Brooding On

Creation Care

I am continually surprised by how unconcerned some Christians seem to be with the well-being of our God-created earth.  I don't really know why there's such a disconnect.  As this excerpt from Relevant so eloquently explains, creation care and love of neighbor go hand-in-hand.

God created -- and continually creates and sustains -- a world He called "very good" (Genesis 1:31; Colossians 1:15-17).  Through the beauty of this natural world, God reveals His character to all of humankind (Romans 1:19,20) and provides the natural resources we need for life.  And because we are made in the image of our Creator God, we are called to care for His creation in a manner that reflects His character -- with love, faithfulness, mercy, service, and integrity.

So, as God's people, we decry the violence waged against all of God's creation.  We bemoan the ravages of pollution, environmental disasters, waste, consumerism, climate change, species endangerment and habitat destruction upon the earth and its creatures.  And we lament not just the damages to the earth itself, but especially their effect on human life.  

"It's very clear that the least among us -- the elderly, children, the poor -- are being hurt first by environmental degradation," says Nancy Sleeth, co-founder of Blessed Earth, a Christian nonprofit committed to environmental care.  "One extremely important way we can love our global neighbors is by making sure they have access to clean water, clean air and healthy soil in which to grow food."

Tom Rowley, executive director of A Rocha, agrees.  In his conservation work in 19 countries he has observed:  "People who are dependent upon subsistence farming, forestry and fishing have much less margin for protection.  While a drought might hit us in the pocketbook, for them, it's a matter of life or death."

Likewise, the poor in urban slums are poisoned by pollution run-off in their water. Indigenous coastal communities are threatened by rising ocean waters.  Those breathing polluted air are suffering from preventable, life-threatening diseases like asthma, cardiovascular disease, cancer and more.

"I firmly believe that all Christians need to be pro-life," Sleeth says, "but pro-life means every aspect of life.  Having a viable planet for humans and all of God's creatures to thrive on is a first order of business."

"The Earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it" (Psalm 24:1).  As Christians, we believe this is true -- from the soil under our feet to towering redwoods to every single human life on this planet.  And so, as stewards, we strive to protect God's created world through daily choices like recycling, reducing energy consumption and resisting consumerism.  We aim to treasure God's creation -- not only for its God-infused beauty, but for its provision for human life.


Creation care, at its core, is far more than "going green."  It's learning to "live as agents of shalom to a place that God has put us," Rowley says.  "We do that by living the abundant life right where we are," he says, "by reaching out to our neighbors, . . .  by getting involved in conservation efforts, by becoming proactive in bringing Christ's reconciliation."

Checking Back in on Resolutions

We are now halfway through 2013! How can that be possible?  It seems like a good time to revisit those resolutions and consider how you're doing.  Below are my original resolutions and progress notes:

1.  Teach the kids skills to make them more confident and independent (i.e. cooking/ cleaning/ farming/ gardening/ etc.)  Surely snapping beans on the front porch and general garden work counts.  The other day, Girl 1 wanted to know why our squash plant was producing pink flowers.  Well, it wasn't, of course; it had a pink geranium peeking out from underneath it.  The point is, though, that in a culture where an alarming number of kids today couldn't even identify squash, she knew that the squash plant was supposed to have yellow blooms.

2.  Run at least 365 miles, including all area 5K races.  Thus far, I've logged 355 miles, so I think I'm well on my way here.  I did miss one area 5K race, though, because we were in NWA running the Outback in the Ozarks 200-mile relay race.  I think it was a justified absence.

3.  Pray through Common Prayer for Ordinary Radicals  Doing it.  Most days I love it. Some days I get done with my 5:00am reading time and can't remember what I've just read.  Maybe I should move this activity to a different time of day. ;)

4.  Pray consistently with the kids at bedtime  While we do still pray together (over meals and various other times, like when an ambulance speeds by our car), our regular prayer time has not really been a part of our summer routine.  I do miss it, though. The fact that they "slumber party" nearly every night makes it difficult to get one-on-one time at bedtime, though.

5.  Market some homemade wares (soap, probably)  Ummm.  I made some soap.  Does that count?

6.  Eat/serve more raw and whole foods  'Tis the season for fresh veggies!  I've done a surprisingly poor job of getting them consistently to the table, though.  Hopefully, now that ball season is over and we will actually be eating more dinners at the table rather than out of brown paper sacks, I can do better.

7.  Support local businesses with my dollar  I am failing miserably with this one. Suggestions?

8.  Learn more about farming (goat kidding/cows/organic gardening)  I've definitely now had first-hand experience with goat kidding.  Cows may still be a ways away for us.  I'm pretty sure my garden has a new lesson for me everyday.  It's almost like it relishes in surprising me with some new insect or leaf spot each morning.

