Submitted by lisacoldiron on Sun, 08/15/2010 - 15:21
I was looking at this picture of little Charlotte, (not yet one year old when this picture was taken) and thinking about how amazing it was that she was watching "Knockin' Rockin". Of course she is not at the age of reason, and so her appeal to our little GPK podcast is in the bright colors, the smiling puppets, the rhythm of the song etc. But, this lead me to start thinking about how it was such a short time ago that this sweet little one was in the arms of Jesus where she was only hearing and seeing the beautiful face and gentle comforting words of our Savior and the precious sight and sound of a myriad of angels. Her journey would then bring her the soft, docile sound of her mother's heartbeat, and the reassuring, muffled yet loving sound of her father's voice. As she was welcomed into the world, this forever changed. Now her world would bring her loud honking cars, the sounds of radio and TV in the background, barking dogs, many, many new and loving faces and voices and of course, much, much more.
It is so important that we (the adults in our children's world) be very, very careful and meticulous about what we introduce to our little ones precious ears, eyes and hearts. The world will (just by osmosis) bring its own sights and sounds (and eventually values) into her world. It is our job to protect what they see and hear. Our good Lord has given us a beautiful world to behold. Let us be mindful and alert to what we allow into their (and our) hearts and minds. They are so young and pure. . . what a gift they are to us and what an awesome and worthy responsibility!
May our good Lord bless the ears, eyes, hearts and minds of all the growing little children.
Submitted by lisacoldiron on Fri, 08/13/2010 - 10:19
We just got back from the MOPS Convention in Florida where we shared Grace Place Kids with young moms, grandmothers, mentors and the like! We had a wonderful time! It was so refreshing to spend time with so many dedicated, loving, nurturing, faith-filled mothers. For those of you who don't know, MOPS stands for Mothers of Preschoolers. Brian and Amanda walked around entertaining everyone with their counterparts Howard and Gladys while my niece Jessie and I manned the table. We had our videos running with our projector full screen as well as videos running on our ipads, ipods and computer screens! It was "surround sound" GPK!!! I said to Jessie, "I love watching these young moms. It touches me deeply to see how much they care about their families and how hard they are working. It fills my heart with joy just thinking about them." To that Jessie responded, "Not me. . . I get a kick out of thinking about all those Dad's that are home by themselves taking care of all those kids!!"
May our good Lord bless all the Mommies and the Daddies as well as all His little children.
The presence of a good church youth group - with committed, loving, disciplining youth pastors - can make a huge difference in kids' lives. While parents play the most important role, a good youth program can be a powerful, synergistic force moving them to even deeper levels of commitment and maturity.
That's why I was delighted to come across this news story about the collaboration between the thriving youth groups at Greenwood United Methodist, The Vineyard Church, and River Valley Community Church in Fort Smith, AR, who came together to pitch-in and help their neighbors this summer. What an awesome experience for these kids to form Christ-centered friendships, and learn the joy of giving. Keep up the great work!
Submitted by lisacoldiron on Tue, 07/27/2010 - 23:45
On June 20th Amanda Spears (aka Gladys) recorded "The Baseball Ballet." It's a great, new upcoming episode for Season 2 that features both Gladys and AJ. Our wonderful Darryl Jordan (aka AJ) had already completed his character's recording and we were now fitting in Glady's part. Vickie (our creative director) was there too, because we planned on having a meeting after the recording to talk about artwork for some upcoming episodes. (Honestly, though, she really comes because she enjoys and doesn't want to miss one minute of the creative process!!) Brian Weeks (aka Howard, and our resident tech expert and extraordinary editor) was there with the recording equipment all set up and ready to go! It was a fantastic experience!!
Amanda is a perfectionist in her role as Gladys. Outside of her faith, I think this is one of the things I admire most about her. . . it may be just a short, simple line, but if she doesn't think she read it just right, she will do it over and over and over again! "No, that's not it, let's do that again. . . wait, that's not right, let me try that again. . . is that it?" she'll say. Over and over until she feels, and everyone else feels, that she got it just the way it should be. Always with a big smile! Brian, while busy recording, setting levels, checking and re-checking sound, entertains us all with a myriad of mini-concerts; singing anything from broadway tunes, to the latest most current hip song, to 80's and 90's rock and roll, to Christmas tunes?! (in June?!!) Meanwhile, Vickie sits by creating in her mind the next piece of artwork that will grace a GPK episode!
