when you have weather like we have around here… 60′s and even 70′s in January and February… you go to the park. and luckily, we have alot of park land around us.
the other night, we met our good friends, Jeremiah and Grace, at the park. Jeremiah (aka Momo) has been doing his physical therapy each day in their basement.. walking laps with his walker. Grace told me she decided to try one of the new sidewalks at one of the parks near us to see how he would do. apparently, it was a HUGE FREAKING HIT! Momo was in heaven… cruising, taking in the new world around him. He had many a stranger stop and cheer him on. So, after hearing that story, I decided we had to join them the next day…
You know, THESE are the moments and times that I love, love having a camera and knowing how to use it well. Sure, weddings, family portraits and so on are wonderful, and I love shooting them and capturing those kinds of moments, as well. But there is just something about capturing real life in real time that gives me such joy. You can’t prepare for it, dress up for it, put on your best face for it…. its real life in real time. Sometimes there are tears, but more often there are smiles and giggles, milestones quietly reached, life being enjoyed… All going on in real time around us. Pair that with to-die-for light and weather, and you pretty much have the happiest, most fulfilled version of myself. Well okay, take all that and put us in Australia or Thailand and THAT is definitely the happiest version of myself.
Momo was cruising in his newfound freedom and environment, the kids got to run and play and explore a little in the woods, Nadia got her swing on… and the moms got to just take it in.
Is this to be my lot in 2012…. once a month blogging? I hope not.
Lent starts this week. And I have decided to participate this year. A group at our church (a non denominational church) decided to host a 40 day fast and prayer time for Lent this year. Specifically, its a call to pray for, learn about and be mindful of social justice issues in our world and communities today. They asked us to “fast” from something, to give up something valuable during this season and spend more time focussing on praying about and learning about these issues. They gave us a bracelet to be a daily reminder to do just this. As I was thinking about what to fast from, what valuable thing in my life to give up during this season, one word kept creeping into my mind, even as I desperately tried to keep it out - facebook.
Fact: i love facebook. i love reconnecting to various groups and individuals from all spheres of my present and past life. i enjoy facebook and posting silly status updates.
Fact: facebook is not evil.
Fact: facebook is the agent through which i often end up wasting many valuable minutes and even hours of my days. yes, that is my issue, not facebook’s issue. but if getting off facebook will allow me to address my issues of wasting time, self medicating via social media etc…. then i need to get off facebook for a season.
And so it is that I will be giving up Facebook during this season. (Well, I will be giving up my personal Facebook time, not my business Facebook.)
Why Lent? My theology doesn’t line up with the traditional way of looking at and participating in Lent…. But fasting from something, even if only for the self-discipline of it, is a worthwhile pursuit… especially for someone like me, who lacks even the trace amounts of self-discipline. Denying myself something I want (to do) goes so painfully against the grain of my cultural norm these days. The culture I live in almost demands instant gratification at every moment of every day. Not that I have to give in… that’s my own weakness… just stating a fact about the outside pressure of my culture. Its intense and its difficult to swim upstream in any sense of the word. So, this year, this Lenten season… I am looking forward to doing something quite counter cultural…. denying myself something I have 24/7 access to and no reason not to access it. I am training myself to say no, just because its GOOD for me to say no to myself and my desires at times. And more importantly, I am transferring a bit of that self-indulgence, self-focus and self-gratification to something way more worth my time, energy and focus – justice. mercy. compassion.grace. freedom. transformation. These are the issues at stake in the social justice issues of our day. And thankfully, a group at my church is ready to support and guide me through this season with daily devotionals, prayer points and information.
I am not sharing this to tell you that YOU should give up facebook, chocolate or TV… or even that you should participate in Lent. I am just sharing this as a way to keep myself accountable. And to explain why 1.) i won’t be responding to you if you are trying to contact me via facebook, 2.) why i will most likely get caught up on blogging and other personal projects, and 3.) why some of you may even hear from me via phone or email rather than social media. It will be a good time. call or email me. or text.
I have been thinking, more often than I realized, about a disturbing article I read the other day. Here is the link.
Its heartbreaking. This is happening in our country, in our neighborhoods (and yes, it happens in middle class neighborhoods as well as lower class ones).
I keep coming back to the thought, “what would I do if I saw that girl outside her house digging in her own trash looking for food.” what would I do if i heard her parents, yet again, screaming and thrashing at her inside the house. neighbors HEARD this… many times. neighbors saw her. many times. if i read correctly, a couple of people called the authorities only a couple of times. and presumably no one actually tried to help her, until she was rescued. SIX YEARS of living in this neighborhood, being abused and treated like this… and no one did anything. you can’t tell me they didn’t know.
I keep thinking this reminds me so much of the Good Samaritan story in the Bible…. there really are people who see obvious pain and suffering and evil, but because the hurt person doesn’t register as someone that is a.) a cultural, ethnic or religious fit for them, or b.) isn’t worth the time it would take to actually stop and help or infuse themselves into their pain and suffering. how often does our own sense of importance or our own agenda prevent us from really SEEING the pain and suffering that may be going on right beneath our noses?
