tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27589409671646976742024-03-13T06:58:02.926-07:00Weaving a New LifeBe a good steward of your gifts. Protect your time. Feed your inner life. Avoid too much noise. Read good books, have good sentences in your ears. Be by yourself as often as you can. Walk. Take the phones off the hook. Work regular hours.
Jane KenyonSandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05968771661846546449noreply@blogger.comBlogger51125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758940967164697674.post-47317978312365088662015-09-29T17:04:00.001-07:002015-09-29T17:04:16.534-07:00I was a bride, married to amazement...<div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
When Death Comes<br />by Mary Oliver</div>
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When death comes<br />like the hungry bear in autumn;<br />when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse</div>
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to buy me, and snaps the purse shut;<br />when death comes<br />like the measles-pox;</div>
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when death comes<br />like an iceberg between the shoulder blades,</div>
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I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering:<br />what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?</div>
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And therefore I look upon everything<br />as a brotherhood and a sisterhood,<br />and I look upon time as no more than an idea,<br />and I consider eternity as another possibility,</div>
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and I think of each life as a flower, as common<br />as a field daisy, and as singular,</div>
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and each name a comfortable music in the mouth<br />tending as all music does, toward silence,</div>
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and each body a lion of courage, and something<br />precious to the earth.</div>
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When it’s over, I want to say: all my life<br />I was a bride married to amazement.<br />I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.</div>
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When it is over, I don’t want to wonder<br />if I have made of my life something particular, and real.<br />I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened,<br />or full of argument.</div>
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I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.</div>
Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05968771661846546449noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758940967164697674.post-58331002559974058772014-06-07T14:15:00.001-07:002014-06-07T14:18:28.537-07:00When Your Child Calls to Tell You That There is a Shooter on Campus.On Thursday, I got a call from Elisabeth. She whispered that she was in her basement of her on-campus house at Seattle Pacific University and that they were on lock down because there was a shooter on campus. She was alone.<br />
I'm not sure I absorbed what she was saying so I reassured her and told her I would call her back as soon as I got home. I hung up and immediately called her back to go upstairs and be sure all the windows and doors were locked.<br />
Elisabeth is not an innocent or naive girl. Spending her high school years in China opened her eyes to the brokenness that is in the world. But this was different.<br />
So what do you do when your daughter calls to say she is hiding in the basement because of a shooter?<br />
Well, you freeze a little. You try to pray but you can't.<br />
You go home and turn on the news and check the internet to find out that someone had entered a building and shot students at SPU. You are horrified.<br />
You call grandparents so that they will not see this news on the internet.<br />
You call your daughter back. You text. You sit frozen to any screen that can give you information. You know that you are among over 4,000 parents who are doing this.<br />
You hear that one of the shooting victims has died and wonder how they could announce this and were the parents even there yet. You feel overwhelming grief for this young person who has lost their life.<br />
You hear of heroism and courage. Of weeping and grief. Of fear.<br />
You are amazed at how quickly SPU shut the campus down and are thankful, oh so thankful. You feel sad as your remember that these heightened precautions are because of the loss of life at Virginia Tech a few years ago.<br />
The next day, when you go to work, someone comments how sad it would be if someone makes this out to be about guns. You look at her and say "I am one of those people" and you are not even afraid to speak out. Because it is about guns and mental illness and many, many things. But let's not say it isn't about guns. Let's stop saying this.<br />
You watch the service of prayer and lament and you weep as you listen.<br />
You hear a woman with a shaking voice pray this prayer of grace and courage.<br />
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<em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Grant us, O Lord, comfort, </em></div>
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<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">even as You hear our laments and heartfelt cries of distress.</em></em></div>
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<em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">We pray, O loving God, for the one among us who has died.</em></div>
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<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">We pray for Paul Lee.</em></em></div>
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</em><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Minister to his family and friends, </em></div>
</em><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">be with those who mourn his loss, </em></div>
</em><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">sustain those who are grief-stricken, </em></div>
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<em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">and help us all in our shock.</em></div>
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<em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">O God, we pray for the one who </em></div>
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<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">perpetrated this mindless act of violence. </em></em></div>
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</em><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Deal with his troubled soul, </em></div>
</em><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">love him in spite of his hatred, </em></div>
</em><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">and bring him not only to justice </em></div>
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<em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">but to repentance and spiritual wholeness.</em></div>
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<em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Lord we pray now for our neighborhood, </em></div>
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<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">and for the city of Seattle. </em></em></div>
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</em><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">We know that what happens in one place </em></div>
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<em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">affects all those who are connected to it. </em></div>
</em><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">We bring our city before you now.</em></div>
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<em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">God, we pray for the family members near and far, </em></div>
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<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">and for the closest friends of students who have been most affected. </em></em></div>
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</em><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Comfort our families, and help us to know </em></div>
</em><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">how to best care for all those with whom we are connected.</em></div>
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<em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Help us, O God, in our sadness, confusion, and anger. </em></div>
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<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Help us to deal with this tragedy with </em></em></div>
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</em><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">honesty, forthrightness, and courage, </em></div>
</em><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">even as You strengthen our faith and resolve.</em></div>
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<em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Lord, in spite of this day let us not lose hope, </em></div>
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<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">let us not give in to despair, </em></em></div>
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</em><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">let us not think that evil or death have the last word, </em></div>
</em><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">and let us remember that we serve the Risen and Exalted Lord, Jesus Christ.</em></div>
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<em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">O Lord our God, accept the fervent prayers of your people; </em></div>
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<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">in the multitude of your mercies, </em></em></div>
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</em><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">look with compassion upon us and all who turn to you for help; </em></div>
</em><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">for you are gracious, O lover of souls, </em></div>
</em><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<em style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">and to you we give glory, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and forever.</em></div>
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<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Amen.</em></div>
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You hear students singing "Come, Lord Jesus, Come" and your heart joins them. You think about the grieving parents of the injured and of Paul Lee, the 19 year old student who has died and you ache for them.</div>
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And then you pray for Shalom...the deep peace of God. Yes, come Lord Jesus, Come.</div>
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Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05968771661846546449noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758940967164697674.post-34388508619701681662014-05-04T11:35:00.003-07:002014-05-04T11:35:37.868-07:00Be a gardener<div style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MqbO_IyaPCA/U2aEbpPQtwI/AAAAAAAAGBA/75bNwdX0CmY/s1600/photo+1+%252811%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MqbO_IyaPCA/U2aEbpPQtwI/AAAAAAAAGBA/75bNwdX0CmY/s1600/photo+1+%252811%2529.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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A few weeks ago we were on the lovely island of Thetis and stayed at the Caprenwray school. While there, we walked around and I saw these lovely raised beds. It made me itch to start ours!</div>
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Our community garden opened two weeks early but it's been too rainy to get in and start working the soil. We finally had some dry and sunny days last week and were able to work in our homemade compost and purchased chicken manure. We have two 20X20 plots.</div>
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You can actually get free herbivore manure at the Portland Zoo (ZooDoo) but only during the day when I am at work. So alas, no elephant powered vegetables for us.</div>
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My car did smell like chicken manure for several days after this but I kind of liked it.</div>
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I went into Portland yesterday to the first plant sale of the season by the Multnohmah Master Gardeners. I bought tomatoes and peppers (which will live on the back patio for a while until the ground heats up), celery, leeks, onions, broccoli and more. I am hoping to get the peas and beans (seeds) in the ground this week.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zL2nQBB6kIw/U2aFHEY2O9I/AAAAAAAAGBg/jI3ipb9UEHc/s1600/Plants+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zL2nQBB6kIw/U2aFHEY2O9I/AAAAAAAAGBg/jI3ipb9UEHc/s1600/Plants+1.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></div>
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My trunk was pretty full!</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-732egslmEsY/U2aHoRrElUI/AAAAAAAAGB4/HO9LIaFz1TA/s1600/Garden+%25233.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-732egslmEsY/U2aHoRrElUI/AAAAAAAAGB4/HO9LIaFz1TA/s1600/Garden+%25233.jpg" height="320" width="245" /></a></div>
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From Pinterest.</div>
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<span style="color: #5c4f3c; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><i><b>Be a gardener.</b></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #5c4f3c; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><i><b>Dig a ditch,</b></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #5c4f3c; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><i><b>toil and sweat,</b></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #5c4f3c; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><i><b>and turn the earth upside down</b></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #5c4f3c; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><i><b>and seek the deepness</b></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #5c4f3c; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><i><b>and water the plants in time.</b></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #5c4f3c; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><i><b>Continue this labor</b></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #5c4f3c; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><i><b>and make sweet floods to run</b></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #5c4f3c; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><i><b>and noble and abundant fruits</b></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #5c4f3c; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><i><b>to spring.</b></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #5c4f3c; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><i><b>Take this food and drink</b></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #5c4f3c; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><i><b>and carry it to God</b></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #5c4f3c; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><i><b>as your true worship.</b></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #5c4f3c; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><i><b>--Julian of Norwich</b></i></span></span></div>
