A New Week. A New State.

Today finds us in Longview, Texas just a hop, skip and jump away from the Louisiana border. Thus far I have viewed the driving portion of our journey as merely a means to an end; we needed to get to Atlanta and to do that we had to drive through Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. However, today starts with a feeling of anticipation and excitement as we venture into Louisiana, both because it is a state I have never visited and because we are now over half way to Atlanta.
Thankfully, Mercy slept well the last two nights in complete contrast to the two nights before that when she felt the need to sleep very close to me and nurse all night long. We think that she is going through her six-month growth stage because she seems to look longer every time we change her out of her sleepers into her day clothes. She also had a milestone moment yesterday when she drank milk out of a sippy cup. I know that to most of the world this seems totally anticlimactic, but to those of us who are breastfeeding moms, this is brilliant! She doesn't like bottles but with the new found acceptance of the sippy cup, Mom (that's me) can get a break. As well, we're pretty sure that she's ready for solid food because whenever one of us holds her in our lap while we're eating, she starts sucking on her tongue and reaching out to grab whatever we have. We're trying to put off starting solids but I think we're going to have to break on this one.
We noticed yesterday that as we left Abilene and started heading further east, trees began to appear at first just in little clumps along the road and eventually sprouted into entire forests. It's amazing how Texas seems to be divided right in the middle with the east showing mainly plains and the west bearing quite dense forests. I'm really looking forward to the drive today to see how the landscape changes as we head further east. We've been in the desert so long that I can't wait to see some serious green. Thankfully, the weather has been amazing and we've been able to drive without much thought to preparations for any sort of conditions. Longview, where we spent the night last night, had some fog roll in, but that should burn off by late morning. Hopefully, we'll have some more pictures to put up after today's journey. I pray that we make it as far east as we can before the day's over.

Getting Out the Door

I can't believe that we have now been on the road for a week! The original plan was to leave in time to get to Atlanta by Joseph's Birthday on the 11th but, of course, the best laid plans ... Instead, we spent his birthday mostly on the road with a stop in Deming, New Mexico, the birthplace of his maternal grandfather, and Van Horn, Texas, where we got some authentic Tex Mex in a little hole in the wall joint just outside of El Paso. While we got out later than we had planned, there is no doubt that God's timing was/is perfect. We started getting down to serious packing last Saturday and got most everything boxed and ready to go in our trailer by Sunday morning. Joseph stayed up all night on Sunday trying to get the trailer loaded before the first wave of rain storms rolled in to Southern California. My amazing husband and our dear friend Kas re-packed our trailer three times before they got it balanced and road-ready. Some residents and retired missionaries at Casa Robles where we live saw that we were struggling to get on the road and graciously offered their hospitality. It started with inviting us over for dinner and then breakfast and then lunch and eventually ended in them giving us a key and letting us stay the night in their guest room. I was blessed by spending time in their home and hearing their stories about being in the missionary field in Bolivia and South Africa. No doubt, spending time with them bolstered my faith in the middle of a very frustrating start to our trip.
After multiple repacking attempts and a few trailer hiccups, we finally got on the road at 5 pm on Tuesday night! Though we knew we couldn't get very far, we were thankful to be out of our apartment and finally started towards Atlanta. Another blessing which seemed to come out of our late departure was that Joseph's parents, Jerry and Olivia, were in Arizona and drove up to meet us in Indio. At one point, we had all talked about driving to Atlanta together. Now, here we are on Sunday morning in Abilene, Texas and they are still on the road with us and are planning to go all the way to Atlanta. Praise God! As well, since they have their RV, they took over hauling the trailer which is a great relief to our little 1987 Volvo. We have now traveled with them for 5 days and have enjoyed great visiting time.
Mercy is a great little traveler and is doing so well! We are hoping to get to Atlanta by Tuesday. We'll try to keep up with blogging as we go!

