Dina Lohan is doing way too much today! This from Dina about her daughter  Lindsay Lohan being criticized as creative director of the Ungaro fashion label, in the Paris fashion shows this week. Says Dina:

“Leave Lindsay alone. Let her be a real 23-year-old. Let her grow, and let her artistic abilities flourish. Stop judging the Britneys and the Lindsays. They are very creative girls, and that is a gift from a higher power of God.”

Having seen Britney Spears live in concert here in LA and Lohan appearing as a very wise-for-her-age guest judge on Project Runway, with very practical suggestions for budding designers translating their designs to retail sales  and practical garments peeps would buy, (Lindsay was great!), I’d have to agree with Dina, dare I say it!

These girls are very very creative!

That said, Lynne Spears must be cringing in her boots, watching this shizzle go down in LA, on her TV screen in Louisiana! Dina Lohan is a riot as a “show biz parent” today. She’s just as outrageous as Billy Ray  Cyrus talking about Miley’s deleted twitter account. Both parents say their  daughters are God given children with creative gifts to change the world’s destiny.

Show biz parents. Gotta love them. LA’s the Place! You just know that Britney’s probably on the phone right now, with  lil sis, Jamie Lynn Spears.

Jamie Lyn will be seen taking baby Maddie to the local shopping mall to buy her daughter creative coloring books, crayons and art supplies, while Maddie carries the book: Awakening Your Child’s Natural Genius by Thomas Armstrong, Phd in her push chair.

This is too good to miss out on for the Spears as show biz families help each other get ahead by giving each other shout outs.

Blame the  Kardashians for Dina’s outburts today. All show biz families like the Lohans, Spears, Cyrus families need to get more vocal as families to match the Kardashian’s fast Famous Families game. 

Dupa cele doua concerte din Boston si Philadephia ,Brit a fost suprinsa de paparazzi relaxandu-se in Miami alaturi de parintii ei : Jamie si Lynne Spears,cei doi baieti:Sean Preston si Jayden James si sora ei Jamie-Lynn impreuna cu fiica sa Maddie.

Puteti vedea pozele aici.

In the past month, I’ve read 3 memoirs by 3 very different women in 3 different stages in their lives. I’ve read Barbara Walters’ Audition, Tori Spelling’s Stori Telling, and Lynne Spears’ Through The Storm. Memoirs help me get a greater understanding and acceptance of my current struggles. I would like to hear from older people that times may be tough but things do get better. But its really hard to get up in a person’s business in person. So I read memoirs.

Tori, Barbara, and Lynne led very different lives but they have 2 things in common: (1) family money issues  and (2) each woman has been divorced at least once. Hopefully, I’ll never have to experience divorce first hand.  I look at the career changes that these women have had and know that where I start may not be where I end or even where I will be 10 years from now.

I really want to write my own memoirs, but I don’t think I’ve lived enough yet. Up next: Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father.

Agora em minhas mãos está o livro da mãe da Britney Spears e da Jamie Lynn que a Thomas Nelson acabou de lançar… Como eu, a maioria das pessoas assiste tudo de longe, sem conseguir imaginar o que passa no coração de uma mãe como essa. Eu resolvi então sair da minha zona de conforto e me informar um pouco mais sobre o assunto.

E isso foi depois de veicularem em portais como Gospel Prime e O Verbo que a Britney Spears sonha em ser pastora de uma igreja batista na cidade onde nasceu. Nas duas matérias o texto diz: “Ela sempre acreditou em Deus e cresceu em uma família de religiosos praticantes. Ela espera que virar pastora não só melhore sua vida espiritual como também aconselhar aqueles que passam por coisas que ela já passou no passado”.

Meu primeiro pensamento foi: “que família cristã é essa que tem duas filhas fora dos preceitos bíblicos?”. Uma engravida do namorado e a outra… A outra é a Britney Spears… Não precisa dizer mais nada.

Esse pensamento admito que foi totalmente precipitado, depois disso, a primeira coisa que veio a minha cabeça era que eu estava julgando alguém que eu não conhecia muito bem e que “quem não tiver pecado que atire a primeira pedra” né?