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Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05968771661846546449noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758940967164697674.post-24964372807124347702014-04-11T19:30:00.002-07:002014-04-11T19:30:55.900-07:00Moving towards the Light.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QzwkWkt1a08/U0iEh-lazdI/AAAAAAAAF-8/iuDj98cyk90/s1600/photo+1+(7).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QzwkWkt1a08/U0iEh-lazdI/AAAAAAAAF-8/iuDj98cyk90/s1600/photo+1+(7).JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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On Ash Wednesday I went to Imago Dei Community and received the ashes on my forehead. As the young man made the sign of the cross, he said "From dust you came, to dust you shall return. Turn from your sin and be faithful to Christ." It was a solemn and thoughtful hour.</div>
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For the past several years, I've attempted to practice Lent. I grew up in a church that somewhat practiced the church calendar and I feel strongly that there can be no Easter without Good Friday. There can be no light without darkness. To come to Easter without any practice of slowing down and reflecting is to take away from the joy and newness of Easter.</div>
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I didn't really do anything special this year- no candles, no fasting, no internet limitations. But I did slow down and consider the meaning of Lent. I considered that Lent leads us to life and to light. The days get longer during Lent and the plants push up. I planted lettuce and mesclun and it is coming up and making my heart glad.</div>
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It's been a long and dark winter, so when the sun shines, we go outside. In a refuge near our home, we can still see Mt. Hood in the distance, eternally covered in snow.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z4XQ3XNHPJw/U0ihTB24p5I/AAAAAAAAF_U/m4987vYJg4o/s1600/photo+2+(5).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z4XQ3XNHPJw/U0ihTB24p5I/AAAAAAAAF_U/m4987vYJg4o/s1600/photo+2+(5).JPG" height="298" width="400" /></a></div>
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The pussy willows are starting to come out.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QP-6jX3HHIw/U0iiSrHTCDI/AAAAAAAAF_8/USftnqxO3nU/s1600/photo+4+(3).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QP-6jX3HHIw/U0iiSrHTCDI/AAAAAAAAF_8/USftnqxO3nU/s1600/photo+4+(3).JPG" height="298" width="400" /></a></div>
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The rhododendrons near Reed College are also starting to bloom.</div>
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We compost- table scraps, paper, coffee grinds, egg shells. Some goes in our worm bin and some goes outside to the compost pile. I find composting profoundly theological- our waste turns into something else (it's transformed through rotting) that we then put back in the ground so that we have rich soil to grow new and healthy plants and food. The transformation from waste to life seems Lenten to me. Compost can not grow or change unless it sits in darkness for a long time. Wendell Berry said it much better than I can.</div>
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<h2 class="yiv0502240079null" style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 26px; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: -0.75px; line-height: 32.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: arial, 'helvetica neue', helvetica, sans-serif;">A Purification</span></h2>
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<span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1397221712307_11492"><span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1397221712307_11491" style="font-family: georgia, times, 'times new roman', serif;"></span></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1397221712307_11490" style="color: #606060; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; padding: 0px;">
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<span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1397221712307_11492"><span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1397221712307_11491" style="font-family: georgia, times, 'times new roman', serif;"><span style="color: black;">At the start of spring I open a trench</span></span></span></div>
<span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1397221712307_11492"><span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1397221712307_11491" style="font-family: georgia, times, 'times new roman', serif;"><span style="color: black;"></span></span></span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1397221712307_11492"><span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1397221712307_11491" style="font-family: georgia, times, 'times new roman', serif;"><span style="color: black;">in the ground. I put into it</span></span></span></div>
<span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1397221712307_11492"><span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1397221712307_11491" style="font-family: georgia, times, 'times new roman', serif;"><span style="color: black;">
</span><span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1397221712307_11548" style="color: black;"><div style="text-align: center;">
the winter’s accumulation of paper,</div>
</span><span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1397221712307_11550" style="color: black;"><div style="text-align: center;">
pages I do not want to read</div>
</span><span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1397221712307_11552" style="color: black;"><div style="text-align: center;">
again, useless words, fragments,</div>
</span><span style="color: black;"><div style="text-align: center;">
errors. And I put into it</div>
</span><span style="color: black;"><div style="text-align: center;">
the contents of the outhouse:</div>
</span><span style="color: black;"><div style="text-align: center;">
light of the sun, growth of the ground, </div>
</span><span style="color: black;"><div style="text-align: center;">
finished with one of their journeys.</div>
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To the sky, to the wind, then,</div>
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and to the faithful trees, I confess</div>
</span><span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1397221712307_11495" style="color: black;"><div style="text-align: center;">
my sins: that I have not been happy</div>
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enough, considering my good luck;</div>
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have listened to too much noise;</div>
</span><span style="color: black;"><div style="text-align: center;">
have been inattentive to wonders;</div>
</span><span style="color: black;"><div style="text-align: center;">
have lusted after praise.</div>
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And then upon the gathered refuse</div>
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of mind and body, I close the trench,</div>
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folding shut again the dark,</div>
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the deathless earth. Beneath that seal</div>
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the old escapes into the new.</div>
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<a href="http://inwardoutward.us4.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=838944ee48d7a9d35dcce6d60&id=b58aa601c7&e=dbe4453406" rel="nofollow" style="color: #a07689; line-height: 1.6; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Wendell Berry</a></div>
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<span style="line-height: 1.6;">Source: </span><a href="http://inwardoutward.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=838944ee48d7a9d35dcce6d60&id=d0c481b8dc&e=dbe4453406" id="yui_3_7_2_1_1397221712307_11503" rel="nofollow" style="color: #a07689; line-height: 1.6; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Collected Poems: 1957-1982</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">We've also done some traveling. We went to Seattle to see</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Elisabeth and we stopped by Chinatown and the International District. Above Chinatown is the International Community Garden that has this sign. The Chinese characters are yi (one) xin (heart). One heart among the many people. Lovely.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gCAVxPeffoM/U0ihvXIH3LI/AAAAAAAAF_g/WiePxfPPI-8/s1600/photo+4+%25284%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gCAVxPeffoM/U0ihvXIH3LI/AAAAAAAAF_g/WiePxfPPI-8/s1600/photo+4+%25284%2529.JPG" height="320" width="239" /></a></div>
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We also spent some time at the Capernwray School on Thetis Island. It was peaceful, beautiful and refreshing to be there. We are so thankful for their generosity in letting us come!</div>
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As always, I am drawn to the gardens. These are some of the raised beds that they have. Very creative use of logs from the forest.</div>
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Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05968771661846546449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758940967164697674.post-76973564693787625762014-02-07T15:39:00.002-08:002014-02-07T17:11:06.812-08:00Finding Truth in Story.<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><i><b>Stories make us more alive, more human, more courageous, more loving. Madeline L'Engle</b></i></span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z0Ot4dRvH4Y/UvVk348pEHI/AAAAAAAAF78/AgUGyPISAmo/s1600/Book+tree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z0Ot4dRvH4Y/UvVk348pEHI/AAAAAAAAF78/AgUGyPISAmo/s1600/Book+tree.jpg" height="200" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><b><i>If you know me in real life, you know that I love to read.</i></b></span></span><br />
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I went to school in the loosey goosey 60's and 70's. My elementary school was a sort of experiment with "open education."</div>
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Credit: Text Rain by <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, 'ヒラギノ角ゴ Pro W3', 'Hiragino Kaku Gothic Pro', メイリオ, Meiryo, 'MS Pゴシック', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Kyungduk Kim. Found on Pinterest</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, 'ヒラギノ角ゴ Pro W3', 'Hiragino Kaku Gothic Pro', メイリオ, Meiryo, 'MS Pゴシック', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, 'ヒラギノ角ゴ Pro W3', 'Hiragino Kaku Gothic Pro', メイリオ, Meiryo, 'MS Pゴシック', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">At my elementary school, we were able to arrange our own schedules. So my schedule involved reading....and very little math. I re-learned many basic math skills when I studied Montessori education. I am sure my teachers should have forced me to study more math. But the gift of being able to read was amazing. Being a different time and age, we were even able to walk across Mitchell Park to the public library to get books during the day. Our school library was open all day and even after school. I read many of the same books over and over again.</span></div>
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www.quozio.com</div>
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I read classic literature for sure- All of Madeline L'Engle, Noel Streetfield, Louisa May Alcott. Those characters are real in my mind-somehow I think they exist in some other world and that I might meet them some day. Not every book that I read could be defined as "great literature." But they were good books and good friends.</div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Recently I read this article in the Christian Century <a href="http://www.christiancentury.org/article/2012-09/saved-fiction#.UHRc0oK9VIY.facebook">Saved by fiction</a>. It powerfully brought home to me the role that reading fiction has played in my life. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; line-height: 16.78333282470703px;"><i>But of all the spiritual disciplines I have ever attempted, the habit of steady reading has helped me most and carried me farthest. Of course, reading scripture has been indispensable. But reading fiction—classics of world literature, fairy tales and Greek myths, science fiction and detective novels—has done more to baptize my imagination, inform my faith and strengthen my courage than all the prayer techniques in the world.</i></span><br />
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Francis Shaeffer (Reformed people's St. Francis :)) said in <u>Art and the Bible</u> "<span style="background-color: white;">Christian artists do not need to be threatened by fantasy and imagination. . . . The Christian is the really free person . . . whose imagination should fly beyond the stars." What could be better than a "sanctified imagination."? I have sometimes heard non-fiction described as <b>true </b>and fiction described as <b>not-true</b>. I think this is a poor distinction as we find tremendous truth in fiction. Stories teach us about other people, other countries, other experiences. Stories help us to disappear into the lives of others.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">I have just started reading <u>The Faraway Nearby </u>by Rebecca Solnit. It's a marvelous book of essays that begins this way.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><i>What's your story? It's all in the telling. Stories are compasses and architecture; we navigate by them, we build our sanctuaries and our prisons out of them, and to be without a story is to be lost in the vastness of a world that spreads in all directions like arctic tundra or sea ice. To love someone is to put yourself in their story, or figure out how to tell yourself their story.</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><i>Which means that a place is a story, and stories are geography and empathy is first of all an act of imagination, a storyteller's art, and then a way of traveling from here to there. What is it like to be the old man silenced by a stroke, the young man facing the executioner, the woman walking across the border, the child on the roller coaster, the person you've only read about, or the one next to you in bed.?</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">So read. Read for yourself. Read to your children. Read things aloud to your spouse. Read fiction. Read non-fiction. Read to learn and read for fun. Read for the joy of it. Just read.</span></div>
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Horn Book Cover Jan 2009 www.jonathanbeam.com</div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'helvetica neue', helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">It was pleasant to take a hot drink up to her room and have it beside her as she sat in her silent room reading in the empty house in the afternoons. The books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives. She went on olden-day sailing ships with Joseph Conrad. She went to Africa with Ernest Hemingway and to India with Rudyard Kipling. She travelled all over the world while sitting in her little room in an English village."</span></span><br />
