Because I Don't Want to Forget (or What I'm Into, Summer 2013)

I can sense it already.  I'm not remembering the little moments quite like I always imagined I would be able to, or like I want to.  Maybe it's the sheer pace of life, or maybe it's the constant sleep deprivation and exhaustion, but there are days I literally can't figure out if my son is 19 or 20 months old.  I can't remember when he took those first steps (I think I wrote in his baby book that it was in March, but maybe that's wrong?)  I always imagined that those key moments in my child's life would be so significant that they'd be forever etched into my mind--this mind that loves details and can recite all kinds of useless information for you.  But that is apparently not the case, much to my dismay.  That's one of the reasons I adore this monthly series that Leigh Kramer hosts on her blog--I love the chance to sit down and think at least once a month about the things that have happened, the little things that have helped define that season.  It seems to be the only writing I can muster these days.  Many of the blogs I read are written by moms of little ones and their philosophy is that if you want to be a writer you just have to do it.  You have to make time.  So they get up at 4 AM and write before their kids wake.  I'd love to do that.  Except I really love sleep, so I don't anticipate that happening anytime soon.  So instead I jot notes in my phone of things I'd love to write about, and I manage to eek out this post once a month (except for July--somehow I haven't written since June...whoops).

Moving...It's been a month of what has felt like chaos to me, which is not my favorite feeling that's for sure.  But anytime you move to a new home you're bound to feel a bit disoriented and chaotic for awhile.  We only moved a couple of miles, from an apartment to a town home with twice as much space, which we LOVE! We were supposed to close on August 8th, but at the last minute closing was pushed back a week, which in the end was fine but led to us doing some reconfiguring of our logistics, move out dates, and family coming into town to help us.  We had an amazing team of helpers, and moving weekend went as smoothly as a move can go.  Our entire house is a stark white color which is completely unacceptable in my mind, so we've already been hard at work painting each room.  Aidan's room was first completed, and we now have the laundry room, kitchen, and master bedroom also painted.  I think I have finalized my color choices for the main neutral tones that will be carried throughout the living spaces and stairwells, so it's just a matter of getting someone to come in and paint those spaces for us (we have HUGE tall walls in our living room that no ladder we own could ever reach). It's slowly starting to feel like home, and in another couple weeks I think we'll be mostly done with feeling like we have to be doing something house-related each evening. We feel SO beyond blessed to have this space--and our prayer is that we can be hospitable and use it to serve others out of.  We've already made a long list of folks we'd love to have over for a meal (something that was so hard in our tiny apartment), and we also hope to host high school small groups here at some point.

Traveling...Other than moving, August was a month of going nowhere.  I know, that is so unlike me!  (But don't worry, I'm in the process of booking plane tickets for a September trip!)  July found Aidan and I taking a quick 4 night trip up to Santa Cruz while Charles was house boating with the youth.  My sister's in laws have a home in the mountains of Santa Cruz and invited us up since my sister and her girls were going to be there visiting.  It was so fun letting the cousins play together, being in a much cooler climate, and enjoying some family time.  We also got to see our aunt and uncle and cousins which was a lovely surprise! The kids played and played and ran around shrieking together--and spent HOURS pushing strollers around--for some reason that was the huge activity for the week, pushing the doll strollers around the block. (And someday I am going to have a porch swing in the redwoods to read on.  I've just decided this).

Sermon Writing--and Re-writing...I had the incredible privilege of preaching at our church in August, as part of a summer series on the Psalms.  It had been a long time since I have been given that opportunity and it was so much fun to get to tap back into the seminary side of me that isn't always utilized on a daily basis in my child-raising life.  I will be honest, this was probably the toughest passage of scripture I've ever preached on, and I spent more time and worked harder on this sermon than any I've ever done before.  I re-wrote this several times, and wrestled hard with what God wanted to communicate to our congregation through Psalm 88 this time around.  It was such an honor, I absolutely loved working with scripture like this again and writing (and re-writing...) so much.   It has been an amazing sermon series, and if you're looking for a few week series to listen to, I'd highly recommend this one.  You can find them all here beginning on July 28. 

Books, Movies, and Netflix...Surprise surprise, in a month when I moved, had both sets of parents visit, preached a sermon and prepped for a fall of MOPS I haven't read much.  Our book club selection this summer was The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer which I have to be honest, I didn't like much.  In fact I only finished half of it.  The reviews in our group were pretty mixed, and I don't think any of us put it on our new list of favorites.  I'm just starting And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini which I'm hoping will be wonderful--he is such a fantastic writer.  I have several books to read before the end of September about adolescent faith longevity for a class I'm going to TA at Fuller this fall.  It's all about how to help students develop a faith that "sticks" beyond high school, and the reading list looks awesome so hopefully by the time I write this post in September I'll have something more exciting to say about books! 

We have watched pretty much nothing but The West Wing this summer, working our way through the seasons--up through the middle of season 3--and we are both obsessed.  It is such a good show, and has prompted some fun conversations between us.  And I am not sure we've seen a movie this summer...that is pathetic, I realize, but baby sitters are expensive! 

The Little Man...Oh there are not enough words to describe how amazing this kid is to me!  He has learned so much, and is so incredible to watch as he explores his world.  Aidan is super verbal, always talking, trying so hard to speak.  The pediatrician asked me if he had at least 5 words I recognized and I told her that I think he has at least 40.  He is 100% all boy--fascinated by anything with wheels that moves--lawn mowers, trucks, planes, trains, cars, "bigguks" (big trucks), mail trucks, shopping carts and baby strollers.  Trains are his current favorite thing, he's obsessed.  He loves going to his baby gym classes, loves any indoor play place I can find, and is happy as a clam at any park or other place to explore.  Aidan's other big obsession are books and the letters of the alphabet.  As active as he is, he will sit for an hour straight bringing me books to read to him, and he can now recognize about half of the letters of the alphabet completely out of context.  He can tell me all the letters in his name and some days we'll be driving down the road and from the back seat I'll hear "M!" or "W!" as we drive past McDonalds or Walgreens.  He is my little snuggle bug who will come give mommy hugs and kisses randomly throughout the day, and absolutely cracks himself (and us!) up with the most random things.  He pushes all my buttons every day and is incredibly strong willed and is doing his best to live into the meaning of his name "little fiery one!"  We've started going on more and more play dates with friends, and he loves his buddies Joshua, Luke and Sienna--and has started asking for them by name.  We adore this little guy and can't wait to see what else he'll surprise us with in the next month!