The Meal

The idea of "the meal" has been on my mind lately. This may be because I'm now a stay-at-home mom and am enjoying exercising my creative meal-planning muscles or because I have taken an interest in sustainable living, but I think it runs much deeper than that. I find that God tends to meet us where we are in ways that are immensely more deep and complicated than we can imagine. I could say that God meets me in the kitchen when I cook, which is true. I could say that God meets me in the grocery store when I shop for food, which is true. I could say that God meets me in the planning of my weekly meals, which is also true. I think, however, that where God meets me the most is in the consumption of the meal itself. Not that the pleasure of the food is so great that God must be in it, but rather that the experience of sharing a meal with my family is in and of itself a part of God's design for His people. On one level, the communal aspect of eating is very spiritual and I want to extend my table beyond myself and my family. On the other hand, though, I think the communal aspect of a meal is a greater metaphor for God's extension of grace to the entirety of humanity. I reflect on meals in the Bible and how in first-century Judaism, meals were shared amongst the Jews as a sign of their oneness with God and their being chosen. Meals were used to commemorate historical events and to recognize God's provision and fulfilled promise as given through the law. And yet, when Jesus sits with sinners and shares a meal, he is in essence extending that promise outside of the Jewish table and to the rest of humanity. The meals that Jesus shares in the New Testament are symbolic of Jesus' role as the extension of God's favor on the world. The picture of Jesus' meal-sharing is portrayed in the New Testament as a specific example of how we are to commune with the world around us. Our tables are not just for our own families and communities but are meant for the broken, misled, un-churched, un-polished, outsiders, uncomfortable and unwanted members of our own neighborhoods. In extending the invitation to share a meal, we are re-enacting God's extension of grace on us. "The Meal" is so much more than the provision of food for our bodies; it is an opportunity to be an extension of the provision of food for the soul.

Thankful Conservation

I know I am starting to sound like one of those tree-hugging California grown-girls who only wears Birkenstocks and belongs to the Sierra Club, but for the sake of posterity (I always feel like that word makes people seem so self-righteous) I am going to write this post anyways and expose my husband and I to any eye-rolling naysayers. Joseph brought home buckets today. "Buckets?", you say. Yep, buckets. California is in a massive drought right now. I read a statistic today that said that every minute we shower takes up four to six gallons of water. If we cut our daily shower by just one minute, we would save about 1500 gallons in a year. That is an eye-opener for me. Now, usually I am the kind of person that says, "Yeah, so what? I am one person and doing something like cutting down my shower time really isn't going to make an impact". You know what though, I'm done thinking that way. Whether or not it makes a large impact isn't the point. There is something to say about what I will call the spiritual discipline of "conservation". It may seem silly but I'm starting to think about some of the things I take for granted, like hot, free-flowing water, as a place where I am lacking knowledge of the Creator God in my life. Oddly enough, what really got Joseph and I thinking about this was our daughter, Mercy. She is really susceptible to diaper rash and even though we use cloth diapers and washable cloth wipes, it seems that she still has the rash. The only way to prevent it seems to be to wash her little bum under the water every time we change her diaper. For new parents, the thought of running our baby's little tush under ice-cold water is heart-breaking, so we've been running the water until it gets warm. However, in the meantime all of that cold water has just been washed down the drain. Thus, the buckets. Now we have one small bucket in each of our sinks (the bathroom and kitchen) and one larger bucket in the shower. Since we have a garden and a fair amount of flowers in the little yard surrounding our house, we can save the water to use for our plants. I also did a little shower experiment today and put the large bucket under the shower head while I bathed. It was amazing how much water I collected in just a five-minute shower! We'll probably put the buckets away when we have people over but it actually feels really good to be doing my "unimportant, not-going-to-make-a-difference part". I am seeing it as part of my daily observation and reminder of how much God provides for my family and how often it goes completely unnoticed. I am practicing the spiritual discipline of conservation. I am appreciating abundance in the midst of drought.

Fresh, Organic Vegetables with a Side of Hope

"What is a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Program? Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a unique model of local agriculture. Its origins reach back almost 40 years to Japan where a group of women concerned about the increase in food imports and the corresponding decrease in the farming population initiated a direct growing and purchasing relationship between their group and local farms. This arrangement, called 'teikei' in Japanese, translates to 'putting the farmers' face on food.' This concept traveled to Europe, and in 1985, was adapted for the U.S. and given the name 'Community Supported Agriculture' at Indian Line Farm, Massachusetts. According to the US Department of Agriculture, Community Supported Agriculture consists of a community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation so that the farmland becomes, in effect, the community's farm, with the growers and consumers providing mutual support and sharing the risks and benefits of food production. It is estimated that there are now over 1500 CSA farms across North America". -From the ewent website.

