FIMBY

Ah, that was a catchy title.

I have a few advent thoughts to share. Instead of trying to cleverly weave them together here they are as a list:

Inspiration

Our family is a part of a local Advent Conspiracy to worship fully, spend less, give more, love all. I am super excited and a little freaked out about what we're doing. It's a surprise, well not really, but I'll tell you all about it in another post.

Expectation

Loving this quote by Frederick Buechner that my friend Marty posted on his blog:

The extraordinary thing that is about to happen is matched only by the extraordinary moment just before it happens. Advent is the name of that moment.

But if you concentrate just for an instant, far off in the deeps of you somewhere you can feel the beating of your heart. For all its madness and lostness, not to mention your own, you can hear the world itself holding its breath.

I'm in a season right now of holding my breath spiritually and creatively. An advent, an anticipation and expectation.

Conversation

Brienne (my 6 year old) says "Mom, can you write Christmas cards for my snowman? I want them to say 'Happy Christmas, hope you get lots of good presents'"

I get out the paper, start writing and respond "Hum..is that what Christmas is all about? Getting lots of good presents?"

Brienne, with an of course not tone in her voice "It's about Jesus giving birth!!"

There you have it folks, the first Sunday of Advent. Don't forget I'm hosting Sharing the Season until Friday, Dec 5th.

Everyone's writing about gratitude these days and I have a few thoughts (I wish it was only a few) to share on the matter.

I don't need any reminders to be thankful, I am filled with gratitude every single day. In this world we live in I'm stinking rich with 3 healthy children, a husband who loves me, a roof over my head, a dishwasher, flush toilet and an old car that runs.

At random moments throughout each day my mind will wander to somewhere else on this planet. To situations that exist, to some extent, in my very own community. A child hungry while her mama watches helpless. Women and children sold, exploited, abused. Boys fighting wars they didn't start. People hurting, crying, needing, aching - everywhere. And my throat will catch and my spirit cries "how much longer?!" Then I gently shrug the weight of the world off my shoulders and finish cooking supper, reading the story, taking the picture, whatever I'm doing in that moment.

What more can I do? We send money to provide food and water to those in critical need. We support friends who are making a daily difference in their very poor community. As we are able we respond to donation jars and pleas for help. But it's never enough.

And still I live in comfort, peace and prosperity. Why?

I want to do more. I see people doing more. A friend who signs up to be a bone marrow donor, should a need arise. Artists raising money for genocide survivors. Local friends cooking and serving Thanksgiving dinners to those without one, working at community food banks, and supporting orphanages in Mexico.

And here I sit, or so it seems. For goodness sake, I can't even give blood because I don't weigh enough!

But I'm not sitting. I'm preparing, serving and cleaning up three (from scratch - no cold cereal around here) healthy meals a day. I'm reading and playing with my three kiddos. Tickling, teaching, guiding and generally loving on them. Buying groceries, washing & hanging laundry, de-cluttering, occasionally scrubbing the toilet. Spending time with my husband, hiking with my family, hosting friends or strangers at least once a week for meals, trying to keep in touch with friends and family far off. Recording it all with photos and words.

I spend my days trying to create the world I want to live in. One of kindness, creativity, forgiveness, health, unconditional love and socially responsible choices. And some days I fail at doing even that. An intentional life that promotes healthy people, a healthy planet and healthy relationships take time. A lot of time.

I'm not trying to make excuses. I'm soul searching. I'm not asking for pats on the back, encouragement or flattery. But I feel that the time I spend building a home & family, my "world", takes away from the time I have to give to the world at large. Does this make any sense?

So I cook, raise kids, share hugs, take photos, cook some more, gather with friends, try to help people in our community, write, give money to big causes and little. I know it's not enough but it's all I have to give.

It's a blustery, bitter November weekend but we're taking care of that with some good old fashioned fun.

Friday night our family attended and volunteered at a fundraising celebration of local food, art and music. This harvest supper of seaonsal, locally grown food (you'd be amazed at how many ways you can prepare pumpkin and apple) was hosted by our favorite community organization, Lots to Gardens. I wish they had a rockin' website I could send you to, but I suppose they don't have time to do that since they're too busy helping downtown residents grow their own food and empowering youth to make a difference in their community.

We love these folks. They have hearts of gold with a desire to provide the disadvantaged of our community with access to affordable, healthy food. And they are amazing cooks - what a meal we had Friday. Not to mention the great local folk musicians and beatboxing rap artist.

harvest supper decorations

Last night our family attended an outdoor adventure film festival in a neighboring community. We saw some great films, including two by local youths, on adventure in the outdoors. Who knew there was such a sport as Mountain Unicycling?? I was bagged after 3 hours (with an intermission) of watching but we were inspired once again, to try and figure out how we can experience adventure around the world as a family. (No, not on unicycles)

Today, we host 6 guests, plus three of our own, for a very-fairy-princess all things the glitter and sparkle birthday party for our youngest. Complete with fairy making crafts and a pink (beet juice dye) gluten free cake.

