Tuesday, February 28, 2023

February Twenty-Twenty-Three

Keep love in front of my eyes.

Love in the car.

Love in the waiting room.

Love on the phone.

Love at my laptop.

Love in the laundry room.

-Kate Bowler

Love is what carries you, for it is always there, even in the dark, or most in the dark. but shining out at times like gold stitches in a piece of embroidery. - Wendell Berry

Even after all this time the sun never says to the earth, 'You owe me.'

Look what happens with a love like that. It lights the whole sky. - Hāfiz

The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image, Otherwise, we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them. - Thomas Merton.

I compensated for my former indifference
by the twin exercise of attention and patience,
Let's call it love.
-Sylvain Tesson from the exquisite movie The Velvet Queen

Whenever I groan within myself and think how hard it is to keep writing about love in these times of tension and strife which may at any moment become for us all a time of terror, I think to myself, “What else is the world interested in?” What else do we all want, each one of us, except to love and be loved, in our families, in our work, in all our relationships. God is Love. Love casts out fear. Even the most ardent revolutionist, seeking to change the world, to overturn the tables of the money changers, is trying to make a world where it is easier for people to love, to stand in that relationship with each other of love. We want with all our hearts to love, to be loved. –Dorothy Day, The Catholic Worker, April 1948

Monday, February 27, 2023

Northern Ireland Trek

It has been such a gift to hear from Taylor through WhatsApp here and there over the last week and a half about some of what he is experiencing. We can hardly wait to see him on Thursday upon his return! After all these early mornings of him getting up to go running with Mr. Grosskopf and a few others, I know he will be looking forward to his own bed and sleeping in!

a few favorite pictures below that we've seen on the Hands for a Bridge blog or that he's texted to us....

A prayer for reconciliation
Where there is separation,
there is pain.
And where there is pain,
there is story.
And where there is story,
there is understanding,
and misunderstanding,
listening,
and not listening.
May we- separated peoples, estranged strangers,
Unfriended families, divided communities-
turn toward each other,
and turn toward our stories,
with understanding
and listening,
with argument and acceptance,
with challenge, change
and consolation.
Because if God is to be found,
God will be found
In the space
Between.
-Padraig O Tuama, Daily Prayers with the Corrymeela Community

Sunday, February 26, 2023

Sweet Sixteen!

Chocolati date with Hannah Langford yesterday

(as she turns 16 on Monday!)

While we were getting hot chocolate and doing a few fun things together, Hannah's friends were at her house pulling together a surprise party for her. Such fun to help scheme behind the scenes so she could have such a fun birthday surprise when she got home. :)

small group tonight- keeping the celebration going!

sixteen not sixty-one :)

Saturday, February 25, 2023

Fort Ebey Trail Run

I ran the Fort Ebey Kettles Trail Half Marathon today with my friend Kristi from SPU. The views of the bluffs did not disappoint, and we conquered 2750 feet of elevation gain (in rainbow tutus no less!) so this was no small endeavor for Kristi’s first half marathon.

morning glory

best running views

photo finish!

with our cheerleader Laur

Friday, February 24, 2023

Winter Wonderland

We had a bit of snow on Wednesday morning this week, and Elizabeth and I made our way to experience some of the winter wonderland on the trails at Redmond Watershed. So beautiful!!