Depois, não sei de onde, me veio a lembrança a história de Davi, um homem segundo o coração de Deus, o maior rei de Israel, que tem seu nome sempre vinculado ao nosso salvador “Jesus”.

Não… Eu não estou comparando Davi com a mãe da Britney, mas estou comparando a família dele com a dela.

Davi teve um filho que estuprou a meia irmã, teve outro filho que se vingou matando seu irmão… Não precisa nem dizer que teve escândalo um atrás do outro. E a família da Lynne não é muito diferente! Um trecho do livro me chamou a atenção:

“Eu poderia continuar. Se eu sentisse que havia um propósito, poderia lavar muita roupa aqui. Falhei com minha família, de jantares queimados a pontes queimadas. Mas viagens de culpa não dão milhagem… Minha fé me ensina que você troca seus passos errados por uma salvação que é maior que você. Deus pega nossos fracassos e os troca por libertação e salvação. Isso se chama redenção.

Eu sei que Deus me perdoou há muito tempo pelos meus erros, e ele continua a fazê-lo diariamente. O que é mais difícil é aceitar a graça de mim”

Tá! Agora eu estou completamente confusa! Ajudem-me…
Existe comparação entre as duas famílias? E, principalmente, será que a Britney realmente se arrependeu dos seus pecados ou quer ser pastora só para polemizar mais uma vez?

E que Deus continue nos abençoando!

Britney

So finally it’s here! Three months after her last music video for “Circus”, Britney Spears has released the video for “If U Seek Amy”, and I’ll give you a heads up, it’s nothing like “Womanizer”, and it’s nothing like “Gimme More” because the days where people have constantly chanted “Britney’s Back” succesively are over, there are no awkward moments in the video,  no blank empty looks on her face, this is who she is, and the reason it comes off so well is because the video relates around the concept of how the media can redefine and manipulate who you are, but they can never change who you are behind closed doors.

The dancing in this video is pretty decent, in fact the best since Toxic, but to be honest it’s one of those video’s where it focusses more on perspectives and emotions, than choreography. I commend them on that, because her dancing isn’t as good as it used to be, and it’s better to sway away from that for the time being and to play to her strengths.

The video fixates on the new Britney, the mature adult Britney, the one that has brought her public image more down to earth in many peoples minds. Before she was this teenager who could dance and sing, she was talented and sweet. But now her persona is full of dimension, she’s hit rock bottom, she’s become a mother, she’s reached the extremes of fame and infamy, something not many other’s can claim to such a magnitude. She is the archetypical celebrity, she has been the one who has been at the complete mercy of the press, obsessed with bringing somebody down until there is nothing to do but to talk them back up to the top again, it’s sadistic, and that’s why Britney’s vocals in the song express “All of the boys and all of the girls are begging to if you seek amy”, everybody is out to fuck her over.

Britney and the exterior

In the beggining she is surrounded by faceless people shrouded in the darkness of impropriety, and suddenly we see her face, in clear focus and bright lights, she lifts her head up and sings right into the camera it really is raw. She walks seductively (something she seems to be doing more than dancing in her tour, but at least she does it well…. right?) to the window, as she contemplates what she already knows, the reality she faces on a daily basis, that outside everyone is seeking this identity “Amy” her public identity, which as the video progresses we learn is nothing like who she really is.

There are people watching her in the video in every scene, until she is shown in pools of white light as she dresses herself up into “Amy” the ideal conservative, woman. As she slowly makes her way ouside holding a pie, we see jump cuts between Amy and Britney, showing the bitterness within what lies beneath, and the eerie confidence of this picture perfect housewife on the outside. We see the house is used as a metaphor to capture the essence of how we all want to seem, and how horrendously different we usually are.

Amy and the media

At the beginning and end of the video we see short fox “news” (And I think we all understand why I used inverted commas there…) clips, the first, a bitter yet “virginal” news reporter who in a real “news” broadcast mocks the songs title saying slowly “If…. You…. Seek…. Amy” and then she dons a bitchy little smile. However at the end of the video she says stupidly “It doesn’t make sense, does it!”. This is executed by the editor so well, because it mocks her for not understanding the hidden meaning of the song.

