Thursday, May 30, 2013

So many things in which I look for rest.


"O my soul, above all things and in all things always rest in the Lord,
for He is the eternal rest of the saints.

Grant me most sweet and loving Jesus, to rest in you
above every other creature,
above all health and beauty,
above all honor and glory,
above all power and dignity,
above all knowledge and precise thought,
above all wealth and talent,
above all joy and exultation,
above all fame and praise,
above all sweetness and consolation,
above all merit and desire,
above all gifts and favors,
above all happiness and joy,
above all angels and archangels,
above all the hosts of heaven,
above all things visible and invisible, and
above all that is not you, my God.

Come, come. Without you no day or hour will be happy,
for you are my joy, and without you my table is empty..."

-Richard Foster,

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

happiness in my week.


I pulled up at 8:30 this morning
and was greeted with whooping war yells and girls running across the yard.
By the time I was out of the car, this is what was waiting:


They made the bows themselves this weekend,
out of tree branches they carved the bark off of and yarn.
I'm serious.

*****

My current favorite flavor combination:
blackberry-orange-sage.
Fill jar with water and refrigerate.
Drink happily all the next day.


*****
Email from Brandon:
"Right now, this is happening!"


Yay for Halloween costumes being spontaneously played with seven months later!!!!
And kids who play dress-up.
And these kids in particular, I love them so.

*****

My contribution to dinner on Monday:


Chal-laaaahhhhh!
(Get it?)
I use this recipe and love it.

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Dad.


My dad's response
to my request for a picture of
what they've been growing in their garden this spring...


"What I've grown springing up!"



Oh, Dad.
You are so nerdy and I am so glad.

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Charis.


I have requested photos from everyone I love of anything they are
"growing, nurturing, or helping to flourish"
in their gardens this year.

(AKA, a spring version of my Christmas collection.
If you didn't get an email from me, I still want your pictures-
send me some!!!)

My beautiful 15 year old surrogate sister sent me this:

"I'm growing this!!




Oh sweet girl, you make me so happy.





Up tomorrow,
my dad's response...

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Bloom.


Cohort trip to the tulip fields a couple towns away.










 








Friday, May 17, 2013

.this day is your gift to me...


I am kind of in love with the rhythms of my life right now.
Not the stressful grad program rhythms,

but the doing work that I love,
deep friendships,
space to breathe and walk and pray,
making a home,
rhythms.



Walking to town to start my day.



Getting high-fives from buds I run into as I walk.



I planted this year's window garden. I know growing things from seeds is really important... but having fresh basil for dinner that night felt important too.

*****

On Tuesday, by 8 am I was working hard with clients. At the college counseling center, running to the elementary school to interpret an assessment Amber was giving,
crossing the parking lot to the high school to listen to teenagers venting in Spanish.

Oh my heart, seeing clients grow. Oh my heart, doing therapy in Spanish. It was such a good morning.

I forget sometimes, in the midst of the overwhelming classwork and professional development and piles of assessment scores,
how much I enjoy the actual work I do.
This work that is why I am here:
the hours with clients,
listening, asking, thinking hard, creating safe spaces, providing feedback, connecting.

It's hard. And fun. And challenging. And tiring. And stretching. And a privilege. And fun.

It's work-
the good kind, the spiritual discipline kind.
The hands in the dirt growing flowers, chopping a zillion vegetables to feed loved ones, watching a quilt or a house or a half-marathon be built by practice and patience, work...

it just doesn't always feel like it
because it's not physical,
because I'm sitting quietly in an office and dressed up,
because it seems like a relatively small part compared
to the classwork and the late nights and the politics of graduate school.

But it's not. It's real work, that is a real part of my days, and I love that I get to do it.

Having meaningful work to do
is such an incredible blessing.

*****

And then I got home, to my sunny space.
I looked up a recipe and made a list and walked to the grocery store.
I did cut and stir and taste and prepare.

Erica came over and helped me cook and set the table,






then worked on her sewing project while I read Chasing Redbird out loud (we love it),

and then my little home filled with her family and Aaron and Irene's.




We ate chili and salad and brownies.
We held babies and told the week's stories and laughed a lot.









We debated walking to get ice cream or eating whatever flavor was in my freezer.
We chose a carton of Ben and Jerry's in favor of time for a board game before bed.






