It’s hard to believe, but Mega Memory Month officially ends today.

And that means today, Friday,[Updated: Obviously too many snow days threw me off--today is Saturday], January 31st, is MMM Celebration Day!

Not only have I ordered this modest fireworks display, I also decorated the blog in honor of this event — I’ve situated the promised balloons you previewed the other day. My kids are delighted, as I’ve never put balloons on my blog before — not even for one of our birthdays:

Scripture Stickies giveaway!

[Deadline is past for entering the Scripture Stickies Giveaway!

Winners will be announced Monday.]

And there are gifts, too! You can enter to win one of three packs of Scripture Stickies memory tools by leaving your name and contact info in the comments of this post — you have until 5:00 p.m. EST Sunday to enter. At that time, I’ll draw three names from the comments. I’ll contact the winners right away or after the Superbowl and announce the winners on the blog Monday, as well.

Scripture Stickies work like Post-It notes – just peel off the backing and stick the printed verses wherever you’ll see them often (for example, on the back of your child’s high chair, around your travel mug, or in the laundry room….sigh.). They’re a convenient way to get started with memory work. Visit their site to see the different themes and packets they’ve created. Take advantage of a special offer for my blog readers: Enter “MMM” as a coupon code, and you’ll receive 20% off your entire order!

And Now…The Projects

Without further ado, let’s enjoy the final presentations of some of our Mega Memory Month participants.

If you’re an official participant in January 2009′s Mega Memory Month, fill out your name and provide the url for your own MMM Celebration Day post in Mr. Linky. I’ll update when possible to put them right in the text of this post (Mr. Linky doesn’t do that automatically in WordPress, for which I am a tad resentful).

Official January 2009 MMM Participants Celebrations

1. Laura at Laura’s Imperfect Blog
2. Kathie at A Sparrow’s Home
3. shepherdsgrace at Beauty in the Mundane
4. Andrea at hopeannfaith 
5. The Butterfly Catcher at Butterflies of the Moment
6. Dea at For His Glory…By His Grace
7. Jennifer at PeaceLedge
8. Amy at Lavender *Sparkles*
9. Pauline at Him in the Everyday
10. Esther at Outward Expression
11. Erin at erinstraza
12. Ruth at Caribbean Wordkeeper

Here’s my offering:

For Mega Memory Month, I attempted to finish John 14, which I started back in October, and dip into John 15. I also memorized a poem.

First is a recitation of “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” by Robert Frost.

I suggest you turn down the volume, as the combination of my loud voice and some wind noise at the beginning might surprise you or damage your equipment. It’s up to you. I just don’t want you to ruin your speakers on a poem. That would be embarrassing to explain to the Geek Squad:

(Young man takes laptop and begins dismantling it after you explain that your speakers are toast.) “What blew out your speakers?” he asks. “Van Halen? AC/DC? Lynyrd Skynyrd?” 

“No,” you begin, “it was, uh, well, a mom-blogger reciting a pensive Robert Frost poem.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjbnPylE-YM]

You know, you probably should just go ahead and tell them you were cranking up U2. Don’t tell them it was Frost.

Anyway, I shall now commence to put you all at ease regarding your final presentations by typing out John 14 & the first few verses of John 15  (NIV) imperfectly, from memory (mistakes are crossed out and then corrected in orange).

John 14

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will send  give you another Counselor to be with you forever–the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me.  Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father. My Father will love him, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”

Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”

Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

“I will not speak with you much longer. All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I leave with give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

You have heard me say, ‘I am going away and I will come am coming back again to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. I have told you this now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me, but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.

“Come now; let us leave.”

John 15

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off any branch that does not bears no fruit, while any every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it will bear even more fruitful. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit on its own by itself; it must remain in the vine. So you must Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing.

Updated:

Many thanks to all who participated in Mega Memory Month and the Celebration Day! Please stay tuned–in a few months MMM will return to give you another 30 or 31 days of memory accountability and inspiration.

Meanwhile, if you want to take on another challenge, consider Tim Challies’ “Memorizing Scripture Together”, and ongoing memory commitment where you tackle long passages recommended by Tim; or, WalkSlowlyLiveWildly’s yearlong project of memorizing the entire book of James:  The James Challenge.

Someday I might go for an Extreme Blog Makeover.

For now?

For now, I just want to freshen it up with a trim–snip a little off the sides, take a bit off the top, even up the bangs. Nothing too dramatic.

Basically, I’m just picking a new layout and updating the header with a word-lovin’, writerly theme.

Be patient, in case I lose a few widgets in the process.

It’s like buying a set of clippers and trying them out on one of your kids for the first time. It may not come out perfectly straight at first.