Where I've been

In the parking lot at the V.A. in Lihu'e, Kauai, Hawaii.

My intention back in early November was to blog everyday in November.

But then, one of my congregants (the mother of an 8 year old and 15 year old) passed away.

And then we got engaged*

Then the day after we got engaged, my grandfather went into the ER with abdominal pain, they found spots on his liver, which eventually led to a diagnosis of some sort of super aggressive cancer. I've been in Hawaii with my aunt, mom and grandparents, running to the pharmacy, UPS, post office, bank, V.A., grocery store, cooking meals, taking out the trash, checking the mail, running to the airport getting the paper, and trying to be present and helpful. I am back in MN now**

I love Kauai, it is absolutely my favorite, favorite, favorite place on the planet. I have never been anywhere more beautiful. My time in Hawaii filled me with so much Aloha (a term that has many of the same nuances as the Hebrew Shalom). Kauai is home to the wettest place on earth, Mount Wai'ale'ale, it is known as the Garden Island, so much rain means lots of green. When I left Kauai, on December 13, the rain gauge in my grandparent's backyard had registered 12.57" of rain. While I was getting automated messages on my cell phone from the city of Minneapolis declaring a snow emergency, the land line at my grandparent's house had a similar automated message about flash floods, "turn around, don't drown." The next day, as I waited outside a church with three Native Hawaiian women for a Zumba class that never materialized, we talked at length about "turn around, don't drown," and our experience of the storm.***

The last month, actually the last several months, have been a flood for me. The water of life is roaring quickly by, but God is faithful. Isaiah is the favorite prophet of the Christmas/Advent season. I've blogged these verses before, after our floods this summer, but here they are again.

Isaiah 43 -

¹ But now, this is what the LORD says—
he who created you, Jacob,
he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
² When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
³ For I am the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I give Egypt for your ransom,
Cush and Seba in your stead.
⁴ Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
and because I love you,

*(a post to come on that soon?)

**(missed the blizzard - I'm hoping that Leah will guest blog about the house in the blizzard - now I've made it public so she'll have to do it.)

*** (if I was a preacher on Kauai, I would so use, "turn around, don't drown," as a sermon title.

Benediction

I just returned from an exploration and discernment event with the Bishop of the MN annual conference of the UMC and several young clergy. This was our beautiful final benediction after communion this morning:

May God bless you with discomfort

At easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships,

So that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger

At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,

So that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless you with tears

To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger, and war,

So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain to joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness

To believe that you can make a difference in the world,

So that you can do what others claim cannot be done,

To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.

Amen

Friday Night - What to do? Order Galactic Pizza!

Hey Southsiders!

Have you had Galactic Pizza before?

A few weeks ago their menu was delivered to our door, printed in 3-D with 3-D glasses attached to the menu. Here's super hero Holly reading the menu.
Here are the facts about Galactic Pizza -

1. It's catch phrase is "Planet Saving Pizza"
2. Their delivery people dress in spandex (like super heroes) and deliver their pizzas in tiny 100% electric vehicles.
3. A portion of their profits goes to support local nonprofits and fight hunger
4. They compost, recycle and purchase recyclable and post consumer recycled products.

They are awesome.

We had Galactic Pizza a few weeks ago for date night and it was delicious. It's one thing to have good values, and another to have a high quality product. This was both. We ordered the Pizza Ala Vodka (Creamy tomato vodka sauce, mozzarella cheese, organic button mushrooms, prosciutto, and fresh organic basil.) and it was delicioso.

If you want to go, or order for delivery check them out.

Where are you Holly? This is [L]

The doorbell rang again today, I am home for an hour between meetings and was surprised to see our 9 year old neighbor [L]. It's parent teacher conferences in Minneapolis today, which is a fact I missed. A few days ago, [L] and Kohls made themselves squares on our white board. Richard left them each a message this weekend. [L] literally clapped his hands when I told him that he had a message on his square.

He wanted to leave a message for Holly, so he had to erase a message that he had left Holly a few days earlier.

"Now that you've seen the message from Richard, should we erase that one too?" I asked him.

"No, not yet. I like having a message."

It was funny to me when Richard left the messages for Kohls and L. I just thought that it was a silly thing. But to the kids it means something much more. It means that someone in our house cares about them, that they matter, that they have a presence here.