9.  Volunteer some of my time to a worthy cause or two  As the race director for Cave City's upcoming Melon Dash 5K, I'm definitely putting in the time.  All proceeds go toward The Bethany Project's school supply giveaway for local kiddos.  I'm loving everything I'm learning through this process!

10.  Eat lunch at the elementary school once a week  I'm obviously taking a break right now, but I loved doing this during the school year.

11.  Replace more personal hygiene products/ household cleaners with homemade/cleaner versions  Yep!  Current project is DIY liquid detergent for HE washers.  Don't worry; you know I'll share it with you!

12.  Maintain an active/interesting blog.  Hmmmm.  Naptime used to be my go-to blogging time, but the older two kids don't nap, so blogging time has been hard to find this summer.  In fact, tomorrow, when John is off work, I plan to take the day off from blogging.  We'll be busy doing what every American does for the 4th -- slaughtering backyard chickens.  ;)

Happy Birthday to Me!


Let's not beat around the bush here.  Today, I am 34 years old.  

I know that a lot of you already know it's my birthday because I've been so blessed to basically be inundated by well-wishes since I woke up this morning.
The Earliest Well-wisher Award goes to my dad, who texted me at 5:18 am, followed quickly by my Mamaw at 5:42 am.  By the time I got Mamaw's, I was already back from a quick morning run.  It seems I come from a long line of early risers.  :)

Anyway, surrounded by John, our kids, and my Mom, I opened gifts last night after dinner.  John goes overboard.  He's always been WAY too good to me on holidays, but what struck me last night was something more.

He'd asked the kids to think about things I like to do, and they'd done their birthday shopping with that list in mind.  Each gift was packaged with a corresponding tag.  My many gifts were labeled thus:

For Mom, who writes
For Mom, who runs (fast)
For Mom, who takes care
For Mom, who makes
For Mom, who reads

(I actually got to open the one with the first label early and have been blogging away happily on it for the past week or so. :)

I can't say with total certainty because it's been awhile since I've seen this great movie, but I think it's The Story of Us that claims that there's no greater feeling than the feeling of being "gotten."  My gifts, from my kids, my husband, my parents really made me feel "gotten."  To be gotten is to be loved.  To be gotten is not to feel alone.  It is to be understood.  

Today, I feel so blessed to have a circle of people who love and get me.  What more could a birthday girl ask for?

Thank you for the birthday wishes.  Thank you for reading.  Thank you for sharing this blog with me.  :)

Living with Perspective

One day, I was running a loop through town and found myself running past Eric and Bethany Richardson's house here in town.  At first glance, it may resemble other houses on the block, but the lives they live, bouncing between their home here and their work in Haiti are anything but ordinary.  I follow their work on the mission field through their website and pray for the work they are doing there.   I remember from my own experiences with missions how my short time spent in another culture changed the way I approached life back at home and wondered how Eric and Bethany navigate the divide between time spent on the third world mission field and time spent here in small town Arkansas. 

So, once I got home from my run, I decided to just ask her.  :)  Her response is absolutely touching.  Enjoy! 

When Eric and I wait to board our plane back in the United States, the butterflies won't go away. The thought of going back to our family, friends and home always makes me giddy. Unfortunately, the butterflies disappear as we step into the air conditioned airport in Miami and the culture shock sets in. Consumerism, impatience, technology, processed food in a minute or less... it always seems too much too soon

I'm thankful that when we're in the States we call the tiny town of Cave City, Arkansas home. Where the hills are soft, the air is clean and people are friendly. But even still, the culture shock of the country can even be unnerving after a few months in Haiti.

A lot of people ask us, "What's it like to transition back?"

It's not what you would think. We don't get home and continue eating rice and beans for every meal, riding around in a beat up rental car, living out of a suitcase and sweating without A/C. Not at all in fact. We love to go to our favorite restaurants and cook our favorite meals together at the house. We love riding around in Eric's hand-restored 1966 Mustang. We love to go out on dates, hang out with our friends, go to the movies. There are days where we barely leave the house because its so nice to sit in the A/C!

In truth, within the tangible realm of living simply, we consistently keep only a few practices that might qualify, including buying local veggies, supporting local businesses, cooking the majority of our own meals, repurposing items, and taking care of our land.

That's why when I asked Eric how he feels Haiti has changed our lives and it had nothing to do with the things above, I knew where he was coming from. "It's like the idea of living simply can come in many forms. For us, I think it's in our attitude, priorities and most of all, perspective. Haiti has given us a new way of looking at the world--a new paradigm." He is so right.

When our food is late at a restaurant, we don't yell at the waiter or ask for a refund. I can assure you the longest we've ever waited in America isn't half the time we typically wait for food in Haiti. - Patience.