What a group, what a blessing, what a gift! I thank God for this faithful, loving, creative, energetic wonderful group of people who make up what we call, GPK.
There are so many wonderfully talented people that contribute to the Grace Place Kids mission, and not all of them get to appear on camera. Therefore, we're launching a new series on our blog called "In the Spotlight," where we'll conduct one-on-one interviews with the cast and crew.
First up in the hot seat was Vickie Bigliano, who creates the most beautiful drawings and artwork that become the backdrop and scenery in our episodes. Vickie has become a dear friend to us all, and we are so blessed to have her on the team. In addition to the incredible artwork, Vickie's genuine faith and radiant spirit bring joy to all of us here at GPK.
It is my pleasure to introduce her to you in this video...
I just upgraded our website with a new drag-to-share feature, in the style of Mashable.com. Grab any image on the page to drop it on your Facebook wall, Digg, or other popular social media sites. Kinda fun, right?
We are so pleased to have our new friend, Jose, join the GPK family. Jose was a real trooper when he came by to 'lend a hand' by working the right-arms of our puppets during the filming of "You Are My Lifeguard." Jose is no stranger to the performing arts, as he runs a Spanish-language theater company here in New York City. Thanks for sharing your talents, Jose! We're all looking forward to the next shoot. Check out this video of our day...
Here at Grace Place headquarters we're always looking for new ways to spread the Good News. Our mission to share the stories and love of our Creator in a hip and fun way means using hip and fun new mediums. Enter the iPad, the latest and greatest new gadget from Apple.
If you're one of the lucky 2 million+ individuals who purchased an iPad since it's launch two months ago, you will be relieved and delighted to hear that Grace Place Kids now has an iPad-optimized version of our website. Our videos can now be enjoyed directly within mobile Safari in full H.264 compressed glory (if you know what that means then we should probably connect on Linkedin).
For over a year now I have enjoyed having an iPhone because it allowed me to share the Grace Place Kids videos at any time - whenever the conversation arose I always had them right there in my pocket. The iPad's large screen makes it even more enjoyable.
Plus, have you seen how kids faces light up when they get to play with an iPad? It seems to be universally enjoyable. Just take a look in the App Store and see all the kids games and storybooks that are available. There are even children's eBibles! My hope is that at some point in the future we can release a real application like that. For now, it's just the website.
To see the new site go to graceplacekids.com on your iPad and you will be automatically redirected. Enjoy!
Submitted by lisacoldiron on Wed, 05/26/2010 - 20:10
Most days after work I go out for a long walk. It clears and quiets my mind and so I walk and pray. This evening, on the last loop of my walk, I was given a most beautiful gift. There on the sidewalk in front of me, riding along on their scooters, were two little boys. . . one white, one African American. . . one a second grader, the other in Kindergarten. The boys Dad's were across the street mowing lawns as the boys were riding up and down the sidewalk on their scooters. I heard the one Dad yell to his son to NOT cross the street. "Just stay on the sidewalk until I'm done," he said. The boys shouted back, "OK!" So, I stopped to tell the boys that I thought it was pretty neat the way they were listening and obeying their Dad's direction. The one, the littlest one. . . the Kindergartner said, "I always obey my Dad, and I always say my prayers!" Well, this just made me smile all over!! With that, the boy began to bow his head and say his prayers. The other boy, the second grader, bowed his head too, and joined in the prayer!! Together, the three of us shared a sidewalk prayer! After we prayed, we waved good-bye and went our separate ways.
Little ones. . . taking time out of scootering on the sidewalk to say a prayer. . . in that brief beautiful moment. . . all was well with the world.
You Are The Light Of The World The boys are at it again. This time Howard is PUMPED about a newspaper hat he made, but AJ shows him how to get REALLY excited.