Positive psychologists say that hearing your own name brings happiness for three reasons. We experience pleasure when we hear our own name; we feel engaged when we hear our own name; and we feel that we matter and therefore have a deeper sense of meaning and purpose when we hear our name.

I don't know what the psychologists say about reading our name on a white board at a neighbor's house. But I suspect the findings would be similar. I'm grateful that Holly and Richard were able to show L that he matters today, even if they are at work.

Who do you want to be?

My students in youth group are doing a study on "Becoming a Young Woman of God."

In our last lesson we looked at a list of characteristics, the girls circled what they wanted to be: popular; mean; kind; sympathetic; passionate; musical; arrogant etc.

In that lesson we talked about the ways that our choices determine the women that we become. We watched clips from 13 going on 30 and had a very good time.

Tonight we talked about goals, about short term and long term gratification, and about the steps we need to take to become the women God is calling us, and we want to be.

The name of this blog is becoming what we love. It was a quote I had just come across this quote "We cannot help conforming ourselves to what we love."by Francis de Sales on the Sojourners blog, and it really struck a chord. I want to be loving, I want to be kind, I want to be generous. I want to be a reflection of Jesus. Yet, my life shows that I'm conforming to something else far too often. There are things that I love that cause me to conform to different patterns than those that I want to be.

One of the verses that we read tonight was Proverbs 14:12*

¹² There is a way that appears to be right,

but in the end it leads to death.

So here's my prayer for myself, and maybe it will become your prayer as well.

Lord, help me to fall more in love with you, so that the thing that I conform to is you. Help me to make choices that help me to become the woman [or man] that you'd have me to be. I want to be like you, I want to love you.

*For Richard's take on this verse check out his posterous "Vespa de los muertos." (When I told him that we had read this verse he started repeating it but SCREAMING the word "death." so that it lasted at least as long as the rest of the sentence.)

The Eight Year Old Always Rings Seventy-Nine Times

We have a new friend at our house, she shares a name with a popular store, so she introduces herself by saying, “My name is [let’s call her Kohls] but I don’t shop at Kohls I shop at JC Penny’s." Holly was looking for work all summer and had lots of free time at home, she got to know Kohls and many of our neighbor kids, it’s an incredibly diverse group of kids: Somali, Lao, African American, and Mexican, boys and girls, all younger than ten. Several times each day the doorbell rings, “is Holly there?” The rest of us were starting to feel like second class neighbors since no one ever asked for Leah, Wanda or Katie.

Last week as I was in a total rush to pack up my textbooks and laptop before school on Monday night the doorbell rang. And rang. And rang. And rang. And rang. (we’ve gone over some rules for visiting the house: no playing on the porch if you don’t have an adult from the house out there; ask before you open any door or drawer; say please; say thank you – but somehow “please don’t ring the doorbell 79 times,” hasn’t sunk into the collective consciousness of our neighbors.

“Hi Kohls. What’s up?”

“Is Holly home?”

“No she’s not, can I leave a message for her?”

“Yes, um, can you tell her that Kohls stopped by?”

“I will. Have a good day Kohls.” (shutting door)

“Wait, Katie can you play with me?”

“Nope, sorry, I have to go to school now.”

“Oh, you go to school?”

“Yep.”

“High School?”

“Nope, Seminary, it’s college for Pastors after college.”

“Oh.”

“Bye Kohls.”

“Ok, bye.”

It’s reading week, so Richard and I don’t have class tonight. At 5:15 the doorbell rang, and rang, and rang, and rang, and rang, and rang.

“Hi Kohls. What’s up?”

“Is Holly home?”

“No she’s not, can I leave a message for her?”

“Yes, um, can you tell her that Kohls stopped by?”

“I will. Have a good day Kohls.”

“Katie, you have class tonight don’t you?”

“No actually, my class was cancelled tonight.”

“Oh, well then can you play with me?”

“ummm… No, I need to take a shower and do homework, and I have a dinner date and… actually why don’t you come back in a half hour and we can play a game of uno together Kohls?”

“I don’t know how long is a half hour.”

“5:45, come over at 5:45, and we can play a game of Uno, after I take a shower.”

Sure enough at 5:45 on the dot Kohls was rang the bell, she had 4 of her trick or treating candies in her hand. She had picked out 4 candies specifically for the four women living in this house. “This one,” she said handing me a dark chocolate kit kat, “is for you, it’s a black kit kat. I’m going to put everyone elses candies in their mailboxes.”