When there is a rain-storm that ruins our bathroom due to a leaky ceiling, we renovate with gladness. The simple fact that we own a roof over our heads is stark in contrast to the needs we see in Haiti. - Gratitude.
When I look in the pantry and am tempted to say, "we have nothing to eat!" I try to still my tongue and get creative. I've seen the face of starvation and it is not a partially full pantry or a pant size 14. - Truth.

When we have been waiting at the airport for hours only to find out our plane has been cancelled, we try to stay patient and positive to those around us. There is no point in going through life angry, it could always be worse. - Kindness.
Our 1,000 sq. ft.  house seems more like a luxury apartment than the quaint, "small" home we first purchased almost 4 years ago. When we get home, we always purge the house of items we don't really need. Too much clutter around you brings about a cluttered life, right? - Giving.

When the electricity goes out, we laugh. For the majority of the time in Haiti, we live without power. Instead of getting angry, we enjoy the silence that it brings. - Joy.

Haiti has changed us in the simplest of ways, but also maybe in the deepest. Haiti continually gives us a new lens to view the world with each day. When facing challenging moments with a new world-perspective, the right decision is often made very clear. Sometimes it just takes looking through a lens of patience, gratitude or truth. Of kindness, giving, or joy. Other times it requires a lens of simple reality.
 
Living "simply" can mean different things to different people. For some people, its growing a garden and canning food for the winter. For others, it is sewing your own clothing or buying local. But sometimes, as it is with us, living simply can come from a change in attitude. It can mean focusing on the good things and looking for joy in every situation. Or, it can mean striving to live patiently, lovingly and with a lens of compassion.

We aren't perfect people, and some days we fail miserably. Some days I honk my horn a little too long at the person on their cell phone. Some days I want to pull my hair out when my "vegetarian" meal has fish in it. Other days it just seems too much of a bother to mess with being polite. But, we know that every day is a choice. We can either double down and root deeper into what we know is right and true, or give up completely.
 
And so I choose the harder path, that ultimately leads to a healthier life.

I choose to live with perspective.
 
So with that, I ask you : What do you choose? What does living simply mean to you?
 

Bethany, thank you, thank you for your beautifully crafted response and for your willingness to share this piece with me and the readers of this blog.  I've long wanted to introduce the concept of guest posts, and I can't imagine a better place to start than here.  Your perspective is both touching and challenging. Thank you.
 
To follow and/or support Bethany and Eric in their ministry, check out their website at http://ericandbeth.us/.  
 
 

The Right Kind of Full

What a gorgeous weekend we just had! 

And, it was just the right kind of "full" at our house.  The right kind of full is not frenzied but full to the brim with family, food, good conversation, and memories made.

My mom, dad, and Mamaw all came in Thursday in time to watch Little Boy play his first tee-ball game EVER.  Ummm, it was a bit chaotic, but check out his running form!  If tee-ball doesn't work out, we'll just make him a runner.  :)

We all spent Friday playing in the park, enjoying the yard and animals, and meeting John for lunch.

Friday night, our visitors were able to watch Girl 2 play a softball game.  (It wasn't a particularly pretty one.  Apparently, they like their pitching machines fast over in Lynn, Arkansas. ;)



Saturday, it was Girl 1's turn in the spotlight (literally), as lots of family attended her dance recital and a special dinner afterward.  Cousin Lauren noted that we had 4 generations on each side of the family represented at the recital -- how very special!




Here, Girl 1 poses with PawPaw and Peggy on the front porch swing.  Despite the fact that she had 7 costume changes during the recital, I only have pics of her in this one!  :)

Over the course of the weekend, each child had a chance to be celebrated and to spend some quality time with Nana, Ops, and Mamaw.  What a blessing, indeed!

How to Be Tender

I'm currently reading Tamar Adler's captivating An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace.  It's full of wonderful nuggets, but this one is worth sharing:

"Of all the people who have had opinions about whether eating meat is an evolutionary inevitability or an ontological crime, none is so right as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, who wrote a very big, comprehensive book called The River Cottage Meat Book. 

"He starts it by answering the question all of us who write recipes for meat should:  'It seems obvious to me that the morality of meat eating lies in the factual details of our relationships with the animals we kill for food.  It is what we do to them that counts.'

"It is.

"I've looked at animals raised amid the roiled and rich chaos of sun and dirt and barnyard.  I've watched exchanges on farms where things are slow and sensible:  between pig and pig, pig and soil, soil and sky.  I've watched children care for animals and learn a little bit about transience and wildness from it.  I've also peeked over the high walls of the factory farms behind which most meat is raised and seen how beastly we can be to the animals we eat.

"What we do to animals counts."

