Hospitality Prayers Answered

As my energy slowly returns, we've been praying about the best ways to offer hospitality to our community. We miss our built-in family overseas. When you are thrown together with other families and far from home, you become each other's community. Often, that community is built around food! Honestly, in America we've struggled to create that intimacy and authenticity that we so desperately need.

The Lord answered our prayers last weekend and reminded us that He is not deaf to our pleas. Aaron and I were attending a birthday party and staying out "late" (it was 8:00 p.m., and we shocked Katherine by being gone so long). When we climbed into the van, we each found missed calls and texts from one of our adopted kiddos who is an MK. She was checking on the availability of the Choate Bed & Breakfast. Immediately. She even knew to ask for "the blue room" for her mom and sister who would arrive around 9:30. What a joy to be able to flex our schedules a wee bit and spend some time with these ladies!

That very day, we also received another text asking if we would be home that afternoon. For the last several years, the Conards have needed to drive near our house because Interstate 40 takes them to where their kids attend college. We love every opportunity to spend time with any or all of them. Shawn and Eli only had time for a quick visit since they still had many hours in front of them, but we sent them with "to-go" boxes for supper and soaked up every minute we had.

Patience

"Impatience looks like hurry, anxiety, rushing, nagging, irritation, reactivity; it exerts force to get what it wants, which is to speed things up....While generally having no effect on wait time, impatience cuts us off from joy and compassion while we wait. Patience, on the other hand, is the capacity to wait well. It looks like ease, trust, stillness, contentment, presence, attentiveness. It is not passive, but allows life to flow on its course and at its pace."

~Travis West, "The Sabbath Way"

I'm realizing more and more that our little daily choices towards slow living help build patience and appreciation, and my resolve grows stronger to make those intentional choices. I'm sure our time in the Solomon Islands gave us a peek into a pace marked by contentment and attentiveness. 

Katherine made her grandmother a birthday cake. A ziggurat of a carrot cake, it was moist and delicious and time-consuming.

My blush tiger tomatoes are the only type flourishing this summer. Who knows why?!? But I've had plenty to eat and to share. Sometimes I walk to a neighbor's house or to see my parents (only 3/4 of a mile away!) with a container of tomatoes. Does this take longer? Yes. Is it worth it to me to practice ease and stillness? Also yes. 

Katherine is beginning her senior year. Twenty-three years of homeschooling, and this is the last one. Talk about patience! We had no idea that our lives would flow this way, but school at home has been a beautiful gift. She'll be taking one class at the little Baptist college across the street. I'm cherishing these last months of observing Katherine learn and grow.

Lots of Good Things

Arkansas Youth Symphony Orchestra recently kicked off with a daylong retreat which included sectionals, games, lunch, and the first rehearsal of the year. Katherine was super excited to be back, and I'm thrilled to be a part of the team of parents who help keep things running smoothly. I'm the "attendance mom" this year :)

The same weekend, Olivia and Connor stayed with us for a couple of days. Spending time with them is always so good!

We ate lots of good food, played games, walked downtown to celebrate their anniversary at a coffee shop, and just soaked up lots of hugs and smiles

Sweet Sabbath

"The Hebrew word Sha'abbat means 'to stop.' But it can also be translated 'to delight.' It has this dual idea of stopping and also of joying in God and our lives in his world."

~John Mark Comer, "The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry"

Things helping me rest and delight these days? Early morning bike rides as the sun rises over Tucker Creek Trail.

Visiting our bountiful farmer's market early on Saturday mornings, enjoying a chat with each vendor, and coming home loaded with beautiful produce also helps me slow down. 

I delight in each colorful item of food, but I also enjoy God's creativity in each of the people He designed. Hearing stories and celebrating with the people who take the time to raise the food is such a delight! Washing and chopping leafy green takes time, so does simmering them in my mom's cast iron Dutch oven with bacon from one of my favorite farmers. Stopping. Delighting. Sabbathing.

