Tamapalooza—

A Glimpse into our Lives

 

I will be updating my photos periodcially—taking out the old and adding in the new.  There's never a dull moment in the lives of this Manchester family.  American Idol pictures still to come....I'm going to have to buy a cable to download from my cell phone to computer—technical details!

Will Franklin Chapman....A New Normal

It's been a long few weeks and I'm tired.  I've been traveling quite a bit lately and although I have enjoyed and loved everywhere I've been and who I've been with—I think a bit of my tiredness is partly sadness. 

Pardon me while I digress for a moment.  In reading back over my own writings, despite desire and good intentions,  I am aware that I do not always communicate well—connecting thoughts that are sucked out of the deep recesses of my brain and heart while trying to lay them out on some verbal scrabble board is quite a task.  The good news for me is that bad communicators are often unaware of their shortcomings, the bad news for you is that at any point you may find yourself in the middle of some random rambling AND before I make this thing any longer and send you straight into a literary coma, I want you to know that I am not using this blog space to be preachy.  I have no desire to tell anybody what to do about their faith or their pain or their life but in re-reading this blogabook I may have done so.  So, without an editor on hand—I'm pressing the save button.  :)

  

It's a funny thing to feel so passionately about someone you don't know.  Will Franklin Chapman is not my son, not my brother, not a neighbor or even a friend of a friend.  I've never met him.  He is the son of Steven Curtis and Mary Beth Chapman who many of you may know because of Steven's long and prestigious career within Christian music.  Last week their youngest son, 17 years of age, had his life shattered within a moment because of a tragic accident.  He was parking an SUV at the Chapman family home and did not see his youngest sister nearby.  His vehicle hit her and she died.  Her name was Maria Sue—one of three daughters adopted from China by the Chapman family and all of 5 years old.

I realize that there are terrible things that happen to people every day—sometimes to us and sometimes to others.  I personally consider the loss of a child among the most unspeakable of tragedies. I cannot begin to imagine the agonizing, nauseating pain inflicted by this sort of loss—and for some reason I can't get past what has happened to this young man named Will.  I've read that he had been recently traveling with his father Steven and playing in the band alongside his 19 year old brother Caleb.  What a blast!  Wouldn't every 17 year old boy or girl (or adult for that matter) love to be doing just that?  Then suddenly, in the middle of this significantly joyful time in his life—everything changed.  

My family and I experienced a similar tragedy when my youngest brother was 17 years old.  He had just graduated from high school and like most teenagers was looking forward to his future. He was a gifted athlete and one of the nicest people I know.  In the winter after graduation he went skiing with friends and ended up veering off course at a high rate of speed, hitting three trees (head on) and within a short amount of time was airlifted off the mountain.  He died twice en-route to the hospital but was revived, leaving him in a coma for three weeks. We came from all over California to sit in the ICU waiting room of this small but capable hospital where he had been taken.  

Those were long, sobering, anxiety-ridden days but I know God was there and He did amazing things. The doctors told us to expect nothing more than a probable death or at the least brain damage. Wow, that didn't settle well— not one single calming cup of tea was going to make that information palatable.  The good news is that my brother lived—and is 80-85% recovered.  He's been married, has a young daughter who is just as bright and athletic as her dad and   looks just like him—he's still one of the nicest people I know. The bad news is that it damaged this amazing young man and his life was changed.

I have a dear friend—a beautiful young woman—who has three adorable young daughters and a wonderful husband who is the proud father to these little girls.  My friend is now in the fourth stage of brain cancer. That is her reality today and I cannot fathom the pain and confusion that comes with something so unfairly imposed upon your life like that.  In the middle of significant blessing and joy, everything has changed.

Every single day, someone somewhere has their life rotated off its axis.  I recently have enjoyed reading Jim Houser's (Steven's manager) blog.  He is so real and articulate. I love how at one point he says,  "this unthinkable event has caused a new normal for the Chapman family".  So I have to ask: How do we get used to this unwelcome, unfamiliar and new normal some of us find ourselves in? How does one recover from something like this? 