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— Roald Dahl ~ Matilda</div>
Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05968771661846546449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758940967164697674.post-9695448041742066372014-01-28T17:29:00.003-08:002014-02-02T16:53:52.279-08:00No Donkey Heads Here.During one of our last weeks in China, I glanced out of a bus window and saw a freshly cut donkey head on the back of a cart. I knew I had been in China for a while then because the head brought no response from me except the notice that there was a donkey head on the back of a cart. It interesting how the extraordinary becomes kind of ordinary after a while.<br />
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So no donkey carts here. Just lots of rain and an early setting sun. I have a new job as an ELL para-educator at a high needs elementary school. It's a very different kind of job for me but I like it. I basically go to six different classrooms during the day and work with students who need literacy help. They are not English Language Learners in the newcomer sense of the word. Most students were born in the US but are from families where another language is spoken at home. My job is to work in small groups to help increase their reading comprehension and writing skills. It's a fast paced job and pretty tiring. But at 3:30, I walk out the door and am finished for the day. That's a good thing.</div>
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In other news, I made yogurt in my slow cooker the other day. Not as exciting as a donkey head but totally something I would have done in China. I made it from whole organic milk, plain yogurt and some milk powder. It's thin but not liquid. I put it on my oatmeal this morning and it was great. It's cheaper than containers but not by much. Honestly, it's just the kind of thing I like to do and feeds my creative spirit. Here are the instructions.<a href="http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/10/you-can-make-yogurt-in-your-crockpot.html?m=1">Crockpot yogurt</a> You can add fruit at the end but it makes it thinner- more like kefir. Make sure your milk isn't ultra-pasteurized. I added a cup of milk powder and I think it made a difference in the thickness.</div>
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I also made cloth napkins. We have cloth napkins that we use all the time. I got a dozen beautiful linen napkins at Goodwill for $1.99. For some reason I saved this fabric when we left Missouri for China. I just cut them up and turned under a small hem that I zigzagged. I read some instructions that said to make mitered corners. Honestly, I just can't be bothered! </div>
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This short speech was recommended to me and I highly recommend it to you. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKYJVV7HuZw">This is Water</a> It's a graduation speech given by David Foster Wallace about how to view the dailiness of life. It's very simple and very profound. Take a few minutes to listen with your heart and spirit. </div>
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Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05968771661846546449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758940967164697674.post-62991636511749253852014-01-25T11:19:00.000-08:002014-01-25T11:19:03.899-08:00Making Mistakes for the New Year.<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 20.796875px; margin: 0px 0px 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>From Neil Gaiman. <a href="http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2011/12/my-new-year-wish.html">Neil Gaiman</a></i></span></div>
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<i>A decade ago I wrote..</i></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i>May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget </i></span><strong><span style="font-size: small;"><i>to </i></span></strong><span style="font-size: small;"><i>make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i>And almost half a decade ago, I wrotehttp://journal.neilgaiman.com/2011/12/my-new-year-wish.html</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">.<b>..I hope you will have a wonderful year, that you'll dream dangerously and outrageously, that you'll make something that didn't exist before you made it, that you will be loved and that you will be liked, and that you will have people to love and to like in return. And, most importantly (because I think there should be more kindness and more wisdom in the world right now), that you will, when you need to be, be wise, and that you will always be kind.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br />And for this year, my wish for each of us is small and very simple.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">And it's this.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Whatever it is you're scared of doing, Do it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Make your mistakes, next year and forever.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05968771661846546449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758940967164697674.post-39113096252837372362014-01-18T20:14:00.003-08:002014-01-18T20:14:40.483-08:00The OnionEvery Saturday morning, I get a poetry newsletter from Tweetspeak Poetry. It is one of the highlights of my week...to sit with a cup of coffee and see the poetry and poetry related links that they put in the newsletter.<br />
This morning it was Pablo Neruda's poem- <u>Ode to the Onion.</u><br />
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ODE TO THE ONION</div>
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<i style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">by Pablo Neruda</i></div>
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Onion,</div>
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luminous flask,</div>
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your beauty formed</div>
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petal by petal,</div>
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crystal scales expanded you</div>
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and in the secrecy of the dark earth</div>
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your belly grew round with dew.</div>
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Under the earth</div>
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the miracle</div>
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happened</div>
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and when your clumsy</div>
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green stem appeared,</div>
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and your leaves were born</div>
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like swords</div>
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in the garden,</div>
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the earth heaped up her power</div>
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showing your naked transparency,</div>
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and as the remote sea</div>
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in lifting the breasts of Aphrodite</div>
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duplicating the magnolia,</div>
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so did the earth</div>
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make you,</div>
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onion</div>
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clear as a planet</div>
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and destined</div>
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to shine,</div>
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constant constellation,</div>
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round rose of water,</div>
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upon</div>
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the table</div>
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of the poor.</div>
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<br /></div>
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You make us cry without hurting us.</div>
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I have praised everything that exists,</div>
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but to me, onion, you are</div>
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more beautiful than a bird</div>
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of dazzling feathers,</div>
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heavenly globe, platinum goblet,</div>
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unmoving dance</div>
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of the snowy anemone</div>
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and the fragrance of the earth lives</div>
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in your crystalline nature.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Last summer I stole some onions from out community garden neighbor. I thought they had abandoned their plot so I took two...maybe three. Imagine my surprise when I saw the whole plot harvested a few days later. It really was glorious to pull those onions out of the ground and I know that I'll be planting some this summer. Maybe someone will steal some of mine and I will feel better. Most of my patty pan squash was lifted so I guess all's well that ends well. Or something like that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Anyway, the poem came with a recipe for French onion soup.</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q9Kk3ZSg6zw/UttN9n-ja6I/AAAAAAAAF6o/8vcAX3vPuEQ/s1600/Onions+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q9Kk3ZSg6zw/UttN9n-ja6I/AAAAAAAAF6o/8vcAX3vPuEQ/s1600/Onions+1.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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So I made some in our wok. I need to look for a cast iron skillet at the thrift stores. </div>
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Here is the recipe from Tweetspeak.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="recipe-header" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="recipe-header-information" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px;">
<ul class="recipe-header-name" style="border: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 23px !important; padding: 0px !important;">
<li class="recipe-information-name" itemprop="name" style="background-image: none !important; background-position: initial initial !important; background-repeat: initial initial !important; border: 0px; font-size: 1.4em !important; font-weight: bold; list-style: none !important; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 15px; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; padding: 3px 0px;">French Onion Soup</li>
<li class="recipe-information-description" itemprop="description" style="background-image: none !important; background-position: initial initial !important; background-repeat: initial initial !important; border: 0px; list-style: none !important; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 15px; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; padding: 3px 0px;">An old recipe from the Roman era, this French Onion soup goes well with cold days and Pablo Neruda's "Ode to the Onion."</li>
</ul>
<ul style="border: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 23px !important; padding: 0px !important;"></ul>
<table class="recipe-header-extra" style="-webkit-box-shadow: none !important; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px !important; border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; color: rgb(68, 68, 68) !important; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5 !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px; width: 553px;"><thead style="-webkit-box-shadow: none !important; background-image: none !important; border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; line-height: 1.5 !important; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<tr style="-webkit-box-shadow: none !important; background-image: none !important; border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; line-height: 1.5 !important; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><td style="-webkit-box-shadow: none !important; background-image: none; border: 0px; box-shadow: none !important; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5 !important; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Servings</td></tr>
</thead><tbody style="-webkit-box-shadow: none !important; background-image: none !important; border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; line-height: 1.5 !important; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<tr style="-webkit-box-shadow: none !important; background-image: none !important; border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; line-height: 1.5 !important; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><td itemprop="recipeYield" style="-webkit-box-shadow: none !important; background-image: none; border: 0px; box-shadow: none !important; line-height: 1.5 !important; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span class="recipe-information-servings" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">4</span><span class="recipe-information-servings-type" style="border: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102) !important; font-size: 0.9em !important; font-variant: small-caps; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 5px !important; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
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</div>
<h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #1d1d1d; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 24px; margin: 20px 0px 12px !important; padding: 0px;">
Ingredients</h3>
<ul class="recipe-ingredients" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 23px 5px !important; padding: 0px !important;">
<li itemprop="ingredients" style="background-image: none !important; background-position: initial initial !important; background-repeat: initial initial !important; border: 0px; list-style: square !important; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 15px; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; padding: 3px 0px;"><span class="recipe-ingredient-quantity-unit" style="border: 0px; display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 100px;"><span class="recipe-ingredient-quantity" data-original="3" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">3</span><span class="recipe-ingredient-unit" style="border: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102) !important; font-size: 0.9em !important; margin: 0px 0px 0px 3px; padding: 0px;">tbsp</span></span><span class="recipe-ingredient-name" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/ingredient/unsalted-butter/" style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">unsalted butter</a></span></li>