Marriage Monday - Days 16 and 17 of 40

I Take Master Card (Charge Your Love to Me)

by Nikki Giovanni

I've heard all the stories

'bout how you don't deserve me

'cause I'm so strong and beautiful and wonderful and you could

never live up to what you know I should have but I just want to let you know:

I take Master Card

You can love me as much as your heart can stand

then put the rest on

account and pay the interest 

each month until we get this settled

You see we modern women do comprehend

that we deserve a whole lot more

than what is normally being offered but we are trying

to get aligned with the modern world

So baby you can love me all

you like 'cause you're pre-approved 

and you don't have to sign on 

the bottom line

Our hometown recently began a "coffee crawl" with cards to get stamped at each of the local coffee shops. This is the perfect way to give us some dating direction before Aaron goes back to the Solomon Islands next week. We are having so much fun on these little mini dates!

Sweet Sabbath

"...each week we have an opportunity to reorient back toward the Sabbath way -- a way marked by slowness, gratitude, abundance, and delight. Staying on that path will require some hard choices."

~Travis West, "The Sabbath Way: Making Room in Your Life for Rest, Connection, and Delight"

Summer is drawing to a close, school is beginning, Aaron is preparing to leave for another trip to the Solomon Islands. The weekends are quickly filling with activities. Staying on the path "marked by slowness, gratitude, abundance, and delight" (which is where I certainly want to walk) will require intentional planning and preparation as well as a willingness to live in a way that goes against the flow of our modern American culture.

 

Wedding in Wichita

On wedding day for Lenna, we found a beautiful trail that wound around neighborhoods and a lake with beautiful birds. What a great way to work out the kinks from the road trip!

Especially since I had some great company to walk with me.

Cellotrio made beautiful wedding music in the very live room, everything resonated beautifully. And the reverb was incredible!

We're super excited for these two and praying for the impact they will make in their community as they both begin grad school.

 

CelloTrio

For years, Aaron and I have dubbed ourselves "Celloduo", and when Olivia left for college we began referring to ourselves as "Cellotrio". 

For the first time, cellotrio made music together in the real world playing for a Conard wedding in Wichita. Katherine drove the first leg while Aaron worked in the back seat. We laughed that it was all business in the back and all party in the front :)

We arrived to find a cold front had just passed through the area. The first morning we were in Kansas, I needed a blanket outside to begin the day with Jesus and coffee. I'm still slowly chewing my way through "The Sabbath Way".

As our kids and their peers get married, it's fascinating to watch how each couple makes their wedding personal. Lenna chose to make her own lemon wedding cake with blueberry filling. It was beautiful and delicious.

Making music with Katherine was so very fun! Having three cellist who read multiple clefs helped us greatly, most of the music we played either came straight from the hymn book or we read from string quartet arrangements. Sometimes clef attack hit us as we switched songs, but what a joy to make music together as cellotrio!

 

Feeling the Tug

"The Sabbath invitation is to be very clear about what our values are in relation to time, so that when we feel the tug between fast and slow, distraction and presence, work and play, productivity and the people we love, the choice we make aligns with or values and the way we want to show up to our lives." ~Travis West, "The Sabbath Way"

On any given "normal" week, Katherine and I don't have many hours that are dictated for us, and Aaron's work hours are flexible. His meetings often last into supper time or later because they coordinate with Solomon Island time. We definitely feel the tug between "fast and slow, distraction and presence, work and play, productivity and the people we love".

Recently, Katherine did some dog-sitting and stayed in Little Rock for eight days. I met her at a coffee shop to check her summer school progress and to spend some time catching up. Aaron continues translation advisor checking through the rough drafts our team has finished. I joked with him that he dressed to match the decor :)

I continue striving to align my choices with my values, and the thought of my next round of scans and checkups for cancer is never far from my mind. Stewarding my physical body remains a priority for me, not to the neglect of my emotional, mental, or spiritual health, so I can have the capacity to also steward those areas of my life well. 

Delight

Now more than ever, we need to pour the light of our souls into the world. We need to gather all the goodness and love and forgiveness and playfulness and joy and gratitude and attention and encouragement and silliness and presence we can and offer it to everyone we meet. We need to reconnect with our own delight, and we need the delight of others."

~Travis West, "The Sabbath Way: Making Room in Your Life for Rest, Connection, and Delight"

I surely love volunteering at CARTI. Last week when I showed up, the waiting room was eerily quiet and almost empty. I quickly learned that the oncologist was absent and the chemo side of the building wasn't giving infusions. When I asked what else I could do to help, one of the employees led me to a storage room and asked if I could label and restock bottles of Ensure for patient nutrition. This involved taking all of the bottles off the shelf and reloading the shelf in order of expiration date. I delighted in helping this way! It was a small offering of my presence and gratitude and attention.