Deliciousness I've discovered this month....
Dinner a Love Story's Salsa Fresca My husband said this is the best salsa he has ever had.  It's amazing!
Hot dogs on the grill with a side of watermelon--nothing beats this simple meal for a summer weekend evening! 
Oven Baked Tacos SO delicious--mix the filling together ahead of time, fill hard taco shells, and bake in the oven to soften the crunchy shells--they are awesome. 

In the blogging world...favorite posts by others
Hope for Spicy Families by Jen Hatmaker
This is my Body, Sacred, and Scarred by Beth at Five Kids is a Lot of Kids
Story Formed: An Interview with Sarah Clarkson (part one) (an author who wrote a book all about what to be reading to our kids--how the quality of books we read to them really is important, and she has a book of huge suggestions of books to be reading to kids--LOVE her perspective!)
Story Formed: An Interview with Sarah Clarkson (part two)
You Are Not Too Much of Anything by Beth at Five Kids is a Lot of Kids

What I'm Into (June 2013)

Clearly writing is not something I've been into in the past few months!  Yikes!  It's been almost 2 months since I have posted anything--how in the world did that happen??  I thought life moved quickly when I was in grad school--you get the syllabus on day 1 of the quarter and before you know it you're at finals 10 weeks later.  But that was nothing compared to full days with a very busy and very curious 17 month old.  I never. stop. moving.  I never sit down.  If he's napping I'm busy trying to prepare the next meal or quickly do a load of laundry since hauling laundry baskets and a 27 pound wiggly boy down to the laundry room is no longer physically feasible.  Life feels full, rich, a bit tedious somedays (how many times can you beg a 1 year old to not touch the DVD player??), and always always involves at least one change of clothes per day (for him...but often for me as well...this kid is a pro at finding water, dirt, mud, etc).  So as I think back over the past 2 months, here are a few of the things we've been into and up to in our little corner of Northridge.

The Little Man:  Aidan is growing & changing in new ways every day.  Today I heard him "baa" like a sheep for the first time.  I know, probably not earth-shattering, but I've never heard him do that before!  He surprises me all the time with new things and he is trying so hard to communicate, and he doesn't miss a thing.  This morning the car seat was sitting in our entry way when we woke up because my husband had gone to the beach super early & left the car seat so I could use it in a friend's car.  Aidan sees it and immediately starts making his airplane signs and sounds--he knows the only time we ever pull that car seat out is when he goes on an airplane.  It took me forever to convince him we weren't going on a plane today, no matter how many times he asked for Papa and Grandma, but I was amazed--that was a connection he made immediately that I probably never would have.  He's trying to learn how to "sing" which as one of our high school friends says is "the. cutest. thing. EVER!"  (I agree, it is).

We got him a water table at Costco one day because it was so warm outside and we wanted something he could play with out on our patio.  This kid is obsessed.  He's out there all the time, often before 7 AM in his pjs playing in the "wa-wa."  Definitely money well spent! He is completely in love with Elmo (Mo-mo) and will ask for Elmo at all hours.  Part of me is beginning to regret introducing Elmo but part of me is grateful that for the first time in a year and a half I can make dinner without him tearing my pantry and cupboards apart while whining to be entertained.  I used to be one of those moms who thought I'd never let my kid watch TV this young.  Yeah, there are a lot of things I used to think about parenting.  And then I had Aidan.  And now we do what works as we go along, and in this season of constant toddler activity and destruction, that means we watch Elmo twice a day (as Mommy drinks her morning coffee and as Mommy makes dinner!).  Just today for the first time he started asking for "choo choos" so we watched Thomas the Train instead and he was fascinated (my parents took him to play with the Thomas the Train table at Barnes and Noble last weekend and he LOVED it!) So perhaps there is hope that I can have a bit of variety in my toddler-TV time :)

Since we have a tiny apartment and almost no outdoor space with a very active little boy, I spend a lot of my days taking him on outings.  We've gone all kinds of random places together which has been so fun.  Underwood Farms, Universal Studios City Walk, the LA Zoo, friend's houses, a local park with a splash zone in it, and lots of places that involve ice cream or frozen yogurt.  I love these times with him, getting to see new things and getting to explore more of LA myself.  He adores the beach, can't get enough of the sand and water--this kid definitely doesn't have sensory issues that we've found so far!  While his mommy hates the texture of sand, he rolls in it.  I can't imagine having to roll in sand, but he dives in--usually face first. Yuck.

Books, Music, and Netflix:  We cancelled our cable, so whatever we watch now is either online or on Netflix, which so far has been just fine (I do miss the Today Show.  A lot).  In May I watched season 1 of the show Hart of Dixie on Netflix while I was home in the evenings by myself and I got a teensy bit addicted.  I loved it.  Small town, cute characters, medical stuff, love triangles--I was hooked and am looking forward to season 2 coming out this fall on DVD.  Charles and I finished season 1 of The West Wing last night and were going to start season 2 tonight (but someone decided to go to bed at 7:30 after an early morning surf session....I'm not naming any names!)  We both adore this show, the writing, characters and politics.  I always said if Jed Bartlett could run for president he'd have my vote in a heartbeat!

I'm super late to the party but I just discovered The Lumineers and adore them.  I've known Hey Ho for awhile now but hadn't ever heard the rest of their album....it's fantastic. The Nashville Soundtrack has also been frequently played in the car this past month, which has some wonderful new songs on it, and I'm still living in my obsession of Elizabeth Mitchell's kid's music--so beautiful and folksy and not obnoxious at all.  I just found out she's doing a kid's concert at The Getty in August and I think I might be a teensy bit excited.