*****

I ask friends for prayers for discernment...
I know well that the mundane is important,
still I worry at times that my small life
is too much to protect my own comfort.

Yet deep down,
I trust that there's a reason these simple joys feel holy.

Praying that I will know Him and He would use me here.

*****

"In every day there is time
for prayer,
for work,
for study,
for play."

-The Rule of St. Benedict


"This day is Your gift to me,
I take it from Your hand, Lord,
and thank You for the wonder of it."

-Celtic Daily Prayer

"Normal day,
let me be aware of the treasure you are.
Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart.
Let me not pass you by in quest
of some rare and perfect tomorrow."

-Mary Jean Irion

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Extended Family.


I really, really love mine.

At Allie's graduation party at my Aunt Anne and Uncle HJ's on Saturday,

after the friends and neighbors had left and most of the food had been put away,

the aunts, uncles, siblings and cousins sat around and had a

two and a half hour game of Two Truths and a Lie.



It continued over dinner and had to be taken inside when it got too dark to play,

it involved several children finding things out they hadn't known about their parents

("No way did Mom do loop de loops in a plane. That's totally her lie."
"Sorry babe. That was a truth.")

and vice versa

(sorry, Mom and Dad, I really did ride overnight in the back of a truck through rural South America...
younger cousins, don't try this at home)



and siblings quizzing on details of stories from forty years ago

and exclaiming,

"You told Mother what?! I never knew that!!".



It was The Best.




Friday, May 10, 2013

100 things I love about grad school: #1-16.


I am truly ashamed of how often I feel and act like this is a punishment
and not an incredible privilege. 
Giving myself stern lectures about how lucky I am to be here
and making commitments to never complain outwardly or inwardly again isn't working,
so I'm pulling an Ann Voskamp. Although we'll start with 100.


1. Professors who acknowledge with us, "This schedule is insane. Tell the registrar to never do it again."

2. Texted coffee orders and group deliveries to grateful recipients for 8 am classes.

3. Four of us knitting in class.





4. Grant money that sent me to Bolivia.


5. Studying in beautiful Oregon. Professors who take us outside.




6. How much my cohort laughs with each other. And at, but always in a warm way.


Sometimes they dress alike by accident. And then sit next to each other.


7. Passionate professor with zillions of letters after her name who could be anywhere more important and impressive, and instead brings her experience and excitement into our afternoons "to pass! psychology! on to the next! generation!", as she beams over her bright red reading glasses at us.

8. The moment when the at-first-glance-random results scattered on an assessment print-out, piece into understanding of a child's functioning...

9. ...Especially when it means we think we can help.

10. Cohort spouses. Love the guys in my program; love their wives even more. Joining this group meant new friends times two.

11. Jaynie.

12. Breanna.




13. Ryan and Jeffrey, guys in my cohort who worked with me at the college counseling center this year. Both became real friends and were huge consistent encouragements to me.

14. Heather, Luann, and Courtney, the other girls in the program who worked with me at the counseling center.  I adore them and we had so much fun together.

Counseling Center Girls' Night Out

15. Courtney.


What a surprise gift this girl was this year.


16. Our statistics professor stared at our confused and miserable faces this morning... "Okay. Hmm. Well.... who knows what mean and mode are??!!". Every hand shot up. "There! See! Don't you all feel better!" We did.


To be continued.

Human Needs Global Resources Covenant, 2009

As fellow travelers on this journey, we commit to this covenant before God. Lord, in Your mercy, hear these our prayers:

When confronted with scarcity, need, and inadequacy, may we be nourished by the Bread of Life and the Cup of Salvation. Abundance overflows from Your table, sustaining all who come in faith. Father, help us.

When monotony blurs our vision and dulls our senses, may we encounter others as Christ did, through intentional presence in daily life, submitting as clay to be formed into vessels filled with the Spirit. Christ, guide us.

When wounded by the fractured condition of Your people, may we be united by Your Lordship in faith, hope, and love; seeing, as through the facets of a diamond, the beautiful spectrum of Your light reflected onto Your holy Church joined in praise. Spirit, empower us.

When all Creation groans, afflicted by injustice and driven to despair, may the promise of redemption root us in the hope of Your Kingdom: "Behold, I am making all things new!"

Holy Trinity, send us now into the world in peace, and grant us strength and courage to love and serve You with gladness and singleness of heart.

Amen.