Sometimes answering the question: "What delights you?" can be challenging. Not only does volunteering at CARTI bring me delight, but so does growing my own food and cooking it to share with the people I love. The chocolate beauty sweet peppers I harvested today are beautiful and delicious! Tonight, they will go into creamy chicken pasta salad to bring my family delight.

Rest and Work

"Sabbath sustained me as torpor sustains the hummingbird. Further, daily rhythms of rest equipped me to faithfully carry out the work God called me to do without overextending myself. Beginning my day in His Word rather than my email inbox, enjoying walks around my neighborhood between tasks, and pausing to pray and invite his restful presence into my day reminded me He is the one carrying out this work at his pace and for his glory. I can rest and work in vital harmony."

~Eryn Lynum, "The Nature of Rest"

Daily rhythms of rest around here look like walking out to my little garden to check for ripe veggies in between cello students or as I'm hanging out clothes to dry. Growing food always reminds me that "He is the one carrying out this work at his pace and for his glory"!

Making time to sit down and eat lunch together on the patio also helps us slow down and reconnect in the midst of days filled with summer school, advisor checking, Zoom meetings, and cello students.

Maintaining a rhythm of moving our bodies each morning helps keep us strong and healthy, equipped to fulfill each task the Lord gives us throughout the day.

Day 15 of 40

We knew we would be on the road more today as we meandered our way home, so we intentionally stopped at the Fred Berry Conservation Education Center to hike a trail. The center is closed on the weekends, but the trails are open.

We hiked along most of the Creek Bluff Trail, it was underwhelming and very hot with little shade, but we enjoyed the opportunity to stretch our legs.

Our next stop was Bull Shoals Caverns, a more intimate experience than other caverns we have visited.

No huge rooms, just small spaces where we could have touched the walls on both sides. But we didn't, because living caves don't like human touch :)

On the way home, we took another stretch break. This time we stopped in the little town of Leslie, which is making a huge effort to revitalize its cute downtown.

We found some beautiful hand carved nativity sets and a gorgeous Noah's Ark, hand carved by Charlie's Dream. I may have to add these to my grandparent stash for the future!

We always take food with us so we don't have to spend money to eat out on trips like this. But the last place we visited was the new ice cream shop downtown: Buffalo River's Lickety Split. Definitely get the ice cream nachos. The "chips" are broken pieces of waffle cones, what a great idea to steward your resources well! The scoops are huge enough that we share the nachos and both ate plenty. What a treat!

Days 13 and 14 of 40

We are way behind on our 40 days of dates for 40 years of friendship, but that's okay. Our friendship and our marriage are still going strong! For our anniversary, we decided to go back to one of our favorite cabins in the middle of nowhere: Beit Shalom.

On the way to the cabin Friday afternoon, we stopped at one of my favorite roadside stands and bought several watermelons. They often have cantaloupe and corn and tomatoes and allllll of the local delicious summer produce. I read "The Sabbath Way" out loud and we discussed as Aaron chauffeured. 

Saturday morning began with anniversary sourdough discard blueberry muffins gifted by my favorite farmer. I watched the mist slowly move down the valley. A slow, peaceful start to the day was exactly what we needed.

Due to some family generosity, we made a last minute decision to float the middle Buffalo River. We had never floated this section before.

The river was full of people and music, and I enjoyed my husband using his incredible skills he has honed from paddling a dugout canoe around the Pacific Ocean. I hardly had to pick up a paddle!

I just soaked up the view and the love flowing behind me as Aaron deftly steered and navigated the busy river. 

"Delight is both a trailhead for and a signpost along the Sabbath way. If a Sabbath practice is whittled down to its irreducible core, what remains is largely a commitment to making room in one's life to recover a sense of delight." ~Travis West

We pulled into this shallow cave for lunch and chatted while we pulled out veggies and hummus to go along with our cold brats from Shaky K Farm. I lost all sense of time and didn't even check my watch. One of the concepts in "The Sabbath Way" is that time slows down or even ceases to exist when we are truly resting. I haven't experienced that in a very long time. My brain naturally runs to the next thing on my to-do list. This day was full of delight and joy and connection, truly a much needed day of rest and play.