I got to go on vacation in June for 2 weeks to see my family, and I managed to read a lot while I was there.  After Aidan went to bed every evening at 7 I read for a couple of hours because I didn't have any responsibilities of cleaning or laundry or anything else that occupies my time here at home.  I read 3 books and started 2 more (hey, for me that's a lot these days!).  I loved Sister of My Heart by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, a novel set in India about two cousins born on the same day and raised together.  It's a story of their lives unfolding, their arranged marriages, their family's secrets and past--all woven together beautifully.  Definitely recommend this one!  I also read Sparkly Green Earrings, Catching the Light at Every Turn by Melanie Shankle.  She's the author of the Big Mama blog which I really love and this is her first book, a memoir of parenting that is hysterical and will bring you to tears.  Her chapter on potty training made me about die laughing!  The last book I read was one my mom's neighbor read and immediate brought over to us.  My mom read it in a couple days and then I picked it up and finished it in a few days.  It's called Left Neglected by Lisa Genova, author of the popular book Still Alice.  It's about a woman who is incredibly successful, a high powered exec, mother of 3, carefully juggling her life.  A car accident leaves her with a brain injury that causes "left neglect" where her brain completely ignores the left side of everything.  She isn't blind but she literally doesn't register the left side of her plate, a book, her body, a room, anything she's looking at.  It's a very real disorder that people experience (often stroke patients) and reading her story & her path to recovery was fascinating.  It's a fiction book, easy to read, and definitely one I'd recommend.  I've started Francis Chan's Crazy Love, and Sticky Faith by Kara Powell and Brad Griffin from the Fuller Youth Institute (since I'm going to be Kara's TA in the fall as she teaches a class on Sticky Faith I figured I should read the book!)  I get the opportunity to preach at First Pres Granada Hills in August and have been doing some reading to prepare for that as well.  Walter Brueggemann's book The Message of the Psalms is fantastic, and has given me a lot to think about as I dive into the world of the Psalms of Lament.

Other Events and Happenings: Memorial Day weekend saw us heading up to Forrest Home camp with 110 other folks from church for the All Church Retreat.  It was a lovely weekend of connecting with those I might not have known well, and letting Aidan explore nature a bit more and playing.  I will say it was REALLY exhausting with a 1 year old--who didn't sleep hardly at all and who needed to be watched at all times to avoid you know, falling off a mountain or down a hill into a rockbed.  But I am still glad we went and am hoping next year might be a bit easier.

We're still house hunting, which is a painful process in LA on a limited budget!  The market is ridiculously competitive and we've put in offers on several places now only to have 15 other offers be submitted as well.  So nothing exciting to report on that front!

June saw us getting to attend two graduation parties from students we've known and loved since they were freshmen at the church we were at previously.  It was wonderful getting to reconnect with them and their families, and to hear all about their plans as they head to places like Stanford, Yale, and Harvard (yes I had a ridiculously smart freshmen girl's small group one year!)


I hopped on an airplane June 12 and headed to Minneapolis to spend 2 weeks there with my parents (with a 5 days side trip down to Iowa to see my sister's family & new home!)  Charles was in Costa Rica with the high school students so I headed east.  It was a blast letting Aidan explore, get to know his cousins, and having extra people to chase him and keep him from eating dirt (too much anyways) and falling into the fountain at my parent's house.  He LOVED being with his cousins and asks for Lulu and Book (Lily & Brooke) all the time.  They taught him the lovely skill of shrieking and he's been practicing to see if he can give them some competition next time we see them.  He could not get enough dirt and bark and rocks and grass and sand and water in their yards.  I think we went through 2-3 outfits a day while we were there.  But in my mind that's exactly what summertime should be for a little boy!  He discovered a few new foods that he loves while there--most notably "nini" (Zucchini).  My parents took him one Saturday for several hours while I worked on my sermon, and the 3 of them went to explore the aquarium at the mall of america and then went to eat ice cream and play with the train table at Barnes & Noble.  He had an absolute ball.  He learned to make choo choo noises, and came home with a stuffed turtle just like the turtles he saw swimming in the water.  He loves his new "turtle" and makes sure turtle is now in his crib for naps.  My parents also discovered having a little boy in the house is a little different in terms of what he's interested in exploring and getting into than having the two girls come to visit.  He got into all kinds of things the girls have never dreamed of touching and kept all of us running.  I loved eating delicious summer food off the grill almost every day--steaks, teriyaki burgers, apple basil chicken burgers, shish ka bobs twice, and salmon.  Stuff I never make for us but love to eat!

 Phew!  I think that's about it for what's been going on here.  Mostly I love having a little record of what each month has held for us since life is busy enough that I'm not journaling or writing much these days.  As usual I'm linking this post up with the lovely Leigh Kramer's collection of What I'm Into Posts from around the country :)  Happy summer everyone!

What I'm Into (April 2013 edition)

Clearly blogging and writing is NOT one of the things I've been into lately based on the lack of postings here!  This past season (few months) has been full.  Really full.  Not necessarily in a bad way, but in that "by the end of the day I'm so tired and don't have the creative energy to write two words" kind of full.  I've learned that there are different kinds of tiredness.  There's that "newborn, up every 90 minutes all night long exhaustion that brings out tears, depression and loneliness" kind of tired and then there is the tired that results from fun, outings, social time with others, and involvement in various activities.  This past season has been the latter for me, and it's felt lovely and rich.  So what have we been up to this past month?  (as always I'm linking up with the awesome Leigh Kramer and her monthly round up of "what I've been into" posts from around the country) :)

MOPS.  I have loved the chance to coordinate MOPS this past year, and I will do so again next year to complete my 2 year turn at this job, and this past season has felt extra full in this area.  We're planning our biggest fundraiser/event of the year coming up on June 1, and there are a lot of moving parts in this one!  So we've had a few extra evening meetings, lots more emails, and administrating that has gone in to this one.  I've also been busily working on finalizing our summer social calendar, giving moms a chance to still connect with one another about once a week.  (My favorite...a mom's only pajama party and movie night complete with various popcorn flavor tastings...that sounds heavenly and relaxing to me right about now!)  A mom's night out to a mexican restaurant a few weeks ago brought 18 of us together without our kiddos, and a trip to Underwood Farms with our littles this past week was a great and fun way to get outside and connect with one another.

Friends.  We've now lived in Northridge for a year and a half, and seeing as how we had a baby 6 weeks after moving here we didn't have a ton of time to invest in developing quality friendships before Aidan came along.  So now that he's 15 months and yelling to get out of the apartment if he's awake, we've found ourselves connecting with others more and more, which has been lovely.  Through MOPS I've met many other stay at home moms who are great at texting if they're going to go do something that day to see if anyone else wants to join them.  We ended up spontaneously meeting up with two other moms at the mall food court yesterday where they had a "meet and pet the rabbits" event going on.  Yes, random, but it was good to get out!

