On Hospitality

Hospitality is such a funny thing. I love people and love visiting and talking and sharing a meal - Summer is an easy season for this - throw things on the grill and hang out until the sun goes down… outside… Winter means… well, I just can't think of more than 3x in the past 10 years that our family has invited friends inside our home for a visit and a meal!

A meal from the beach in Haiti - one of the
most  incredibly poor and yet truly gracious
and hospitable places on earth

The truth is - I no longer know how to have people hang out IN MY HOME and be entertained by US. When the kids were tiny it was easy, they would be off playing and we could chat with the adults… but as they have grown and become true parts of our family, well… it’s a whole new adventure that I have no experience in! We find it easiest to fragment – for Jake to have a group over to play games while I do my own thing, or for me to have a group over to chat and eat while he does his own thing… The girls, well, they naturally follow suit. Not ideal at all!

I've been learning quite a lot about hospitality through some blogs I follow, and so I want to share my unpracticed wisdom with you -

Reluctant Entertainer – this has to be my favorite hospitality blog EVER, Sandy Coughlin is a champion for the cause of hospitality and is both Hilarious and Wise! 

Simple Bites – Part of the Simple Mom Network, I love this blog because I love food and story. Since it is designed for moms, tips are practical and often very kid friendly!

Smile and Wave – not quite on the topic of hospitality but more on creating spaces in your home and life that are well lived in, practical, and clever.

 

Our homes speak volumes about who we really are… so I would encourage you to plan an invitation into your home this month. Think about it, what better season!

One final thought. With so many working moms out there, I wanted to share a gift that I would have never thought of on my own. A daughter and I went visiting some friends who moved an hour away. We enjoyed catching up for hours (as girls would!) Dinner was served, a delicious, healthy, scratch made casserole that I MUST get the recipe for. The family is quite large and so they are used to feeding 12 – we all crashed about their large table laughing, eating, and enjoying the best food I have had in weeks. It was better than Thanksgiving (sorry fam) and I was near tears at their generosity. How much easier it would have been to bake a handful of giant pizzas?

The icing on the cake… She made 3 casseroles, 2 very large ones and one small – and she sent the small one home with me. She knows I’m busy and weeknight dinner is often served very rapidly in 30 minutes or less… I’m so excited to enjoy this meal again, with my family, on Monday night.  I’m so thankful for friendship and the blessing we have to share with others.

Share thoughts and comments with me, and Practice LIVING!

new beginnings...

Kitchen... LOVE

Well, the move is nearing completion... We have about a truckload of odds and ends left at the old house. Surprisingly, I have yet to gather much of my kitchen wares. This, you see, is because I don't have much in the way of cabinetry yet, and I've been hesitant to haul it over.

I woke early today (5am on a Sunday) and concluded that this morning is the morning. Right after my spot of coffee, I will collect the rest of things. I will put everything somewhere, in boxes if need be, and then cook a delicious breakfast. YES!

The one thing I miss in this kitchen is my fridge. I thought I could handle the side-by-side, but frozen pizza doesn't even fit... I will someday have my fridge in this space.... it may live in storage for a month or three waiting for repair, but its exciting to know of the gifts in store!

Digi Free Room. Ahhhh....

I can't begin to describe how much of a blessing this move has been. But I'll give an example... Jake and I have managed to have some time sans screens ... He both pauses at the bar to chat while I work in the kitchen and sits with me in the (yet to be sorted) digi free room. In addition, due to the new nature of our home, we have to go on official dog walking excursions. I'm a tired woman, let me tell you! But its been delightful to have the company of Jake or one of the girls... such a change! I'm thrilled!

It's official. I can walk to town!

The other day I lost my keys to my jeep.. I have yet to find them, actually... (any spotters out there? Is my jeep still safely on Broadway?)  and so I had to walk home from town. Isn't this a lovely sight? I haven't been able to walk from home to anywhere in ages, and I felt so free, like I could just sit on this wall and smile for an hour. Actually, the rest stop there was lovely as its a vertical climb to my house, but hey, I'm no wimp. I made it in 20 minutes. Let's not break out the ruler... but it might be a whole mile!

I read this thought a week ago, and I've had it on my mind. Especially with the move.