<li itemprop="ingredients" style="background-image: none !important; background-position: initial initial !important; background-repeat: initial initial !important; border: 0px; list-style: square !important; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 15px; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; padding: 3px 0px;"><span class="recipe-ingredient-quantity-unit" style="border: 0px; display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 100px;"><span class="recipe-ingredient-quantity" data-original="3" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">3</span><span class="recipe-ingredient-unit" style="border: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102) !important; font-size: 0.9em !important; margin: 0px 0px 0px 3px; padding: 0px;">tbsp</span></span><span class="recipe-ingredient-name" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/ingredient/extra-virgin-olive-oil/" style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">extra virgin olive oil</a></span></li>
<li itemprop="ingredients" style="background-image: none !important; background-position: initial initial !important; background-repeat: initial initial !important; border: 0px; list-style: square !important; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 15px; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; padding: 3px 0px;"><span class="recipe-ingredient-quantity-unit" style="border: 0px; display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 100px;"><span class="recipe-ingredient-quantity" data-original="3" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">3</span><span class="recipe-ingredient-unit" style="border: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102) !important; font-size: 0.9em !important; margin: 0px 0px 0px 3px; padding: 0px;">pounds</span></span><span class="recipe-ingredient-name" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/ingredient/thinly-sliced-brown-onions-4-5/" style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">thinly sliced brown onions (4-5)</a></span></li>
<li itemprop="ingredients" style="background-image: none !important; background-position: initial initial !important; background-repeat: initial initial !important; border: 0px; list-style: square !important; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 15px; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; padding: 3px 0px;"><span class="recipe-ingredient-quantity-unit" style="border: 0px; display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 100px;"><span class="recipe-ingredient-quantity" data-original="2" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">2</span><span class="recipe-ingredient-unit" style="border: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102) !important; font-size: 0.9em !important; margin: 0px 0px 0px 3px; padding: 0px;">tsp</span></span><span class="recipe-ingredient-name" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">salt & freshly cracked pepper</span></li>
<li itemprop="ingredients" style="background-image: none !important; background-position: initial initial !important; background-repeat: initial initial !important; border: 0px; list-style: square !important; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 15px; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; padding: 3px 0px;"><span class="recipe-ingredient-quantity-unit" style="border: 0px; display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 100px;"><span class="recipe-ingredient-quantity" data-original="1" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">1</span><span class="recipe-ingredient-unit" style="border: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102) !important; font-size: 0.9em !important; margin: 0px 0px 0px 3px; padding: 0px;"></span></span><span class="recipe-ingredient-name" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/ingredient/bay-leaf/" style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">bay leaf</a></span></li>
<li itemprop="ingredients" style="background-image: none !important; background-position: initial initial !important; background-repeat: initial initial !important; border: 0px; list-style: square !important; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 15px; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; padding: 3px 0px;"><span class="recipe-ingredient-quantity-unit" style="border: 0px; display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 100px;"><span class="recipe-ingredient-quantity" data-original="1" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">1</span><span class="recipe-ingredient-unit" style="border: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102) !important; font-size: 0.9em !important; margin: 0px 0px 0px 3px; padding: 0px;">tbsp</span></span><span class="recipe-ingredient-name" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/ingredient/balsamic-vinegar/" style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">balsamic vinegar</a></span></li>
<li itemprop="ingredients" style="background-image: none !important; background-position: initial initial !important; background-repeat: initial initial !important; border: 0px; list-style: square !important; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 15px; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; padding: 3px 0px;"><span class="recipe-ingredient-quantity-unit" style="border: 0px; display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 100px;"><span class="recipe-ingredient-quantity" data-original="2" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">2</span><span class="recipe-ingredient-unit" style="border: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102) !important; font-size: 0.9em !important; margin: 0px 0px 0px 3px; padding: 0px;">sprigs</span></span><span class="recipe-ingredient-name" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/ingredient/thyme-leaves-removed/" style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">thyme, leaves removed</a></span></li>
<li itemprop="ingredients" style="background-image: none !important; background-position: initial initial !important; background-repeat: initial initial !important; border: 0px; list-style: square !important; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 15px; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; padding: 3px 0px;"><span class="recipe-ingredient-quantity-unit" style="border: 0px; display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 100px;"><span class="recipe-ingredient-quantity" data-original="4" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">4</span><span class="recipe-ingredient-unit" style="border: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102) !important; font-size: 0.9em !important; margin: 0px 0px 0px 3px; padding: 0px;">cups</span></span><span class="recipe-ingredient-name" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/ingredient/vegetable-stock/" style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">vegetable stock</a></span></li>
<li itemprop="ingredients" style="background-image: none !important; background-position: initial initial !important; background-repeat: initial initial !important; border: 0px; list-style: square !important; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 15px; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; padding: 3px 0px;"><span class="recipe-ingredient-quantity-unit" style="border: 0px; display: inline-block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 100px;"><span class="recipe-ingredient-quantity" data-original="4" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">4</span><span class="recipe-ingredient-unit" style="border: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102) !important; font-size: 0.9em !important; margin: 0px 0px 0px 3px; padding: 0px;">oz</span></span><span class="recipe-ingredient-name" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/ingredient/gruyere-grated/" style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Gruyere, grated</a></span></li>
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Instructions</h3>
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<li itemprop="recipeInstructions" style="background-image: none !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; list-style: decimal; margin: 0px 0px 10px !important; padding-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px;"><span class="recipe-instruction" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Bring a large cast iron pot to the stove and melt the butter and oil over medium heat. Add the onions and stir well to coat. Season with 2 teaspoons salt and a few turns of freshly cracked pepper. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the onions have softened and a few strands are just beginning to turn golden.</span></li>
<li itemprop="recipeInstructions" style="background-image: none !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; list-style: decimal; margin: 0px 0px 10px !important; padding-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px;"><span class="recipe-instruction" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Reduce the heat to medium low. Toss in the bay leaf, cover, and cook for 30 to 40 minutes more. I like to check my onions at 20 minutes, just to be sure they’re not sticking to the bottom of the pan. For the remaining 10 to 20 minutes, come back occasionally to give the pot a stir. If your onions still aren’t done, be patient and give them more time. They’re done when the onions have become an almost creamy mound in the bottom of your pot. They will be slightly golden, but don’t need to be dark brown.</span></li>
<li itemprop="recipeInstructions" style="background-image: none !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; list-style: decimal; margin: 0px 0px 10px !important; padding-bottom: 10px !important; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px;"><span class="recipe-instruction" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Before moving on, heat your oven to 450 degrees and set out soup bowls on a sturdy baking sheet. Add the balsamic vinegar, thyme, and vegetable stock. It’s important that you taste the soup now and adjust the seasonings until it tastes just right to you. Simmer for 10 minutes more.</span></li>
<li itemprop="recipeInstructions" style="background-image: none !important; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; list-style: decimal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px !important; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; padding: 3px 0px 0px;"><span class="recipe-instruction" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Ladle the soup into bowls and top with three slices of bread and a mound of cheese. Bake for 10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and brown in spots.</span></li>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">It took about 2 and a half hours to cook this and it was delicious. I used smoked Gruyere to add to the taste and I used just regular thyme from a jar.</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pzjJvJTpgVE/UttOm6g2VlI/AAAAAAAAF6w/Pb_vhmlA5HM/s1600/onion+soup.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pzjJvJTpgVE/UttOm6g2VlI/AAAAAAAAF6w/Pb_vhmlA5HM/s1600/onion+soup.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
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I've had that ceramic serving bowl since before I was married. My mother bought it for me at a pottery store in downtown Palo Alto. It used to have a lid and matching bowls but they have gone the cracked way of pottery. It's still my favorite serving bowl.</div>
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We ate it with a lettuce, red onion, grape tomato, almond and goat cheese salad.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H9_uo_-oPB0/UttPHQizcdI/AAAAAAAAF64/dHmoLVohn4A/s1600/Onion+salad.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H9_uo_-oPB0/UttPHQizcdI/AAAAAAAAF64/dHmoLVohn4A/s1600/Onion+salad.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
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I think that anything goes better with a little goat cheese.</div>
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In Robert Farrar Capon's book The Supper of the Lamb: A Reflection, he devotes a large section to cutting of onions and reflecting on it's beauty. From the book.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">For somehow, beneath this gorgeous paradigm of unnecessary being, lies the Act by which it exists. You have just now reduced it to its parts, shivered it into echoes, and pressed it to a memory, but you have also caught the hint that a thing is more than the sum of all the insubstantialities that comprise it. Hopefully, you will never again argue that the solidities of the world are mere matters of accident, creatures of air and darkness, temporary and meaningless shapes out of nothing. Perhaps now you have seen at least dimly that the uniquenesses of creation are the result of continuous creative support, of effective regard by no mean lover. He likes onions, therefore they are. The fit, the colors, the smell, the tensions, the tastes, the textures, the likes, the shapes are a response, not to some forgotten decree that there may as well be onions as turnips, but to His present delight - His intimate and immediate joy in all you have seen, and in the thousand other wonders you do not even suspect. With Peter, the onion says, Lord, it is good for us to be here. Yes, says God. Tov, Very good.” </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">― </span><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/91124.Robert_Farrar_Capon" style="background-color: white; color: #666600; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">Robert Farrar Capon</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/151959" style="color: #666600; text-decoration: none;">The Supper of the Lamb: A Culinary Reflection</a></span></i></span></div>
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Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05968771661846546449noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758940967164697674.post-67186687828633151842014-01-05T15:48:00.002-08:002014-01-05T15:48:42.149-08:00Epiphany<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RR-XHi3xm78/UscEfkWC4xI/AAAAAAAAF6Y/8kCq36K-n8k/s1600/Epiphany.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RR-XHi3xm78/UscEfkWC4xI/AAAAAAAAF6Y/8kCq36K-n8k/s320/Epiphany.jpg" height="320" width="248" /></a></div>
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Epiphany by Janet Mackenzie of BridgeBuilding icons.</div>
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The Journey Of The Magi</h1>
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'A cold coming we had of it,<br />
Just the worst time of the year<br />
For a journey, and such a long journey:<br />
The ways deep and the weather sharp,<br />
The very dead of winter.'<br />
And the camels galled, sorefooted, refractory,<br />
Lying down in the melting snow.<br />
There were times we regretted<br />
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,<br />
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.<br />
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling<br />
and running away, and wanting their liquor and women,<br />
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,<br />
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly<br />
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:<br />
A hard time we had of it.<br />
At the end we preferred to travel all night,<br />
Sleeping in snatches,<br />
With the voices singing in our ears, saying<br />
That this was all folly.<br />
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Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,<br />
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;<br />
With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness,<br />
And three trees on the low sky,<br />
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.<br />
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,<br />