Great work from Britney and her crew, they have exceeded expectations, and once again proved that whilst the new mature Britney is different from the old one, she is better in more ways than one.

This video recieves  4 stars, it would recieve more if the editing was a little better, there are a few moments that could have been improved. But overall what drives the video is the idea of the underlying message, from the interior of ourselves to the polished and surreal outside, that strives to stifle realism.

       Breaking news today that the infamous Sam Lufti who is Britney Spears former manager is suing both Britney and both of her parents; he is claiming that they have defamed him and claiming breach of contract.   Going back to last year when Britney was having the worst year of her life…the news was peppered with comments of worry relating to Sam Lufti’s relationship with Britney. 

         Her parents were alledging that he had too much control over Britney and that he had allegedly confided in Britney’s mother Lynne that he gave her “medications”.   Britney was exhibiting behavior that had everyone concerned for her well-being and that of her children.   Britney’s father Jamie went to court and got legal control over Britney’s finances and business dealings; effectively removing anyone with suspected ulterior motives from unauthorized access to Brit’s money or to Britney herself.

        Sam Lufti is now claiming that Jamie and Lynne have combined efforts to lie about him and have used intimidation to remove him from Britney’s life.  I don’t think that the Spears’ have tried to hide the fact that they believe that Sam Lufti should have no contact with Britney; since they went to court to limit his contact with her.  They were very concerned about their daughter and did what they felt was best to protect her and guard her safety and emotional well-being.   Sam Lufti says he feels he had no choice but to file suit against them in their campaign to smear his name.   Britney, after being hospitalized twice and having her father take over conservatorship of her legal and business affairs has made a miraculous recovery.  She has regained the ability to visit with her children and to perform onstage before her fans with confidence, once again.

         Jamie Spears has again gone to the courts, recently, to file a restraining order because of what he says are attempts by Sam Lufti and others in regards to the   harassment of  the Spears family.  I would presume that they would have evidence to back up that claim, or he would not have gone through the inconvience and cost of going to the court to file charges.  

     The timing of this latest difficulty for the Spears family comes close to the beginning of Britney’s new tour which is scheduled to begin next month.  The tour promises to make lots of money and I would not be surprised if  Sam Lufti, as her former manager, feels that he would have been benefitting from the profits of such business dealings; if he had not been removed from contact with Britney Spears.

Members of my beloved Guild on a retreat

Dan volunteered twice to drive me to my Guild meeting on Wednesday night.  Perhaps it was the fact that I’d been wandering for six minutes looking for my purse, not knowing what I was looking for. Or maybe it was because he’d asked me a half dozen times if I needed a snack before I left the house, and I responded by staring and chewing on my sleeve.

We call these my “bad head” days–days when forcing thoughts through my brain is a lot like shoving cooked noodles through tar. And because my brain and body don’t work the same way they did before my 1999 lesion  showed up in my cerebellum, sometimes I’d just rather sit down and cry.

But not on the third Wednesday of the month. That’s the night I show up at a local bookstore with a half dozen of my writing friends for accountability, encouragement, networking, cinnamon pastry, and a lot of soul sugar. We call ourselves the Guild (not associated with Jerry Jenkins’ great organization), and we share a synergy and commitment to one another that extends beyond cheerleading and encouragement.

When Lorilee Craker invested a chunk of her heart and life in co-authoring Lynne Spears’ book Through the Storm, we absorbed Lorilee’s passion and love for Lynne, Britney, and the Spears family.

When our friend Tracy Groot decided to research her next novel by leaping off a ship in the Mediterranean Ocean to know what it would feel like to be truly abandoned at sea, we helped her devise her plan.

We talk one another down off ledges, rebuke fear, shame, guilt, and procrastination, light fires under rear ends, share freely from whatever God’s placed in our hands, ladle out loving doses of family counseling, eat often, laugh liberally, and spur one another on toward our dreams and visions.

After our Wednesday night meeting, several emails passed between our Guild members. Alison Hodgson, who is currently completing a proposal for a book on shame, compiles words of encouragement in a Writing Sugar file. The words of Alison’s email this week were sugar for my soul:

“Sharon . . . thanks for writing. It made me cry and went right into my ‘writing sugar’ file . . .I’m ashamed I’ve wasted so much time strangled by fear and perfectionism, . . .but I am hoping that the lag time between shame and grace is ever more tightening until I am continuing in a state of grace.