Money.  I know, this sounds random, but we're working on cutting our monthly expenses and trying to cut our budget back a bit.  We just cancelled cable and have spent a week now without TV.  I miss the Today show, I'll admit, and I haven't seen any news in a week, but it's been kind of lovely.  We did sign up for Netflix again and can get unlimited streaming of movies and many many TV shows for $8 a month.  Between that and Hulu we're pretty set--who needs cable??

House Hunting.  We are just getting started with this daunting task, but we have a great realtor working with us and have seen several properties so far.  Nothing we've made an offer on yet, but we've seen some good options.  We're trusting God has a place for us somewhere, and we're hoping he makes that abundantly clear!  It happened that way when we found our place in Seattle two years ago, and we're praying for that again!  I will say, house hunting with a one year old is a bit of a nightmare.  Especially homes where people still live--trying to keep him from destroying everyone else's stuff while getting a feel for the property--NOT fun!  (Or from falling down the stairs.  Or from playing in the toilets--ours have locks on them, so he discovered quickly he can get into the toilets at these empty houses!  Or climbing right into a fireplace while my back was turned....yeah he's finding all kinds of ways to explore these potential homes!)  My sister is also house hunting right now...we won't even talk about what she can get for her money in the middle of nowhere Iowa as opposed to what we can get for that same amount here in the San Fernando Valley.....it's just depressing to think about....

Entertainment.  We haven't had much time this past month for books, music or movies.  Does anyone else go through slumps when it comes to reading?  I go through seasons where I read all the time and then I hit a several month lull where it doesn't even appeal to me. I'm just coming out of one of those lulls.  I did read The Great Gatsby this past month for our book club, and I didn't love it, just like when I was in high school.  I'm starting to get motivated to pick up books again though, and I have a few already started that are wonderful.

I'm reading Lauren Winner's book Still: Notes on a Mid Faith Crisis and am loving it so much more than I expected.  Written in the wake of her divorce and her mother's death this book of really short essays (she wasn't kidding when she titled it "notes" on a mid faith crisis) is beautiful.

I picked up a Newberry award winning book I've never read before: Moon Over Manifest and am really enjoying this late elementary school book surrounding a summer of mystery, history, and a young girl finding a new family/community for herself.

I put a few books on hold at the library and wasn't expecting them to all show up at once.  The latest one I picked up is Ellen Degeneres' book Seriously, I'm Kidding and while I"m only up to chapter 2 I love it.  Reading this is just like listening to the monologues of her show--which is my favorite part of each Ellen show!

I thought they had played the Nashville season finale already since it disappeared for many weeks, but a new episode aired this week!  That makes me so ridiculously happy I just can't stand it!  It still is my favorite show out there!  Now that we have netflix Charles and I decided to choose a show to watch together, we haven't had a series we've both enjoyed for a couple years now.  We are starting with season 1 of the West Wing and hope to watch all the way through.  I've seen the first 3 1/2 seasons, and he hasn't seen much of it at all.  We are loving it--such amazing writing!

Pinterest Attempt.  I've loved getting fun new ideas to try with my very busy and very curious toddler off Pinterest.  They have not always gone as planned however.  This was my latest attempt.  Has anyone else seen "cloud dough?"  Made from cornstarch and shaving cream this stuff is AWESOME!  SO SO soft and fun to mold and scoop and feel.  Look at these nice children playing so neatly with their cloud dough from pinterest.  See, their clothes are still clean.  They haven't tried eating it based on the lack of white stuff on their faces.  It looked like such a great idea!

Here's how our cloud dough adventure went down:

First we took a big cup of it and tried to eat it--hence the white stuff all over his face.  

 Then we dumped a bunch all over our belly like we do with cups of water in the bath tub.  Not exactly the same results as the water in the bath tub....thankfully I did have him contained in a bit rubber maid bin so I just stuck the lid on and saved it for another day....no clean up of the floor was necessary.

I think that's about it around here!  How about you?  What have you been into this past month?

The Friday Update....or what we've been up to this past month!

It's been a CRAZY busy month around here which has led to complete silence in the blogging world for me, I haven't had much time to read anyone else's posts let alone write my own these days!  But I have a few minutes this morning and thought I'd share a bit about what we've been up to and into these past several weeks!

FOOD!

This sounds like a strange thing to start with but we've done a few things really different for us in the food department this month that have been kind of fun.  First, I scored a bread maker at the church yard sale for $15 and have decided to start baking our own bread.  It's been such a fun venture, I love the process of letting it bake and mix and rise, and I think I have finally figured out how to cut the homemade loafs with out butchering them!  I haven't bought a loaf of bread in about a month now and what I've made has been decently tasty.  I did pizza dough in it last Friday and oh wow, it was so delicious.  It turned out perfectly!  

We also signed up for one month of a Community Supported Agriculture box (a CSA box) through a local farm here in the valley.  Once a week I go up to our local Whole Foods and pick up my box of produce that was picked on the farm the day before and packed up and shipped to my neighborhood the next day.  It has been quite an experience, one I have always wanted to try.  There are definite plusses and minuses to this program--the produce is delicious, so fresh, and the variety has been great--who knew you could get purple carrots and purple cauliflower?!  The down side is that it's too much produce for us for one week.  Going in with another family someday might be a good solution.  It's also tough at this stage of life, where I have such limited time for cooking and menu planning, to be forced to come up with creative ways to use things like leeks.  If I didn't have a rather demanding 1 year old, it would be a fun adventure, but right now it's too much work and pressure to figure out how to eat it all and what to do with it all.  So this week was our last week and I'm not going to renew our subscription at this point.  But it's been a fascinating trial and someday when we are a family of 4 with kids in school I'd love to do it again.  Plus, it has shown me that I can branch out at the store and purchase things I otherwise might not have.  We've learned both of us really like raw kale in salads with a creamy type dressing (like poppyseed).  We have both enjoyed the fresh spinach salads.  We have not enjoyed the beets or onslaught of oranges we've gotten! :)

The other thing I've been doing this month in attempts to save us a little money (which has worked by the way!) is to choose just 7 meals and cook those 7 meals every week for the month.  Yes, it sounds monotonous, and at times it is, but oh my word it has made life so much easier!  I don't have to spend time combing through recipes every week trying to figure out what sounds good.  I don't have to make a new grocery list every week.  And I always know what's for dinner.  What have we been enjoying this month?  

Southwestern Chicken Chopped Salad (the dressing is made from plain greek yogurt with a bit of ranch and taco seasonings mixed in--so so good, it's addicting!)

Cheesy Rice & Beans

Chicken Gyros (so so good!)