Richard happened to come over just as we were starting the Uno game so we dealt him in. We only had time for one quick game but we got to play a game, laugh and share the kit kat.

There were two things that left me a little unsettled.

One, this eight year old remembered a brief rushed and stressed out conversation that I had with her a week ago. She knew that my schedule meant that I had to go to school at night on Mondays. I’m so self centered I have a hard time remembering the schedule of my best friends, roommates and family who I have known for ages, Kohls remembered a neighbors school schedule. I feel like I’m the one who is supposed to care about her, not vice versa. The flip was heartwarming for sure, but also slightly unsettling.

Two, this eight year old brought presents for us. Not just for Holly, who is clearly everyone’s favorite roommate, or for me who had offered to play Uno with her after I took the time to shower, but for each and every roommate, and she picked out candies that she thought that we would like. Holly and Leah got plain kit kats, Wanda got a hersheys cookies and cream bar and I got the dark kit kat. Kohls wanted to bless us and share some of her trick or treat bounty with us.

There’s a quote from Jean Vanier that I learned when I was living in St. Louis. “People may come to our communities because they want to serve the poor; they will only stay once they have discovered that they themselves are poor.”

It’s hard to escape the white savior, colonialist, patriarchal frame of mind. I’ve lived in the house for more than five years now, worked at an urban church, am majoring in Community Ministry Leadership in seminary. I know, intellectually and practically that viewing the haves as the rescuers of the have nots is never going to lead to a meaningful harvest. I need Kohls and her family, the Somali families that ring our doorbell, “pipe-smoking-cat-walking man” and even “Eight dollar man” more than they need me.

PS- Richard reminded me about this classic Sesame Street video a couple of weeks ago when I started whining about the number of times that the doorbell rings. Enjoy

Sesame Street: Smell Like A Monster

I am slightly embarrassed to admit how much I LOVE the Old Spice commercial "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like." I'm not sure how healthy it is as far as the objectification of African American Men, or even for the objectification of women, but it's so funny. And now Sesame Street has a parody of it that makes me laugh a lot.

Peace

Katie

The Perfect Woman - Part Three - Gray

We just completed a chapter on the Imago Dei in seminary. This phrase, "Made in the Image of God" has at least 4 major different interpretations. One of the big questions theologians ask is this - While human beings were made in the Image of God in Genesis, how much of that image remains now that we are living in a sinful, unjust world?

I believe, and I think that the strongest argument can be made, that while the Image of God in us has been marred by sin and injustice, there is some image of God in each person, regardless of religion, race, age, ability, history, gender, orientation etc.

One of the side effects of trying to be "The Perfect Woman", is a tendency to make all or nothing decisions. Resulting in misunderstanding of grace towards the imperfections of myself and others.

Either I'm perfect - OR - I'm a failure

Either He's a spiritual person - OR - he's a hypocrite

Either She's a good friend - OR - She's a terrible friend

Either that church cares about the community - OR - they're self-centered.

Again there's a problem. If members of our community or community groups are being held to an impossible, all or nothing standard, we miss opportunities to love them.

So we're becoming what we love, if we love perfection, if we love clear cut, black and white, all or nothing, we'll continue to put people into boxes, hold them on impossibly high and wobbly pedestals or relegate them to small boxes where there is no hope for redemption. Certainly, some things are "black and white." But I suspect that for many things there is much more gray (or grey if your an Anglophile) then we let ourselves believe.

In community, there must be gray.

Well not Macy Gray, but since you were asking for a flashback to the year 2000 here you go.

Plus did you see Andy on The Office cover this last week? Hulu it "Andy's Play" about minute 19, so sweet. (Did I mention that all 4 of us have been sick over the past week? I've watched a lot of TV).

The Perfect Woman - Part Two - Shoulds

This picture is from the British Feminist Mental Health Blog Crazy Like Us?

I'm still reading Stronger Than You Think

One of the challenges in the book is to examine the things that we women tell ourselves. I started by making a list of "should"s that I tell myself often, some include:

• I should always look cute, but professional, attractive but not slutty, trendy but not trashy
• I shouldn't care about how I look, not be superficial
• I should eat wholesome, homemade, healthy, carefully prepared organic food.
• I should take less time cooking and more time doing homework, work, and chores.
• I should give 110% of myself to my job
• I should give 110% of myself to my studies
• I should give 110% of myself to my relationship, family and friends
• I should lead a perfectly balanced life, and remember to take a weekly sabbath, and quarterly vacation, get 8 hours of sleep every night and an hour of physical activity every day.
• I should speak my mind assertively
• I should question the things that are coming out of my mouth.

