my Jer29 garden

This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile 

from Jerusalem to Babylon: 

“Build houses and settle down; 

plant gardens and eat what they produce. 

Marry and have sons and daughters; 

find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, 

so that they too may have sons and daughters. 

Increase in number there; do not decrease. 

Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. 

Jeremiah 29:4-7

This chapter waits for me. It sits in the corners of every room and stares at me. These words have been following me around quietly for quite some time. I avoided them for awhile. I would peek at them out of the corner of my eyes pretending not to see them but they just take up so much space, and they carry so much weight, that it became more and more difficult to arrange my thoughts without bumping into them. They never forced themselves in. Patient and quiet they waited. And waited. 

We had become so accustomed to transition. 

settle down

We had moved seven times in seven years. 

plant a garden

We have dreams of new adventures in new places. 

seek  the  city to which  

you've been carried

This week I was inspired/reminded by a new Insta-friend to enjoy my view. This one. Right here in the desert. Where I've been planted. And as "the hundreds" arrive and set up camp for the summer and I begin to close windows in the afternoons and kick on the A/C a little more and a little more, I have to choose it. Out loud. His higher ways. I take deep breaths and press into this place like a yoga pose that hits that stubborn tight spot that just doesn't want to give. I see the good things provided us. I see reasons why we are here in this season.  I do. I soak in them, I log them in gratitude, I add them to my list of 1000 Gifts AND my adventurous heart wants to run far away to explore and discover! I'm not talking about a vacation. I don't need "a break" or just another passport stamp.  I don't have a list of places I want to visit. I have a list of places I'd still like to live. I'm talking about grafting in to a new local experience. The rhythm of daily life lived. 

And so I go water my Jeremiah 29 garden because my soul knows well that, for now, this is where we have been planted. The seeds have sprouted and pushed their way up through the rich compost. The transplants are surviving. And every morning as I cultivate those beds of wealth they remind me that things can survive and even grow in hostile climates. In exile. Each little leaf whispers hope and promises. Our natural world shouts truth high and low and, second to my love affair with the sea, the act of cultivating a piece of this earth teaches me more about the order of it all than anything else. 

I am constantly pressing into that tight spot where dreams and ambition collide with surrender and patience. I seem to always be working this out. Over and over. Both are good. It's AND, not OR. I can be content and wanting to wander at the very same time. There is a time for each in every season. Just like the garden. And just like the garden, I can read and research and plan and design, but at the end of the day, beauty comes from attention and tending and presence such that tiny growth is always noticed and changes in seasons are sensed, not scheduled. 

Here's to soil under my fingernails, here and now. 

 

book review: Bread & Wine by Shauna Niequist

I love Nancy Meyers films. I know, I know, this is supposed to be a book review. Just hear me out. It's Complicated, Something's Gotta Give and The Holiday are some of my most well-worn flicks and are among the few that I can watch over and over and over again without ever getting bored. I adore Meryl, Diane and Kate and would watch pretty much any film they'd make, but it's not the ridiculously talented leading ladies that keep me coming back.

It's the set locations.

When I get the itch to go to Santa Barbara I pop in It's Complicated and pour over every detail of the perfectly understated quintessential SB ranch house while the plot unfolds in the background. Meryl's character is single-handedly responsible for my abiding love for chocolate croissants and croque monsieur and It's Complicated was the original catalyst for our family garden that is going strong in it's fourth year regardless of the fact that Meryl's gargantuan tomatoes were literally tied to the vines just so and every plant was grown on steroids in a greenhouse before being meticulously planted in a beautiful picture-perfect design. Gorgeous, I tell you. Even in all it's fake glory.

When I wonder about what it would be like to summer in the Hamptons, or toy with the idea of painting every wall and every piece of furniture white, I watch Something's Gotta Give. I tolerate Jack Nicholson because of my love for the neurotic and perpetually turtle-necked Diane Keaton. But really, it's about vicariously traveling to a part of the country I have very little experience with. New England beach life fascinates me - the storms, the cottages, the farmer's markets and the preppy style. And in such close proximity to The City that never sleeps. What a killer combo!

When the holidays roll around and the craziness of the season has me wanting to hop a flight in spontaneity, I feast on The Holiday and it's juxtaposing locales of the Hollywood Hills high life and quaint British village life. Again, I tolerate Cameron Diaz in exchange for Kate Winslet, Jack Black (his best role) and Jude Law. My favorite scenes in the film are those of Kate Winslet's character reliving old Hollywood as a guest in new Hollywood. Valuing rich history and relationships while in the lap of luxury.

Set location draws me like no other, no matter the medium.

I recently had the privilege to read a pre-release copy of the new book by one of my favorite writers, Shauna Niequist. 

For me, Shauna Niequist is to writing as Nancy Meyers is to film making. Her latest compilation of personal essays Bread & Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table transported me piece by piece, recipe by recipe, to so many of the most shaping and memorable locations in her life so far: Chicago, the family lake house, the UK, the Mediterranean, Grand Rapids, Mexico, Paris and South Haven. And while I could stay so long noting each sensory detail of each delicious set location, Shauna does not allow it. Her writing is always pointing beyond the backdrop, beyond the scene to the characters. Even more importantly, the relationships. In her own intimate and honest way that makes you feel like her best friend, she invites you to settle in at her dinner table for a long evening of the things that matter most. And with each turn of the page you grow more and more full on the truth of what it really means to live in luxury. To have your people. To gather in celebration and in mourning, for big occasions and just because it's Tuesday. To give the gift of nourishment to another with real food made by your own hands from real ingredients. To linger long after a meal simply for community's sake. True riches.

"I like to sit at the table so long that you have to open more wine, 

so long that after the dessert is gone and the candles are burning down, 

you get dinner back out and begin to pick at it again with forks, 

cold and straight out of the pan."

- Shauna, Bread & Wine

Bread & Wine tours us through baby showers and miscarriages, cooking classes and dinner party disasters, feasting and fasting, holidays and every days, failures and victories, travel life and home life, insecurity and bravery, and although we come to the end with such affection for Shauna and her family, she points us back to our ourselves. Back to our own history. Reading Bread & Wine, I couldn't help but link my own memories to some of my most beloved meals. Those tastes and smells that just shout a certain person's name or city once lived in, a celebration once toasted or a tradition still held dear. Mom's chicken enchiladas, that a wee little newly verbal Carsyn began calling "chickiladas" some years ago, are our Christmas Eve special. My Grandma Billie's guacamole, with a secret ingredient of worcestershire, is almost a weekly make in my kitchen from the beginning of spring through the middle of fall. Eric's ceviche has achieved legendary status and is always requested by friends and family throughout the summer for every meal we attend. Then there's the tiny little taco shop on the beach in Newport where we went almost every Friday night for years. It was such a ritual that we would just walk in and find a table and the owner would bring out our usual, which during tourist season was pretty much red carpet treatment. He knew it was fish tacos for me. Chicken for Eric. Perfect chips and salsa that was heavy on the cilantro and lime. Salt in the air and sand in our toes. Our version of luxury.

We each come to the table of Bread & Wine with our own stories to tell. Shauna volunteers to go first, and in doing so, she draws out those flavors we've forgotten about and serves them up fresh for the feasting while simultaneously inspiring us to see the sacred and dig in for more.

            "When you eat, I want you to think of God, of the holiness of hands that feed us, 

of the provision we are given every time we eat. 

When you eat bread and you dink wine, 

I want you to think about the body and the blood every time, 

not just when the bread and wine show up in church, 

but when they show up anywhere - 

on a picnic table or a hardwood floor or a beach.

            Some of my most sacred meals have been eaten out of travel mugs 

on camping trips or on benches on the street in Europe. 

Many of them have been at our own table or around our coffee table, 

leaning back against the couch. They've been high food and low food, 

fresh and frozen, extravagant and right out of the pizza box. 

It's about the table, and about all the other places we find ourselves eating. 

It's about a spirit or quality of living that rises up when we offer one another life itself, 

in the form of dinner or soup or breakfast, or bread and wine."

                                                                                    -Shauna, Bread & Wine

Order Bread & Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table here.

Follow Shauna's blog here.

Now, if I could just get Nancy Meyers to make a movie about Shauna's life...

chick check

Today the girls are two weeks. 

They grow up so fast. 

(sniff)

Rosie

Clem

Sweet Pea (notice Rosie in the background trying out her new feathers)

Delly

Sweet Pea and Delly struttin' around with their tail feathers up.

The girls quickly outgrew their little Rubbermaid bin

so we upgraded to the kiddie pool suite

complete with a red light which allows the girls to have

a normal sleep cycle while still keeping warm.

We've found Sweet Pea roosting on the top ledge 

and even out on the tile a couple times 

so the girls might be moving into the coop 

sooner than expected. 

Can't have them flyin' around the house! 

And I'm not buying chicken diapers. 

