A few things that I like.

This article from Wendell Berry's daughter.Wendell and Me  My favorite line from the article -

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.

She also wrote about her mother.
My Mother's Agrarian Making of a Home.

Don't know who Wendell Berry is?  Here is one of my favorite poems of his.

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Other things that I have liked.

Call the Midwife:  Just over the top wonderful.  The positive portrayal of religious life in community- I love it.

Louise Penney's Inspector Gamache.  I started with  The Beautiful Mystery and now need to go back and start this series at the beginning.  Intelligent and interesting mysteries.

Celtic Daily Prayer  prayers from the Northumbria Community.  I read the Compline Prayers before I go to sleep at night.  Just lovely.

Elizabeth Goudge.  I know I am late to the game with this author but I just read The Scent of Water  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.

One 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.
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.
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.
So I haven't been blogging but I've been journaling like crazy.  I've used two books to help me reflect.
The first one is God in the Yard 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.
Now I am reading Making Manifest by David Harrity.  You an buy this much more cheaply at http://www.heartsandmindsbooks.com/  David Harrity is part of this online publication http://thisisantler.com/ and I am not quite sure how to describe this book!  Here are a few lines from it.
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.
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.

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

Here is a badly shot picture of a kestrel on our fence, hoping to snack on some songbirds.

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We've enjoyed going up the Columbia Gorge and seeing views like this.

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.

Banana Peppers

Tomato and Pepper plants with marigolds to keep the bugs away.

Elisabeth is in the Philippines for the summer, working at Kids International Ministries.  Before she left, she gave us this.

It included her passport, itineraries, contact information and a picture in case she was kidnapped.  Very comforting.  You can follow her adventures at Elbe Goes

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.

What I am seeing these days.

This sculpture outside the Portland Art Museum.  It's all language symbols-fantastic.

Eagle Talon marks in the sand.

There were five eagles on the edge of the water.  They let us come pretty close...but not too close (see talon marks above!)

This charming little Rufous Towhee and his mate visit us regularly.  They are very fun to watch.

We have a community garden plot this summer across the street from the church.

Hilltop nursery-family owned and amazing. Can you see the top of Mt. St. Helen's in the distance?

Flowers on the campus where I work.

Life is full and busy these days. Elisabeth is getting ready to go to the Philippines this summer.  She is blogging at http://elbegoes.wordpress.com/ about her trip.  She will be regularly updating throughout the summer.

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.  

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.

Weaving Silence- a Celtic Prayer

I Weave a Silence 

I weave a silence onto my lips
I weave a silence into my mind,
I weave a silence within my heart.

I close my ears to distractions,
I close my eyes to attractions
I close my heart to temptations.
Calm me, Lord,
As you calmed the storm,

Still me, Lord, keep me from harm,  
Let all tumult within me cease
Fold me in your peace.

                                         

Found originally here http://godspace.wordpress.com/2013/05/11/celtic-spirituality-what-is-the-attraction-2/

Book 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. http://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/
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.

Otherwise

Year of Wonders

God in the Yard

God in the Dark

I told my soul to sing

A Sacrifice of Praise

Holy Silence

Benediction.

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.

I've been enchanted by another book title Poemcrazy. http://www.amazon.com/Poemcrazy-Freeing-Your-Life-Words/dp/0609800981  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.

Truth in Beauty

This made my morning...

International Women's Day...and Poetry.

A friend of mine posted this link on her Facebook page and it struck me as very powerful.

The Power of Poetry  The article is from Christianity Today.

Here is the original story from the New York Times.

Why Afghan Women Risk Death To Write Poetry

From Deborah Hirt, A Franciscan Intern

Lord, make me an instrument of peace:

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.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love:

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.

Where there is injury, pardon:

Comfort all women who suffer from the pain of war, violence, and abuse. Help them to become instruments of their own reconciliation and peace.

Where there is division, unity:

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.

Where there is darkness, light; where there is untruth, truth:

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.

Where there is doubt, true faith:

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.

Where there is despair, hope:

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.

Where there is sadness, new joy:

Help us to see the strength and goodness in all women and men.
Transform our hearts to celebrate the love and grace of all people.
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.