We Give Thanks

For 2012 our family is engaging together in a gratitude journal. After dinner, we jot down things we are thankful for. Dinner at our house is sometimes a lovely experience (picture this: telling stories about our day, Gabre entertaining everyone with a new look or smile, everyone nicely eating what was prepared), sometimes not (picture: baby screaming to get down, SB out of her chair to 'perform' 80 times while told to sit down until she is excused and some off and on yelling....whew). I won't say which is more common, but reminding ourselves to be thankful at the end of it all is a good practice for all of us!
SB and Davis started very general with things like 'food'. We are trying to teach them to be grateful for 'food', but also in a more specific way. "Today I am thankful for the excellent macaroni and cheese Daddy made". I hope to see our journal evolve for all of as this year as we take time to Be still to Be thankful.

We are giving thanks in January for:
- Family
- A compliment from Ms. Sock (SB's teacher)
- The Earth
- Food/ Pizza
- SB and Davis's School and the way they include the parents
- Toys
- The Sun
- Tastebuds (http://www.tastebudsnc.com/)
- Whistling
- Back rubs
- Home
- Pastor Owen
- Pastor Powell
- Books
- Lotion
- Water
- Understanding
- Holidays
- Coffee
- Friends
- Nice babies like Gabre
- God
- Animals
- Pictures of our family
- Flowers
- Quiet Time (I'm sure you can guess who said this one!)
- Music
- Sarah Bess (said totally unprompted by her sweet brother)
- Davis (said to return the favor)
- Kisses

Camp In Night

Friday night we had a 'camp in' in our game room.

First, we skyped with our great friends the Hardins that are living in Hong Kong right now. We are so fortunate technology allows us to still 'hang out' with them occasionally.

Then it was time for some camping fun- we love setting the tent up in the game room (where it is nice and warm!) This great tent is made by Big Agnes. Big Agnes is owned by a wonderful family that was with us in China while we were adopting Davis. They were bringing home their second daughter from China. So if you need any camping needs...I would recommend them! https://www.bigagnes.com/

Someone cheated in the middle of the night (well... make that two someones). Can you guess who ended up sleeping here?

Gabre wasn't invited to camp this time. She slept in her own crib. But how could we not include her in this post? Here she is after discovering her new love of mashed potatoes last week.

Family Purpose: Namaste

Namaste the recognition of the divine spirit  in another by the divine spirit in you.

"I bow to the divine in you"

I have been reading several books on simplicity. In my attempts to "Be Still", I keep coming back to the fact that we need to simplify our lives. In a recent book, Organized Simplicity, the author states that in order to simplify as a family, you must identify your family's purpose. By identifying your purpose you are able to eliminate things from your life that don't match that purpose.  Our family purpose is to:

SEEK THE HOLY IN ALL

      - BE GENEROUS with our time, resources and spiritual gifts

      - LIVE SIMPLY so others can simply live

      - BE STILL and focus on the present moment

      - BE COMPASSIONATE and CONSIDERATE

So what does it mean to seek the holy in all? It means all. Everyone. Even that annoying guy at work. Even the person whose beliefs don't match yours. Even your child in the moment they are displaying the most hideous behavior that you have even seen (or one that isn't even that hideous but because you are so tired sends you right over the edge). That's right...we as a family actually believe that there is holy in every. single. person. Now the hard part...we have to make that belief impact our actions. We strive to remember this purpose daily and to love well and live differently because of it. Namaste.   

JOY

You know how there are things in life that just bring us such joy we can't contain ourselves. I heard this on the radio on my way in to work (to really hear the announcer's joy, close your eyes and listen instead of watching):

Winning Shot at the Buzzer

That announcer has such joy coming out of his voice that it brought a smile to my face. I felt joyful hearing him.

His joy caused me to pause. To consider some of the things that bring joy into my life- the things that are sometimes easy to forget when I have been up half the night, or had a bad day, or....well you know. There are the simple joys- like a winning shot. And the great joys- like rocking your child while they sleep. They are all special. I need to stop and pause to appreciate them more.

Seeing the ocean after any small time away

A glass of red wine and a good book

Contagious Laughter

Eating any meal prepared by these hands. And even better...a hug from him with a "I just wanted to say how much I love you".

Ahhh...Joy.

Blessed Are Ye... Path to Perfection

For this first post, I paraphrase something written by a great Methodist minster I never knew, my grandfather, Henry Gibbons Ruark.

When we speak of the beatitudes we usually mean the eight blessings with which the Sermon on the Mount opens. But there are recorded in the gospels at least ten other instances in which the Master used the words, "Blessed are ye" or "Blessed are they,". Taken together these eighteen constitute a brief but clear description of what Jesus considered to be the good life.
Most people approach these sayings of Christ very much like a tourist in an art gallery standing before a great painting: "He knows that he ought to admire it but does not quite understand why." (E. Russell). So we feel we ought to admire the virtues which Jesus extols in the beatitudes. But they are so much at variance with the qualities valued in the world. We are apt to set them apart in a gallery of their own; beautiful ideas to be praised, but remote from the reality of daily living. Yet if, Jesus claimed and our heart surmise that his words contain the truth of life, it is imperative that we take them out of their cloister and interpret them in terms of our actual experience.
We need to define the word "blessed". Some translators render the word "happy". It does mean that, and to read it so brings it closer to our understanding. But there is danger of supposing that it means merely the kind of happiness we commonly think we want. "Happy" originally meant those to whom things happen well; and to most of us it retains much of that same sense. Our attention is on the outward circumstances that surround us. Another similar translation would mean "fortunate". This is what the Greeks meant by the word; those to whom the fates are kind. But on the lips of Jesus the word "blessed" certainly does not mean a condition which is the result of chance. One scholar suggests the rendering "successful" and this would not be untrue to the intent of the Master. But for us "success" has come to consist so much of material reward or outward rank that it is difficult for us to use the word in any other sense. And Jesus obviously didn't mean that.
We may find a better clue in the original Greek. Dr. Adam Clark points out that the word here combines two shorter words "not" and "fate." So he concludes that the blessed man is he who is not subject to the caprices of fate. No matter how strongly the storm agitates the surface of the sea, the waters in the depths are calm. So the blessed man has deep within him a serenity and strength and joy which are not daunted by the changes and chances of life. This inwardness of meaning is accentuated by the fact that the Master described as blessed just those people whose circumstances we should hardly consider fortunate: the poor, the mournful, the persecuted. Dr. William Barclay paraphrases it: "O the joy of following Christ!"
The kind of blessedness of which he spoke can begin NOW. If, indeed, like him we see the whole of life bound together by the purpose of God, it seems only natural that it should begin here and now.

This blog is about trying to follow Christ in the here and now. Loving Well and Living Differently. I promise to throw in cute pictures and stories of our beautiful children along the way.