Homemade pizza (dough from the breadmaker!)

one night of the week is "eat what we already have in the freezer" night

BBQ Chicken Quesadillas

Salads from our CSA box

It's been a rich and different month for us food-wise, but it's been fun!  I'm looking forward to mixing up our menu again next month and choosing 7 new dishes to round out our meals.  

Entertainment:

I am still addicted to Nashville.  The season finale was this week (I still need to watch it) and I'll miss this show over the summer!  If you're not on the band wagon, jump on!  

I've rediscovered my love of the NPR Podcast Wait Wait Don't Tell Me--a news quiz game show held every Saturday.  It's been a great way to keep up with some of what's going on in the world in a very humorous way.  

The Biggest Loser is done with for the year (and my favorite contestant won!) so thus ends our reality TV watching.  The Voice is back on, and while I enjoy it I don't tend to follow singing competitions closely enough to really know what's going on.  

This month's book club book is The Great Gatsby which I suppose I really need to get a jump on!  The movie comes out next month so we decided it was a good one to read now :)

The LA Zoo--we bought a year long membership last week and I've already taken Aidan twice.  He loves the animals and after we see each one he starts saying "more more!"  I've figured out that if we leave at 9:30 in the morning we miss traffic and can be there in about 20 minutes when the gates open at 10.  The animals are super active in the morning, eating breakfast, running around (last week we saw zebras racing each other and a gorilla beating on his chest which aidan thought was hysterical!).  And since it's "free" to us now it's okay if I'm only there an hour or so before heading home.

The Little Dude

Oh my gosh Aidan has grown so much and is learning new things all the time!  It is crazy to watch!  He's trying SO hard to talk and babbles non stop.  He does have some decipherable words which is so fun.  His latest words are "nana!" (banana), "bapa!" (Papa), "Wawa" (waffle, his breakfast most mornings) and "gate!" (he watches the gate to our parking lot open and close every time we drive in and out).  

He is officially a walker--getting more and more steady each day, although he still cant stand up from the ground without pulling up on something.  He is a kid who was born to be out and about.  He wakes up from his naps standing in his crib saying "go go go!" and will bring me shoes and point to the door.  He doesn't care where we're going he just wants to go!  Every day he hears the garbage truck and whines and points until I scoop him up and we run out to the parking lot to watch and wave as the garbage man drives by.  His vocabulary of things he now recognizes is pretty impressive.  He can identify a TON of things in his books (including a lobster, a clam, and a peacock) and will point them out to you as you "read" with him.  He is finally able to sit through a bedtime story at night which I love.  He snuggles in, holds his giraffe and will listen and help turn pages.  Although he's obsessed with Good Night Moon and actually won't let me read anything else but the "moo moo" book.  So I'm ready for a new title but he's not.  (Good thing I don't mind good night moon!)

He is obsessed with any moving vehicle and will no longer sleep in the car.  He gets to a point where he is about to doze off and a dang truck will pass us and from the back seat I'll hear "ga ga!!" and he will be wide awake again.  At the end of April we're going to an event where he can meet the trash trucks and watch them in action and sit in one and he will be thrilled.  

It's been a busy month of learning and growing for all of us!  Happy Easter season to all of you--Christ is risen!  

Hungry

It's no secret, I love food.  I always have.  I love preparing food, I love serving food to others, I love thinking through what someone else may enjoy eating around my table, I love to read cookbooks and memoirs that focus on food, and while I love healthy food I've also never been one to deprive myself of some random craving and ice cream is always, always in my freezer.  The real kind, with full fat, full cream, and chocolate.  (The other night I was making a grocery list and asked my husband how much ice cream we had left for the next week.  He said "oh there's plenty."  I looked later and there were three scoops.  Apparently he and I have a different definition of "plenty" when it comes to ice cream.)  When Shauna Niequist announced that she was working on a book all about food, faith, community,  and fellowship around a table, a book which was going to include recipes, I went a little nuts.  Her first two books had a huge impact on my life so I could not wait for this one.  Bread and Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes, doesn't release until April 9, but I had the privilege of receiving an advance reading copy and was given the opportunity to read it ahead of time and write some reflections and reviews.

This book made me hungry.  The recipes Shauna included--and the descriptions of amazing food--made my mouth water from beginning to end.  I flew through this book in 2 days (yes it was THAT good!) and when I finished I immediately said "I have to cook something."  It was midnight so I decided tackling her enchilada recipe could at least wait until morning, but I swear I dreamed about enchiladas that night.  They were so easy to make and so beyond delicious I couldn't quite contain myself.  Just about every single recipe in this book looks simple enough that anyone could successfully cook them, which is one thing I really appreciated.  I hate reading recipes that have mystery ingredients my husband wouldn't touch or call for strange sounding kitchen tools I wouldn't have room to store in my little apartment.  Shauna's book is the opposite of that.  She gently coaxes her readers to open their refrigerators and get lost in the rhythmic beauty of chopping, slicing, sauteing and mixing.  She invites us to think about how we feed our bodies (her chapters on how changing the way she and her husband eat has greatly affected their physical health were incredibly inspiring to me) and how we nurture our souls around the kitchen table.  And she does so without ever once making me feel guilty for those nights when frozen pizza ends up on the menu. 

This book made me hungry in so many other ways though, because it's not just a book about food.  It's a book about what happens when we take time to admit that we need to care for ourselves, to feed our bodies.  It is a book about what happens when we feed others, when we feed more than just their bodies around our tables but when we intentionally feed their souls. It's a book about hospitality, about opening up our front doors and by doing so opening up our lives to our neighbors, our friends, our family members.  It's scary to do so, and she spends a lot of time helping us think about how much of a tendency we have to hide with our doors locked so no one sees the mess inside.  Bread and Wine made me hungry to continue sharing meals in community with others.  She inspired me to invite people into our home more often, and made me long for a cooking club of my own (anyone reading this want to start one??).  She made me hungry to travel more and taste the goodness of the variety of cultures that fill this earth.  She made me hungry to continue remembering and reflecting on the meals that have shaped our lives.  I did this a long time ago in a post called The Menu of our Lives but reading this book made me want to add to this list.  So much life happens around a table and Shauna's gift of words and imagery captures these moments so well. 