“There is a feeling I get, a sort of prophetic nudge, a momentary slipping of the veil where I can hear the feet pounding and feel the air moving as we run the race together. . . Thank you for choosing to run beside me and cheering me on . . . It means so much.”

I wish you all a community that knows the sweetness of such grace.

ACTUEEL | Naar alle waarschijnlijkheid gaat popcoryfee Britney Spears een overeenkomst van tien miljoen euro tekenen voor het schrijven van haar autobiografie. Het gaat om een van de grootste boekendeals in de geschiedenis van de showbusiness. Na haar wereldtournee ‘The Circus Starring: Britney Spears‘ zou ze beginnen met schrijven. De autobiografie zou opgesplitst worden in drie tot vijf delen die in een tijdspanne van tien jaar zouden worden uitgebracht.

Britney Spears wil komaf maken met de roddels over haar verleden. ©popularbiographies.files.wordpress.com

Dagboeken

Volgens een onbekende bron houdt Britney Spears al jaren dagboeken bij en zal ze dan ook ongegeneerd schrijven over haar jeugd en hoe ze op het verkeerde spoor raakte.
Er zijn al onnoemelijk veel onofficiële biografieën met de meest onwaarschijnlijke verhalen over La Spears uitgebracht, maar zelf had ze tot voor kort nog nooit de intentie gehad om eentje met de waarheid in te schrijven.

Moeder

Haar mama heeft dan weer wel dat plan gehad. Vorig jaar bracht de moeder van Britney, Lynne Spears, het onthullende boek ‘Throught the Storm: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World‘ uit tot grote ontevredenheid van haar dochter Britney. Het boek maakte immers publiek hoe Britney op haar dertiende verslaafd raakte aan alcohol, op haar veertiende ontmaagd werd en op haar vijftiende aan de drugs zat.

Momenteel heeft Britney haar leven wel weer onder controle en is ze vastbesloten dat zo te houden.

Dorien Leten

Bronnen

Het Laatste Nieuws

De Morgen

Clint

Jamie Lynn Spears received a little help from mom Lynn Spears with her daughter Maddie Briann while out running errands near their home in McComb, Mississippi on Wednesday.

The ladies reportedly took Maddie to a doctor’s appointment and then headed to the Edgewood Mall before calling it a day and packing up their purchases to head home.

There are a handful of things dominating people’s thoughts in America right now, such as the election, the economy….and Britney Spears’ comeback. Yes, it’s true.

If you’re like me and don’t have a radio handy, you’d have read about it before you heard it. It’s called Womanizer. And, if you’re also like me in the fact that despite yourself you see if the song is any good or not, you were able to hear it and/or download it for free and/or just went ahead and paid the .99 cents on iTunes or wherever else.

The thing is, it’s catchy. I don’t know if it’s as good as my remix version of Gimme More, which I’ve played a few hundred times (okay fine, I made a ringtone out of it, too) but it’s still fun on a very base level. Can someone please find a better opening to a song than, “It’s Britney bitch”? I propose you cannot. But this time around, she’s gone back to acting in a dominatrix kinda way.

One could even go so far as to call the video “Toxic 2.” If you didn’t see the video for Toxic, I have no idea what rock you lived under back in 2004. I was abroad in Paris at the time it hit its peak and Parisians were just as obsessed with it as Americans. All my guy friends immensely enjoyed seeing her in her nude skin suit adorned with sparkly stuff in all the appropriate places.

Womanizer shows her stark naked in a steam room, oiled up to perfection. I’m only the twenty-nine billionth blog to report on this. What’s that? You haven’t managed to see it yet? Here (double click on it to get it to open in a new window or if it keeps saying it’s unavailable paste this into your browser http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZSLIq6YiRY):

If Dana Carvey were still on SNL, we could expect a fantastic skit about the salaciousness of that video from Church Lady. But is anybody actually really protesting Womanizer’s existence? Being a divorcee with two children, Britney hardly has to worry about being an aspiring role model. She has more freedom now to do whatever the hell she wants than she ever did. It’s like when Madonna put out her Sex book. There was a bit of an uproar at first but for the most part, people were like, “Yeah, so?” Does anybody even talk about that book when they talk about Madonna? No. Someone’s all, “Remember that?” and people either go, “Oh yeah…” or “Not really but whatevs.”

