “specialist” put my ticket back into the system.

(please note that my flight, at this time, had just departed).

a lady in a red sweater told to call another 800 number to work it out.

i said no. you fix your mistake. not me.

the next ticket counter agent (and i suppose the queen bee of them all, sporting a different blue sweater than the rest) said she saw my ticket in the system, and told me now that there was not a problem. i had simply just missed my flight.

excuse me?

there was nothing they could do but put me on the standby list with the other 837 standby customers for the next flight, six hours later.

she literally scolded me as if it were my fault.

it was at this point i jumped over the counter and began screaming obscenities.

ok, not really. but i was fiercely twittering my frustration (whilst forgetting my tattoo that says “grace” ever-so-visible on my wrist).

the previous ticket counter agent told her that there was, indeed, a problem, and the blue-sweater-queen-bee grumpily agrued with her a while. i kept twittering.

finally, blue-sweater-queen-bee went to another phone to fix it. twenty minutes later, she printed out some boarding passes for the next flight, and without a single apology handed me my tickets.

most of you don’t know me. i do not get angry. it is a very rare occurrence when i do. i probably did not handle this situation with as much grace and tact as i should have.

bobby already has a contract he has made with himself to never fly american.

i can now see why.

accept responsibility for your mistakes. apologize. perhaps even try to redeem yourself with a meal voucher or upgrade or something.

and as long as i can help it, i will avoid you, american-airlines-devil-people.

your worst travel story?