1) We're back to school! Ah! This is obviously my favourite thing about this week, but really, it's the picture that will last a lifetime:



2) Jen Hatmaker's "Spicy Families" blog post. I so prefer her way of looking at families like hers and mine, as opposed to my way of looking at us: crazy, weird, improper or out-of-control.

Me: THERE COULD BE VIOLENCE IN THESE STREETS – we’re near the end times! We need to figure out how to be more precious. I don’t even think our kids know any hymns! How are we supposed to break out in spontaneous family worship?? WWAVD?? (What would Ann Voskamp do?) Remy told me Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey “because he was so rich.” We are raising dullards. Let’s just throw in the towel.

3) Stephen Colbert's Daft Punk segment. Yes, this is like three weeks old, but I was in Germany and I've got three kids and it was SUMMER, remember? We don't get Hulu or other such free streaming tomfoolery here, so I actually had to buy the episode. Best $1.99 I've ever spent.

4) Guys with Fancy Lady Hair. Just click, please. You won't regret it. Ever.

5) This week was filled with friends. A birthday party, a playdate, a coffee. And there is really nothing else that makes this place feel more like home than when I laugh hard with a kitchen table full of people or have someone to share a latte with or can shove five kiddos into the back of their car because it's raining and the five minute walk home would just not be as fun. Life with people... Ok, so this is my favourite.

What are your Friday Favourites?

Public Service Announcement

It's here!

Would love it if you'd support our friends with The Flint Hill Fellowship as they release their first record. If you listen closely, you can hear us in Ireland playing it on repeat, stomping our feet, singing loud and thinking of home.

Well done, guys.


The Flint Hill Fellowship: Screen Printing from Dragan Visual Media on Vimeo.

Sometimes I design

In my previous incarnation I was a lowly amateur graphic designer, meaning I whipped together church bulletins, logos, business cards, the occasional HIPAA manual and a really colourful U2 fansite (don't judge). I freelanced, emphasis on free, and today still enjoy doing a few small projects here and there for my friends (and my mom).

I am a total photoshop novice (even though we've had it on our computer for ages, I find it overwhelming and never seem to find the time to take a proper class or tutorial on it), so the majority of my design work is done in MS Word for Mac. Yep. Lame. But that's how I roll. And my friends don't seem to mind as you know, it's free. :)



My best lady friend, Nicole, whom you've all gotten the chance to know and love, has a fantastic user-friendly blog on living naturally. Nicole's on her own journey towards finding the diet, lifestyle, and home that suits her and her brood of boys best, and I love seeing what she comes up with. I often pick her brain on what she's cleaning with this week or how her garden thrives under harsh boy conditions. And when she gave up wheat, I knew I needed to empower her decision with a new look.



The overall look - and idea - of Nicole's blog is clean, simple and natural, like her. I hope you'll pop over and say hello and even try a recipe or two. Yesterday I tried her apple (or pear) sauce and it was a hit. And if I - being so culinarily challenged - can do it, anyone can. Also check out her reviews! This girl inhales books like no other. I should know... she makes me read almost all of them.

Helping Nicole has inspired me, too. I'm currently enjoying the Blog (Design) Love e-course offered through A Beautiful Mess, and while it's taking me more time than I realized, it's so much fun and totally worth it. I can't wait to show you the end result... whatever that ends up being.

***

Do you have an hidden talent on the side? What is your creative outlet?

My top 5 not-so-messy-parent bloggers :: 31 days of messy parenting {day 30}

I'm so tired of writing about parenting! Clearly I've still got loads of things to work through, and seeing as how I could use all the help I can get, here are some of my favourite not-so-messy-parent bloggers (though they might try to refute that!)...

Katie @ Branson Family Blog :: Katie taught me how to make banana bread and embrace simplicity, literature and British dramas.

Nearly Natural Nicole :: My blonde alter ego who encourages me to try new things (sushi, cooking), allows me to edit her writing, and won't put up with any of my crap.

Jen Hatmaker :: For obvious reasons (i.e., 7, her love for the poor, hilarity, and her prophetic voice for Jesus)

Pam @ I think I missed the class on... :: Pam taught me how to menu plan, follow Jesus anywhere (even to Iowa!) and to not take myself - as a mother, a ministry wife or an imperfect homemaker - too seriously.

