So this funny thing happened last night....

How many of you have started a story with that line? Well, it seems to be a line that I use a lot. However, it is not to tell a story about someone else as often happens, but to tell a story about something I or my husband did. We are the king and queen of issues with car, house, or bike, losing things and breaking things. So sit back and listen to this story:

After eating a scrumptious dinner at Luci Andora and enjoying themselves, Heidi and John went home to have some coffee and dessert. However, upon arrival at home, Heidi asked for the keys to the house. John looked in his pockets and realized that he did not have keys. And nor did Heidi. Heidi and John brainstormed what they would do. An idea pops into John's head, "my sister has a key." "Well, let's go get it!" said Heidi. Unfortunately, said key could not be found. "Well," says Josh, brother-in-law, "you can stay the night." Phew, they said. After a good night's sleep, they woke up, played with cute niece Grace, ate breakfast, thanked their family for saving them from the cold and then headed home. Luckily, they were able to get in. I won't tell you how, but it took 2 minutes. It was a funny, unexpected night. Now Heidi and John will never ever lock themselves out again. The End.

So, I would normally freak out in these types of situations. However, I am now finding them to be extremely funny. I had a good laugh. John did not find this as funny as I did.

I have found that as I get older and as I am with John longer, I have mellowed about losing things or breaking things or having things stolen. His presence in my life has continually reminded me that life is not about stuff or how much money we have, but about loving each other, treating each other well, being hospitable to the stranger, being generous, and sharing joy.

Thank you to our family for caring for us overnight. We are grateful for such loving people in our lives that help us. I used to always feel bad about asking for help, for impinging on someone else, but that is what being in relationship is about. Loving each other and caring for one another.

Resolutions for the New Year

Happy New Year! Welcome 2011. John and I ushered it in with friends playing games: pass the pigs and Hugger Mugger. A great evening and a good first day.

With a new year, a new beginning. One cannot help thinking about what the last year has brought and what one wants to create in the new year for their life. I often think that resolutions can be trite: I want to lose weight, I want to eat better, I want to budget my money better. But so often we make these resolutions without really thinking about how to live them out. I was reading an article on the Real Simple website that discussed having everything ready before the new year hit. So, if you want to lose weight, what does that mean and how will you stick with it?

Instead of concentrating on "doing" resolutions, I want to focus on "being" resolutions.

Here is what I am resolving for 2011:
1. I want to create space in my life for taking care of myself by spending time each week to do the things I love: reading, writing, yoga, stained glass, knitting, or more.
2. To not over-schedule myself at work or at home, to pay attention to my time.
3. To focus on the relationships in my life that keep me grounded and give me wholeness.

My excitement for 2011 is to discover more deeply how I am in the world and I want to be in the world. I am looking forward to it in all its joys, sorrows, challenges, experiences and adventures. May it be a year of learning and a year to remember!

Happy New Year - Asian Style

According to Francy McAllister, there is a tradition in Japan that before New Year's you clean your house from top to bottom or from bottom to top, if you prefer. She was right! I googled it (a wonderful thing) and discovered Mrs. G, who two years ago posted on her blog that this is a tradition. For her most helpful post, please see: http://www.themrsg.com/2008/12/oosouji-japanese-new-year.html.

This week, while Harry and Francy were here, we cleaned and organized the basement and discussed the need for shelves. Oh, it was fantastic! We got rid of stuff, we organized things. Now, easy to find and easy to put away. Plus, we had cleaned before they got here so our living areas and bedrooms were nice and clean. It is beautiful. I have a clear work table for my stained glass. No excuses to not make stained glass, right?

I find that I am a much calmer, rational, happy individual if my house is not a mess. When the house becomes a JOB to take care of all the clutter and to clean, that is when it becomes so overwhelming and totally clouds my emotions and stresses me out. A Happy Heidi=A Clean House. I get this from my mom. Although, I don't get cranky before company comes like she does. :) LOVE you, Mom!

Tonight, John and I are cooking Thai Green Curry with Tofu and veggies. It is my favorite kind of curry, but yet I don't eat it very often. It is a wonderful flavorful dish. And easy! A resolution: to eat more Thai Green Curry. A yummy way to ring in the New Year.

Good curry with a clean house. A Happy New Year indeed!

Traditions

Tradition: Noun.
1 : an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior (as a religious practice or a social custom) b : a belief or story or a body of beliefs or stories relating to the past that are commonly accepted as historical though not verifiable

2 : the handing down of information, beliefs, and customs by word of mouth or by example from one generation to another without written instruction

3 : cultural continuity in social attitudes, customs, and institutions

4 : characteristic manner, method, or style tradition>

John and I have discovered that we both LOVE our traditions. Thankfully, our traditions somewhat work together. This year, it worked out that each of our Christmas traditions were celebrated.