But back to the video. Who wouldn’t want to look that good while writhing around naked like that? The other scenes depict her yanking some guy around by his tie (I guess it could be a phallic symbol) and having her way with him at the office, in a restaurant, in a limo, at home…I guess it all culminates at the spa or in the shower or something wet like that.

There’s no real “plotline” driving the video. We’re just taken back to classic Britney parading around in as little as she can get away with, seducing us with her electronically enhanced vocals and other girlie parts. Hey, it’s a formula and it works. She’s back in shape again, effectively helping to eradicate our memories of the 2007 VMAs.

I think most intelligent people get that as much as Britney preaches about her being able to spot a love-’em-and-leave-’em player and she’s going to take the wheel in THIS clandestine “relationship”, thank you very much, her real life is nothing like that. She lost control of her kids, has outstanding driving incidents to clean up and her mental stability is still TBD.

Remember the rumor that she was bipolar? That got hushed up super quick, didn’t it? I don’t think we need to go so far as to socially diganose her as bipolar but who wouldn’t have a mental breakdown after living a life as she’s led for over a decade? I think anybody would crack and shave their head. By the way, favorite line of the song? “You say I’m crazy….I got your crazy…” Doesn’t that say it all?

The breakdown moment...

Is it more normal to rise to superstardom at 15, get married to a Vanilla Ice wannabe and have two children in rapid succession (and then a divorce almost immediately after) or have one’s first child at the tender age of 16, as did her younger sister? Good job, Lynne Spears.

I digress.

Britney’s doing what any other star who’s had a major (and I mean, major) downfall in the eyes of the world – she’s picking herself back up and doing what she’s always done best. Even if her best is just dishing out halfassed written songs and the real miracle is the production team who makes her sound like she’s “singing,” it grabs hold of a large part of the population. And she’s making millions off of it. Not many people can make that kind of money regularly, much less a “comeback.”

Diehard fans are creaming their pants at her return (and people, she’s only 26, we have at least three more comebacks to endure), anticipating with foaming mouths her next album Circus. I won’t even tease with a possible concert tour <gasp>.

Then there are people like me. Just regular old gals who aren’t strongly for or against her. I don’t loathe her like I do Paris Hilton, which I’m aware is bizarre and contradictory. I download the song anyway and nod my head and sing along. I watch the video with eyebrows raised. I realize my dollar contributes to her millions. But I can’t do more than just shrug my shoulders about it. I get a catchy song out of the deal to listen to while I go to work in the mornings. Hell, my roommate and I just watched it twice over the weekend. I’m just saying.

Hey, in a time when the country is quite literally falling apart around us, it’s nice to have something to distract us. Perhaps Britney should be hailed as a political hero for keeping our brains occupied for three minutes and forty-three seconds and off of gagalicious Sarah Palin. At least Britney has a catchy beat…and of course her goodies out there for all to ogle at.

That’s right, I ended on a preposition. It’s Zoe, bitch.

Rumors say that Jamie Lynn Spears is pregnant. AGAIN. She apparently didn’t know you could get pregnant if you were breastfeeding.

Yeah, I’m shocked as well, Jamie. Now step away from your child, finish your Geometry homework, and oh, I don’t know, STOP HAVING UNPROTECTED SEX.

“ ‘Jamie Lynn is about eight weeks pregnant, and she and her mom Lynne are hysterical,’ revealed a close source.  ‘Neither of them knows what to do…’

‘Jamie Lynn believed she couldn’t get pregnant while she was breast-feeding,’ said the close source. ‘She’d expected to have her period by early September.’ A home pregnancy test came back positive and Jamie Lynn cried her eyes out, said the source.

Her mother Lynne was livid when she found out, divulged an insider. “ 

[quotes from the news article]

WTF??!! I mean, obviously her mother never had “the talk” with her since she just gave birth in June (whoops) but COME ON. Does she not talk to her friends about these things? Her babydaddy? Her reliable older sister? Hahaha, oh wait…nevermind. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that this is just bad press and remember happier times.