If you have never heard of a CSA or Community Supported Agriculture program, you are not in the minority. This is especially true for those of us who have never really known where our food comes from let alone where the closest local farm can be found. Being a Pasadena native, I was almost positive that the only way for me to truly "shop local" was to visit farmer's markets, drive to Tehachapi or simply grow my own food. However, there is another option right here in my own backyard. Our very own community has a local CSA where you can not only support a local grower through your purchases of organic, seasonal produce, but also support local youth. The Earthworks Community Farm in El Monte has established a program whereby at-risk youth are taught the art of organic farming in order to give them a greater perspective on their world. As the website states:

"EarthWorks brings together young adults from the San Gabriel Valley Conservation Corps, who grow vegetables, fruits, and flowers, help maintain the farm, and sell fresh produce as part of the SGVCC program. Youth work in teams to plant, harvest, mulch, weed and more. Some participants will have the chance to sell flowers and vegetables at our weekly produce stand. They also harvest vegetables for our Community Supported Agriculture program (our weekly vegetable share) and to give to area food banks. Our farm offers a place where young people can experience and explore ideas of community, service, healthy lifestyles, and leadership.

During their time at the farm, youth will experience all the work necessary for maintaining a 4-acre organic farm. We will also explore how farms and the food system impact the environment. They will participate in games and initiatives designed to create community and build leadership skills. Also, they will participate in workshops to increase their awareness of hunger and homelessness, diversity, nutrition, and sustainability".

The benefits of belonging to a CSA run deep. Not only do you have direct relationship with a local farm, you also support the farm through both a membership fee as well as volunteer hours. In return, you receive a weekly bag of produce as well as opportunities for free-pick times when you can walk through the garden and take your pick of specialty produce and flowers. I think about the various benefits our family will enjoy being involved in this program; not only will we receive amazing food, but we will also be able to take Mercy out to the farm for work days when she is a bit older and teach her the joys of God's provision through gardening. What a gift to give our little girl!

If you are interested in more information, check out the farm's website at www.ewent.org. The CSA season runs from March - November (35 weeks total), but it isn't too late to join. An entire season's membership is $700 but they will prorate your fee if you join mid-season. The cost breaks down to about $20/week, which is a small fee for an entire bag of organic fruits and veggies, not to mention the joy of seeing young people flourish in their own communities. I challenge Joseph and I to go through an entire bag in a week. As a matter of fact, sharing a bag with another family might be the way to go. I'm ready to put my money where my mouth is as a Christian and be responsible for our earth and for others. Supporting a CSA is a small step and one I am excited to take.

Kitchen Experiments

While in graduate school I picked up many life-giving skills. Amongst my learning in the spiritual disciplines, American church history, Christian ethics and social justice, I also attained zen-like heights of being able to take anything that I happen to have sitting in my kitchen and turning it into a relatively well-balanced meal. This morning I proved to myself that this particular skill still resides with me.

I was laying in bed last night feeding Mercy when I realized that something was bothering me. When I searched my mind a bit more deeply, I realized that what had me so mind-tangled and distracted was a batch of rice that a friend had brought over for dinner along with a roast and some wonderful vegetables. The roast and vegetables were long gone but the rice was still sitting in its foil container looking pretty sad and lonely. It was a good batch of wild rice mixed with pine nuts and sesame seeds but it had gone dry over the last couple of days. It wasn't necessarily the state of the rice that was bothering me, but the fact that I knew in a couple of days it would get tossed, along with a few other un-eaten items in our fridge. So, I started to go through all of the possible uses for this particular rice. I fell asleep with this on the brain and when I woke up this morning I found myself very excited to open the fridge and cupboards to see what I could throw together. When Joseph came home at lunch and I had gotten Mercy down for a little nap, I did just that and here's the recipe I came up with.

Kitchen Sink Wild Rice Salad

4 cups cooked wild rice

1 cup raw pine nuts

1-2 cups dried raisins, yellow raisins, currents and cranberries (pre-mixed from Trader Joes)

1 green apple, finely diced

1 yellow bell pepper, finely diced

1/2 avocado, cubed

2-3 basil leaves, chopped very fine

1/2 - 1 cup of any brand of Raspberry Vinaigrette

(this would be great with left-over chicken as well, but I didn't have any)

Mix all ingredients together in a mixing bowl and let chill for an hour or so to mix the flavors. You can also throw in any left-over veggies that are sitting around. That's why it's called a kitchen sink salad. Enjoy!!!