Sarah Bessey :: Oh my, how I love her heart and her fire and how she makes parenting, writing, and advocating look effortless, yet profound.

Yeah, these women are awesome. The ones I know in real life have impacted my life in epic ways I can't even begin to share here... and the ones I don't yet know (though I pretend to, whatever) inspire me to keep looking upward and moving forward.

Thank you... for contributing to the mess.



Who's your top go-to resource for all things parental and/or spiritual?

The blessing of being broody

There are two distinct definitions of broody. One means the desire to reproduce offspring (this is the Irish definition, one I learnt as I carried my big baby frame around the place for 9 months; friends touching my belly, saying, "Oh, I'm feeling broody!"). The other means moody, meditative, introspective (this one I know from daily, personal experience).

The man is broody today (the latter, not the former). He spoke with friends, via skype from across the ocean. Two guys he worked with, hung out with, drank loads of coffee with, and prayed with. Great, God-loving, people-loving Irish guys. And he misses them. This he doesn't say much, but today he did. "I miss them." I think it's a phrase somewhat foreign to men, in which they express emotion and need for maintaining personal relationships and interactions with people other than their moms and/or wives.



I love this side of him, but to be honest, it kinda makes me uncomfortable. I mean, I'm the broody one. Melancholy, wistful, a little stormy. He's the steady bow, navigating the choppy waters, steering us onward and upward. So when he expresses a need, an emotion, a slight angsty-ness, I have to shut my mouth from saying, "Hey, you're the strong one, man. Hold it together!" Instead, I must nod and say, "I know. Me too." And we can be sad together in that moment, for the distance and the time lost.

Because here's the thing: I'm tired of feeling sad or bad about not being in Ireland. I'm tired of ending every conversation with guilt over not being there. When our friends say, "Get back soon," it's not because we've let them down, but because we're missed too. We lived there, and I know we will again. Today, that's good enough for me. The relationships, the work... those continue while we wait for God to show us the way and provide the means. Missing them is difficult, but really, it's oh so good. What we're doing is of some value, here and there.

Clearly God is still doing something, and it will be freaking amazing. Because if He wanted, He'd drop the funds in our lap and we'd be off. But instead, He's bringing people to us, working in hearts here and there, working in us and forcing us to be wholly dependent on Him for literally everything. Vehicles, schools, leases, shoes, wisdom teeth, inhalers, meetings, people, security, calling, life and breath... Everything. And seeing that, testifying to it, is worth the missing... painful though it may be.

"I'm gonna go make sawdust," he says after that broody moment we share. Alright then, I think. Onward and upward.





Soundtrack to Irish Broodiness :: Strict Joy, The Swell Season

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What makes you broody? And more importantly, what music enhances said broodiness?

31 days of LIVING in transition :: resources {day 30}

Ah! We're almost done with these 31 days! And I feel like I haven't been super great at sharing much wisdom or offering much camaraderie. So on this day, I wanted to point you toward some blogs and resources where I find such things like wisdom and camaraderie and other ideas for living with intention while permanently living in transition. (If you've been around, these links probably aren't new to you, but want to make sure and draw attention to these fabulous women.) Enjoy!

the experts
The Missional Mom
Simple Mom
GypsyMama
Nesting Place

friends working or living in similar contexts
The Task at Hand
Branson Family Blog
9,000 miles from Kansas
On the Far Side of the Sea

Now, back to loving on the wee sick one, prepping for some kiddo halloween fun (I usually start the preparations one whole day before), and worshiping with our church family this morning. Oh, and hanging some curtains! More on that tomorrow... 

When You Were Young

[I realize, in retrospect, that every person has a story like this and most aren’t nearly as melodramatic as mine. But it is my story, and I’m sticking to it.]

I’m seeing ghosts around every corner.

It’s been two weeks or so since we moved back to my hometown. Well, for this year, we’re not exactly in my hometown. We’re actually living across town and it’s an area I haven’t spent a significant amount of time in these past 10+ years or so. But way back in the day - when My-So-Called-Life and Pearl Jam were on every TV and radio, when the guys from U2 were still in their 30s, and when I wore birkenstocks all year round – I spent nearly every day here. This is where my church was, where my friends lived, where my boyfriend(s) were. I guess I really did kinda grow up here… but being back here is feeling rather odd.