**photos from babble.com

In July- when I originally posted the article below, I had no idea that was God preparing me for what Erwin McManus would be sharing at MOPS Convention. Saturday morning… He spoke from his new book “Wide Awake” The story he shared was so parallel to my own experience that I have to respond. I was shaking when I left that session, tears flooded my face (Mental note- always wear waterproof mascara- to general session I forgot mine- I was a mess) — I can no longer pretend to ignore the dream that haunts, delights and compels me. I can’t keep running up to the edge and stopping just short of jumping to my dream. I have to trust that God will catch me. I have to try. I pray that as I share this re-post- that it will resonate with you the way Erwin’s story resonated with me…. Thank You MOPS International and Mr McManus- for giving me the kick in the butt- that I desperately needed to finally jump.

After reading here- I hope you’ll pop over to the MOPS International Convention Blog to read how Lynne Spears (yes- Lynne- the mother of Britney and Jamie Lynn Spears she spoke during one of our general sessions ) visit to MOPS Convention has impacted me and other moms- It was incredible.

When standing on the edge of… oh, ….ANYTHING. I get that stomach flip flopping, hands sweating, heart thumping- kind of feeling. Not the “Ohhhhh, I’m in love” feeling- it was the other one- FEAR. It could be a bridge, a cliff, or the top of a steep set of stairs. Not quite panic— but fear. The fear is manageable… but I don’t like it. It makes me feel  just a little too human and frail.

Recently I stood on the very edge of my fear. I was on vacation. We were camping and went to the biggest falls in Mighigan. It was a crystal clear Norman Rockwell type waterfall/swimming hole, complete with waterbugs of all ages, jumping into the rapids, heads bobbing up through the foaming water with grins from ear to ear. I carefully walked out to the edge of the falls- to take a pic.  I had not intention of jumping.  But as I watched… my heart yearned to get past the fear. I was missing out on half the experience. I sawthe beauty of the rushing water-but I couldn’t FEEL it.

Was I afraid of the waterfall?

No. Not a bit- In fact, I was so enraptured by it- that I totally forgot how short my legs are when I bent down to snap a pic— let’s just say I ended up a “soggy bottom mom”. It wasn’t the waterfall that had me afraid- it was the JUMPING , that worried me.  What if I got hurt? What if I looked like the pudgey mom of three I know I am- and people watched me? What if I never came back up from the river bottom?

I watched as child after child jumped and swam… I watched as adult after adult proved the safety of the jump, by bobbing back to the surface. I watched as my own friends and family rose out of the rapids- aglow with joy.  A tiny bit of courage started to well up in my soul. I wanted to do it.  I wanted to jump.

I took my camera to the rivers edge and asked my college boy to hold it- and told him NOT to miss getting my pic.  I warned him it could be the last.  He knows his mother- he was shocked I was going out there. I carefully edged out toward the middle. I looked down into the swirling water….I walked back to shore. I handed my camera/security blanket to my oldest, and told him I was going to jump. His jaw fell open and nearly hit the shore. I told him to make sure and get the shot- there would only (probably) be one take.

I made my way to the centerpoint, my feet slipping on algae covered rocks. I stepped aside as 2 9-10 year old girls jumped into the deep. (Ok so maybe it was 4 1/2 feet) I plugged my nose… I unplugged it. I stepped back- I stepped forward.  I finally went to the edge–my heart racing… then I stepped down just one rock lower (No need to make it scarier than it already was!) ….I plugged my nose. I made eye contact one last time with family and friends (just in case) .. and then? I jumped.

The water seemed to jump up to catch me. It was not at all like the tearing, torrent that I’d imagined. It was cool, refreshing. Embracing. I sank to the bottom, and my feet found a foot hold on the riverbed.  My legs, automatically sprang me back to the top. . My head broke the surface-I screamed-” I did it!”  I was grinning like a mascara streaked, madwoman. And I did not care what anyone thought. I DID IT! I JUMPED!