Do you see the problem? You can't both strive to look cute, professional, attractive, and trendy, while simultaneously not caring what you look like.

You can't give 330% of yourself, neither can you give even 100% of yourself to any activity.

I want to be conformed more and more to the image of Christ. I want know more deeply that it is His love that defines me, not how well I live up to my list of "shoulds." I don't want to want to be perfect. I want to want to be His.

Reconsider Columbus Day

We had lots of illness at the house this week, I haven't forgotten about the "perfect woman" series, but I wanted to share this. I'm sure 7 of your friends have already shared it on facebook, but just in case.

Katie

The Perfect Woman - Part one - A Video

We're a house full of women now. For the first time in the history of the Stevens House, we're all women, it's a new dynamic to be sure.

I've been reading a book, Stronger Than You Think: Becoming Whole Without Having to Be Perfect, A Guide for Women. It's published by IVP, so of course as an InterVarsity Alum, a woman and a recovering perfectionist, I am obviously the target audience. But I have to say that it has been a long time since a book has spoken truth to my soul in such a profound way.

I'm going to share some reflections on this book, and "the perfect woman" in future posts, but first, this video. A friend from High School posted this on her facebook today and it fit with my desire to blog on this topic:

House Updates - September before September is over

So, yesterday, I promised that there would be a post up today about actual news from the house. I've got 51 minutes of awake time left for today, so here's a quick top 10 list of updates.

1.) Noel and Theresa got married! Woo Hoo! It was fun, I was so busy being a "Groom's Maid." That I didn't take many pictures, but here's Richard and me (and actually, this picture was taken by Bethany

2.) On account of his getting married, Noel moved out, to an apartment just a few blocks away with his lovely bride Theresa.

3.) Wanda painted the walls of what was Noel's room, and Leah moved in. Leah started work the day after she moved in as Pre-K and Kindergarten teacher at an urban Montessori school. It's fun to hear about her days with the little ones.

4.) Valerie's cousin moved to town, so Valerie moved out to live with her cousin. Again she's very close and we see her often, but we miss her.

5.) Holly's substitute teaching, and really doing a fantastic job of meeting and loving our neighbors. She was on channel 9 news tonight, hugging one of our neighbors. There are many days when the doorbell rings 5 or 6 times if Holly's not home, our neighbor kids are looking for Holly and want her to come play, "that ship game," (battle ship) with them. Please pray for 2 of our neighbors who are still in the Hospital in critical condition after a Carbon Monoxide leak at the apartment across the street.

6.) I survived my crazy summer, (flooded car, never ending cold, mysterious hives, drama at work, Systematic Theology I, bed bugs, meeting Richard's parents and sister - all in a 5 week stretch) mostly because of the support of my roommates, my parents, my sisters and Richard. God showed Himself to be faithful to me in the midst of all of the crazy this summer.

7.) One of our Neighbors, Source Ministries, is trying to raise $42,000 to purchase a building that will be sustainable transitional housing for people coming out of prostitution and sex trafficking in the Twin Cities. With the economy still being so bad, many more teenagers are ending up homeless and in prostitution. In order to raise the money to buy the building (next door to one of their existing buildings, they are asking people to donate $2.00 and to tell 2 friends over the next two weeks. If you can give more, great, if not $2.00 c'mon, $2.00.

8.) B made it back to Taj, you can read about her adventures here

9.) Two things I love in Minneapolis this September -

1- Sunflowers - They are all over place, every time I drive past a sunflower, I smile. I like how the sunflower follows the sun, they keep their faces to the light, there's a not so hidden metaphor in that ;)

2- (related to #1) Farmer's Markets - This summer, I didn't go to the market too much, I was living in SLP for much of the summer, and also we had a very lovely mini-farmer's market at church. But I went to the midtown farmer's market this weekend, and was reminded about how much I love it.

10.) Three more things I love this September

1- Twitter - I've gone over to the darkside, but I love following my favorite Minneapolis restaurants, non-profits, friends, and arts people. I'm a boring tweeter, I'm still learning but I'm sort of liking this world.

2- Libraries (which also might mean that I like not reading text books)- the Minneapolis/Hennepin County Library System is so great. I've been listened to books on CD, read magazines that I can't afford to subscribe to, caught up on the adventures of Mma. Ramotswe and the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, learned about celiac's disease and so much more. Public libraries=AWESOME

3- The Science Museum of Minnesota. We had an awesome date there this weekend.