I take the wee ones to the park where I used to play as a preteen, with the old slides and giant animals we would hide out in and tell secrets to. I drive by my old church (where we still visit rather frequently) and feel the butterflies in my belly that I used to feel, driving down that road, anxious for youth group and who would be there and what would happen. I wait in parking lots where I used to wait, in those first old used cars, waiting for friends to get off work, and all of us climbing – we were quite the crew – into the same vehicle, heading off on some mildly dangerous adventure. I drive past the hidden entrance to the rope swing, up and down the hills where we could go hill-jumping, past the restaurants we used to only order coffee or desserts in, past the parks where we would go late at night and laugh and talk and occasionally make out (sorry, Mom). Memories, everywhere. Old, dormant, weird-feeling memories.

And then, of course, like every story – there is a boy. When I was 18 (well, ages 14 through 19, sadly), I loved a boy who didn’t love me back. He lived right down the street from here and I drive past it more than I would care to. We were together really only a year, but being absent for so long and now coming back, strange and sad feelings return as if it was yesterday. Feelings of heartache and regret, and I hate feeling that way.

It took me years to move on and let go of all that. Mostly they were great memories, many old friends still remain great friends. But I was a different person then. At least, I think I was a different person then. I was young, and naïve, and infatuated, and running wild. The friends who remain grew with me and know me as who I am now. But still, being here, I wonder if I’ve really changed at all. I’m still longing to belong, trying to fit in, looking for affirmation. I may not be trying to find those things in boys anymore, but the insecurities are – not surprisingly – still there. Every landmark and road that still stands remind me of a time when life was great and carefree, and yet heartbreaking and tragic. They remind me of who I was, and who I still am.

So today, I began making new memories. Maybe not to replace the old – (I’m not sure the bad ones will ever completely go away, and I think I want the good ones to stay; I was young once and there was joy and love and friendship.) – but new memories with my kids and with my man and this weird time of transition we find ourselves in. Memories set to new music and changing landscapes and the laughter of my children.

After all, I do think - if I were to be truly honest - the girl I was then would look at the woman she became with surprise, and be so relieved.

Smitty WAS right...

If you didn't graduate from high school (or middle school) in the mid-1990s or ever said goodbye to fast new friends at Bible camp, then you have not truly lived... the Michael W Smith golden rule:

Friends are friends forever,

if the Lord's the Lord of them;

And a friend will not say never

cause the welcome will not end...

Blah blah blah.

Ok, yes, I admit to being a cynic and not all that... shall we say... sentimental?  First of all, I have never really thought of myself as fertile soil (at least not until I had babies).  I have one friend I think of this way, but that's because she KEEPS having babies!  (and adorable ones too - I'm not judging).  I admit to maybe tearing up once during this song, but I think it had to do with a boy and youth group and... well, you get the idea.

Anyway, here am I, in Ireland - lovely, lovely, totally God's will and brilliant Ireland - and right now the place I want to be is Chicago, in the autumn, for a wedding.  My dearest girlfriend from college just got engaged and I cannot be there to see her walk down the aisle.

Cue piano.  Or synthesizer.  Maybe some humming.

Here's the thing about our friendship: husband, career, kids, geography... all have brought about a sort of distance in our relationship.  But the distance has never been a hinderance.  Rather, we have lived our lives, then reunite every 2 or 3 years, marveling at each other's accomplishments, and rejoicing at what God has done in each life.  Ok, I write all that and it sounds so... small in comparison to the...

...faith and love God's given

springing from the hope we know

Wow.  I have a disease.

So there were a few tears this week.  About the joy I can only witness through emails and IM chats.  And they weren't just my tears, either.  The sweetest thing being that there were a few tears on the other side of the Atlantic, too.  And a couple of I Love Yous.  And an "I wish you were here" or "there".

And then in 2 years or so, we'll meet again at the same spot we always do in Chicago.  And I'll see a ring and and meet a husband.  Probably a few tears then, too.  Celebrating a new chapter...

Darn you, Smitty!