Category: Uncategorized

A Giveaway

UPDATE:: This giveaway is now closed (although you’re welcome to keep telling me your favorite Christmas memories!). Congratulations to Jefuremu Njambilo!  Use the contact form to send me your address & I’ll ship it out today!  Thanks to all for your memories & traditions shared here!  So glad you all stopped by. And thanks for checking out Freeset and their beautiful work.

As we celebrate the extravagant gift of a King coming down, right into the midst of our broken world, I’m thrilled to offer this small gift, a giveaway here today, this lovely teal & parchment bag, shown here.

This fall I had the joy of meeting Kristi Griem.  Kristi works with Freeset, a fair trade business that offers employment to women trapped in Kolkata’s sex trade. If your heart beats fast for freedom and justice, or if you are just beginning to learn about the dark world of trafficking, take a minute to learn more about Freeset, the lovely products they create (that you can purchase!) and listen to their beautiful stories.
To win this beautiful bag, just leave a comment below sharing one thing you do to celebrate this sweet season, great or small, simple or extravagant. 

Giveaway ends Friday, December 16th, 2011 at midnight. A winner will be chosen at random and announced and contacted Saturday morning, and the bag sent first thing Monday, to get there just in time for gifting or enjoying!{{Giveaway is closed!}}

The Bread of Idleness & the Spinach of Rest

Oh, those long gone days when my babies would fall asleep anywhere, anytime, all the time, and transfer without stirring from person to person, from carseat to crib and back again.  Such thick, deep sleep.  Such trusting rest.  Ironically, even as I’ve been mulling over thoughts of rest today, even as I rediscovered this sweet old photograph, these same dear children have joined forces to wage ultimate war against nap-time and bedtime. But I digress…

I got thinking about rest, and the concept, after reading this last night. (It’s good, check it out.) I know my blog has been a big cheer-leading camp for Ann Voskamp lately.  But there’s something about her writing that both surprises me and resonates with feelings I’ve yet to articulate.   So I was thinking about rest, real rest, and then I came across these words today, concerning a wife of noble character: She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. -Proverbs 31.27

And it occurred to me, how often, in need of rest -genuine restorative rest, I opt for idleness instead.  My heart longs for connection, for meaning, for purpose in the midst of the often mundane tasks of housekeeping and mothering, and instead of allowing myself to enter into the rest that would fill my heart with life and ease the burdens and shed the light of grace on those tasks, I take a break to check Facebook or (my newest addiction) Craigslist.  I make another cup of coffee or, if I’m lucky, like tonight, escape for some retail therapy to recharge.  Not bad, in and of themselves- coffee, shopping, social media- but not life-giving, burden-lifting, or grace-filled either. The bread of idleness. The carbohydrate of idleness – the most common source of energy, but no essential nutrients.

I’m weeding out these lesser loves. I am longing tonight for a heart that rests – with the trust of a newborn baby and the fierce intentionality of the Proverbs 31 woman.

For Haiti

As our hearts break for those suffering in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, I wanted to share a creative way to give.  Craft for Hope has created a special etsy shop, called Craft Hope for Haiti, where you can purchase handmade goods.  All the proceeds go to Doctors Without Borders in Haiti.  So, if you have baby showers coming up, birthday gifts to buy for, check it out.

I love the heart behind this project, using our gifts & abilities to make an impact.  It’s got me thinking about what other creative ways we can give & serve, in Haiti and the many other places where the need is great.  How can we involve our kids & teach them the value of acts of service and love?  I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Think Fall…

Hope it’s full of crisp fall air, the smell of some kind of appley goodness baking, and the laughter of friends!

An Autumn Evening by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Dark hills against a hollow crocus sky
Scarfed with its crimson pennons, and below
The dome of sunset long, hushed valleys lie
Cradling the twilight, where the lone winds blow
And wake among the harps of leafless trees
Fantastic runes and mournful melodies.

The chilly purple air is threaded through
With silver from the rising moon afar,
And from a gulf of clear, unfathomed blue
In the southwest glimmers a great gold star
Above the darkening druid glens of fir
Where beckoning boughs and elfin voices stir.

And so I wander through the shadows still,
And look and listen with a rapt delight,
Pausing again and yet again at will
To drink the elusive beauty of the night,
Until my soul is filled, as some deep cup,
That with divine enchantment is brimmed up.