May

1

2013

tea

On the voices we try to banish…

I have quite a few friends in tough circumstances at the moment.  Life changes, big moves, transitions, and relationship scuffles.  Their stories are not mine to tell.  But what I have heard them say in the past couple weeks is: “I just want this voice/thought/feeling to go away.”  I listen and try not to throw on my spiritual director hat as a friend.  But sometimes the two coincide. The voices

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Mar

3

2013

Where I’m at: Facebook and My Pregnancy

I’m sitting on the couch not feeling 100%.  Yesterday I pushed it too far. In other words, I had cankles by bedtime and fell sleep while my husband was mid-sentence.  This morning between watching my stomach move and shake like a giant water balloon, I nursed achy shoulders and a bout of nausea.  This is where I am at today.  I want to sit down, I want to put my

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Posted in Thoughts on life | 10 Comments

Nov

1

2012

DSC_0043

Understanding: Part 2 of my rant about publishing

Part two of two: Click here for part one. Someone recently told me there is a large majority of Christians who are not worried about discipleship anymore as we have shifted into a desperate rhetoric of conversion.  When I think about this conversation of conversion, I go to a dark place my husband just interfaced with at a USC game. While walking up to his seat someone was passing out

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Oct

30

2012

DSC_0134

Where is “understanding” in discourse: A rant about publishing.

Part one of two “Now is not the time for bad theology,” a classmate of mine said.  He was recalling a story of being comforted about the death of a friend.  People responded to their own fear and uneasiness with platitudes like, “He is in a better place,” and “This is God’s will.” Why do we feel the need to cling to these Christan-ese easy answers? And this isn’t just

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Posted in Anecdote, Homesteading | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Aug

30

2012

Tribal Life

I have been absent for a bit.  Sometimes I wonder how people can blog every day, tweet every 5 minutes and read everyone else’s articles to blog and tweet about too.  I sigh and begin to compare.  How do they do that?  You’re not good enough, the voice I am familiar with so quickly jumps in. I compare myself. I compare myself to fellow teachers, to my peers, to other

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Jul

19

2012

A blessing for freedom in a technology fast

I am on my way out of town for an annual contemplative prayer retreat.  A week without facebook, twitter, and klout ratings, without homestead responsibilities, and one of me showing up to God.  It is a week I have come to thirst for in the past six years.  And I always leave the blog with a little note saying, you’ll be fine without me.  I am saying that to myself

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Jul

2

2012

The most meaningful meal of my life

THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS SEMI-GRAPHIC IMAGES.  DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE NOT OKAY WITH KILLING/EATING CHICKENS OR IF YOU HAVE THEM AS PETS. (P.S. it’s a long entry – no way I could make it shorter). I’ve tried starting this blog 3 times.  The first time, I ended up writing 14 pages and it will most likely be a chapter in my new book.  The second time turned into

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Posted in Home.Food.Garden, Homesteading | Tagged , , , , , | 20 Comments

Jun

26

2012

My Magic Hour

Something rather curious happens to me on occasion as I lay in bed before getting in up the morning.  With my eyes closed, I am in an in between – one where God has started the day hours before, working without me, and my work has yet to begin. It is a magic hour – my magic hour (or at least a couple minutes). I am in a vulnerable position. 

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Jun

20

2012

For the interim

Welcome summer!  A new season, a new time to reflect and perhaps relax.  However, I find myself swamped with textbooks already as I try to learn German for a proficiency exam before going back to school in the fall.  I have recently felt, as it would seem so do many of my current companions, that we have fallen into an in-between. So today before I launch into translating a few

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Posted in Poems and Blessings, Spiritual Direction | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Jun

11

2012

No more walls: A lesson three decades in the making

I’m three decades old today.  Old enough to say, over 20 years ago I remember what happened.  I was 10 years old.  It was a heated election year; I didn’t really understand what that was about.  Not sure I do now either.  The Berlin wall fell just a few years prior and we had a piece of it framed on our wall from my uncle.  I looked at this piece

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Posted in A Beautiful Mess, Anecdotes | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments