FIMBY

Ack! I haven't blogged for 3 days. I'm starting to twitch.

It's been a busy weekend. The sun shone (hallelujah!) and once the flood waters in the backyard receded I tried to rescue the beans and staked leggy perennials. We had a supper around the firepit with friends and watched an outdoor movie at a riverfront park in our community. Ah... summer.

But mainly we started to pack and plan for camping later this month. My contribution was to spend 5 hours yesterday, our anniversary, at the laundromat washing and drying our down sleeping bags. Which take like, forever to dry. But are oh so warm, fluffy and light so I guess are worth the extra time and expense of cleaning them.

At least I didn't just sit there mindlessly watching the tube. In between swiping my "laundromat debit card" a gazallion times (coin-less technology but alas no wi-fi) I finished putting together the kid's portfolios for their yearly homeschool review which takes place this week.

An evening out with friends at our favorite restaurant in the Old Port redeemed "the anniversary" aspect of the day. Wonderful Japanese food, with lots of laughs and these lovely gladiolus given as an anniversary gift.

As if that wasn't enough activity for the weekend we also prepared to host Daren Wendell of Earth Expedition, for a couple days this week.

My best friend Damien (my date yesterday night) has been following this guy's trek for months and invited him to stay at our house on his way through Maine. We weren't exactly sure when he'd be here, sometime in August. When you're walking around the world it's kind of hard to pinpoint these things exactly.

Well, we now know exactly when he will be here. In a couple hours. Damien's picking Daren up right now, along with 2 extras. Apparently, when you find friends on the trail you stick together.

I'm so excited. Finally we're having some strangers stay, something I've wanted for years. To host travelers and pilgrims, practicing real Christian hospitality.

We're also planning a potluck supper for tomorrow night. If you're reading this you're invited. Daren's not just hiking the world for fun. He's doing it to help raise awareness for Blood:Water Mission. And we're hosting a potluck, hopefully the RSVP list will outgrow our home, to help him spread the Blood:Water Mission message, "to build clean wells in Africa, to support medical facilities caring for the sick, to make a lasting impact in the fight against poverty, injustice and oppression in Africa".

So, we're all really jazzed around here. To have someone stay in our home who's hiked the Appalachian Trail (something my crazy family aspires to), who's walking around the world, and who's raising awareness for something we believe but haven't done much about. Lets face it, "life" easily gets in the way of all our convictions to fight poverty, injustice and oppression..

Woo-Wee. There is some serious fun happening in my back yard...

PS. If you want to come to the potluck you have to RSVP for directions and such. Contact me here.

We spent Saturday night camped out in our friend's yard. It was a wonderful time together on Saturday afternoon and then a night of gentle rain and a little thunder and lightning.

The rain canceled our Sunday hike plans but that meant spending more time chatting with our friends about sustainable living, healthy eating, organic farming, ending world hunger, city living, Jesus for President and a whole bunch of other stuff. All while monitoring the activities of 11 children plus a few neighbor kids. Ah, the chaos and community of the Russell-Hogan (two non-related families sharing one small roof, not a hyphenated family name) household.

During the course of the weekend Laurent lost his third tooth. I couldn't resist snapping pics of all three of my kiddos smiling faces. Their smiles are certainly genuine. They love all the perks of visiting the Russell-Hogan community; all the playmates and friends, yard space, ducks, chicks, turkeys, chickens, dogs, fireflies, lizard and the neighbor's pool.

Will you be my friend?

A few months ago I read the book Making Room: Recovering Hospitality As a Christian Tradition. After reading it I wrote the following review, which is in my goodreads:

"We have always practiced hospitality but the Holy Spirit is using this book to help guide us in broadening that circle of welcome to strangers. I'm still not sure exactly how to do that, even after reading the book, but my heart is totally there. Very excited about what God has been changing in our lives and how this book will help us grow even more."

I can't say that we now have answered the hows of opening our home to strangers, especially those marginalized by our society, but we moved one step closer to that practice by actually hosting strangers in our home last night. By the time they left this afternoon they were friends not strangers which is pretty cool.

To be fair they weren't totally strangers, they are friends with our friend's friends - did you catch that?? They are moving to Maine soon to start a new job and a new life and were looking to connect with a local house church group. They have been "housechurching" for years and were able to share insights and encouragements to our fledgling group. When they called to confirm their plans to visit our group our family invited them to stay the night and then fellowship with the whole group the next day. A fairly safe risk in the world of inviting strangers into your home but a little step in that direction nonetheless.

Sure we'll be friends!

Now I'll be very honest, I'm pretty bagged after a weekend of cooking, feeding, loving, vacuuming the kitchen floor, being emotionally vulnerable and checking that the toilet is flushed. We had friends for supper Friday night, strangers-who-are-now-friends who stayed Saturday night and we hosted a brunch church gathering today. But in my tiredness I'm excited that we took a step in the direction we want to go.

Spending time with church family (giving and receiving food, conversation, music, prayer, bread, wine, recipes, gardening tips etc...) can be challenging at times. Practicing respect, love, service and submission is not always a fun, "feel good" activity. But others times it is, like today.