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,<br />
And feet kiking the empty wine-skins.<br />
But there was no information, and so we continued<br />
And arriving at evening, not a moment too soon<br />
Finding the place; it was (you might say) satisfactory.<br />
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All this was a long time ago, I remember,<br />
And I would do it again, but set down<br />
This set down<br />
This: were we led all that way for<br />
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly<br />
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,<br />
But had thought they were different; this Birth was<br />
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.<br />
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,<br />
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,<br />
With an alien people clutching their gods.<br />
I should be glad of another death.<br />
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T.S. Eliot<br />
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And for a completely different perspective!<br />
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<span style="background-color: #ffffe5; color: #006600; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 19.953125px;">The Queens Came Late</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #ffffe5; color: #006600; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small; font-weight: bold; line-height: 19.953125px;">The Queens came late, but the Queens were there</span></div>
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With gifts in their hands and crowns in their hair.</div>
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They'd come, these three, like the Kings, from far,</div>
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Following, yes, that guiding star.</div>
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They'd left their ladles, linens, looms,</div>
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Their children playing in nursery rooms,</div>
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And told their sitters:</div>
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"Take charge! For this</div>
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Is a marvelous sight we must not miss!"</div>
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The Queens came late, but not too late</div>
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To see the animals small and great,</div>
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Feathered and furred, domestic and wild,</div>
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Gathered to gaze at a mother and child.</div>
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And rather than frankincense and myrrh</div>
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And gold for the babe, they brought for her</div>
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Who held him, a homespun gown of blue,</div>
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And chicken soup--with noodles, too-</div>
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And a lingering, lasting, cradle-song.</div>
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The Queens came late and stayed not long,</div>
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For their thoughts already were straining far-</div>
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Past manger and mother and guiding star</div>
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And a child aglow as a morning sun-</div>
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Toward home and children and chores undone.</div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 19.953125px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
-Norma Farber in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/When-Snowed-Night-Norma-Farber/dp/0060217073" style="color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: italic;">When It Snowed That Night</span></a></div>
</span></span>Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05968771661846546449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758940967164697674.post-21127752442561283382014-01-01T12:00:00.001-08:002014-01-01T15:18:09.169-08:00A Happy, Holy and Hopeful New Year.We spent our last few days of 2013 at the Oregon Coast. First one day with Elisabeth before I took her back to Seattle Pacific.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9j4L3SZrY5I/UsRwnFHOjCI/AAAAAAAAF54/ltarR5sNhso/s1600/Beach+and+family.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9j4L3SZrY5I/UsRwnFHOjCI/AAAAAAAAF54/ltarR5sNhso/s320/Beach+and+family.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Family Selfie.</div>
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Then Paul and I rented a yurt and went camping for a night</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fqas4p-j5CQ/UsRxA9CqZ2I/AAAAAAAAF6I/0m6GCZQRhOk/s1600/Beach+and+yurt.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fqas4p-j5CQ/UsRxA9CqZ2I/AAAAAAAAF6I/0m6GCZQRhOk/s400/Beach+and+yurt.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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We read, we played scrabble, we ate hobo stew in foil packets and we walked on the beach.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ujv6fNHSwqQ/UsRw4BkwDmI/AAAAAAAAF6A/YErlR_kApOQ/s1600/Beach+and+water.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ujv6fNHSwqQ/UsRw4BkwDmI/AAAAAAAAF6A/YErlR_kApOQ/s400/Beach+and+water.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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It was a lovely and restful time.</div>
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While we were there, I read <u>Telling Secrets </u>by Frederich Buechner. I grabbed this book off the shelf in Powell's Books last week as I have been wanting to read some of Buechner's books. I've seen many quotes of his writing and I knew I needed to read him. I can not recommend this book highly enough and I will be looking for more of his writing. His life is very deep and he has important things to say. Here is the central them of the book.</div>
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<b><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">“I have come to believe that by and large the human family all has the same secrets, which are both very telling and very important to tell. They are telling in the sense that they tell what is perhaps the central paradox of our condition—that what we hunger for perhaps more than anything else is to be known in our full humanness, and yet that is often just what we also fear more than anything else. It is important to tell at least from time to time the secret of who we truly and fully are—even if we tell it only to ourselves—because otherwise we run the risk of losing track of who we truly and fully are and little by little come to accept instead the highly edited version which we put forth in hope that the world will find it more acceptable than the real thing. It is important to tell our secrets too because it makes it easier that way to see where we have been in our lives and where we are going. It also makes it easier for other people to tell us a secret or two of their own, and exchanges like that have a lot to do with what being a family is all about and what being human is all about.” </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">― </span><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19982.Frederick_Buechner" style="background-color: white; color: #666600; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">Frederick Buechner</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/118704" style="color: #666600; text-decoration: none;">Telling Secrets</a></span></i></b></div>
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I've come across this other quote by him twice in the last 24 hours and I try to pay attention when that happens.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25px; text-align: start;"><i><b>There is no event so commonplace but that God is present within it, always hiddenly, always leaving you room to recognize him or not to recognize him…Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery it is. In the boredom and pain of it, no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it, because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace."</b></i></span></div>
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<i><b>– Frederick Buechner, <span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Listening to Your Life</span></b></i></div>
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I started off the New Year by listening to Wendell Berry read his poem about hope. </div>
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j_r4jb9AYw">Wendell Berry on Hope</a></div>
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The text is below. It's well worth the time to hear him read.</div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 18pt;">It is hard to have hope. It is harder as you grow old,</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;">For hope must not depend on feeling good<br />And there is the dream of loneliness at absolute midnight.<br />You also have withdrawn belief in the present reality<br />Of the future, which surely will surprise us,<br />…And hope is harder when it cannot come by prediction<br />Any more than by wishing. But stop dithering.<br />The young ask the old to hope. What will you tell them?<br />Tell them at least what you say to yourself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;">Because we have not made our lives to fit<br />Our places, the forests are ruined, the fields eroded,<br />The streams polluted, the mountains overturned. Hope<br />Then to belong to your place by your own knowledge<br />Of what it is that no other place is, and by<br />Your caring for it as you care for no other place, this<br />Place that you belong to though it is not yours,<br />For it was from the beginning and will be to the end<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;">Belong to your place by knowledge of the others who are<br />Your neighbors in it: the old man, sick and poor,<br />Who comes like a heron to fish in the creek,<br />And the fish in the creek, and the heron who manlike<br />Fishes for the fish in the creek, and the birds who sing<br />In the trees in the silence of the fisherman<br />And the heron, and the trees that keep the land<br />They stand upon as we too must keep it, or die.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;">This knowledge cannot be taken from you by power<br />Or by wealth. It will stop your ears to the powerful<br />when they ask for your faith, and to the wealthy<br />when they ask for your land and your work.<br />Answer with knowledge of the others who are here<br />And how to be here with them. By this knowledge<br />Make the sense you need to make. By it stand<br />In the dignity of good sense, whatever may follow.<br />Speak to your fellow humans as your place<br />Has taught you to speak, as it has spoken to you.<br />Speak its dialect as your old compatriots spoke it<br />Before they had heard a radio. Speak<br />Publicly what cannot be taught or learned in public.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;">Listen privately, silently to the voices that rise up<br />From the pages of books and from your own heart.<br />Be still and listen to the voices that belong<br />To the streambanks and the trees and the open fields.<br />There are songs and sayings that belong to this place,<br />By which it speaks for itself and no other.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;">Found your hope, then, on the ground under your feet.<br />Your hope of Heaven, let it rest on the ground<br />Underfoot. Be it lighted by the light that falls<br />Freely upon it after the darkness of the nights<br />And the darkness of our ignorance and madness.<br />Let it be lighted also by the light that is within you,<br />Which is the light of imagination. By it you see<br />The likeness of people in other places to yourself<br />In your place. It lights invariably the need for care<br />Toward other people, other creatures, in other places<br />As you would ask them for care toward your place and you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;">No place at last is better than the world. The world<br />Is no better than its places. Its places at last<br />Are no better than their people while their people<br />Continue in them. When the people make<br />Dark the light within them, the world darkens.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;">-Wendell Berry</span></div>
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Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05968771661846546449noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758940967164697674.post-80151599459485180942013-12-27T11:40:00.001-08:002013-12-27T11:40:09.231-08:00The Light has come.<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">T<b>urn around and believe that the good news that we are loved is better than we ever dared hope, and that to believe in that good news, to live out of it and toward it, to be in love with that good news, is of all glad things in this world the gladdest thing of all. Amen, and come Lord Jesus.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-Frederick Buechner</span><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b></span></div>
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The winter solstice has come and so has Christmas. God speaks in creation as the days get longer. Winter is usually a productive time for me. I have great energy for knitting and reading and planning. Sometimes I think that I love Advent more than Christmas- that sense of anticipation and planning.</div>
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I've been thinking a lot about light and found this on the blog <a href="http://livingpalm.blogspot.com/">This Sacramental Life</a> Check out the pictures and the video at the bottom- they are exquisite.</div>
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<a href="http://www.brucemunro.co.uk/installations/light-shower/">Light Shower</a> </div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ciframe%20src=%22//player.vimeo.com/video/35000000%22%20width=%22500%22%20height=%22281%22%20frameborder=%220%22%20webkitallowfullscreen%20mozallowfullscreen%20allowfullscreen%3E%3C/iframe%3E%20%3Cp%3E%3Ca%20href=%22http://vimeo.com/35000000%22%3EBruce%20Munro%20Light%20Shower%3C/a%3E%20from%20%3Ca%20href=%22http://vimeo.com/brucemunro%22%3EBruce%20Munro%3C/a%3E%20on%20%3Ca%20href=%22https://vimeo.com%22%3EVimeo%3C/a%3E.%3C/p%3E">Light</a></div>
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This poem came to me through the Tumbler Blog LitVerve. I love Christian Wiman's thought and poetry and these images of light and dark moved me.</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hard Night</span></span></div>
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What words or harder gift</div>
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does the light require of me</div>
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carving from the dark</div>
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this difficult tree?</div>
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What place or farther peace</div>
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do I almost see</div>
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emerging from the night</div>
