Crazy Corrie's Chronicles

**Originally written April, 2020...**      So, over the course of these weeks of "sheltering" at home, I have had the luxury of tackling some books that have been on the back burner for some time. One of those books is the literarily acclaimed Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo. You may find this hard to believe, but I'd never even seen the Disney movie before reading the book. I say "hadn't" because I have since watched it --  once I'd finished the 19th century novel of course.       When I picked up that book though, I approached it with a few preconceived notions. I knew it was a Disney movie, so I assumed there would be an obvious moral-to-the-story, relatable characters, a bit of romance (ie damsel in distress & knight in shining armor), a relative status quo of family friendliness, and a general sense of closure & "happily ever after." Having read the book, I can attest that (SPOILERS AHEAD) none of that is true of Hugo'

Like a good American citizen, I watched President Trump's State of the Union address tonight. With a literal bowl of popcorn and my phone at the ready to text my politically minded friends, I settled in and tuned in to CSPAN's narration-free coverage of the 2020 speech. It did not disappoint. I laughed. I cried. I raged. I applauded. And then I really perked up. After the speech, after the President had left the chamber and the Speaker had dissolved the joint gathering and after the Democratic response from the Michigan governor,  CSPAN opened up their lines to callers. The first two were exactly what you'd expect - the pro-democrat thought it was too showy and too "campaigny" and the pro-republican thought it was great because Trump is the greatest etc. But nearly every other caller after that was a person who set party aside and courageously spoke truth. The truth is that faith, justice, morality, selflessness, ethics, equality, duty, hard work, courage,

     I know what you're thinking: "how could anything equal let alone top the exciting drama of the last Chronicle ?!" Well, I don't want to undermine the sweet memories and the truly fantastic night on Broadway, but...      The morning after our extraordinary night dawned cold and cloudy. With something like 4 hours of sleep that night, our first destination of the day was coffee! Krista and I met early to grab Starbucks around the corner and also to scope out our group's breakfast joint down the street, Ellen's Stardust Diner, since neither of us had been there before. It was a charming 50's diner just 4 blocks from Hotel Edison, so we decided it would be most efficient to walk the group rather than drive.   tour guide juice!     Back at the hotel, our buses had arrived from New Jersey, and our group was assembling in the lobby to load their luggage aboard the motor coaches. It was a bit of a process with 80 people and a parking spot for only

     Once upon a time, my heart's desire was granted: I was scheduled to work an 8 day tour with my favorite coworker! (To my other coworkers: you are also favorite. She's just more favorite) It was the last tour of the 2018 season and we'd be hitting our favorite cities - Williamsburg, Virginia; Washington, DC; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and New York City, New York.      The days leading up to the trip, were days of great anticipation and excitement. In the 6 years I've worked at ACTS, Krista and I have only worked together once and that was years ago! We knew going into the trip that it would be the high point of the year, but we were not prepared for how that would actually play out!      The first few days of the trip were standard - lovely strolls in the Historic Triangle, getting to know our group and the teachers aboard, and adjusting to each other's tour styles. We work solo or train newbies almost exclusively now, so working in tandem as near equals

     I haven't much time; I'm off in the morning - back to Washington DC! I was there just last week on tour with a large group - 83 people and 2 buses. Though only 3 days long, the trip was a memorable one for sure! Before the trip, the school had decided to split the buses boys and girls. Because the lead teacher was female and I was the lead tour guide for the trip, I was privileged with the darling and far less stinky girl bus while my friend and coworker was tasked with the far more rambunctious and might I say obnoxious boy bus! :) I was already counting my blessings, but the special attention my bus received at every turn only compounded my thankfulness and merriment!      Our first run in was at Arlington National Cemetery: our group of 44 ladies was making it's way down the crooked walk towards the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier when we came upon a unit of Army boys rehearsing for a rather impressive funeral later. We of course had to pause to watch their precision

     I know, I know. I'm really bad at this blogging stuff. In my defense, I never said I was any good. I simply responded to the plea of the people to start this thing and made no promises as to it's consistency and brilliancy! However, as the Lord saw fit for me to be born in a time where my words may be published across the globe (theoretically) with the click of a button, I couldn't very well pass up an opportunity to speak truth, spread light, and be salt!      As usual, I have nothing profound to say - nothing that couldn't be copied and pasted from the world wide web or straight outa the Bible - but sometimes redundancy is the key. I know everyone's talking about how nasty social media has become and how divided the people are and how bleak, or depressing, or scary, or...blah blah blah. I'm done. I can't handle it. Christians, get your head out of your sorry butts and be LIGHT! Why are you fearing the world when Christ has already overcome it?! Why

     Alright! Well, I'm back home - again! I know you're still waiting to hear some epic tales from the road, but before that, I thought I'd share some Halloween themed truth ;)      As you know, I travel a lot! And due to my frequent absences from Wisconsin and my home church, apparently I've qualified as "guest": or at least guest enough to serve as the "Guest speaker" for our church's annual fall festival/harvest party. However with historic tours at the forefront of my mind for 3 weeks, I had little time to think about or prepare for the unique opportunity which awaited me upon my arrival back home. But sometime between the day I landed in the Dairy State (last Saturday) and the day of our party (this past Wednesday), the Lord laid a message on my heart which I thought I'd share here as well. (if anyone wants to use this for their "trunk-or-treat" party, be my guest! :) This is a new format, so bear with me. Very *special Ag