So what would I do? How would I respond? I hope to God that no child on my street would even endure a hell like that. Not that we should recklessly jump to conclusions or be hyper judgemental, but maybe strive to be more aware of our surroundings? Maybe create more space in our days to allow time to stop and see and respond if need be? Maybe be mindful of how much I think about myself, my agenda and my sense of importance… and more importantly, how much that distracts me from seeing my community and the people in it?
I don’t know. It just really disturbs me to think that this poor girl made eye contact with people… for six years and no one saw the pain. or if they did see the pain, they didn’t care enough to help. I don’t want to be the Priest or Levite in the parable. I want to be the foreigner, the outsider, that is wiling to give up time, money and sweat to value someone else’s suffering more than my own agenda and comfort level. But in reality, most of the time I too cross to the other side of the road and hurry on to whatever it is that I am inevitably hurrying to.
on a lighter note…. we had a lovely, intimate baby shower for my dear neighbor-friend, Fleur. she is due with baby #2 soon and this one is a boy. it was fun to have an occasion where i could actually DO one of the gazillions of pinterest ideas i pin. i grabbed some 5+ year old scrapbook paper with masculine colors and some random pieces of felt, printed off a tie pattern, and cut out these little babies to decorate with at the shower. so cute, no??! and the cool thing is that Fleur can reuse the decor for baby’s room, as well.
yuuuum! and the eggs? yup, they are local… as in backyard of a neighbor local. awesomeness.
in lieu of traditional baby gifts at the shower, we opted for another pinterest inspired idea… the alphabet wall. O M G! what fun!! seriously, i am going to suggest this for every shower here on out. so fun, creative, practical and artistic. you can go so many directions with this… various themes, sizes etc.
enjoying some nooks and walls in the new house…. its always fun setting up house and finding the balance between looking stylish, cool, inviting and also making it personal, real and significant for our family. i felt like this time, i was able to accomplish that balance (of course style varies from person to person). traveling the world and collecting ethnic goods and pictures is a huge joy and passion of mine, so i have always wanted to use them to decorate the house and be sweet visual reminders of awesome trips and experiences. my friend Gracehelped me set up my house in a way that showcased these things, but in a simple and non-cluttery way (which is what always seemed to happen when i attempted this on my own). these are a few snapshots of some of my favorite ones, and a little commentary about why:
1. the map. love this world map. it is mounted on wood and just sits on top of our fireplace mantle. the books on the corner are some of my absolute favorite books as a child… the Walter Farley horse stories. they are flanked by the carved wood bookends i got in Uganda on one trip. i have learned through my years of traveling to collect USEFUL trinkets and treasures overseas. rather than something that will just get thrown in a box or sit and collect dust in an useless way, i have started to collect things that i actually use on a regular basis… bookends, utensils, placemats and runners, and so on. the piece of coral is John’s from one of his adventures.
2. the entryway. LOVE this. again, the brainchild of Grace, so i can’t take credit. she repurposed am antique dresser we had (from my family) as the entry “key” table. the mirror was one i picked up off the side of the road in our neighborhood and she gave it a facelift with the sweet teal paint. the paper garland was purchased off etsy 2 years ago (a total rip-off but cute still). mirror is flanked by two of my boat pictures from Thailand. and the globe is a favorite find from the goodwill store in Phoenix. this space makes me happy and i love walking into the house to see it. i know that sounds silly, but it is what it is.
3. the gallery wall. ooooooh how i love this one. i have posted about it on facebook and on my business site because its pretty significant to me. i feel like it is pretty cool when someone (ahem, Grace) can take a modgepodge group of things (pictures, paintings, mirrors, plates etc) and make them into one beautiful flowing picture. thats what this wall is to me. its life. our life. there are bits and pieces that sum up US. and here is why.
a.) there is the black and white of john and adelaide as a baby… one of my absolute fave pics in the world. and the wood horizontal frame with the fall colors? that is the cove that John proposed to me. and that is exactly what it looked like on that October morning. b.) baby pictures of nadia and sydney. c.) the side view with the bookcase-turned-buffet and cool storage piece.
a. b. c.
d.) the stamp collection was created for us with love from Grace… all Germany stamps from across the decades to represent our sojourn in Germany. the arabic calligraphy artwork? a gift created with love for us from John’s sister, Elisabeth. it is the Arabic spelling of Adelaide’s middle name, Zahara, which means “shining and luminous.” the horse painting? a piece of artwork from my childhood and family… representing the first 16 years of my life with horses (i started riding by myself at age 2. yes, age 2. my mom was one of those free range mommas for sure. she had been taking me riding from 6 months old…). i adore this piece of art and am so thankful it worked out to be an anchoring piece in the gallery wall.
4. last but not least, the living room. i love this room. the goal was something peaceful, airy, worldly and sentimental. the boat canvas, an image from our trip to Thailand, really anchors the room. it is flanked by pictures of european doorways…. the red from Spain and the other from Venice. the embroidered pillow cases on the couch are traditional Ethiopian cross designs and John has had these for decades. they may not be pottery barn-esque, but they are meaningful and significant and definitely fit the feel of the room. there is another canvas of a Thai boat on another wall, with a real peaceful feeling to it. the woven plate-things on the wall above the canvas were actually bought at a goodwill store, but the starfish was a gift from John’s aunt in Cape Cod, another reminder of an awesome vacation and trip we had up north last summer.
Well okay, take all that and put us in Australia or Thailand and THAT is definitely the happiest version of myself. 