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and heart of me?</div>
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The sky whitens, goes on and on.</div>
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Fields wrinkle into rows</div>
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of cotton, go on and on.</div>
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Night like a fling of crows</div>
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disperses and is gone.</div>
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What song, what home,</div>
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what calm or one clarity</div>
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can I not quite come to,</div>
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never quite see:</div>
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this field, this sky, this tree.</div>
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– Christian Wiman, “Hard Night”</div>
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More on Christian Wiman? Check out this link. <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2013/10/25/october-25-2013-poet-christian-wiman/20803/">Christian Wiman</a></div>
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I also loved this poem as books are my friends and calm me into thought and silence.<br />
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<span style="color: dimgrey; font-family: inherit; font-size: small; line-height: 18px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #999999; text-transform: uppercase;">ZWIJGEN</span><br />I slept before a wall of books and they<br />calmed everything in the room, even<br />their contents, even me, woken<br />by the cold and thrill, and <i style="background-color: transparent; color: #999999;">still</i><br />they said, like the Dutch verb for falling<br />silent that English has no accommodation for<br />in the attics and rafters of its intimacies.<br /><span style="color: #666666;"> - Saskia Hamilton</span></span><br />
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Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05968771661846546449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758940967164697674.post-19364640387580959522013-12-19T16:12:00.001-08:002013-12-19T21:17:00.223-08:00Advent Musings.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Also this by Joanna Winter. Can be purchased at <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/MessyLabStudio">Messy Lab studio</a></div>
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I saw this picture on this fantastic blog <a href="http://livingpalm.blogspot.com/">This Sacramental Life</a></div>
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Annunciation by John Collier</div>
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from this <a href="http://www.hillstream.com/annunciation.html">source</a></div>
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It gave me a new understanding of Mary.</div>
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I read this poem by Malcolm Guite</div>
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<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: inherit;"><i style="line-height: inherit;">O Sapientia</i></b></address>
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I cannot think unless I have been thought,</div>
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Nor can I speak unless I have been spoken.</div>
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I cannot teach except as I am taught,</div>
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Or break the bread except as I am broken.</div>
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O Mind behind the mind through which I seek,</div>
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O Light within the light by which I see,</div>
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O Word beneath the words with which I speak,</div>
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O founding, unfound Wisdom, finding me,</div>
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O sounding Song whose depth is sounding me,</div>
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O Memory of time, reminding me,</div>
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My Ground of Being, always grounding me,</div>
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My Maker’s Bounding Line, defining me,</div>
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Come, hidden Wisdom, come with all you bring,</div>
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Come to me now, disguised as everything.</div>
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<a href="http://malcolmguite.wordpress.com/">Source</a></div>
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Google Malcolm Guite - you'll be glad you did. Priest, poet and rock and roll player.</div>
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On less ethereal matters, Elisabeth is home for Christmas and we are glad. She has a new job in Seattle taking pizza orders at Zeke's. The Philippines is still very much on her heart and mind. Three young men from Alabama stayed the night last night while on their layover to the Philippines. She met them in Manila last summer. I do love a little bit of "Ma'am" every once and a while.</div>
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I'll be changing jobs (again) in the New Year. My adjunct job at George Fox is over for now- no classes for me to teach in the Spring. I'll be working as a para-educator with ESL students in an elementary school that is 30% ESL students ( called ELL's at the elementary level). I've sat through a few trainings and met the women I will work with and I think it will be a good fit for me. I'll be working with 4th and 5th graders.</div>
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Our foster son was officially adopted and is now with his forever family in the US. This brings me such great peace. He seems to be doing well and we are thankful for that.<br />
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Christmas should be nice and quiet. We will try to head over to the coast the day before or the day after Christmas. We will open gifts and have a traditional Christmas brunch with the three of us and then head to the movies in the afternoon.<br />
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Merry Christmas to all.</div>
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<br />Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05968771661846546449noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758940967164697674.post-57603534425767666942013-12-10T15:05:00.001-08:002013-12-10T15:05:55.616-08:00Watching and Waiting- A Few Random Thoughts.I've seen this video on several sites and it's definitely worth watching.<br />
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Xu Bing and the Phoenix.</div>
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The reality of the lives of migrants workers in China is grim. For this man to see, truly see them is amazing. We had many migrant workers in our city in China and their living conditions were terrible. </div>
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John Blase at the Beautiful Due <a href="http://thebeautifuldue.wordpress.com/author/thebeautifuldue/">The Beautiful Due</a> and Winn Collier at <a href="http://winncollier.com/">http://winncollier.com/</a> are doing parallel posts on Advent. Really beautiful.</div>
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I saw a post on Pinterest for black bean fudge- sugar free, gluten free and dairy free. That isn't hard to say no to at all. Yuck. What's the point?</div>
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The other day I got an e-mail from a student that said he couldn't come to class because he was "suck and tried." Aren't we all?</div>
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Another student apologized for not coming to class by saying "I am sorry for you." It's so rare that someone is sorry for me that I accepted the apology.</div>
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We actually had some snow here. Not much but enough to make the roads slippery. I couldn't get on the highway to get to work, because there was an accident that completely blocked the way. So I had a Snow Day. What is it about an unexpected day off that makes it feel like a week off? It was lovely.</div>
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I am reading <u>Return to Our Senses: Re-imagining How We Pray</u> by Christine Sine. It's a lovely book that is causing me to go deeper into prayer in so many ways. It's a mix between traditional and contemplative practices and it's so beautifully written. It's available on Amazon and also the Mustard Seed Associates website. </div>
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<br />Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05968771661846546449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758940967164697674.post-87831256617983214232013-12-07T16:10:00.001-08:002013-12-07T16:10:35.048-08:00Advent<address id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1386431470054_2342" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
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Adeste</address>
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<span id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1386431470054_2341">Come all ye fickle, weary and worn.</span></address>
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<span id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1386431470054_2332">O come let us adore him like the </span>O damn fools</address>
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<span id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1386431470054_2329">we are hanging on if by a thread to the tale</span></address>
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<span id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1386431470054_2327">of a girl and the god and the baby they sang</span></address>
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<span id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1386431470054_2339">into the whole dear world.</span></address>
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~</address>
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<span id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1386431470054_2336">O come all ye citizens of this turning scorn.</span></address>
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<span id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1386431470054_2334">O come let us sing though our eyes are tired</span></address>
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<span id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1386431470054_2346">of looking for his salvation. Let us raise our</span></address>
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<span id="yui_3_13_0_ym1_1_1386431470054_2350">voices of that happy morn and groan him</span></address>
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into the world one more time.</address>
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John Blase posted at The Beautiful Due.</address>
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<span style="font-style: normal;">In this season of hoping and waiting, I light the Advent candles each morning.</span></address>
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One each week as we get closer and closer to the incarnation. At a recent Advent retreat, lead by Christine Sine, we talked about the three comings of Jesus. The first is in the flesh as a baby-this coming attracts our hearts but doesn't demand much of our soul. The second is the coming presence of God in the resurrection-the question is how are we aware of the presence of God and what part do we want. The third is the longing for the kingdom of God in the Second Coming- what are we longing for and how do our priorities of time, talent, and resources reflect that.</div>
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Our lives are to be a balance and we set priorities of </div>
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Feasting and fasting</div>
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Work and rest</div>
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Solitude and Community</div>
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So our bare tree</div>
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becomes this tree</div>
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as we celebrate the coming of Jesus.</div>
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During this half day retreat, we also talked about Practices of Restoration and Practices of Transformation. Our practices of restoration remind us of who we are in our faith community and identity- going to church or Mass, prayer, communion, Scripture reading. At Christmas, the symbols of the tree, the Advent wreath, Nativity sets all remind us of of who we are. Most practices of Restoration are highly structured and provide a certain measure of order and predictability. </div>
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Practices of transformation are more risky. They are meant to transform us at our core and to give us a sense of God's eternal kingdom. These practices have a high degree of creativity and unpredictability. We have to choose them for ourselves....how do we really want to be transformed? The practice may be a practice of silence, going deeper to hear the voice of God. It may be working on a project or with a person who is unfamiliar or uncomfortable. Whatever it is, it is designed to change us, to make us new and different.</div>
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Recently a little sparrow came and looked inside our glass sliding door.</div>
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It had snowed the day before and was very, very cold. I put sunflowers on the patio and he hopped up and looked inside for quite a while. Yet bringing him inside would mean certain stress and maybe even death. Birds are designed to be outside in the cold-they fluff up their feathers and sit close together. What seemed like a safe place for him to be (inside and warm) was the most dangerous for his life. </div>
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That is what a practice of transformation does for us- it puts us where we are meant to be.</div>
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Our little foster son is with his family now. There is such a sense of peace, knowing that he is safe and whole and loved. We have been in this waiting season for so long now. What a joy that his journey to his family is finished...and also just beginning.</div>
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Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05968771661846546449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758940967164697674.post-87487220508341401722013-11-02T16:04:00.001-07:002013-11-02T16:04:29.517-07:00From Love to Love to Love.More than two years ago, our sweet little foster son came into our lives and today he turns four. He came into our life for one night and ended up staying for two years. This month, he will finally join his forever family. He has been loved and will be loved. We are so thankful.<br />
We will never forget the night he came- skinny and scared and hungry. He was so weak he couldn't suck on a bottle but we pressed on until he drank a little formula. We put him down to sleep on some piled blankets and when we woke up two hours late to feed him again, his bright little eyes were looking around the room. What could he have been thinking or feeling?<br />