One of my favorite lines from the book has bounced around in my head these past two weeks.  Shauna is quoting her friend Shane when he tells her "the genius of communion, of bread and wine, is that bread is the food of the poor and wine the drink of the privileged, and that every time we see those two together, we are reminded of what we share instead of what divides us."  We all need the nourishment of food.  We all need to fill our bellies and feed our bodies. But we also all need community.  We need arms around us to catch us when we fall, to hold us up and pray for us when all we can choke out are the ragged, broken prayers of grief.  We all need to come find rest at the table our Lord invited us to on that night he was betrayed.  This is a book about all of those things.  So go on, pour yourself a glass of wine, settle in with something delicious, and savor the words Shauna shares.  You'll be hungry when you're done reading, hungry for more of the abundance this life has to offer. 

What I'm Into (February Edition)

This little monthly series hosted over at HopefulLeigh has been really fun--it's been really fun to think about the things that occupy my time, thoughts, and energy in any given month--and while many things don't change from month to month I'm surprised at how new things do crop up.  So, without further ado, here's "What I'm Into" this past month.

Around the Blogging World: These are the posts that I loved enough to bookmark and re-read over the past month.  These are posts I'd love for others to see.  

Preston Yancy wrote a powerful piece called "When We Need Women Behind the Pulpits" that I wish every person would read.  "Listen up Church!  Put a woman behind the pulpit so I can see the whole picture..."

Sarah Bessey wrote a beautiful piece honoring the Men of Valor in her life as Rachel Held Evan's "Women of Valor" series took off in the blogging world.  "Ish gibor chayil! [Mighty man of Valor] for engaging joyfully in mutually submissive marriages, for loving your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her, for raising your daughters alongside your sons to ask themselves “What has God called you to do with your one wild and precious life, my darling?”

The author of the blog Crazy Little Thing Called Love wrote her Manifesto, "Or How Motherhood Turned me into a Feminist" that made me want to shout Amen!  "I can’t imagine looking my little girl in the eye one day and telling her to hold back the gifts so evident in her life even now because she possesses the wrong anatomy to hold certain roles or function in certain jobs.  I refuse to be okay with my daughter growing up in a world where, had she been born in any number of other countries, she may be sold to a brothel, raped, trafficked or married off by the time she is seven.  I will speak out tirelessly against the atrocity that is 1 in 3 women raped or otherwise violated or abused in her lifetime.  My little girl deserves a better world. Every little girl deserves a better world.  Motherhood may have turned me into a feminist, but it is Jesus Christ’s example and the Holy Spirit’s conviction that will keep me one."

Other things I've been into this month...in no particular order...


15 Minute Timers: Yes, this is a literal 15 minute timer, this isn't some metaphor!  Do you have any idea how much you can actually get done in 15 un-interrupted, undistracted minutes?  It's amazing!  I started feeling overwhelmed by the amount of unfinished projects that cluttered my home--picture frames that still leaned against the wall, ready to be hung but since I hate hanging pictures they just sat there. For a year.  Piles of photos that need to be sorted.  Books that need to be reshelved.  An inbox that needed to be responded to.  Bills needing to be paid.  Thank you notes to write.  Kitchen floors that needed to be mopped.  I started setting a 15 minute timer whenever Aidan went to sleep for a nap or bedtime and I pick 1 task and do that with full focus for 15 minutes.  I don't respond to text messages, answer the phone, get on the computer etc...I just plow ahead with that 1 task and what I've found is that virtually everything on my to do list has been almost completely accomplished in 15 minutes.  If not a huge dent has been made.  It's my new favorite motivator to get something done :)  (If no project is sitting there I set the timer and do a quick run through the apartment picking up anything that has made its way to where it doesn't belong.)

Mason Jar Salads:  I saw this idea on Pinterest and friends of mine mentioned they did this and it really works.  So I have officially jumped on the band wagon!  I had a bunch of mason jars left over from Christmas gifts that I needed a use for.  The idea here is to pre-make a bunch of salads in a jar at the beginning of the week and then you have lunch on the go or a salad already made for dinner.  The ingredients stay fresh and don't get soggy if you are thoughtful about how you layer them in the jar.  Greens always go on top away from things like tomatoes which will make them damp and soggy.  You can include absolutely anything from beans, seeds, peppers, onions, nuts, or grains (cook up some quinoa and throw it in for extra protein!).  I don't put the dressing in the jar although others do (it's the very bottom layer and you put hearty veggies that won't get soggy right on top of the dressing).  I would highly recommend mason jar salads if you like having salads on the go for lunch!

Oscar Films and Redbox:  I never really cared about the Oscars until I moved to LA.  It's crazy here how many people we know who we find out are part of "the academy" or who attend the Oscars or worked on a film.  It's just a part of the culture here.  We are a little late jumping on the Redbox bandwagon but it's super convenient to rent a film from these little kiosks in the grocery stores (and they only cost $1.00!) and we have a lot of nights where the little one is in bed and we can't go anywhere.  I think this year I saw more Oscar nominated films than any year previously, and it was so fun to actually know what the films were about when I watched the Academies last night!  We saw Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Silver Lining's Playbook, Les Mis, and Charles got to see Lincoln (which I still really want to see).  My two cents?  Argo was good but not best picture material when compared to Les Mis, Lincoln, or even Silver Lining's Playbook which I thought was wonderful.  But the Academy didn't ask me....

Nashville:  I just discovered the new TV show Nashville.  I'm addicted.  I've watched all 12 episodes in about a week.  I love this series.  Country music, family drama, show business, politics...I love it.  Plus the cast is really solid, really sings, and in my opinion is extremely talented.  Have I mentioned I love it??

Jumping Beans Kid's Clothing:  When I was in Denver with my grandparents we went to Kohls to find Aidan an Easter outfit and I saw their kid's clothing line "Jumping Beans" and I fell in love.  It's exactly my style when it comes to how I like to dress our little dude--super comfy t-shirts and onesies with cute logos and appliqués with shorts--denim, khaki, and dark brown.  They're easy to wash, they are adorable and comfy for him to move around in.  I got to pick out several shirts and a few pairs of shorts which was SO MUCH FUN.  I love when people buy my kid clothes but I haven't had the chance to really do any shopping for him myself, so to get to pick out what I loved was an absolute blast.  Can't wait for it to warm up so he can wear what I found for him!

