artwords

advocacy

i like to think of myself as a grassroots person.  meaning i like to get involved locally on a small scale as a part of working towards restoration as a whole.  but honestly, when i say i am a grassroots kind of person, i am really telling you that i don't follow the news outside of the neighborhoods and countries i am connected to.  mainly it's because i get overwhelmed and feel like i can't do anything about the problems i am hearing about, and the news never highlights the good things that are happening, just the tragedies.  i get really stressed out watching international news. 

yeah, that still small voice has been talking to me about it recently.  ok, not just recently but i take a long time to perk up and listen sometimes.  a few months ago a couple, who work in ecuador for community development and justice issues, came to visit our justice group.  they told us about what they do, and we asked them lots of questions.  one of the questions was "does advocacy from the states really do any good?"  they jumped on that.  they thought it was one of the best things someone in the united states can do:  speak up to those in power.  they told us that just being americans, we have an in with some serious world powers that will listen to our advocacy because, hey, they want our vote next time too.

then a week or two ago, i heard a story about a person here in western michigan who wrote to his senator because some millenium goal projects in Mali weren't being carried out in a, shall we say, transparent manner.  corruption was edging its way in.  so he wrote to his senator, because he felt like God would want him to talk to his senator about what he had found out was happening in a remote Mali village.  he thought it was strange, but he did it.  (we are not here to be logical, after all.)  a few weeks later, a development worker in Mali called his sister to find out who had been talking to government officials here in the states.  turns out, that got them investigating and now this village is being protected from corruption of the ideals of the millenium project happening there.  amazing!

Then, today i found out about the Global Day of Prayer with the Micah Challenge. 

so basically, i need to be advocating to two people more:  my senator, and my God.  not necessarily in that order.  join me?

 

tired and cranky.

a moment of honesty, kids:  i am tired, and i am cranky.  i have a huge pile of dishes from last night's potluck friday to attend to, but i haven't gotten there yet because i am tired and i am worried about our kittie that escaped to the big bad world last night and has yet to return home.  this makes me fretful, and though i did get a good moment in the farmer's market this morning (the garlic ladies are back!  woohoo!), it was fleeting and as soon as i got back home my tired worried self returned with a vengeance. 

at some point in my life, i started equating being tired not with having worn myself out, but with having an illness.  i am tired=i might have cancer.  something along those lines is what my thought processes boils down to.  and having a missing cat at the same time, and the other cat crying to you about it, does not help.  i need a funk fixer.

summer fun

wow, it's only been only about 10 days but i have So much to tell you!  ok we'll try to go in order.

first, 2 fridays ago it was Blasted Hot and the last thing i wanted to do was be in our upstairs apartment with guests and try to be a cheery host.  so off to the little lake in the rich section of town we went, and had ourselves a picnic for a variation on potluck fridays goodness.  rad time, and the added bonus of seeing an out-of-control hot air balloon almost crash into the lake kept the entertainment level high.

then. 

saturday we went out to a strawberry field and picked 4 flats of strawberries in less than one hour, just the three of us (massi, julie b and i, the fearless three).  we gained a quick appreciation for farmers that grow and migrant workers that pick our food.  today at the grocery store i had no ill thoughts about prices, and i'll thank my back-breaking strawberry picking for that shift.  so sunday, i thought i'd just get those berries canned (well, freezer-jammed) in the morning and get it out of the way.  you see, there was a sign out at the strawberry field that read "it takes a lot of strawberries to make jam."  uh-hunh.  i took them too seriously.

it was after 8 pm before i finished.  i kept reminding myself of the month of february, but at the rate we are sharing and eating our jam, we may not reap any february benefits.  amazingly.

fast forward to last weekend.  we went up north, to God's country,

to visit friends that are like pseudo family.  it's  a long story but basically we're not related but we'll never get rid of them.  i have been made a part of the pam luebke family and there we will happily stay, especially when invites up to the woods are made!  we even made new inquisitive friends up north, newlyweds who were so enthralled with the bug life. 

tom and victoria were the best hosts ever.  they have a home whose land is along the betsie river, and the betsie got our full attention (except for that fabulous dinner party) for about 24 hours.  we floated on it, waded through it, stared at it, listened to its music, listened to tom read from his upcoming novel while staring up at the trees at its edge,

slept alongside it....the betsie restored our work-weary city-tired souls. 

massi discovered several things in the woods, including his natural knack at photography.  seriously.  the following were taken by him:

isn't that gorgeous?  the talented massi bechiri, ladies and gentlemen.

and isn't that one gross?  but fascinating all the same....good discovery.

and one more by me below-of course you know i had to document the river-side snack of my homemade bread and strawberry jam....was much appreciated and it gives me a good way to show how all this rambling actually is connected.....

hope you've enjoyed viewing the photos of our summer memories as much as we had making them...now get away from that computer screen and get out in nature!  seriously.  what are you Doing in here?

overwhelmed with work

it has been a crazy, crazy week month at work.   but it's a good crazy, i am getting to have lots of fun experiences, and i am enjoying helping people get done what they need while they are in my country.  i am also overwhelmed with work because i am still trying to figure out this transition to office life-professional clothing, something other than a backpack to carry the work laptop, 8-5 work and a whole hour to eat my lunch.  it's strange and i don't like all of it but i am blessed to be able to do what i do.

my artist person is just worried i'll forget about her entirely.  it's true, i miss her.  but i still remember her fondly and hope to spend some quality time with her soon.

a little photo story for you.