A Cute Video to Start Your Week

It's Monday (which is my Saturday, at least until next week when Seminary starts again, when it becomes my Friday). But since for most of the world, Monday is your Monday, and at least in Mpls, it's rather cool and cloudy today, I thought that I'd share a piece of whimsical charming fun that I discovered this morning. I'll have news from the house to share tomorrow, but in the meantime, enjoy this movie.

HT the Happiness Project and Gimundo.com

good fences make good roommates?

Height Order

I'm not sure why this is so hillarious to me, but here we are, in height order, looking extra cool. Happy Monday.

Nice Ride

Have you seen these yet?

It's a new program in Minneapolis, called "Nice Ride."

They've recently opened a station right by our house.

Evidently you pay a daily, monthly, or yearl subscription fee, plus an hourly rate to use the bikes, but like the Hennepin County library system you can return your bike at any station.

I have my own gorgeous bike, that over the last 2 weeks with a flooded out car has been getting me everywhere I need to go. I've heard it said that Minneapolis/St. Paul is the second most bikeable urban area in the US (after Portland, OR). When my friends Aimee and Chris were here last week they were amazed by how many bikers there were. Now visitors and those who don't have thier own bikes can join in on the fun.

How to Build Community - Ask A Question

This is my dear friend Leah. Leah asks good questions. She's also the most community minded person I know.

Leah used to work for Dinomights and so I used to see her a few times each week at work. Back in those days we were asked more than once if we were sisters, (being tannish white women with brown hair)

Today, we look more like pretend twins. Look at our coordinated, unplanned grey-purple ensembles. We met up this afternoon and then walked to the MIA, we walked, and talked, and enjoyed the airconditioning of the Museum (you know seeing billions of dollars worth of art is ok, but free air conditioning is brilliant).

Our time at the MIA was filled with great conversations, and great questions. The questions Leah asked me today were an almost immediate answer to prayer. So I'm thanking God today that Leah is a part of my community and that she asks questions.

Each Day Has Enough Trouble of Its Own

Multiple transitions at work, a flooded car, a mysterious ongoing allergic reaction to something that both my doctors and I can't figure out and my natural instinct is to worry.

This week, I took my prayer/camera walk at Wolfe Park, I needed to run some errands and I could bike to Excelsior and Grand/Miracle Mile, so it was back St. Louis Park, to see what God had for me. I took these pictures, and then laughed at how well they illustrate Jesus' command not to worry in Matthew 6. Look:


Do Not Worry
25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

The Double Reunion Day

I met up with a few college friends yesterday for lunch. It was so great to see Aimee and her husband Chris, who I haven't seen for about four years. They live near Dallas and stopped at my house on their way to Deer River to see her family. Jessi, another college friend who just returned from Iraq, and Lisa another friend, who though she works less than a mile from my house I've only seen 3 times this year. All came over and got Vietnamese sandwiches with me. We enjoyed an awesome day in the sun, played with Aimee and Chris' dog and caught up a little bit. These are women who I know would have my back if I ever needed rescuing. We all lived on the 7th floor of Lake Superior Hall our freshman year. *cue the music* "memories." We forgot to snap a picture before Lisa left, so here's me, Aimee and Jessi.

After my college buddies left I developed some sort of allergic reaction, so I was off to the doctor, the doctor gave me a strong antihistamine that made me super drowsy, so when Richard drove me home I was groggy, but so happy because . . . . .

BETHANY IS HOME!!!!!!!

I'm groggily drugged up on allergy meds in this picture, and B's crying, but look at how ridiculously happy we are in the midst of that!!!!

Yay!

How to Build Community - Sing Together

It's been awhile since I took something from the "How to build community" poster.

This picture is actually pretty old. This fall, our kitchen was infested with moths. After the exterminator came Holly and I had the "honor" of putting cleaning all of the kitchen cupboards and putting things back away. I had just started dating Richard, and was in a romantic giddy mood, and Holly is a good sport. We both love musicals and pretending that we are rock-stars. When Theresa showed up at the house she joined us for the fun. Holly, Theresa and I each took turns choosing a "love song" and playing its video off of youtube and then the three of us would belt it. This particular picture shows T and Holly singing along with Whitney Houston, "I will Always Love You!"