A Year of Biblical Womahood by Rachel Held Evans:  I adored this book.  It made me absolutely crack up laughing multiple times and it made me tear up multiple times.  I used several excerpts from it in the talk I gave at our church's women's tea (this book inspired my topic for the day--Eshet Chaiyl!  Woman of Valor!).  I wrote more about this book on my book blog here but the bottom line is this is one of my most highly recommended book of the year!  Add this to your must read list if you need a new suggestion!

Benjamin Carson:  I know this one might sound strange.  In case you missed it, Dr. Benjamin Carson gave the keynote address at the National Prayer Breakfast earlier this month (you can watch the 27 minute address here).  He's gotten all kinds of publicity for this because he pointed out some of the problems in our nation and offered some solutions--which in this environment was apparently not often done.  I'll just come right out and say it, I loved his speech.  But probably the reason I loved it is that I've been a big fan of Ben Carson since I was about 12.  Most 12 year olds have no idea who this guy is (okay most adults don't know either) but my parents heard him speak a few times years and years ago and they had me read his book Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story when I was in junior high.  I loved it.  I've respected and admired him ever since.

Eshet Chaiyl! Woman of Valor!

Yesterday I had the privilege of speaking at our church's women's tea, and I thought I'd post here my manuscript from that talk.  It's mostly for my own family members who had wanted to hear what I was going to say, but if you need some encouragement or aren't feeling like you are "doing" enough in life, maybe these words can offer you a bit of perspective and hope.  

How many of you write to do lists in some form--whether that be on a sticky note, in a day planner or on your smart phone?  Who here gets a little twinge of pride and accomplishment when you cross something off your to do list?  Ok time for the real confession....who here adds something to your to do list after it’s been done just so you can cross it off and see that you accomplished one more task in your day?  I do.  I have always done this, usually without thinking about it much.  Whether it’s a large task, like for me that might be conquering costco with a one year old in tow, or it’s a more minor task like “make dinner,” I am a person who has always loved crossing things off my lists,  and I get an incredible sense of satisfaction when I get to respond to my husband’s question of “what did you do today?” with a huge litany of tasks.  Inside I’m practically bursting with “look how productive I was today!  Look how much I contributed to our family or home or church.”  When I stop to think about it I have to wonder if I am really saying “Look how valuable I am.”  And I know deep down I am constantly tempted to find my value and worth in what I accomplish in any given week.  Conversely I know that I am often tempted to feel down on myself when I am unable to work my way through my lists or when my only response to “what did you do today?” is “not much.” As I talk to other friends, as I scroll through my Facebook pages, as I read people’s personal websites and pay attention to what women are saying around me, I suspect I am not the only one who battles this temptation to constantly feel productive in order to feel useful and valuable to a family or society.

There’s a little note that has circulated around the internet world lately that says “To Do List:  Wake Up, Do Something Amazing, Go Back to Sleep.”  “Do something amazing.”  But what about those days when “amazing” seems a bit out of our reach?  When it’s all we can do to stumble out of bed and to the coffee pot and pray our children don’t wake up until the caffeine is moving through our veins?  What about those days when we just don’t feel like we have any “amazing” left in us?  Those days when our knees seem to creak a bit more than they did previously and our brains seem a bit foggy and weary and our hearts are heavy with fear and worry?  What then?  And what does God have to say to us as women about our value, about our to do lists?  This afternoon I’d like to spend our next few minutes together looking at those questions and exploring some of these ideas. 

One of the roles I have had for a large percentage of my life is that of student.  I have always enjoyed school and enjoyed learning and while I haven’t always been a straight A student, I’ve always found a lot of joy and pride in coming home with a good grade on a report card...and except for a few years of high school math classes that we just pretend never happened I have always done well.  When I was in my 3rd year of seminary I was plugging along checking things off my to do list for the year.  One day I somehow discovered that my glands on my neck were swollen.  I didn’t think much of it, I felt a little tired and had a sore throat but I figured I’d be fine in a few days.  I wasn’t.  I developed a fever the next day and finally dragged myself to the doctor for some tests.  The results came back that I had mono.  Within two days I was so exhausted and sick I literally could not do anything.  I had to crawl to the bathroom and back, I had to shower sitting down because I did not have the energy to stand up for more than a couple minutes at a time.  All of a sudden friends and my then boyfriend Charles had to bring me food and do my laundry.  I had to drop all but one of my classes for the quarter, and I spent weeks sitting on my couch, without any energy even to pick up a book.  Suffice it to say I was no longer crossing anything off my to do lists. 

I remember feeling incredibly depressed, for the first time in my life I couldn’t do anything.  What good was I to my friends or to Charles or to my church community when all I could do was sit there?  I spent a lot of time soul searching during that season, prayer was about all I could do in between naps and over the course of those few weeks I learned an important lesson that I have to constantly remind myself of...my value as a woman, as a person, as a friend, a wife, a mother, is not found in what I do or do not accomplish on any22 given day.  My value and identity are found in the water and the words spoken over me at my baptism when I was 3 weeks old.  I am a child of the covenant.  I have been claimed by God and marked as His forever by that water.  I am God’s beloved daughter and absolutely no circumstances here on earth could ever change that.  No amount of what I deemed as productivity or lack of productivity could ever change my true identity. 

I think there is a bit of a myth in the church today that the valuable women are the ones who do a lot, who seem to have everything all pulled together both at home and in their life outside the home.  We honor those who are capable and able to give many many hours to various events and programs at the church and don’t get me wrong, churches wouldn’t function without the help of people willing to give of their time!  But what about those for whom home life is especially challenging and the abundant hours of service just aren’t feasible?  Or those of us who have health challenges that make it difficult to do a lot?  I want to invite us this afternoon to consider how we might honor, celebrate, and bless one another as we each accomplish the ordinary everyday tasks that lay before us. 

How many of you are familiar with Proverbs 31, specifically the verses that pertain to describing “a virtuous woman?”  In many churches this is a passage of scripture that is held up as describing the characteristics of the perfect woman.  I recently wandered by a Christian book store to browse and I was amazed at how many books and resources there actually are for women based on this one passage of scripture.  If you haven’t read it, it’s basically a description of superwoman.  The virtuous woman rises while it is still dark to begin her day.  She stays up late into the night continuing her work.  She provides food for her household, buys and plants vineyards, manages the family land and wealth, clothes her family with homemade clothing, takes care of the poor, praises her husband, speaks with wisdom and kindness, is not idle, is praised by her children, and fears the Lord.  Phew!  I might be exhausted just reading that list! 