That's where I draw the line...

I think.

G & Clem - He likes her because she is small and the only one he can catch.

Chicks can do what's called "imprinting" which just means that 

whoever they bond with first becomes their

Mother Hen. 

Some display this behavior more than others. 

I admit. 

I've been hoping to earn the title with these girls.

  

After allowing them to practice foraging for a little while

I laid down in the grass to take their 2 week pictures and 

all four of them just came right up to me and stayed

all nestled in together. 

They settled in and stayed awhile. 

Long enough for G to run in and grab my phone 

and take some pics. 

Ro and Sweet Pea hopped right up on my arm to roost!

Our little flock is a great distraction 

while we wait for our homestudy to be written 

and approved. 

As for our international agency process,

we have submitted our first batch of paperwork 

and are waiting to receive the next. 

So when we're not playing with the chicks

we are continuing to collect donations for our 

Adoption Garage Sale

that's coming up in a couple weeks! 

We still need donations so if you are local

give us a holler and we will 

come pick up your stuff! 

mamalode

Eeeeek! 

Guess who is published on Mamalode for the first time?!?!

I'm super excited to contribute 

to one of my favorite online atmospheres

and would be so grateful it if you would hop on over to check out

my piece on the moment that kickstarted my year of bravery. 

Share it on Facebook, 

like it on Instagram, 

link it up on your blog,

tweet it 

or just plain email it to someone special

on my behalf

and maybe I'll get to share in that space again!

xo

new girls on the block

Look who's finally here! 

This is Clem. 

Short for Clementine. 

She's my girl and she is totally chill. 

She falls asleep in my hands. 

breed: Buff Orpington, brown egg layer

This is Sweet Pea. 

She belongs to G.

At first he named her Bilbo Baggins, 

but then he couldn't help but call her Sweet Pea 

when he kissed her bitty head. 

breed: Araucana, green/blue egg layer

This is Delly Bane.

She's Eric's girl. 

She's definitely the leader of the ladies. 

breed: Delaware, brown egg layer

And this is Rosie. 

Short for Rosie Cotton. 

As in Samwise Gamgee's crush/future wife. 

We have a thing for Tolkien over here. 

This girl belongs to Carsyn and is such a sweetie. 

breed: Rhode Island Red, brown egg layer

 We picked the girls up at the Mesa Feed Barn that is still owned and run by 

my high school friend's family. 

It was so fun buying our first flock from her dad and younger brother.

C & G couldn't resist introducing the girls to the coop 

even though they will be inside in the brooder for awhile longer. 

We are holding these little loves all the time 

and showing them to anyone who will come over! 

We're a little obsessed. 

sharktacular adoption garage sale!

Hey all you Spring Cleaners! We're calling dibs on all your junk! Now that our adoption homestudy interviews are completed and we are waiting for our homestudy report to be written and submitted to a judge for certification, we are planning a super-crazy, all-out, Sharktacular, garage-sale-apalooza for April 26/27 and we need your old stuff donated to our cause. We will come pick it up or you can come drop it off. Whatever it takes, we need it! So before you unload a trunk full at Goodwill or the local parking lot donation bin, consider Congo and our adoption!

If you would like to contribute in this way but have yet to brave your storage closets for fear of being buried alive avalanche-style, let our little Congo-love be your motivation! Maybe you don't have anything ready to donate yet, but you will in the next few weeks. Please respond to let us know!

If you suffer from OCD (literally or hyperbolically) and cleaned out your closets/bins/baskets/pantries/cupboards/garages the moment your Christmas decorations came down, we can take your "to be donated" pile off your hands whenever you're ready! Please respond to let us know!

And lastly, to our minimalist/almost-Amish friends, if you don't have anything to donate because you purge on a regular basis but want to support our gigante-garage-sale, maybe you know someone who has yet to simplify and would love to help our cause! You can contribute by proxy! Please respond to let us know!

Ask your friends and family!
Collect from your co-workers!
Hoard like nobody's business all in the name of our little Congo-love!
There no vintage armoire too big! No Polly Pocket too small!
We'll take it all!

Congo or bust!
The Sharks

gold

This song is currently on repeat in our car

where the open sunroof is a pre-req 

and the minimum volume is LOUD. 

T-Swift and all her awesome boyfriend songs 

are on hold for awhile.

Plenty of time for that later.

In the meantime, Brit Nicole and all her truth telling

gets our hands up and our eyes up too. 

And there is just nothing better than my girl and her friends 

belting out this anthem at the top of their lungs.