I've been re-reading Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the age of the quick fix this week. One thing that I didn't notice the first time through was Friedman's argument that one way to prevent and diffuse anxiety in a system (a family, a congregation, a business) is to maintain playfulness. There's something healthy that happens when you grab a wooden spoon and get in touch with your inner Diva and sing . . . "I-eeeee-i will always loooooooove yooouuuuuuuuuu."

What could have been a frustrating or boring night, turned into a chance for Holly and Theresa and I to bond and laugh. If we didn't have the job, I probably would have spent the night reading textbooks, and wasting time on facebook. If we hadn't started the love-song-sing-a-long, I would have likely gotten crabby and resentful. But I have really great memories of singing and laughing.

This Friday night, Richard, Holly, Noel and I had our cars flooded by rain water that was running down the street. The basement got a little wet, and garbage cans were floating down the road. It could have been super stressful. But we were together, and we were able to laugh together about how absurd it was. Noel's friend Paul was over and suggested that we go outside. One of my roommates pretended that s/he (I promised I wouldn't tell who) was being eaten by a crocodile in a river, we laughed at the waves created as cars drove down the street, we made up songs, we shop vac-ed our cars and laughed some more at the absurdity of 30 gallons of water in one car.

It's been a terrible week at our house, tons of professional, personal and family drama for all of us. But laughing and singing and playing together on Friday night has been good for us. I feel closer to my housemates than I have in a long time.

So let's keep on singing, let's keep on laughing, let's keep on playing. Happy Sunday!

Flood

¹ But now, this is what the LORD says—

he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.

² When you pass through the waters,

I will be with you;

and when you pass through the rivers,

they will not sweep over you.

When you walk through the fire,

you will not be burned;

the flames will not set you ablaze.

³ For I am the LORD, your God,

the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;

I give Egypt for your ransom,

Cush and Seba in your stead.

Isaiah 43:1-3 NIV

Growth

I snapped this picture yesterday at Westwood.

I'm finding myself frustrated that I have to face similar issues as I've faced over and over again in my walk, my ministry and my relationships.

Haven't we been in this place before? I thought that we dealt with it.

But the vine makes progress (eventually) and the vine still lives, and even when it comes back to the same place, it's not the same vine.

Happy Summer

I haven't completely abandonned the blog.

I've had things that I've wanted to blog about, but distractedness level has been pretty high, and I haven't taken much time to process my personal experiences, or the experiences of the world much in the past 2 months. The oil spill, the Arizona Immigration Bill, multiple reports on the achievement gap by race at school in Minnesota, and a gap in employment by race in Minnesota have all tugged at my heart, and I've wanted to talk about them, but I've allowed the frenetic pace of "End of the School Year" programming at work, and end of the quarter responsibilities at school to take over.

But God's calling me back to Himself, and back to myself. And I'm finding my center in Him again. Hopefully I will have more to say again soon.

But in the mean time, here's a picture of a blue damselfly that I took today at Westwood Hills Nature Center in Saint Louis Park today. Tuesdays are my sabbath, and I've started a new practice the last two weeks of hiking with my camera in hand, and asking God to help me slow down and to notice things. My hope is that God would speak to me through the things that I notice as I walk.

Have you tried Groupon?

I've never used the blog to sell something and I won't make a habit of doing this, but this site is really cool.

Have you tried Groupon?

Today's deal for Minneapolis/St. Paul is $5.00 for $10.00 worth of Ice Cream at the Pumphouse Creamery.

I've never been to the Pumphouse but with flavors like "Brandy Soaked Local Cherries with Handmade Brownies" and "SeaSalt, Caramel and Praline Pecans" as well as "Local organic Strawberry" and one described as "An Indian ice cream using ground raw pistachios, rosewater, and cardamom." I am looking forward to trying it. It's no secret that I'm a wannabe foodie.

This is the third Groupon that I've bought and I've had good luck with the other two (1/2 price dinner at Anodyne Coffee and $50 worth of services at Aveda Institute). You only buy the Groupons that you want, and you have up to a year to use them.

If you haven't already joined Groupon, consider joining through my referral link. There is a ten dollar credit that you receive for each person that you refer to Groupon. I honestly think that it's just a really good deal, so I do truly recommend it to you.

This is Beautiful - Landlord gives kidney to tenant

I've met both Dan and Sherry before, but it would be a stretch to say that I know them, but take time to read this story. It's beautiful. Thanks to Leah and Urban Homeworks for the link.