I picked him up that night and and looked at him and said "You will live." And he did. We figured out a feeding plan, cleared up the pneumonia and he began to grow and thrive. He had a sweetness about him that just made my heart melt. He gained the developmental milestones that he should have and all his teeth came in at about the same time. His fun and determined personality came out. He was a treasure.<br />
We were very naive when we got him. We thought we would get him healthy, find him a family and get him home. We thought we would have him for about nine months. We didn't know about the governmental resistance to allowing children with Down Syndrome to be adopted. We planned and we schemed and we prayed. Each time we took him to the orphanage for vaccinations, we would dress him up in his cutest clothes. We would bring books and toys to show them what he could do. One of the nurses told us that she had never seen a special needs child look at a book. We wanted the people there to see him as a person- a little boy who needed a family. On one of our last visits there, several people came into the room to look at him. Soon after that, we got the text that changed everything. The text that said to look at our e-mail when we got home, that the orphanage had said yes to doing the adoption paperwork. I will never, forget that moment when we knew that our sweet little guy had a future. It's one of the top moments of my life.<br />
So this month, he will be joining his forever family. A family where he will have brothers and sisters and grandparents! Amazing. Since we left China, he has been staying with his wonderful, fierce ayi. She helped us take care of him when we were in China and she is such a major part of his growth. She and her husband have stepped outside of cultural norms and invested and loved in a child with Down Syndrome who was not a blood relative. She taught him how to stand by leaning him against a wall so that he would get the idea. She read books to him. She took him out in public and let him make friends with kids in the neighborhood. She has sent us pictures and videos in the year and a half since we left China. She has loved him with a strong and sacrificial love. May she and her family be blessed.<br />
Thank you to Dr. E and Dr. GJ who found him in the orphanage and convinced them to let him go into foster care. Thank you to Dr. Eva and Dr. Katherine who worked out a feeding plan and came over to check on him every time I called. Thank you to Dr. Nancy, the tiny Taiwanese doctor who read the hospital the riot act when our little guy needed oxygen. To HM who kept asking the orphanage if he could be adopted. Thank you to Pam, speech therapist above no other who helped us to strengthen his swallowing. Thank you to Gillian, who helped so much with our understanding of Down Syndrome. Thank you to Julie G. who also helped us with physical therapy resources. Thank you to Maggi for sending over beautiful clothes for our handsome guy. Thank you all who helped him.<br />
Thank you to Elisabeth for welcoming a little brother into our family and letting it change your life. Thank you Christa and Jason and Peggy for all that you have done to help this little guy.<br />
Thank you, Lynn and John for sending out the letter that found his forever family. To his forever family...we have only met by e-mail and SKYPE but we love you and pray for you. Thank you for taking a risk and adding a special needs little one to your family. We have no doubts that you are the perfect family for him and we are so thankful you were willing to take on the mountains of paperwork and expenses that it takes for international adoption. We will always love him with a deep love but we are so glad he will be a part of your family.<br />
Every year on our foster son's birthday, I think about his birth parents and I wonder if they are thinking about him. We do not know the complicated circumstances that made them abandon him in a hospital. But I hope they are thinking about him today. All though I know they will never read this, I want them to know what all birth parents want for their children- that he is loved and he is safe.<br />
To our sweet little guy, the next part of your life may be difficult as you leave all that you know to enter your whole new life. But it will be worth it because you are worth it. We love you and will never forget you. You are always a part of our heart.<br />
Hagar wandering in the wilderness called God "The God who sees" (Genesis 16:13). We are so thankful that the God Who Sees saw this little one. Selah.<br />
<br />Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05968771661846546449noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758940967164697674.post-47109085586330832652013-08-27T19:21:00.002-07:002013-08-27T19:21:49.160-07:00Things of Great Beauty.The Landfill Orchestra. Oh, my. Children in extreme poverty with instruments made from items in the dump.<br />
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People reading around the world. Never, ever underestimate the power of the written word.<br />
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Music for Vespers: from WNYC<br />
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My lovely friends who were roommates during college. Beautiful on the inside and out.</div>
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My husband's house during college years. It's still standing more than 30 years later.</div>
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Some of the sunflowers in our garden. They are full of bees!</div>
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Part of the harvest of our garden. From this we got soup, zucchini bread, frozen beans and more.</div>
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A sweet little baby happy. I love simple knitting with beautiful yarn.</div>
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Best of all-my beautiful daughter is coming home this weekend after an amazing summer in the Philippines.</div>
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<br />Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05968771661846546449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758940967164697674.post-61693747611074238252013-08-11T19:59:00.003-07:002013-08-11T20:02:48.346-07:00The act of creation.It's hard to describe how happy our little garden plot makes me. We are all ready planning for next year, thinking what else we could plant and how we could plan better and get more out of our 20X20 plot.<br />
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I am thrilled to see these sunflowers coming out!</div>
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We have two bean tents that have vines that have cross-over. The purple beans actually belong to the other bean tent. The scarlet runner beans are the green ones. The purple beans are only purple until they are cooked...then they turn green! Either way, they are lovely.</div>
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The yellow cherry tomatoes are the first ones to have color.</div>
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This pepper came from this plant. I'll dice it and freeze it for the winter....there are plenty more on the vine. I am hoping for serendipitous timing on hot banana peppers, tomatoes, and bell peppers so that I can make salsa.</div>
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Behind the pepper are two huge zucchini. Plenty more are coming. I bought disposable loaf pans today so I can make and freeze zucchini bread. </div>
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Dave Harrity in Making Manifest says to remember that what you create is something close to holy. That is what I feel in our garden as I see things grow and become beautiful. I feel a tremendous sense of peace and yes, holiness as I watch this process. It's amazing.</div>
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<i style="background-color: white; color: #6f614d; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.890625px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A seed only flourishes by staying in the ground in which it is sown. When you keep digging the seed up to check whether it is growing, it will never bear fruit. Think about yourself as a little seed planted in rich soil. All you have to do is stay there and trust that the soil contains everything you need to grow. This growth takes place even when you don’t feel it. Be quiet, acknowledge your powerlessness, and have faith that one day you will know how much you have received.</span></i><br />
<i style="background-color: white; color: #6f614d; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.890625px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Henry Nouwen</span></i><br />
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<br />Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05968771661846546449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758940967164697674.post-29920420701425776002013-08-05T17:42:00.001-07:002013-08-05T17:51:35.423-07:00A Midsummer's Day in the Pacific NorthWest.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Paul and I rarely get a free weekend. Since he is a pastor, Sundays are his main gig! We both work during the week so there aren't many free days to just go out and see things. We live in such a beautiful part of the country that we try to take advantage of any chance we can do go out.<br />
This Saturday was a free day. Paul didn't have to preach on Sunday, I didn't have (much) grading to do so we headed out as soon as we could.<br />
But first we had to clean the house. Then we went out to get a new compost bin. I cringe every time I toss a used coffee filter, knowing that it could transformed into compost and help our garden next year.<br />
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Buying this compost bin is part of my master plan to get Paul to agree to move to a more semi-rural part of our city and let me garden and keep bees.</div>
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We drove up to Moulton Falls and and Lucia Falls. Clear, clean, cold water. Salmon and steelhead spawn here. This is about 30 minutes from our house.</div>
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We saw this beautiful garter snake eating tadpoles.</div>
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We stopped by a blueberry farm to pick 14 pounds of blueberries. How long does it take to pick that much? About 15 minutes. We also stopped by a road side stand and bought fresh sweet corn. Perfect for a summer dinner.</div>
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One bowl before freezing. Cost? $1.00 a pound.</div>
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I stopped by our garden on the way home to water and found this cucumber ready to eat. There is nothing like fresh food from your own garden.</div>
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The sunflowers are starting to really come out.</div>
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It was a good day, a joyful day, one that I am glad we had.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">So, friends, every day do something that won't compute...Give your approval to all you cannot understand...Ask the questions that have no answers. Put your faith in two inches of humus that will build under the trees every thousand years...Laugh. Be joyful though you have considered all the facts....Practice resurrection.” </span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">― </span><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8567.Wendell_Berry" style="background-color: white; color: #666600; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">Wendell Berry</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">, </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/220172" style="color: #666600; text-decoration: none;">The Country of Marriage</a></i><br />
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<br />Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05968771661846546449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758940967164697674.post-21229821275228391452013-07-12T19:28:00.001-07:002013-07-12T19:28:58.384-07:00A few things that I like.This article from Wendell Berry's daughter.<a href="http://www.ediblecommunities.com/louisville/may-june-2013/wendell-and-me.htm">Wendell and Me</a> My favorite line from the article -<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><i>I was asked once what it was like to be a Berry child. I answered that it was fine except for the constant humiliation. I believe that I went along with my father’s plans for us very agreeably until I was 12 or 13, the age when I think many children realize that their parents need guidance.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px;">She also wrote about her mother.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><i><a href="http://www.ediblecommunities.com/louisville/may-june-2011/my-mothers-agrarian-making-of-a-home.htm">My Mother's Agrarian Making of a Home.</a></i></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Don't know who Wendell Berry is? Here is one of my favorite poems of his.</span><br />
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When despair for the world grows in me</div>
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and I wake in the night at the least sound</div>
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in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,</div>
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I go and lie down where the wood drake</div>
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rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.</div>
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I come into the peace of wild things</div>
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who do not tax their lives with forethought</div>
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of grief. I come into the presence of still water.</div>
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And I feel above me the day-blind stars</div>
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waiting with their light. For a time</div>
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I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.</div>
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Other things that I have liked.</div>
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Call the Midwife: Just over the top wonderful. The positive portrayal of religious life in community- I love it.</div>
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Louise Penney's Inspector Gamache. I started with <u>The Beautiful Mystery</u> and now need to go back and start this series at the beginning. Intelligent and interesting mysteries.</div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Celtic-Daily-Prayer-Northumbria-Community/dp/0060013249">Celtic Daily Prayer</a> prayers from the Northumbria Community. I read the Compline Prayers before I go to sleep at night. Just lovely.</div>
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Elizabeth Goudge. I know I am late to the game with this author but I just read <u>The Scent of Water </u> and really liked it. Her books show her faith and are very delicate. They aren't for everyone but I really enjoyed this book. I'd like to read more.</div>