this is my husband:

it's a blurry photo of him a couple days ago, not technically a good photo but a favorite of mine.

here's another favorite.  this is the silly side he shares with you once you have won his trust:

of course, i got his permission to post this photo.  i asked when he was in a really good mood.

last night, we decided to cut it all off.  me, a little wicked before the cut:

note the high-quality salon barber cape that came with the clippers.

nervous, but still smiling.

what have we done?  here we're laughing.  as our friend julie snapped pictures during the process, this mood quickly changed.

hey, where are you going with my hair?  give it back, come on, i want it back....

oh, what have i done, he's thinking...then the mood switches again

i'll get you!  massi trying to be tough whilst wearing a wimpy plastic cape.  somehow, we weren't scared of him.

about half of it in the garbage here.  note the thrown-away box of swiss cake rolls, telltale signs that massi is adjusting well to this american life.  he loves them!  swiss cake rolls and ranch dressing and hamburgers.  but i digress....

back to the haircut series.  after a shower and a little lesson on using product on short hair, we came up with this:

it takes a truly sexy man to look good with long And short hair.

hands off, ladies, he's Mine. 

i keep looking at him funny.  it's a good funny, though.  this is how he looked when i met him and fell instantly in love.  so....good memories are being sparked this morning as he catches me by surprise with his short hair.

green

i'm growing grass for our kitties.  it's a vain attempt at getting them to not munch on houseplants.  and porch plants.  i know it's futile.  but look at the loveliness i get to enjoy in the process. 

christians confuse me.

there, i said it.

i mean, the things we come up with and then claim there are religious reasons for them. 

i do this too.  trust me, i catch myself  judging people for the strangest reasons that i call spiritual just as much as the next guy.

i'm not complaining about others here, i'm just asking:  why the hell do we do this?  what is it that makes it virtually impossible for us to just walk our path with God and let him hold the hand of others while they walk their path.  i mean, why do i keep trying to tug others over to my journey?  they've got their own purposes in life.  their own body parts to function. 

i'm confused by humanity, i guess.  it just seems that christians try to pawn off their awful humanity on their religion.  doesn't help our Leader look too good, now does it?

it's not yellow

did i tell you my parents visited us for my husband's birthday, which conveniently occurred the thursday before the holiday weekend? 

did i tell you that my parents, being typical parents i suppose, like to do some project for us when they visit?

(before, with the wonderful isaiah kallman  providing us with a house concert for a special potluck fridays.)

yes, well.  they did.  and they do.  and now -hallelujah!- our living room is not yellow.  it's a beautiful mellow taupe and the whole place just feels so much more peaceful.

(sorry about the mess there.  i'm sharing with you here what a typical moment in our newly-painted living room is like.  yeah, whatever:  go look at Your living room right now.)

'hood confessions

i live in  "ghetto lite."  and i like it. 

that's not my confession.  you knew this already.  here's the kicker.  we are starting to talk about someday soon buying a house.  we are wanting to by a "multi-family home," i.e. live in one apartment and have renters pay the mortgage.  we might buy more houses.  we are conflicted:  do we buy homes in our 'hood, and risk not having renters Or worse, renters who don't pay?  this is common here, i ain't gonna lie.  people don't have jobs or money (and i mean Really don't have money, not like your buddy who talks about how he's broke all the time and he has a salaried job with benefits), they have problems paying their rent.  our neighbors downstairs, for example.  they aren't paying their rent.  i really like them.  i would have a hard time if i were their landlord because of this conflict of interests. 

now, we are not broke.  but we are not investors in the sense that we have money to float lots of non-paying renters.  we would lose those homes if it got too prevalent.   the risk is higher where we like to live.  it's just the facts and the whole reason we want to be living and being landlords there is we want to be part of God's redemption.  here on earth, we don't feel like waiting til angel-playin-a-harp heaven.  but here on earth, if you don't pay your mortgage the bank takes back the house.  it's going on a lot around here in michigan.  times is hard for most, so you know times is hard in our neighborhood.

so what is the other (financially safer investment) option?  buy a home in a border of the hood?  be one of those people that cries on the streetcorners about how we shouldn't say we are joining the oppressed unless we really are, and then not doing it myself?  i don't want to join those ranks.    i don't want to be a faker.  you Know i don't like fakers.  there's too many there already.  but we are doing this as an investment.  how much is trusting God, and how much is being smart?  i mean, i just don't know.  like i said, we're conflicted. 

advice, please.

sanity savers

i am working a lot these days.  people, i do not like to work a lot of hours.  not job work, anyway.  now granted, if i have to work a lot of hours, for an hourly/salaried kind of job (read: not in my studio), this job i have is what i would do.  but my life feels mighty out of balance these days.  it will stay this way for at least two more weeks.  at which i will collapse, get myself a good massage perhaps, and just stare at our non-yellow walls for a bit.

meanwhile, to keep myself a little sanity in reserve, i've been taking pictures.  this is a very creative, beauty-creating activity:  and it only takes a click!  so, this is the perfect make-stuff fix for me in these days.  plus, there's something about "making pictures" that soothes my soul. 

as you can see, my other sanity saver is having a fresh flower or two near me.

what are your sanity savers?  what creative little moment keeps you going when your life is off-kilter and you cannot make it kilt back?  when you realize what that is, write yourself a cute little note about it and stick it on your fridge.  then when you're stressed, perhaps you'll do that instead of reach for the ice cream.  i mean...it hasn't worked for me yet, but it might for you.