ready to smile?

last night we closed our spring baseball chapter

our high school sophomore made us proud

his playing...his maturity...his level head...his perspective

he traveled to georgia with his teammates over spring break

and we heard they sang along to the radio a lot

i can picture them acting like these harvard boys

i'm so glad God made boys!

ubuntu

we tend to be an individualistic culture (me)

clearly, these african kids live in a collectivistic culture (us)

beauty full

An anthropologist proposed a game to African tribe kids. He put a basket full of fruit near a tree and told them that whoever got there first won the sweet fruits. When he told them to run they all took each others hands and ran together, then sat together enjoying their treats. When he asked them why they had run like that as one could have had all the fruits for himself they said: UBUNTU, how can one of us be happy if all the other ones are sad?

UBUNTU in the Xhosa culture means: "I am because we are"

by irlan gampamole

risen

photo: sharon moses

happy easter

xoxo

The Story of Keep Calm and Carry On

i have loved keep calm since i first saw it years ago

the phrase really does fit LIFE so well, doesn't it?

so happy to have found the story details behind the comforting words

hey there

google image

me.

{life}

and you?

{grin}

friend

photo: m smith

I was invited to his workshop when we lived in his village for 6 weeks.  One of my first friends during a very lonely time.  We laughed and chatted in the workshop.  I remember like it was yesterday, the twinkle in his eyes…his upraised eyebrows and deep laughs at my zany-ness.  Refreshment for my weary, isolated soul.  Oh, did we laugh! 

A small, simple structure with a wood stove.  Sitting on a little hill thirty feet from a winding river. But as we met in that workshop, Your gracious hand lovingly knit hearts together and transformed a plain wooden shack into a sacred place.

Memories flood my heart as I write about my friend this morning, and a song begins playing in my mind…Holy ground, we’re standing on holy ground.  For the Lord is present and where He is is holy. The workshop wasn’t holy in and of itself.  It was holy because when I went there to visit my friend, You were always there, too.

[Isn’t it funny that the God who created us with a need for people 

always gives us the people we need?] 

That lonely summer in a small fishing village, I was longing for a girl friend and lo’ and behold, You sent me a male ivory carver with grandchildren running around.  And You grew our friendship not over tea in a warm kitchen somewhere (the expected and hoped for), but in a simple shed (the unexpected and perfect spot).

Love born in an ordinary, unadorned place.  But that’s how You do things, isn’t it?  You make me smile.

Thank you for giving me one of the very best friends I’ll ever have. I love You. 

Thank you, Lord for the workshop, and for the man who spent many hours creating beautiful ivory carvings within it’s walls.  My heart overflows with gratefulness this morning knowing that fire only destroyed the building and not the man who made the building so special to me.

*i originally wrote this in 2008 and posted it on my first blog

my friend has since built a new workshop

and each summer when i round the curve and see his house

my heart beats a little faster...part of me is home when i am with john

{friends made in the lonely places and spaces always feel like home}

back in the day

i sat in the bookstore totally delighted by this adorable cookbook

the cover called my name

i mean, i just know i'd love to hang out with griff and cheryl

heck, i'd love to work in their awesome bakery in savannah if it weren't such a long commute

i sadly put the $25 book back on its perch knowing i would go home and order it from my favorite perch for much less

{by the way, i love supporting my local bookstore --even if it is a chain--but their prices are often double amazon's...and amazon usually ships free. come on, barnes and noble!}

anywhoo, i am waiting patiently for my little cookbook to arrive

and then i'll have to figure out which meals will be replaced by cupcakes and s'more pie and nanna pudding and hummingbird cake....