My family's big traditions happen on Christmas Eve and early Christmas morning. The festivities begin at the early church service. This year John and I went to Grace, which I really love. I am thankful that my family was able to work around us going to Grace. I love celebrating with my church family and then going to my birth family. We got to my parent's farm and ate dinner. Yummy Lutefisk and Lefse with Swedish meatballs, sweet potatoes, corn pudding, and more. Following dinner, we read the Christmas story and then say the Lord's Prayer. After that, we open our gifts to each other. We go to bed and wake up to our stockings filled. We open them and then have a egg breakfast with a Swedish tea ring, coffee, juice and fruit.

This year, following breakfast, John and I left to partake in his family's traditions. We arrived at his sister's house and began to open our big presents to each other. Then, we ate breakfast of an egg dish, Christmas bread, Patisa, and finished with our stocking gifts. We spend the afternoon together and then in the evening, we had an appetizer of Tortellinis, then a meal of steak, stuffed peppers with sweet potatoes, salad, and Lefse (which I brought into the evening). We drank Martinis, Cosmos, and Wine.

Why do we hold onto our traditions so much? My niece and nephews cannot stand to have their traditions broken. My family dared to think about not going to the Holidazzle this year and the kids (mostly Annica) could not understand why we would break this tradition!

There is something comforting and easy about traditions. I find they help me to celebrate, they give me certainty and steadiness in a world that can seem out of control. Traditions provide me with beauty and joy.

John and I are beginning to create our traditions that come with creating a new family. It is exciting to think about our own in addition to the ones that were created for us. It is based on our own preferences, experiences, and choices.

A little Christmas Love....

If baby Jesus was born in 2010, this is how it would happen:

http://gizmodo.com/5713793/the-birth-of-jesus-according-to-gmail-facebook-and-foursquare

Christmas has now been digitalized. I don't know how I feel about this, but I do find this video pretty ingenious!

Uncommon Christmas Tradition

About eight years ago, I started volunteering for the overnight shift at Simpson Housing Services. When volunteering overnight, you are with another volunteer. In the wee hours, you take turns sleeping while the other sits up in case of an emergency and to watch over the building and other folks. I usually read or did school work when I was in seminary. I would sit there while folks would sleep on their mat with their blankets. I equate it to a big slumber party for adults that don't know each other well and don't want to be there.

In the last year, one hundred and thirteen people died while living on the streets. Tonight, many people will gather at Simpson United Methodist Church and memorialize each person. Their name will be read aloud and a candle lit for them.

This service has become a tradition for me as it is the most important part of my personal Christmas celebration. It is a powerful service for me because it shows that the lives that have been lost were not meaningless. Dying in a snow bank or under a bridge is not the end of their life, but rather they are remembered for their personality, for what they have brought to others, and more. They each have a story and each is made in the image of God.

Christmas is about bringing light to the darkness, about Jesus the light coming into a world of suffering ask calling all of us to help alleviate each other’s suffering. Isn't this where Jesus would be is he was alive today? Marching down Nicollet Avenue with the name of each person on a sign. Wouldn't Jesus be weeping over the 2 year old little one that died?

This service inspires me. It keeps me grounded in knowing that Jesus and Christmas are not about presents or about yummy food we eat, but about the relationships we have with the people we love and the people on the fringes of society.

The Darkness Does Not Overcome It

Every Advent, my church community (Grace University) has a soup supper and vespers on Wednesday evenings. As John and I walked quickly to Grace from the coffee shop on the corner, I couldn't wait to get inside and gather with folks I love on a cold, dark evening. To warm our bellies with yummy soup, bread, and goodies over good conversation.

The light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not overcome it. John 1:9

For many Christians, we know this verse by heart. We keep this close during the season of Advent, during the seasons of pain and hurt that we experience in our lives. For someone who struggles with depression and darkness, the light is not the easiest to find, but luckily, I have found supportive, deep, authentic, real and loving friends. Friends who are there through the shit and the darkness and bring the light.

I am grateful for those friends, for the community at Grace that understands, forgives, searches, digs deep, and cares for each other in the best way we know how. God is truly present in this community as we live lives together and care enough to sit through the darkness and come out together in the light. That is very rare. Or maybe it seems rare because I haven't found community like this that has these deep conversations and is full of truth telling.

Tonight, I was thinking a lot about Holden Village for two reasons: 1. because I miss my sister and I love her. I wish I had back the intentionality of our relationship 2. because Holden is a place apart, not a utopia, but a place that intentionally does community, that asks the deeper questions, that is authentic. It is a place that understands darkness as it doesn't see the sun for two months of the year. The community literally sits together in darkness, but it isn't overcome by it. The Holden Hilarity keeps the light shining bright in the midst of winter.

Tonight, I am thinking a lot about the darkness in my life. Having depression, the darkness can overcome the light. It can block you in a tiny and deep corner. Thank you to those who have opened the door and exposed the darkness to light, to those who have sat with me, and continue to sit with me and wait for the light. It does come and you have all shown me that.