Recently, a young woman from Tennessee who is a writer and theologian decided to spend a year living out as literally as possible every command in scripture that had to do with women and wrote about her experiences as well as some beautiful and powerful theological reflections in her new book A Year of Biblical Womanhood.  Author Rachel Held Evans combed the pages of scripture and came up with a list of everything a “biblical woman” should be doing, from covering one’s head to calling her husband Master, to learning how to sew in order to clothe her family with the work of her hands.  Now as you might imagine Proverbs 31 played a large role in her year of biblical womanhood, and I wanted to share with you a few excerpts from her chapter on this passage.  “By the second week of January the Proverbs 31 woman and I were not on the best of terms...each time I let a writing project take priority over a sewing project I was supposed to be learning, or ordered pizza instead of making an exotic meal, shame overtook me.  I hated that all my carefully chosen fabric sat in its Hobby Lobby bag untouched and that I’d already skipped a week at the local health clinic where I was supposed to be serving others.  On days that I remembered to work out, I neglected to do something nice for my husband.  Weeks in which I volunteered, I let the house get dirty.  When my knitting finally improved the sewing machine sat idle.  When I got up early I crashed at night.  I wasn’t conquering Proverbs 31.  On top of all that I’d run into a little snafu regarding my Proverbs 31 inspired real estate venture (remember the Proverbs 31 woman buys vineyards).  Mainly, I couldn’t afford it.  I had to hand it to her, in less than 14 days the Proverbs 31 woman had made me feel guilty, inadequate and poor...I knew from my research that Proverbs 31 was never meant to be turned into a to-do list, but there was something about the spectacularity with which I was blowing this that beleagured my confidence.  Most women walk around with the sense that they are disappointing someone.  This year, I imagined that Someone to be God.  Though I knew Proverbs 31 represented a poetic ideal, I couldn’t shake the feeling that if these were the accomplishments of a competent, capable, virtuous, valiant and worthy woman then I must be none of those things.” 

“Most women walk around with the sense that they are disappointing someone.”  I know I’ve been there.  Whether it is the sense that I disappointed my parents somehow, or that I had let down a good friend by not spending enough time with her, or that I’ve let down my spouse by not being something he was hoping for, or that I’ve let down God because I didn’t think I had done enough to please Him.  I look at the world around me and I see this subtle sense of competition and disappointment among women everywhere.  This sense of not doing enough or not having enough or not being as good as one of our neighbors permeates the internet with sites like facebook and pinterest.  As women we envy others homes, fashion sense, marriages, children, decorating styles, jobs, and social lives.  We feel twinges of disappointment that our own lives don’t look the way we had always dreamed they would.  I think many of us might live in a constant state of fear that somehow we aren’t doing enough--we aren’t doing enough to prepare our children for school or college, we aren’t taking enough care of our own bodies, we don’t exercise every day and sometimes we put meals on the table that aren’t full of fresh vegetables like the news tells us they should be.  Something bad might happen someday in our marriage or family or career and deep down we are so afraid that if it does it will be because we didn’t do enough. 

Friends, if you resonate with any of these thoughts today I want to offer some words of hope, from Proverbs 31 actually.  Proverbs 31 isn’t a to do list for us.  Rather, Proverbs 31 is actually a beautiful poem that Christians have misread and misused for a long time now.  In the Jewish community this passage of scripture is not seen as a poem written to women to burden them with more and more work, it is a poem that the men of the community memorize and say over their wives as words of praise and blessing for who she is and how she has contributed to their family.  In many families it is a weekly ritual as part of the sabbath meal.  It starts out with a Hebrew phrase “eshet chayil” which is actually best translated as “woman of valor!”  Most English versions say something like “a capable wife, or a virtuous woman” but when the whole poem is read together in the Hebrew, the translation of “woman of valor!” ends up making the most sense.  Valor isn’t a word we use much today, in fact I had to go look it up to find out what it actually meant.  It means a strength of mind or spirit that enables a person to encounter situations with firmness and personal bravery.    Husbands and other men in the community use these words “eshet chayil!” to praise their sisters and wives.  Women of valor!  Women of bravery, of strength, of courage!  Eshet chayil is at its core a blessing--one that was never meant to be earned, but to be given, unconditionally.  It’s also a phrase used in Jewish culture by women to celebrate, bless and encourage other women.  Rather than envy the job or home or family of another woman they proclaim these words, eshet chayil to one another.  Woman of valor!  You passed a difficult test?  Eshet chayil!  You were hired for a new job?  Eshet chayil!  Bravely faced walking into a doctor’s office for a round of tests?  Woman of valor!  Woman of courage!  Eshet chayil! 

Rachel writes at the close of this chapter in her book “as I saw how powerful and affirming this ancient blessing could be, I decided it was time for Christian women to take back Proverbs 31.  Somewhere along the way we surrendered it to the same people who invented air brushing.  We abandoned the meaning of the poem by focusing too much on the specifics, and it became just another impossible standard by which to measure our failures.  We turned an anthem into an assignment, a poem into a job description.  But according to the Jewish culture, the woman described in Proverbs 31 is not some kind of ideal that exists somewhere out there; she is present in each of us when we do even the smallest things with valor.” 

Friends I look around this room today & I see about 150 women of valor.  I see cancer fighters and survivors, I see adult children who spend hours courageously caring for ailing parents, I see women who bravely speak the truth to their children in love, even if those words of truth are not what that child wants to hear.  I see mothers and grandmothers and great grandmothers who have spent hours and hours sitting up long into the night with little ones who are ill.  I see teachers in front of me, many of whom fill in as surrogate moms for many of the little ones in their classrooms.  I see nurses and doctors in front of me who enter a patient’s room with strength of mind and compassionate hearts.  You know that to do list I mentioned awhile ago?  The “wake up, do something amazing, go back to sleep?”  I see in front of me 150 women who do that.  Every single day.  Every one of us has a different “amazing” thing to do with our days--some are in the thick of raising little ones, some are serving as prayer warriors in this season of life, some are caring for elder family members, some are out in the community working with integrity.  No one’s task is more or less valuable or important.  What is important is that we enter into whatever is on our to do list with courage of conviction and strength of heart, with valor if you will.  As we go from this place today I pray that your heart will be able to hear me when I say to you “eshet chaiyl” my friends.  Women of valor it is an honor to be in community with you.  And I pray that we will begin boldly proclaiming those words over one another as we all start to celebrate the ordinary everyday things God has called us each to do.