I couldn't agree more.  This is really what's behind our backyard broilers.  When we eat our chicken, we know how those chickens spent their days and that they were treated well, enjoyed their days in the sun, and were killed in the most humane way we know of.

Why I Built a Composting Toilet and Why You Should Too

I know that lots of you already think we're crazy around here.  For those of you who haven't yet made that judgment, let me just get this over with and move you over into the "Yep-They're-Crazy Camp" -- I built a composting toilet.  And we intend to use it.  Probably in the backyard.  Much like an outhouse.

Since I feel I may need to reel you in on this idea, let's devote today's post to WHY one should build a composting toilet and allow tomorrow's post to explain HOW to actually do it. 


Why Build a Composting Toilet:

(Okay.  I'm not going to get into the whole Humanure debate here.  We intend to use our toilet to catch urine only.  So, my arguments assume a #1-only potty.  If you're unfamiliar with the humanure debate and are bored, just Google it, and you'll have hours of entertaining reading.)

1.  You get to use power tools!  Don't let that scare you off, this thing came together in the span of about 15 hands-on minutes.  And, I guess, the fact that you get to use power tools is maybe not the most important reason to make a composting toilet, but it is the most exciting part of the process.

2.  Human urine is nitrogen rich.  If you grow a garden (or just pretty ornamentals), your soil needs regular fertilizer to keep plants productive and healthy.  Developing a compost pile is a must for the serious gardener.  But, studies show that the urine/compost combination is even that much more powerful.  So, why not just go pee on the plants?  Straight urine is too potent for plants and needs to be watered down.  Our plan is to empty our potty onto our active compost pile.  This will speed decomp and add nitrogen to our pile.  Rain will serve to dilute the urine as the pile develops over time.  Now, even if you do not have a compost pile, you can still use urine in your garden or flowerbeds.  Experts disagree on the urine-to-water ratio that is appropriate (suggestions I've read range from 1:3 to 1:10), but all advise that you apply your urine/water combo a few days ahead of a planned harvest.

3.  Who couldn't use an extra toilet?  We're thinking our toilet will live somewhere outside.  Especially this time of year, we spend large chunks of our day outdoors, so this could cut down on, say, the number of flies let into the house by Little Boy when he runs in for a quick pee before returing to his dirt pile outside.  Girl 1 refuses to use the new pot unless I enclose it in some way like a port-a-potty, though I was just thinking we'd hunt down a good, private spot that's not viewable from outside the yard.  We'll see. (For the record, Little Boy is pretty excited about the new potty and wanted to be very involved in in it's construction.  Girl 2 just shrugged her shoulders when I asked her how she felt about it, but she is thankful I've chosen not to include the photo I took of her trying it out.)

4.  Pee is free and abundant.  I guess you could go buy bags of nitrogen-rich fertilizer for your garden, but, if you have to stop for a pee while at the big-box store making your purchase, don't miss the irony.  Why not make use of what we already have?

5.  Our toilets use approximately 6 gallons of water per flush.  In our family of five, our flushing adds up to a lot of natural resources consumed in water usage, sewage treatment, etc. Generally speaking, less flushing is better. 
This may seem gross, but a lot of times (especially at night) we subscribe to the "if it's yellow, let it mellow; if it's brown, flush it down" philosophy.  This cuts down on flushing, but you can only let so much paper accumulate before a flush is necessary. 
Using the composting toilet regularly could greatly cut down on our environmental impact.  I mean, why would we want to expend valuable resources to dispose of something that, if harnessed, could actually be beneficial in growing our fruits and vegetables?


Instead of wondering why I should build a composting toilet, all of these reasons make me wonder why I haven't built one until now!

I realize, though, that this isn't for everyone.  And some of you may be thinking, "Remind me never again to accept the surplus vegetables Ashley offers me at church!"  :)  But, if you're at least a little intrigued, check back tomorrow to see how to build your own out of items you may already have lying around.

A Berry Good Time with Girl 2

As I overheard to Strawberry Shortcake just the other day, I commented on how annoying I found all her berry puns, and here I go using one in the title. :)
Anyway, yesterday Girl 2 helped me gather berries.  It was a hot and humid afternoon, so her help was greatly appreciated as it sped things up. 

3 things I noted from our time together:

1.  She was focused.  She is definitely our most, umm, easily-distracted child.  She jumps from activity to activity like a butterfly from flower to flower and hasn't the patience for most things that require lengthy focus.  But, she worked steadily alongside me for fifteen very-focused minutes.  Perhaps it was that it was physical work or that she had the payoff of uninterrupted time by my side, but it was good to see that she can focus in on something when she wants to.
2.  About halfway down the patch, she said to me, "Hey, Mom, I was thinking, instead of putting all the bad berries in a pile for the chickens, maybe we can keep the ones with only a little bit of a bad spot and just cut off that part.  Less waste that way."  I think my heart skipped a beat!  It's wonderful to hear your kids apply on their own the philophies you build your house around and hope they're picking up on!
3.  As we neared the end of our work, she popped up from her crouched position and exclaimed, "Mom!  Look at this one!  It's like the perfect berry!"  as she held up a big, plump, perfectly red berry, and we both admired it glistening in her little hand under the sunlight.  "Can I eat it?  Just this one?"  And, then I watched as she ate that juicy, perfect berry with such a look of delight and appreciation it made me want to cry.