I climbed back up the rocks, and then? I did it again, and again.  What had been so fear filled- had become joyfilled. On the way back to camp-  I started to wonder. How many times have I stood on the edge of fun- and  joy filled experience, paralyzed by a fear? There have been hundreds.

I’ve missed a lot more than waterfall jumping adventures.  I’ve felt the same adrenaline rush as I stood at the top of faith leaps- watching others leap- while I stayed on the rivers edge- in fear.

I’ve been afraid to try, for risk of failure. I’ve been afraid to trust at risk of trust broken. I’ve been afraid to jump- at risk of falling… but all I’ve lost- was the joy of being caught- by much stronger arms than the arms of a river.

The waterfalls in faith leaps aren’t always as tame as the Ocqueoc Falls, that I jumped into on vacation. (and honestly- they are TINY— but it’s the biggest we have here in Michigan:P) . They can be truly dangerous. For some reason- God allows them to be. There is risk in trusting God. There are few guarantees.

But- today, as I look back at my vacation pictures… I wonder- how many guarantees do we really need- beyond this one:

Matthew 17:20 (New International Version)
He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Are you standing at the edge of a waterfall of faith? Is fear keeping you there? Are you watching as others leap into the deep and are lifted up as God catches them, jump after jump? Stop standing there.  Stop going tot he edge and chickening out. Plug your nose if you have to… but do it-  JUMP!

The risk is worth the taking:)

PS- yes- the terribly unflattering jumper in the pic? that’s really me…on my second jump-caught by my college boy

I attended my first MOPS (Mother’s of Preschoolers) National Convention this weekend. Look at my beautiful leaders who came along with me! I love these ladies!

Britney Spears

Now that Britney Spears is getting back to shape, she just might have a new career ahead of her, thanks to her mother’s Jane Fonda tapes that served as inspiration.

Read story >>

Greetings potential parentals.  If you’ve got a baby on the way but are a little worried that it’s not your nature to nurture, maybe you should stop asking yourself the question, “how do I take care of my baby?”  and start asking, “How can my baby take care of me?”  Put down that volume of Dr. Spock and make sure your new son or daughter is ready to rock with the latest friendly trend of turning your kids into cash!

Now we here at the Trendliest aren’t condoning selling your newborns onto the black market (just yet).  We’re merely suggesting that you start preparing your child for a successful career early on so they can literally and figuratively stop sucking at your teat before they ever start while chipping in a little towards your monthly rent or mortgage payment that their birth has helped make more difficult to pay.

First off, the road to success starts in the womb and certainly is paved with both placenta and gold.  While your child is developing, don’t underestimate the importance of music.  Play as much meaningless pop as you can so when your child finally pops out he or she will be influenced by the songs of relatively young idols like Britney Spears and Avril Lavigne, appearing at an early age to want to follow their career path.  Once your child is old enough to hum or sing, invoke the Lynne Spears Method of Parenting as laid out in her book, Through The Storm: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World.

Goodbye Dr. Spock, Hello Lynne!

The most important part of this method is never saying no to your child.  If you’ve done your job correctly so far, your son/daughter will want to be a singer. Cater to all their performance whims and make sure to constantly encourage them in their performance field.  Be sure to purchase a big stereo with a karaoke feature and a top of the line microphone so that they might practice at home for all of their big auditions, it’ll pay for itself. Tell your child they have the most beautiful voice in the world and that they should take singing and dancing lessons and go on auditions so mommy and daddy won’t be poor no more.

As for education, School is a formality when you’re getting your degree in Showbiz.    No matter how unready your child may be, ignoring education will put a fast track to success and a slightly slower track to the mental ward or rehab, but the latter two results are just minor obstacles to maintaining a fabulous career.

This Could Be Your Child!

No Wait...This Could Be Your Child...Much Better

If you’ve not succeeded in Ms. Spears method your child might want to be an NFL Place kicker, a fireman or Chief of Police, in which case you should probably start practicing kickoffs, taking your child to the firehouse to practice drills, or just having a gun in the house to hone those respective skills.  After all catering to your childs first whim and encouraging them to be whatever they want to be as long as it has the potential to earn you cash is the trendliest way to parent.

It's Never Too Early To Start Getting Them Ready