Love is the Air

On February 13, Noel showed this video, and a couple others, to Theresa Thompson and then asked her a big question, and while I can't reveal what the question was ;) I can report that her answer was yes

Frog sitting

While Richard is away Kermit is staying at the Stevens House. We played dress up today.

Yeah, i'm a dork.

a sad day in minneapolis

This cake is just so sad, I needed to post a picture of it.

The Neighborhood's Best Cure for a Cold

I woke up this morning with a cold, fortunately, we live two blocks from the best cure on the planet. #505 Pho Tai

One of these things doesn't belong...

Which one of these doesn't belong?

A - Axe

B - Shovel

C - Log

D - Saw

My coworker Martial came into my office this week and wrote this problem on my white board.

I chose log. The others are tools, log is not.

Martial told me that he chose shovel. The other three tell a story about cutting wood, they have a relationship to one another.

"You see, you, as an American, are trained to think in terms of categories. I as a Frenchman, was trained to think in terms of relationships and stories. Look, I bet Carlos will think the same as me. Carlos! Come in here!"

Carlos, from Colombia, came in to my office, "shovel."

"But I bet that the other Katie will choose the same as you."

Katie came in, "log"

So, I changed my fb status quickly and set up an unofficial experiment, with the problem posted. All day long messages came in, responses came from around the US, and the world. From people born in the US, Asia, Africa, and Latin American countries. Men and women responded, teens and people in their fifties.

Nineteen people said "shovel;" twenty-three said "log."

There were white North Americans who said, "shovel."

There were non-white and Internationals who said, "log."

Women were more likely to say "shovel" than men.

People with graduate degrees or who are currently in graduate school were more likely to say "log" than those who are not.

Everyone in the US who would identify him or herself as "Latino" chose "shovel" but of the 3 Spanish people [from Spain] interviewed, two said "log" and one said "shovel."

We've been talking about schema in my Culture and Ministry class at Bethel. Our eyes take in 10 million bits of information per second, and our brain is incapable of processing that much. So, as we mature, we develop schema, or frameworks to help us sort through that information. Depending on the family and the culture and environment that we grow up in, we develop different frameworks in order to survive in that setting.

We run into problems when we assume that the people we are interacting with are using the same schema or frameworks as we are.

Now, here's my affirmation for you. Whether you've chosen log or shovel, you're not a bad person. If you chose log, it doesn't mean that you don't value relationships. If you chose shovel, it doesn't mean that you can't think critically.

It is inappropriate to take a deficit approach to culture, whether we're judging the majority culture or a minority culture. The schema that any of us have developed to survive in our environments are good and helpful things. The challenge is not to feel bad about how you think, but to be aware of your schema and the schema of others.

Grateful for the House

I usually think of "the house" in terms of the 5 individuals who happen to be living here at any given time. Today though, I'm struck by what a gift this building is. So when I say that I'm grateful for the "house" I mean that.

Not only do we have a warm place to live, but we are surrounded by so much beauty in our home, just look at this radiator, there's no practical reason for it to be so pretty, but for whatever reason when the radiators were installed they included all those gorgeous scrolls. This is a gorgeous, inspiring place to live, and after living here for so long, I've often taken it all for granted. But today, I'm remembering, the beauty of this house, I'm remembering how nice it is to be warm, when it's supposed to feel like -23 F this morning, I'm remembering how nice it is to have space to be with people and to have space to be alone. I am grateful.

CAMERA

Have I mentioned how much I love my new camera?

The Word Became Flesh

We're really happy to have our roommate's home, back dwelling among us! Here's Holly and her friend Mary nice and cozy on Wanda's new amazing thrift store couch.

Holly was gone over break at the Urbana '09 conference in St. Louis. The theme for the week was from John 1, "The Word Became Flesh and Dwelt Among Us."

The videos of the speakers are great! I haven't watched all of them, but I recommend these:

Sunder Krishnan's "Pray Big, Pray Bold" on day 4

Oscar Muriu's "Money and Power" on day 3

all of Ramez Attallah's teachings on the book of John.

Of course, Shane Claiborne is always awesome and Brenda Saltar McNeil brought a powerful word.

Home!

Our house was quiet over the Christmas/New Years week. But Sunday our family all came home. Also, my new camera came in the mail on Monday! Hooray! Here's an awesome picture of Noel to welcome you into the New Year!