Oh, and there's The Nightmare Before Christmas that netflix sent earlier this week, we were thinking maybe tonight we'd watch that.

Now that's a weekend. What are you up to?

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.

The kids and I attended the Local Foods Festival at our farmer's market this week, organized by our favorite community organization, Lots To Gardens, "a youth and community driven organization that uses sustainable urban agriculture to create access to fresh food, and to nurture healthy youth and a healthy community. We teach people how to grow their own food, provide affordable access to fresh food, and involve youth as leaders. We help families and youth develop skills and build power for lifelong and community-wide change".

That pretty much says it folks. Oh, and my kids learned their first parade slogan this week "We want local foods. When do we want it? NOW!" My children are community activists and I'm darn proud of it!

Farmer's Market Flowers

Not too many years ago in the past I almost exclusively shopped at Wal-Mart (shh... don't tell anyone), it was cheapest after all. The only thing local there was the poorly paid and under-insured "associates". To be fair our family budget was tighter. We were still paying down consumer debt (a folly we won't ever repeat) and saving for a house down payment. I wonder if my miserly shopping helped us save money? Probably, but now we're choosing to save money other ways so we can purchase food according to our values.

Our biggest money saver is owning a small home (we rent out the basement), on a small lot in the community my husband works in, walking distance from his job. A huge blessing and a choice I realize not everyone can make. But even if it weren't "easy" walking distance away he'd hoof it on foot, longboard or bike, that's the kind of guy he is. Living close to employment, and sacrificing a larger lot in the "country", enables us to live very comfortably with only one car. In fact, it goes days not being used and during those times we sometimes lend it to friends so they don't need to own a car.

But wait, don't we have children? Yep, 3. And don't we camp? Yep, every month. How can we manage with just a car, not even any roof rack, trailers or other "carry more stuff" storage? Light living is the name of the game.

Owning one, small, old car and not driving it a lot, having no debt and a smaller urban footprint (fancy speak for living on a small city lot and renting part of our house) are three biggies that enable us to buy more local food.

I heard the other day on NPR the "average US family" is now spending $100/week for gas (I nearly croaked). I'd rather pay $30/week and use the "savings" to buy more I-know-the-farmer grown food. To be sure, we're not driving in luxury. Our car is 15 years old, there's little squirmies living under the booster seats , and the AC stopped working years ago. But who cares we're eating well.

Where would you rather spend your money and time?

I gleaned peas from the farm this morning. No altruistic motivations here (wish I could say I donated them to less fortunate folks), just taking advantage of stocking the freezer with free, organic veggies. This isn't the norm though. Obtaining local, organic and sustainably grown foods costs, sometimes a lot. So why do we do it?

Basically, our family has made the choice to value the health of our bodies, community, planet and the farmers who grow our food. Incidentally, these are also the reasons, more or less, for us choosing a plant based diet.

But the health benefits of sustainable foods aren't just physical. Knowing your farmer is good for your whole health and well being. Buying food from local farms is spiritually grounding and a return to our roots. I am connecting myself to a person, not a corporation, brand or store. That person is directly connected to the land - blood, sweat and tears. My connection to them connects me to the land, albeit somewhat vicariously, and returns me to the original Divine mandate to tend the garden, the task we were created to do.

Valuing everyone's health and "returning to the garden" is all fine and dandy but let's get down to the nitty-gritty, what about the cost? I'm not even going to address the long-term environmental and health costs of eating a fossil fuel dependent diet, that's a book. But if I did the cost question would be blow out of the water. However, I know most people think of cost in terms of next month's paycheck so I'll stick to the here and now.

Go to next post in series.

This is not happy. This is not beautiful. This certainly is not fun in my back yard. This is pain, suffering and hunger in "my backyard", and it breaks my heart and leaves me feeling sickened with helplessness.

Other than donate dollars I don't have a clue what to do about it. Makes our attempts to be aware of the problem pitiful. Oh God, help us help them.

The kids and I spent the morning at the Nutrition Center Kitchen cooking with the Lots To Gardens crew, preparing food for a supper & live music fund raiser at the Franco-American Heritage Center tonight.
Nutrition Center Kitchen
We love what Lots to Gardens does, "challeng(ing) the cycles of poverty and hunger in our community by empowering people to produce and access fresh, nutritious food at the community level. Working towards a sustainable food system by focusing on developing local youth and adult leadership, creating fair access to food, and building community capacity."

We also love the people at LtGs, our friends, who are working so hard to improve our community and people's lives.

Laurent told me in car on the way "I love cooking with Lots to Gardens". Well said Buddy, I agree.

I have to go grocery shopping this afternoon and I'm rather cranky about that. Shame on me. At least I can feed my children. Unlike millions of desperate parents around the world. It breaks my heart AND makes me angry AND leaves me bewildered, wondering what more can we do?? I'm sure lots, Hungry Planet supper night is one step but it seems fairly feeble in the face of such a large crisis.