An Interview With: Force Dot Mom (Brandy)

Howdy!

It's my pleasure to interview Brandy from Force Dot Mom. She's a relatively new blogger, a work outside the home mommy, and worship leader at her church. I lurved learning about her, and hope you'll enjoy this one, too.


1. Tell me about letterboxing. I know that you’ve done some elaborate things with this (e.g. Pennsylvania trip with Chicas). I’ve never done it, but heard sketchy details. Tell! Well, let me just first say that I learned about letterboxing from His Girl on a Chica trip in 2005. And since I need to copy everything His Girl does...haha....that is just part of our longstanding history together. Anyway, Letterboxing is essentially a treasure hunt, only the treasure that you are hunting is a little rubber stamp and its corresponding logbook that have been intentionally and lovingly hidden by a fellow letterboxer. How do I know where to look for said letterboxes you may be asking? Well, when someone 'plants' a letterbox, they write clues - a set of directions on how to find them. Now these clues can range from being extremely simple driving directions to complex riddles where you have to solve codes or decipher hidden meanings. ('Drink More Ovaltine!' - remember that GGG?) One of the best things about letterboxing is that you go where the clues take you - and that is usually somewhere you have never been before. They are almost always very well thought out, and you end up seeing parts of cities that you never would have visited on your own. Usually this is a good thing, although we did run into some smarmy folks in Seattle in Chicas '07. Once you find the treasure - the Letterbox - you need to take it somewhere nearby where you can discretely 'stamp-in'. Stamping in consists of you - the finder - stamping your signature stamp into the logbook of the letterbox that you just found. Then you stamp a copy of the stamp (usually handcarved) from the letterbox that you just found into YOUR personal logbook, which is where you keep a record of all the boxes you have found. Its kind of like a passport in that respect. Then you neatly pack up the letterbox, and carefully, and discretely put it back where you found it. You have to be careful, because you don't want someone who is a non-letterboxer to accidentally find it, because they might destroy it or take it and then its lost, and the next person who goes searching for it will find nothing.
Wow! Entirely cool.

2. Tell me the genesis of the Chicas. How long have you been friends, and how long have you been taking trips together? I have not been a part of these trips since their inception - so I'll only go back as far as I know. in 2005, His Girl and I were chatting online and she mentioned that she was going to the Women of Faith conference in LA. Well, we are both in So Cal, so naturally I thought she meant Los Angeles - no, she meant Louisiana - where S4J lives. I had already said - I wanna go -thinking it was in L.A. - but now the deal was sweeter cause I had never been to Louisianna, and I had not spent any kind of quality time with S4J since she had gotten saved. His Girl generously paid for my airfare that year, cause that is the kind of friend she is, and we went to LA - the state. Since we were attending the WOF conference that year, someone had come up with the nickname Chicas of Faith - since we were pretending we were not - I mean not feeling old enough to be Women of Faith. I think that was the year that we became the 'Chicas of Faith' - would have to verify that with His Girl and S4J. I have been friends with those 2 girls since we were abut 15. HG a little longer than S4J.

3. In your profile, you say among other things, that you’re a worship leader. This intrigues me, as I’m a part of a worship team and choir at my church. Tell me how you got started, and what your top 3 songs are. Songs that either by singing or listening can just get you into the God zone. Yes, I am a worship leader - by the grace of God. I started playing guitar - not really intentionally, but because of 2 godly ladies that the Lord put in my life...this was about - woah - 8 years ago! One of them gave me the guitar that I play today. I had a talent for it, and for singing, and just kept learning. I got asked to lead worship at various home Bible study groups, and I could barely play. But I did it by faith. in 2003-2004 I had the privilege of attending the Calvary Chapel School of Worship and was able to really grow in the skills and gifts that God had given. I have been involved in a worship team with a friend, but I have mostly just been a solo worship leader. Just me and my guitar. I currently am leading worship for our church one Sunday every month. I have been more active than that in the past, but for now that is a good pace for our family. Let see - top 3 songs:That is hard because I am one of those people that everything is my favorite. But here we go, in no particular order:You Never Let Go by Matt RedmanHow Deep the Father's Love fir Us by Stuart TownendMy Soul Thirsts by Scott Cunningham Again...trying unsuccessfully not to covet someone's talent of playing and singing simultaneously!!!

4. We’re strangers on a plane. What book or magazine do you bring? Also, will you read it, or are you a Chatty McChatterson? I’m a bit of both. I lurve reading, but if I can come by some interesting adult conversation, I’m in. My family teases me for “makin’ friends”. Ha ha!! I would bring my This Old House magazine - definetely, and probably some other dry, technical how to kind of reading material. As you can tell from my looooong answers, I would probably go the Chatty McChatterson route, especially if we were new friends and I wanted to get to know you more - oh I just read the strangers part... I was thinking it was you, and we were just getting to MIRL!.- oh I just read the strangers part... I was thinking it was you, and we were just getting to MIRL!
5. Describe the sweetest, most restful, incredible day from start to finish. pppffffttt! You know, I havent really thought about what that would be. Probably would involve shopping and a spa day with all my chicas - of course everything we want to have done is already paid for! And then we all go letterboxing and out to dinner. Sounds good to me! I'm in.

Thank you so much, Brandy. This pleasure was entirely mine.