If you know the Lord, you know the answer: It is only by God that we are saved.  Yes.... eternally....but also here—right now...today!  There are things that afflict us like locusts, that intend to ruin our lives, destroying what was once alive and thriving—leaving us less than we were meant to be. These are moments that carry tremendous potential to cripple us, mark us and create alternate identities—leaving us stripped of our real selves.  I can only speak from my own experience, but I have known God as my redeemer and I have never believed more than I do today that Jesus is real.  He wants to save us from our afflictions, our sufferings—from the unjust, the unfair and the new normal that we may find ourselves in. In every illness, broken marriage, ruined relationship, lonely person, dysfunctional family, widowed woman/man and orphaned child—Jesus died so there would be hope and so that we could be saved not just for eternity but for today.  He wants to be with us in the middle of our pain and in the middle of every crisis.  As Caleb Chapman said in his eulogy for his sister, "I may not like the way God answered my prayer to heal Maria but I know that I will like how He is going to heal my brother".  Wow, so well said.  I may have a lot of big questions but it's not God I'm questioning.

It is in these moments we get to decide how we will respond.  Over the ages, people have overcome tremendous obstacles.  We see people come back from places of deep despair, having been affected by life's harmful circumstances; but I know personally that victory has never been found in myself or my ability to overcome, but rather in God. 

I've been contemplating how silly it may be to write a blog about a stranger; is it really my business to intrude upon someone else's privacy, their tragedy, their pain—and actually write about it?  Our society has been so bombarded with inappropriate behavior that we've erased and eliminated that important line that reminds us where our moral boundaries are.  We've been inundated with such easy access to the private lives of others, through our magazines, our newspapers, our internet links and our televisions—that sadly, we have ended up becoming legitimate "peeping toms".  So now when we read about something newsworthy—something that's been approved for public viewing—our jaded selves are programed to receive the information for consumption only and "Frankly Scarlet, I don't give a damn!" (quoting Rhett)—it has become difficult to care anymore.  Think about Britney Spears.  My goodness, this girl's story is truly heartbreaking; but we're so sick of seeing her life plastered in front of our faces—we'd rather she just go away.  I've been thinking to myself lately: What if I actually took a moment and prayed for people when I heard of their suffering?   Hmmm.  

I believe in being respectful and appropriate but I also know that becoming a Christian makes us part of a larger family.  We have sisters and brothers all around the world—some we know, some we don't.  It certainly doesn't give us a right to impose ourselves on each other, but I think we're supposed to be concerned about one another—our families, our friends, our neighbors, strangers....those who have less than us, those who love God and those who don't.  God made us to be compassionate because He is compassionate. 

I think that's why this story has captured my heart.  In one way, I am deeply saddened because I am a human being—I am a mom with little girls of my own.  The Chapman's story could be mine or yours. Will Franklin's sorrow and regret is not unlike how we would feel if we were in his shoes.  But I think what else has captured my heart is the power of prayer, the power of calling out to God on behalf of someone else.  This leads me to a big question: Am I willing to respond to the big and small convictions of my own heart and do something on behalf of another person if it means taking something away from me—like my time or my money or my energy?  This is definitely something I will write about later but I am happy to say I know what my answer is.

One of my favorite movie lines comes from "Unforgiven", where Clint Eastwood says, "It's a hell of a thing, killin' a man...".  It's one of the saddest and most remorseful lines ever spoken on the big screen.  Although by accident, I can only imagine Will Franklin has experienced a sort of death of his own, feeling responsible for the loss of his sister.  I cannot imagine the anguish and pain this sweet older brother is enduring, but I consider it worthy of my time to pray for his broken heart to beat again.  I remember when 9/11 happened—how all of a sudden it was not only ok but even cool for an entire nation to once again cry out to God for help.

This is the heart of God, the mercy of God that calls us to pray for others and commissions us to carry one another's burdens.  The Chapman family has not only lost their daughter, but also the youthful innocence of their youngest son. 

So today, I'm asking you to join me in praying for a 17 year old teenager from Franklin, Tennessee.  God cared about my dying brother on that snowy mountain, He cares about my beautiful friend and her precious family that worries every single day about their mama (and wife), and He cares about this boy named Will Franklin who suffers deeply—struggling to find his road to recovery!

Sad Losses

I have enjoyed the music and ministry of Steven Curtis Chapman since I was a young girl.  I was grieved to learn that this last Wednesday night, May 21st, Steven and Mary Beth Chapman, lost their 5-year old daughter Maria in a tragic accident at their home in Franklin, TN.  For more information you can go to http://www.stevencurtischapman.com/.