These are the moments.  Just fifteen minutes in the strawberry patch.  This life is so fast-paced, but our backyard slows me down a bit.  You can't harvest the strawberries quickly.  You crouch and cower and rustle through leaves and pick and evaluate.  Spending slow time in the backyard with the kids allows for moments like these -- spent picking little treasures out of the strawberry patch.

The Straw that Broke the Camel's Back . . . Or However It Goes

I've heard the saying "The straw that broke the camel's back," but I'm pretty sure I've never made use of it myself, until now.  Around here, it seems we've found the straw.  Looks like it's t-ball . . . or, more specifically, the 3rd child finally getting involved in evening activities.  We did alright when the parents could each cover an activity, but how are we supposed to swing the whole kids-outnumber-the-adults thing when they all three have activities scheduled for the same time?

Girls 1 and 2 both racked up on Academic Awards Night  (such little Smarty Pants!)

Things have been downright CRAZY around here for the past couple of weeks.  Granted we are generally trying to juggle a lot of things.  But, we get into our routine, and, for the most part, we're able to get everything done and even enjoy a sit-down (albeit sometimes rushed) dinner together. 

Girl 2, all ready for her first softball game
If you've got school-aged kids, you know that the last couple of weeks of school are jam-packed with activities (field trips, academic awards ceremonies, parent nights, spelling bees).  Add to that the dance practices Girl 1 has 3 nights a week, the softball practice Girl 2 has 3 nights a week, and now the t-ball practice Little Boy has twice a week.  Our evenings are a constant shuffle!
I've packed a lot of brown bag dinners and whatever kid is not on the field eats while I'm shuttling someone else to dance, etc.  CRAZY, I tell you!

One of the approximately 50 photos Girl 1 took of Blanchard Springs Caverns on her 3rd grade field trip


Oh, and the goats still have to be milked, garden tended, chickens fed, etc. 


T-baller

All of this to say, if you've found the blog a bit lacking lately, please don't quit reading!  I promise there's plenty going on here to report.  I'm just having a hard time finding the time to write about it!
Hopefully, we'll soon settle in to the-new-normal, and I'll find the time to breathe . . . and write. 

Adorable baby gorilla and her Momma that we saw on Girl 2's field trip to the zoo

In the meantime, we're having lots of fun with all our activities!

Slow Gardening

Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help.  Gardening is an instrument of grace.
-- May Sarton

May this holiday weekend bring you time to slow down and dwell among nature.

The School of Essential Ingredients



I just finished The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister.  She writes the magic of the kitchen so very well that you can nearly smell the aromas lifting off the page. 

The central character, restaurant owner and chef Lillian, speaks to her assembled students on the opening night of their cooking class, "Well, then, I think we'll start with the beginning," and then produces a pot of live crabs. 

One of the students asks in dismay, "Are we going to kill them?"

Lillian's response is spot on: 

"Yes, we are, Chloe.  It is the first, most essential lesson. . . . If you think about it . . . every time we prepare food we interrupt a life cycle.  We pull up a carrot or kill a crab -- or maybe just stop the mold that's growing on a wedge of cheese.  We make meals with those ingredients and in doing so we give life to something else.  It's a basic equation, and if we pretend it doesn't exist, we're likely to miss the other important lesson which is to give respect to both sides of the equation.  So we start here."

Processed foods and cellophane wrappers have done a wonderful job of distancing us from the life that once inhabited our food.  The backyard homestead and garden serves to constantly remind me of the life of our food.  Last night, I watched as John absentmindedly dumped down the sink the last few bites of strawberries as he cleaned up dinner.  I may have overreacted a bit as I reminded him that those berries he'd just dumped were handpicked from our garden that morning. (He apologized profusely.  :)   As much as I hate to see anything from our backyard go to waste, this is most true of the chicken who spent their days pecking away in our backyard only to die upside down on the fencepost.  We both kill and eat them with a certain reverence. 

We ought not waste our food, and it's not just because we're thinking of all the "starving children in Africa."  It's also because we have an appreciation for the once-living thing that died to provide us life and nourishment and enjoyment.  So, once we've said "Amen," let us raise the fork mindfully; and, at the meal's end, let us reverently despair at waste. 