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Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05968771661846546449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758940967164697674.post-31235075655397826422013-07-11T16:58:00.000-07:002013-07-11T16:58:04.249-07:00One Year In.It's been a year since we've been back in the US. I've kind of lost my blogging voice. In my other blog (that is now shut down), there was always so much to say. China, language learning, culture, our sweet foster son, the international school, Bible studies that were held in our home.<br />
Now we are back in the US and have a new and different life. We have had many changes- our daughter has gone off to college, we left our beloved foster son in China where he is awaiting adoption, we live in a part of the country that is new to us. None of the changes have been easy for us. It's been good...but it's been very hard. There is has much to process but the processing has been very internal.<br />
I came back from China thinking that it would be easy to find a new ESL job. I thought that with an MA TESOL and experience overseas, employers would snap me up. What it didn't know was the ESL is a saturated market in Portland....and there are plenty of people with the same or more experience than I have. So I have a job in a small language school that I like but don't love. The pay is low. It's what I want to do, but not the circumstances or hours that I want. I am thankful but it's hard to be lowest on the totem pole at age 51.<br />
So I haven't been blogging but I've been journaling like crazy. I've used two books to help me reflect.<br />
The first one is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/God-Yard-Spiritual-practice-rest/dp/0984553118">God in the Yard</a> by LL Barkat. This is a great series of quiet reflections as a woman steps out into her yard every day for a year to be still and reflect. I really enjoyed the questions that she asked and the many things she made me think about.<br />
Now I am reading <a href="http://store.seedbed.com/products/making-manifest-by-dave-harrity">Making Manifest</a> by David Harrity. You an buy this much more cheaply at <a href="http://www.heartsandmindsbooks.com/">http://www.heartsandmindsbooks.com/</a> David Harrity is part of this online publication <a href="http://thisisantler.com/">http://thisisantler.com/</a> and I am not quite sure how to describe this book! Here are a few lines from it.<br />
<i>God is making and remaking, creating and revising-in creation, through Incarnation, and into new creation; God is reimagining the whole of this created world. The heart of God began beating in the Incarnation and has pulsed in the world since Creation. The Incarnation. Word made Flesh. God has come; Language has skin, Construction is the ultimate result of our words. Christ, then, is God's ultimate poem, God's ultimate workmanship- poemia in Greek, which is where we also get the English word poem. Poetry is the richest use of our human language: carefully crafted words rendering powerful experience, telling the story of human condition...Our words, designed- fleshed out.</i><br />
The subtitle of this book is "On Faith, Creativity and the Kingdom at Hand." It is part devotional, part creativity work and part poetry writing. It's very challenging to work through.<br />
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What else have we been into? Well, bird watching for one! At and around our feeder we have a flock of goldfinches that comes regularly and maybe two pairs of Grosbeaks. We also have the usual chickadees, varying kinds of sparrows, mourning doves, hummingbirds, rufous towhees, robins, Stellar Jays and more<br />
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Here is a badly shot picture of a kestrel on our fence, hoping to snack on some songbirds.</div>
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We've enjoyed going up the Columbia Gorge and seeing views like this.<br />
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We also have a garden plot across the street from our church. It's been wonderful to get our hands dirty and see the tomatoes and peppers grow and the beans start to crawl up the poles.</div>
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Banana Peppers</div>
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Tomato and Pepper plants with marigolds to keep the bugs away.</div>
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Elisabeth is in the Philippines for the summer, working at Kids International Ministries. Before she left, she gave us this.</div>
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It included her passport, itineraries, contact information and a picture in case she was kidnapped. Very comforting. You can follow her adventures at <a href="http://elbegoes.wordpress.com/">Elbe Goes</a></div>
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So bit -by-bit, we adjust. We think, we pray, we read, we talk. We second guess our every decision and then feel sure we are making good decisions....until we aren't sure. The first year back in country is a year of adjusment...but I think it will take more than a year until we feel sure and centered again.</div>
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<br />Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05968771661846546449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758940967164697674.post-66649587993399731462013-05-12T17:16:00.003-07:002013-05-12T17:16:55.753-07:00What I am seeing these days.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This sculpture outside the Portland Art Museum. It's all language symbols-fantastic.</div>
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Eagle Talon marks in the sand.</div>
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There were five eagles on the edge of the water. They let us come pretty close...but not too close (see talon marks above!)</div>
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This charming little Rufous Towhee and his mate visit us regularly. They are very fun to watch.</div>
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We have a community garden plot this summer across the street from the church.</div>
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Hilltop nursery-family owned and amazing. Can you see the top of Mt. St. Helen's in the distance?</div>
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Flowers on the campus where I work.</div>
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Life is full and busy these days. Elisabeth is getting ready to go to the Philippines this summer. She is blogging at <a href="http://elbegoes.wordpress.com/">http://elbegoes.wordpress.com/</a> about her trip. She will be regularly updating throughout the summer.</div>
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Paul continues to preach and teach at our small Chinese church. I continue to teach ESL at a small program in Portland. Some days are happy and some days are sad. We miss China and our life there. We miss our foster son. We miss our daughter. </div>
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We also have days where we are blown away by the beauty that surrounds us. It's just kind of a mixed bag right now.</div>
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<br />Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05968771661846546449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758940967164697674.post-45771337223045946172013-05-11T14:13:00.003-07:002013-05-11T14:13:41.924-07:00Weaving Silence- a Celtic Prayer<br />
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I Weave a Silence<b> </b></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NwXHmwWG7uo/UD5rSzkz0BI/AAAAAAAAFSg/9Qt5NIkKMWk/s1600/woven+shell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NwXHmwWG7uo/UD5rSzkz0BI/AAAAAAAAFSg/9Qt5NIkKMWk/s1600/woven+shell.jpg" /></a><br />
I weave a silence onto my lips<br />
I weave a silence into my mind,<br />
I weave a silence within my heart.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZKGUv3J-wCQ/UCAugvbq_rI/AAAAAAAAFNU/CGa4VYu3f9E/s1600/200px-Christina_Rossetti_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZKGUv3J-wCQ/UCAugvbq_rI/AAAAAAAAFNU/CGa4VYu3f9E/s1600/200px-Christina_Rossetti_2.jpg" /></a></div>
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I close my ears to distractions,<br />
I close my eyes to attractions<br />
I close my heart to temptations.<br />
Calm me, Lord,<br />
As you calmed the storm,<br />
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Still me, Lord, keep me from harm, <br />
Let all tumult within me cease<br />
Fold me in your peace.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K2CMdEbCjDk/UY6z7GnVqsI/AAAAAAAAFuU/QZTJlx9vSxY/s1600/Winter+Dove.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K2CMdEbCjDk/UY6z7GnVqsI/AAAAAAAAFuU/QZTJlx9vSxY/s1600/Winter+Dove.jpg" /></a> </div>
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Found originally here <a href="http://godspace.wordpress.com/2013/05/11/celtic-spirituality-what-is-the-attraction-2/">http://godspace.wordpress.com/2013/05/11/celtic-spirituality-what-is-the-attraction-2/</a></div>
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Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05968771661846546449noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758940967164697674.post-77317953711699296572013-05-04T15:36:00.001-07:002013-05-04T15:36:37.557-07:00Book Title Poetry.One of my favorite publishing houses is T.S. Poetry Press. They publish a weekly newsletter that comes with all kinds of great prompts, links and writing about poetry. Here is the link to the site. <a href="http://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/">http://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/</a><br />
One of their fun prompts was to gather books that were near you and form the title into a poem. I gathered books off the coffee table and a near bookshelf and made this poem about this last year.<br />
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Otherwise</div>
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Year of Wonders</div>
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God in the Yard</div>
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God in the Dark</div>
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I told my soul to sing</div>
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A Sacrifice of Praise</div>
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Holy Silence</div>
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Benediction.</div>
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That pretty much says it about the last 9 months! God has been with us in this otherwise year of wonders! He has been with us in the yard and in the dark. At times we have had to tell our souls to sing a sacrifice of praise. Holy silence has been essential. Amen.</div>
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I've been enchanted by another book title Poemcrazy. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Poemcrazy-Freeing-Your-Life-Words/dp/0609800981">http://www.amazon.com/Poemcrazy-Freeing-Your-Life-Words/dp/0609800981</a> The writer lives in Chico where I went to college. It's still a place that I love. The author makes writing poetry so accessible. She has great ideas for prompts and word play and so much more. Highly Recommended.</div>
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<br />Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05968771661846546449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758940967164697674.post-64822560526762573522013-03-20T10:31:00.001-07:002013-03-20T10:31:30.626-07:00Truth in Beauty<a href="http://www.thoroughlyalive.com/?p=1636">This made my morning...</a>Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05968771661846546449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2758940967164697674.post-70367013928075598382013-03-08T19:06:00.000-08:002013-03-08T19:06:59.952-08:00International Women's Day...and Poetry.A friend of mine posted this link on her Facebook page and it struck me as very powerful.<br />
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<a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/women/2013/march/have-we-forgotten-power-of-poetry.html?paging=off">The Power of Poetry</a> The article is from Christianity Today.<br />
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Here is the original story from the New York Times.<br />
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<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/magazine/why-afghan-women-risk-death-to-write-poetry.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&">Why Afghan Women Risk Death To Write Poetry</a><br />
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From Deborah Hirt, A Franciscan Intern<br />
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Lord, make me an instrument of peace:</div>
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Bless all women who daily strive to bring peace to their communities, their homes and their hearts. Give them strength to continue to turn swords into plowshares.</div>
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Where there is hatred, let me sow love:</div>
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We pray for all women who face prejudice, inequality and gender disparities. Help us seeand to face the discrimination against women inall the many forms it may take.</div>
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Where there is injury, pardon:</div>
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Comfort all women who suffer from the pain of war, violence, and abuse. Help them to become instruments of their own reconciliation and peace.</div>
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Where there is division, unity:</div>
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Forgive all women and men who let differences breed hate and discrimination. Let your example of valuing all of creation help us to see that we are equal partners in the stewardship of your world.</div>
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Where there is darkness, light; where there is untruth, truth:</div>
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Comfort all women who struggle in the darkness of abuse, poverty, and loneliness. May we stand with them in light to acknowledge their suffering and strive to remove the burdens of shame or embarrassment.</div>
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Where there is doubt, true faith:</div>
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We pray for all women who live in fear of their husbands, fathers, and forces that control their lives. Help them to be empowered to be their true selves through your everlasting love and faith.</div>
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Where there is despair, hope:</div>
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We pray for all women who live in the despair of poverty, violence, trafficking, slavery,and abuse. May the light of your love bring them hope.</div>
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Where there is sadness, new joy:</div>
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Help us to see the strength and goodness in all women and men.<br />Transform our hearts to celebrate the love and grace of all people.<br />And may we be blessed with the courage of St. Clare of Assisi to follow our own path of love for you and all sisters and brothers.</div>
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Sandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05968771661846546449noreply@blogger.com0