If we aren't thankful to God for now, why would we be joyful for more?

Thoughts to ponder. Cheerio!

Mothers Day

As mentioned previously I have been working on gaining clarity this year. Clarity is hard to come by in a world tied down by self and sin and messiness. Nevertheless, I refuse to back down and if it must be by the inch rather than the mile, I intend to persevere.

Here is my inch for this week... Ann Voskamp http://www.aholyexperience.com/ invited her readers to participate in an extraordinary opportunity to help mothers in Haiti. (Haiti? really? read on!) I considered the request a struggle and an irony, and set it aside.

However, it seemed that this idea has been burned into me, as I can't escape it. I have an amazing set of mothers in my life, mothers God has provided me over the years to bring me up and along. How do I select the most important gift?

Mom, thank you.

Thank you for the opportunity to experience the rich blessings of aunts, grandparents, and cousins as a young child that helped me form the vision for how I want to mother, aunt, and someday grandmother. I know that their absence from our lives has brought us all pain... almost thirty years now... but the memories are sweet. And I savor every bit.

However... 

I have to say that the foremost thing that comes to mind for my mother is the gift of release.  I've considered it a gift in the past, a gift that is painful, mind, but nonetheless a gift. If I am truly honest, before God and man, my mother blessed me in ways that I still cannot comprehend simply by sending me off when I was fourteen.

In that exchange I was released from much and released to the unknown. It was, truly, an unknown that brought pain, but as it says in scripture, God has a plan to bring beauty from ashes. And I can see that now, even as I wrestle to understand that as a mom myself...
 
Mom, thank you.

Thank you for releasing me into the wild world to be completely free to accept the blessings in store. Without that, there could not have been this: Kathy, Carolee, Lori, Lyn, Linda, Lauri, Kim, Alice... and countless others who have been willing to let me watch, let me ask, let me learn...

Oh, to be brave enough to share such truth... I suppose that will be my true inch! Am I brave enough? Can I extend myself that much, to bring freedom and release? If this comes to my mind, how much more on hers? And if none at all, is it my right to continue to lord this pain over her.. this bitterness.. this unforgiveness?

NO.

Oh, yeah... NO. forgiveness.. undeserved grace... Christ died on a cross for me.. for this messy Lanny, and yet I've struggled to say ouch but thanks? I can see so plainly that my life is amazing and without her gift, it would be so very different. Words cannot describe it all adequately... Joseph has a chat with his brothers in Genesis 50:20 - its one we talk about a lot and I think a lot of people can relate to...

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

Who knows what God is up to in our lives? 

 As to Haiti, in just eight weeks I have the opportunity to take my eldest daughter to Haiti to work together and spend time with children.. thus.. the irony.

Three Hard Eucharisteos

Considering the April Joy Dare, I scanned the chart for today and found "Three Hard Eucharisteos"  

Grace, Thanksgiving, Joy: Eucharisteo. 

My mind is blank as I consider this joy dare... I have so little that is tangible right now, everything requires faith, everything unseen...


Scanning beyond my daily, deeper into the truth... and perhaps that is the point of this focus -

One long held joy, the word

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."
~ Psalms 119:105

A second joy, hope beyond anxiety

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful."
~ Hebrews 10:23

And a third, my creator

“God is not a belief to which you give your assent. God becomes a reality whom you know intimately, meet everyday, one whose strength becomes your strength, whose love, your love. Live this life of the presence of God long enough and when someone asks you, “Do you believe there is a God?” you may find yourself answering, “No, I do not believe there is a God. I know there is a God.”
~Ernest Boyer, Jr.

Purple

Silly things today, things about colors...

I have always had a difficult time answering questions about myself... Questions like... what is your favorite animal, favorite food, what do you read, what are your hobbies...These questions cause me to stumble... to say something random, like everything, which is good and safe...  I've learned that I keep my distance from a true response out of fear. Fear is a multi-layered beast, attacking in so many unique ways that it is always shocking to discover it...

I recently read the book One Thousand Gifts, and in the reading I found myself again and again, wondering... what am I truly thankful for

So today, I am excited to share the color purple.
Silly, I know... but I think I finally have a favorite color.
Its a start.