Some Days Things Just Happen

The past few days have been CRAZY.  Sometimes you make the best plans, but they all just fall through the cracks. 
Sometimes, you get the oil changed 2 days before your big trip (good planning, see?), but when the mechanic brings your van back to the house, he leaves the key in it in such a way that it runs the battery out.  Then, when you jump in to take Girl 1 to dance, it won't start, and won't shift into neutral so that you can roll it out of the garage and into a place where you can get another vehicle close to it for a jump.  Then, you call your amazing hubby who drives home from softball practice to give you the key to the farm truck.  He rolls down the window of his car to hand me the key and the window just falls down into the door.  Seriously.  Suddenly we have two cars not working properly and the great irony is that one needs to be in the garage overnight because the window won't roll up, but we can't get the one in the garage out.  (Just makes you laugh, doesn't it?)
 
Later, in trying to get the van into neutral, a very essential part of the shifter fell out of the dash and into the floorboard.  Oops. 
So, we found ourselves with two cars in the shop at once.  Our family of five was left with the "farm truck" and lots of evening activities to navigate.  As you can see from the picture above, our shuttle service to and from softball practice and 3rd Grade Parent Night was a little different than usual.  Thank goodness we don't live too far from the school and ball fields and are all able-bodied enough to do some walking!
 
The kids, of course, think this is all a very fun adventure.  They argued over who would get to ride in the wagon, and Little Boy has LOVED the better view his booster seat wedged between John and I in the truck has afforded him.  "Mom, STOP!" he reminds me when the traffic lights turn.  I'm about ready for him to be back in the backseat!
 
But, in all honesty, the car stuff was not even the most emotional or trying stuff the day brought us.  It was definitely one of those days when you have to look hard for the positive.  But, you know what?  It was there.  We were able to find things all day long to be thankful for.  And, at the end of the day, all you can really do about a day like today is laugh (and maybe have a glass of wine ;).  And, I'm so thankful to have such a great partner to laugh with.
 
So, as the day would have it, we are leaving town and my blogging computer is experiencing "internet connectivity issues."  I'd planned to set up several posts to appear each day while we are gone (believe me, there's been a lot going on around here -- including a mystery we're trying to solve), but apparently it will all have to wait until we get back into town and have time to solve my computer issues.
 
Looks like you'll have to wait until Monday (fingers crossed) to hear about the Mystery of the Chicken Coop Break-In.  :)

Choosing Your Location. Choosing Your Life.

Yesterday, as I tested a mango at the grocery store for ripeness by giving it a firm squeeze, the woman standing next to me remarked, "those don't even look like mangoes to me.  You should've seen the ones I had growing on the tree in my backyard in Hawaii."  We then had a brief conversation about our shared loved of mango before I went on my way.  As my day went on, I kept thinking about the woman I'd met in the produce section.  Mango in your backyard?  I was envious, for sure.  But, I wondered, more than anything, what brought her to live in Smallville, Arkansas?  Is she happy here in her mango-less backyard?

I read an article the other day that said that more and more people are actively choosing where they live.  It makes sense.  Modern transportation makes it easy to get pretty much anywhere and technology makes it possible to communicate across vast distances easily and even work from home from virtually any location.  Gone are the days when "home" was necessarily within a buggy's ride of one's birthplace.  The world is now open to us.

I would wager, though, that most of the folks I encounter in a day were born here or around here or are married to someone who was born here or around here.  That may be how you got here.  But, why do you stay

Let's use faith as an analogy.  Sure, you may have originally chosen your faith because it's the church your parents dragged you to as a child, but at some point that faith had to become yours and not just your parents'.  At some point you chose it for yourself, right?

I suspect that lots of us never really get there with where we live.  We consider it something that was chosen for us -- that we just have to live with.  But, let's assume for a minute that life is what we make of it rather than what happens to us. 

I love taking quizzes, so I looked up a quiz online that was supposed to identify my ideal location based on how I answered a TON of questions.  The questions were so good (how much social interaction do you need?, do you want to be able to go to the opera/zoo/campground/mall/airport?, what is your ideal climate?), that I was really looking forward to discovering that magical place somewhere on the globe where I can milk my backyard goats year-round without having to wear gloves, where the sun shines more often than it doesn't, and I really only need one wardrobe and can donate my coat to Goodwill.  Alas, do you know what it said was my number one matching location?  Get ready for it. . .

Cherokee Village, Arkansas.

Seriously.  That's what it said.  I decided not to add a link to the quiz for you, since obviously it doesn't work appropriately. (No offense, Cherokee Village, but I wouldn't exactly call you "tropical.")