On Sunday, May 11th, Dottie Rambo died in a tour bus accident near Mount Vernon, Missouri.  This was a woman that I was influenced by as a child because my family traveled and sang alongside of her, her family and many others in the gospel community. Dottie Rambo was one of the most respected and beloved gospel songwriters in the world. Not only in the gospel music industry but also in secular music. She has written over 2500 songs many of which have been recorded by singers such as Dolly Parton, Elvis Presley, and Whitney Houston—as well as nearly every gospel singer. Her music crossed all genres of music.—from southern gospel through contemporary artists like DC Talk. Currently, she was a duet partner to Dolly Parton.  Please pray for her manager/s and their families who were also injured in this same bus accident and are now slowly recovering.

I don't claim to understand death or tragedy but my hope is in Jesus who will one day unburden us from all that is wrong on this earth.  Please join me in prayer for these families who are suffering tragic loss.  Thank you,  Tami

American Idol....Live—Pending!

Sorry for the delay....I'm having technical difficulties. I am trying to retrieve photos off of my cell phone which of course are the ones I want to show you regarding our trip to American Idol....which by the way—was a total blast!

Hang in there, I will post soon!

American Idol....Live!

Yep, I'll be in the audience tomorrow night with my friends Debbie, Kaitlin and Michael. Crazy fun! Look for these signs: 1. Paula "U R Crazy Cool!", 2. If you can't stand the heat—get out of Cook's Kitchen! 3. Paula "You don't have to make nice!".

Our hope is that because they are doing damage control for Paula right now (thanks to some confusion on her part a week or so ago)....they may be looking for signs that are Pro-Paula AND if they like our pro-Paula signs they make stick us behind the judge's seats. Ya right....California dreamin', we'll probably end up in the nose bleed section. Nevertheless, we will have a blast!!!

Update you on what it's like to be LIVE vs tivovision when I get back. By the way, you can't believe all of the stipulations to get into this show...right down to the shoes you wear—should be very interesting!

PS Thanks Deb for the golden ticket—kind of feels like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!

MySpace

I'm back on MySpace...it's a free account and for now it keeps me connected to my Aussie friends who prefer Myspace over Facebook. Not actually sure what I think about faces and books but time will tell where I end up—stop by and say Hi.

Happy Birthday Seadawg

I wouldn't want to share my life with anyone but you—so glad you're mine!

August Rush

I love this movie. It was beautiful and moving and the music was amazing. True, it's not a believable story (or concept) but come on people—this is the magic of the movies. It is also very romantic and not for the jaded movie-goer who is going to sit back and be sarcastic or cynical about "how this could never happen".

The movie is worth the time and money—a great Christmastime/family/date movie. Even though it's rated PG and I think a very clean movie (I can't wait for my girls to see it), I am going to watch it on dvd with them so that I can skip over a few parts—namely the rooftop scene (which shows nothing but alludes to something) and Robin Williams getting a little edgy.

The music literally made my heart pound—it was so good! OK and check out the little black girl singer....um, where did she come from? This child still has her baby teeth and she blows most adult singers off the stage. Somebody definitely went hunting for hidden talent—and they found it.

I am definitely asking for the soundtrack for Christmas AND I am now pretty sure I will be taking guitar lessons next year and will remain ever regretful that I did not follow through with playing the cello. :)

Little Red Riding Hood

It is the MOST fun thing EVER to watch your kids grow up. Little Miss CeCe tried out for this year's 2nd Grade Play "Little Red Riding Hood" and she won the part of "Granny"— which until you have seen this version of "Little Red" you wouldn't know that this "Granny" has the best part in the play because it is written with such comedic flare. CeCe did such a great job and was so funny to watch. She has her father's "acting" blood in her—she not only knew her lines but everyone else's as well.

Here are a few photos and a special BIG thanks to Gpa and Nana for coming all the way down for a day to see their little grand-daughter. We love and miss you guys—this was a big treat!

Congratulations Granny.....you're "looking so young and pretty"!

A Fourth Meal?

Who are we kidding and what is wrong with us? We want what we want, we want it now and we certainly want it jumbo size!