From "Simply in Season: Recipes that celebrate fresh, local foods in the spirit of More-with-Less"

" All the things we use, all the things we make, everything we manipulate, everything we accumulate, derives from the creation itself. If we learn to seek godly contentment as our great gain, we will take and shape less of God's earth. We will demand less from the land. We will leave room for other creatures. We will responsibly exercise dominion over the earth and will preserve it. We will thus allow creation to heal itself and to perpetuate its fruitfulness, to the praise of its Creator" - Calvin B. DeWitt, President of Au Sable Institute of Environmental Studies.

Sometimes you read something that simply resonates with you and makes your heart sing in a way that inspires you to do better. This is one of those quotes for me.

Small Imprint, Big Impact: Our Family Garden

I am sitting right now with my one-month old daughter, Mercy, sleeping comfortably in her Maya sling whilst snuggled up against my chest and allowing me to enjoy some delicious tomatoes and basil from the garden that Joseph planted behind our little cottage just a few months before she was born. There is something immensely satisfying about both of these things; wearing Mercy close to my chest while being able to have my hands free makes me feel like an accomplished baby whisperer who is able to love my child and be productive at the same time. I feel like a Guatemalan woman enjoying the simple pleasures of my hearth and home while syncing my heart beat up to that of the sleeping baby close to my breast. As well, eating a meal of vegetables from the garden my husband planted makes me feel both closer to the Earth, and thus to God, as well as closer to my husband. There is something immensely sensual about gardening. I feel like my hunter-gatherer husband is out providing for his family. In a sense, that is exactly what he is doing.

Since we started picking fruits and veggies from our garden late last Spring, we have enjoyed the simplicity of walking out back and grabbing strawberries, tomatoes, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, squash, basil, mint, thyme and figs. We are looking forward to the cantaloupe that is currently flowering. I feel like I have a farmer's market in my backyard. There is something very sacred about growing your own food that goes way beyond the benefits of the green movement. When I buy a tomato from the regular market, I automatically feel like it is disposable. Often Joseph and I buy veggies that we don't eat right away and they end up in the trash. Not only is that a waste of production and our money, but it feels like slapping my Creator in the face for the provision that God so abundantly provides for us. On the other hand, when Joseph brings in the latest round of tomatoes that are warm from the sun and right off the vine, I can't wait to eat them. Usually, they get sliced up and served within minutes and then I am left waiting for the next yield. I have to admit that I'm not as good about cooking the zucchini and squash right away, mostly because it takes more prep time. However, when I do get around to sauteing them or slicing them to put on the grill, there is nothing better. I currently have a larger than life zucchini that I am hoping to use to make zucchini bread.

Now, while I am getting to enjoy the fruit of "my" labor, I have a confession to make: this has not been my labor at all. From the start, Joseph was the one who cleared the space out back, shopped for the seeds and plants, weeded and watered faithfully and continues to keep up the garden. I have never had the green thumb that I should have inherited from my garden fairy of a grandmother (my mother didn't inherit it either, so I don't feel too bad). In my own defense, I was 6 months pregnant when we started the garden and so I couldn't get down in the dirt with Joseph, which I rather think I would have enjoyed. I did go with him to pick out the varieties of vegetables and it has been immensely gratifying to see them come up out of the ground and be able to enjoy them. I just need to go on record as saying that I have had little to nothing to do with the garden other than eating what comes out of it.

As I am able to enjoy the benefit of having the small yard in which to be able to grow food, it makes me think of so many other simple living tasks I have written down in my mental checklist to accomplish sooner than later. Just last weekend Joseph and I met a really interesting and unique couple, Danielle and Todd, who really take living green seriously. Danielle writes for yourdailythread.com, which is a local online green publication. It seemed that they were vegetarians, or at least very conscientious eaters, as they brought their own brown rice and bok choy to the BBQ where we were eating with friends. We got to talking and the conversation made me really want to explore more ways of simple, green living. I hope to continue to seek and search out new ways to live more simply and with sustainability in mind. For now, my little garden reminds me of how God truly provides in a tangible way that allows me to be physically part of the gift.