Since I'm probably not going to be packing up the house and moving the family to Honduras anytime soon, I decided that it was time to make a list (lists and quizzes, can you tell I'm Type A?).  This list will catalog all the reasons I love where I live -- all the reasons I choose to live where I live.  My hope is that the list will reinforce my love of this place and the life we're making in it.  Hopefully, it'll be a strong enough list to get me through even the darkest, coldest winter months.

So, residents of Smallville, have you got anything for me to be sure to add to my list?  Why do you love where you live?

Happiness

Ghandi once said, "Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."

Today seemed like one of those days for me when it all just lined up nicely.  And, it was a very happy day.  :)

Happy Earth Day!


From Common Prayer:  a Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals --

"In the spring of 1970, Gaylord Nelson announced that a demonstration about the environment would happen on April 22.  Approximately twenty million people showed up to celebrate the first Earth Day.  Since then, environmental concerns such as oil spills, global warming, extinction of wildlife, and pollution have been pushed to the forefront of political agendas and popular concern. . . . A sixth-century rabbi wrote, 'God, from the very beginning of creation, was occupied before all else with planting, as it is written, "And first of all, the Eternal God planted a Garden in Eden." Therefore, occupy yourselves first and foremost with planting.'"

According to the Earth Day Network:
"In Pakistan, Earth Day Pakistan is in the process of planting 50,000 trees today.
In the Cayman Islands, 1,500 people are participating in a beach and reef clean-up.
In Columbus, Ohio, volunteers are pulling invasive plants, cleaning up neighborhoods, and preparing gardens at over 1000 sites in the region."

And three adorable kids picked up trash at their local park.  :)

Earth Day is Monday!

Just wanted to drop you a friendly reminder that Monday, April 22, is Earth Day.  Now, the Lord has called us to care for His creation everyday, but Earth Day is a good day for us to join with millions of like-minded Creation-lovers and refocus our efforts. 

There are tons of ways to take action and celebrate Earth Day.  If you need some ideas, check out www.earthday.org

Our local forecast is calling for sunny and 70-degrees, a perfect day for getting outside and working.  My kids are planning to pick up some trash at and around our local park after school (and, no doubt, get in some playtime as well).   If anyone would like to join us, we'd love to see you there!

What do you plan to do Monday to celebrate Earth Day?

I Got to Write the Column!

Every week (or so) our local running club adds a new "On the Road" column to its website.  I always look forward to reading the musings of fellow runners.  This week, I had the privilege and honor of getting to contribute.  So instead of writing a post here, too, I'll just link you to the White River Roadrunners page and the column I wrote for this week. 

Enjoy!

(Disclaimer:  Just so you know, I did not call myself a "conqueror from Cave City," that was totally the club president's contribution,  though it does have a certain  ring to it.  :)



The Multiple Personalities of a "Responsible" Shopper

This is lengthy, but so worth the read.  In this excerpt from 7, Jen Hatmaker discloses the multiple personalities that govern her shopping decisions.  I can so relate to this!

"Sometimes my organic personality, Sage Moonjava, emerges; and my top priority is to buy real food with wholesome ingredients.  Sage Moonjava doesn't blink at spending $11.99/lb. for bulk organic cashews, because they were harvested responsibly and not doused in partially hydrogenated oil.  Grocrery chains are the bane of Sage Moonjava's existence; the produce is covered in vegetable petroleum, beeswax, and lac resin; the aisles contain ten thousand combinations of high fructose corn syrup, refined grains, and chemicals; and the meats are genetically modified and pumped full of antibiotics.  I've abandoned a half-filled cart and walked out in utter defeat.

"But at other times, my 'buy local' personality, Ryvre, materializes.  Attempting to support the local economy and diminish the high ecological impact of importing goods, this seems like a winning approach.  Buying from corporate chains is paying The Man; I like the little guy, the Mom and Pop store, the imaginiative small-business owner.  I'd rather subsidize local vendors who retain cretaive ownership and feed back into our local economy.  Ryvre is into "Live here, give here," and shopping at Wal-Mart solidifies my place in the flock, contributing to a questionable supply chain and putting thousands of locally owned stores out of business every year.

"However, my third alter ego, Freedom Shakra,  . . . is trying to unhook from the consumer machine, and all this buying is not helping.  Freedom Shakra is just trying to spend less, way less.  This is a numbers game, and the winners are off-brands, generic products, knockoffs, and used goods.  F. Shakra understands that name brands and chic labels are the marketing brainchildren of The People Who Sell Us Stuff We Don't Need.  There is no good reason to buy designer water, over-priced spaghetti, or two sprigs of basil for $3.99 when it enjoys a prolific growth in my own backyard from a $.25 cut.   . . . Freedom Shakra is knocking down the budget by purchasing cheaper things, fewer things, smaller things.

"Here's the rub.