Right now I'm happily basking in the warmth of the spring sun thankful for a day of shared breakfast, shared concerns, shared visions, shared plans, shared teaching, shared songs, shared crazy ideas, shared bread & wine, shared work and shared laughter.

Ah, the first real warm day of spring AND a great time together - it's a good day.

So, we have these friends and they are kind of crazy like us and have a desire to live in closer community with people. But unlike us their desire is for real closer, as in - have a family of 7 move in and take over your kid's bedroom kind of close. God bless 'em. I'm so thankful for friends who are willing to take risks and have enough (God given) grace to "live the dream" so to speak.

Our own hearts have dreamed of community for years. In fact it is what moved us to Maine. Many of you know that didn't work out the way we had expected. But... it did get us to Maine and to a place where we have grown a lot spiritually. Not to mention we simply love Maine and the quality of our life here.

Someday we are hoping to live in stronger & deeper community with others - we don't know what that will look like but we are trying all the time to work towards that. Some simple ways are sharing resources with neighbors and investing in relationships with local friends, farms & community organizations. Hanging out as often as we can with our "crazy" friends and the friends that have moved in with them is one step closer in that direction.

And it was with these friends that we celebrated Easter. All 17 of us, 7 adults and 10 children in a smallish 3 bedroom ranch - full of love, noise, dishes to wash, conversation and homegrown food.

Two books arrived in the mail this week, Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola & George Barna and Simply Christian by N. T. Wright. Buying select books is still a fairly new trend in our house - oh I love books.

So excited about reading Pagan Christianity! Reading it encourages me in our own trial and error attempts at finding and living an organic church life. And reminds me why we felt called to this path in the first place, which I'm realizing was actually many years ago, not just one year ago when we officially left organized church.

Last night the kids and I ate at a local church that hosts a free community supper each Wednesday night. I've seen the sign advertising the supper week after week as I drive by doing my errands. The opportunity to take part finally presented itself yesterday.

I was a little bit apprehensive about going to a community supper probably hosted primarily for poor and homeless people in the neighborhood. After all I have enough money to feed my children & then some. But for the two weeks that Damien is gone I need a cooking & washing dishes break now and then (one that doesn't involve ordering pizza - which my 2 gluten intolerant children can't eat without subsequent tummy aches).

In spite of my fears of not belonging I took the kids anyway, because let's face it, a free meal is a free meal. Simply said I was blessed. We were welcomed without reservation. Even afterward, when I explained to the minister that I wasn't a mother barely able to feed her hungry children but just a temporarily single mother who needed a break from cooking, we were welcomed with open arms and told to "come again" over and over.

After we ate we volunteered to help with clean up, I always prefer to clean up someone else's kitchen. The kids & I were given a bucket and dish clothes to wash the tables. The kids worked, with joy, like troopers. They gathered salt & pepper shakers, cleared tables and gently told the elderly to "take their time" while they were wiping the tables beside them. My heart was full watching my children serve these strangers. Both those who had provided the supper and those who needed a meal just as we had.

Last night's experience humbled me and showed me again how the body of Christ, the church, should operate. We come together, offer what we have to give and care for those in need - all around a meal.

We were blessed this weekend by our friends coming over to paint our fence and share lunch. Our fellowship group has decided to do some work bee days where we can help each other get work done around our homes, share some of the more mundane aspects of life and lighten the load.

It was wonderful. I felt especially blessed because my primary love language is acts of service. Ie: when people do work for me, accomplish tasks, I feel loved. My husband of course has a different primary love language which makes marriage fun! But that's all besides the point. While the crew worked and the kids played I cooked a pot of soup and prepared lunch.

I'm liking this kind of church, every time we meet I feel we experience a little more of what Damien & I have wanted for a long time.

Oh yeah, another thing I really like is drinking wine every time we get together (and not just a thimbleful).

Painting the fencePot o' soup Lord's table

We met with friends & fellow believers this morning at Bradbury Mountain State Park for hiking and picnic lunch. During our 4 hours together we walked and talked, ate and talked and talked some more. We worked up a sweat, reached a summit with a beautiful view, encouraged each other, asked questions with hard answers, laughed, read some of the Word, shared a multigrain roll and a plastic portable container of Welch's grape juice. After we ate the official children's program was fairy house building and tree climbing - a perfect day at church if you ask me.

Church on the Mountain: Bob looks like he's praying but he's just digging in the dirt...Children's church on the mountain

I don't really know what else to call it. We met in our home last night with fellow Christians to talk about life, what God's put on our hearts, to pray and play Sequence. None of it was planned except the invitation we put out to anyone interested in joining us. A couple brothers came and the evening progressed in a very natural way, hanging out and getting to know each other. And in that process we talked a lot about what God has laid on each of our hearts, some of our struggles and what exactly to call it when we come together - church?? Not quite, as the church IS the body of Christ.

Although I have no idea what to call it I do know there was teaching (from the Word and our own experiences), a coming together in the Spirit, prayer, honesty & lots of laughter. We didn't break bread but we did feed the kids rice cakes - does that count?