"Ryvre spots an adorable chocolate brown wrap sweater at local boutique The Red Door right here in our little town.  Talk about spending local!  It's five minutes away in historic Downtown Buda, and the owner lives up the street.  Adios, mall.  No Gap for Ryvre!  She's supporting the local gal.

"But Freedom Shakra emerges and says, 'Wait just a minute, Ryvre!' . . . because that wrap sweater is $45, and my bank account couldn't care less whether it went to The Red Door or straight into the pockets of Sam Walton.  All Freedom Shakra knows is she's down fifty large for a sweater with a two-year shelf life, and I don't care where it came from, that's lame.  Buying local is often synonymous with overspending

"FS is winning the day, so off she goes to the grocery store where she spies a carton of eggs for $.99.  Hooray! At nine cents per egg, that is purchasing victory for this Thrifty Mama.  Add the $2.99 package of bacon and $1.69 can of biscuits, and we're talking about breakfaat for five for $5.00.  Beat that, Dave Ramsey!

"But out pops Sage Moonjava, who gravely reads the biscuit ingredients.  All twenty-nine of them.  She recalls the dreadful farming practices that produced those hormone-injected, antibiotic-laden eggs.  SMJ scolds Freedom Shakra for skipping after this processed, additive-packed bacon like it was the Pied Piper. . .

"Sage Moonjava would buy the $3.50 eggs from grass-fed, free-roaming chickens, the $5.99 organic bacon from responsibly raised pigs; and the day she feeds canned processed biscuits to her family is the day she puts her kids up for adoption so a mom who genuinely cares about their health can raise them.

"Sprouts is an organic grocery store, but it's not local.

"Central Market is a local gourmet grocery store, but it's not economical.

"HEB is the most economical grocery store, but it's not organic.

"So Ryvre is horrified by Freedom Shakra's priority to buy cheap, and Freedom Shakra outright mocks Sage Moonjava and Ryvre for spending more on 'local' and 'organic' (she uses finger quotes when she says this).  The competing voices confuse me, and I'm not sure which personality should dominate.  This leaves me in a mess half the time, and I manage to feel guilty one way or another, no matter which purchasing priority wins the day.  I've either spent too much, bought cheap processed junk, or I've subsidized the sweatshop industry.  Evidently simplifying can be complicated.  GAH!"


Can you relate to Jen's quandary here?  I definitely can. Perhaps this is why I seem to ALWAYS be suffering from buyer's remorse -- at least one of my personalities is upset with every purchase!  Who do you tend to side with most often?  Ryvre?  Freedom Shakra?  Sage Moonjava?

A Gut-Twisting Life of Love


Our forrays into farm life have afforded me a new dimension of understanding, it seems. For example, I might never have made much sense of this excellent metaphor had I not seen our babies in the fields, hour after hour, day after day, bunting their mommas like in this video above. 

Check out this excellent excerpt from the great Barbara Kingsolver in her latest Flight Behavior:

". . . Being a stay-at-home mom was the loneliest kind of lonely, in which she was always and never by herself.  Days and days, hours and hours within them, and days within weeks, at the end of which she might not ever have gotten completely dressed or read any word longer than Chex, and word not ending in -os, or formed a sentence or brushed her teeth or left a single footprint outside the house.  Just motherhood, with its routine costs of providing a largesse that outstripped her physical dimensions.  She'd seen ewes in the pasture whose sixty-pound twins would run underneath together and bunt the udders to release the milk with sharp upward thrusts, jolting the mother's hindquarters off the ground.  That was the picture, overdrawn.  A gut-twisting life of love, consecrated by the roof and walls that contained her and the air she was given to breathe."

In case you're wondering: no, I do not share in this character's feeling of imprisonment.  Not at all.  I do, however, love the description and the way what I see everyday in my own backyard helps me to make sense of it.  Probably every mother (stay-at-home or not) can relate in some way to the physical toll her child's needs take on her own body.  Parenting is a sacrifice of self.  Most days, good days, we do not feel the pain of that sacrifice at all.  We hear our children laugh, we share a quiet moment, and we know we'd sacrifice even so much more for the precious ones in our care.  

But, if we're  honest (and I hope I'm not alone in this) there are other times, times when we're keenly aware of the sacrifices of self that our kids require of us -- times when we'd just like our metaphorical udders to ourselves for just a moment or a chance to go to the bathroom in peace or get a good night's sleep.   Thankfully, these moments are rare enough that I stay sane, that a simple breath of prayer: "Lord, grant me patience" is all it takes to bridge the gap and get me back to overwhelming thankfulness for the opportunity to mother my brood.  :)


Oh, and the rhythmic sucking sound you hear at the beginning of the video is the sound of Oreo (not pictured in the video) sucking his bottle dry as I fed it to him with my left hand while filming Star with my right.  See, even my goat kids have me juggling!