Some things thrive on neglect. LIke the christmas cactus my mother wrapped in plastic and stuck in a dark closet so that when it emerged at last it sent out a profusion of blossoms hitherto unimagined, let alone seen.
I suspect blogs may not be like that.
We have been Doing Things:
Simon's mother came and went.
There have been trips to the beach (including epic kite string untangling)
and forays into the beauty of a Willamette Valley summer.
My brother and his wife are here.
We went out to my aunt and uncle's farm to visit friends and cousins large and small.
There a hundred other things I haven't managed to record at all like trips to the zoo and youth conferences and playing cherry bomb and big family dinners and the vegetable garden we will soon leave behind. But mostly it has been a lot of boxes and changing of addresses and the thousand million other things that Must Get Done when you are buying a new house and moving yourselves.
To be honest, I am not sure when we will emerge again.
Work on that thriving on neglect for me, won't you?
I ducked out yesterday evening just to go back with a camera and drink it all in.
Simon may be away in the Philippines, but his lovely mother has come to stay with us for the week. We are all so grateful and excited to have her here, a voice of wisdom and a cause for a break from the routine of packing and imminent moving.
We went down to the creek with her yesterday, where Bella tried in vain to master her floating technique-- a technique she herself mastered while paddling for countless hours with these same grandchildren under Zambian skies.
I watched these two girls of mine enjoy one another. How grand it must be to have a sister.
And of course where there are two enjoying themselves, a third will soon join in.
Ana suddenly remembered today that one of my oldest and dearest friends, May, sent her some photos via Facebook a few months ago. Photos of a baby Ana (those ears! and peach fuzz head! and little stork bite! and pudgy fists!), scanned in from film, of her with May (she has the blonde streaks) and me (was I really ever twenty?). I can only assume that it was her camera and we took turns taking the photos. I've no idea, really. It was so sweet to find this just as I was contemplating how dear sisters are and how how much I treasure family. Some family we build ourselves, but most of it is a gift we are given, and a blessing I am more grateful for with each and every day.
I fell off the bandwagon there for a bit. This weekly deal doesn't seem to be quite my thing. Random, once in a while, does.
The other day they found a pair of pretend glasses on our evening walk. They cleaned them up and plonked them on.
click
click
click
123 and a set of portraits just like that.
"I make everything look good," Asher declared. Then he set his picture as the wallpaper on my phone. "Now your phone looks good."
Indeed.
Other (more regular) portraits here.
It was a hot hot sort of day.
A run through the sprinkler
wait for the sun to fade out
blazing through the grass and scorching sort of day.
A chat with grandma
and now we know why people blow their candles out instead of suck them in.
Happy Birthday, Simon. We love you despite your candle-blowing-out deficiencies.
Well, I guess it sort of goes without saying what we are up to these days. If you would prefer photos of piles of mess and sorting, I suppose that could be arranged. Yesterday, for example, I emptied, washed, labeled and refilled forty seven glass jars in the pantry. Fascinating stuff, that.
So...instead I am taking photos only during breaks, which seem to be a bit few and far between. Ana has been away since Saturday, so it's just been four of us.This evening we went down to our favorite local creek for a picnic dinner followed by a swim. Daddy threw them in (both of them). There was much protesting, even on one another's behalf, despite the fact that they had their swimsuits on:
Asher at long last mastered the rope swing:
Bella found a log, and they had a grand time pushing it around:
She was less enamored of the swing, preferring a more sedate paddle or meander along the banks instead:
Simon, on the other hand, spent a good bit of time reading over mortgage papers:
We found thimbleberries on our way out (I have yet to have managed eating my fill):
And at the end of the day, our Ana was returned to us, and two plus one were happy to be three once more:
It is good to take breaks. Exhalation is just as important as inhalation, I find.
The children and I have been working hard. HARD. So much sorting and deep cleaning must be done before we can even begin the packing part of things. So yesterday and today, we ran away from it just for a bit in order to preserve our sanity.
Yesterday we went out to the bakery and then for a wander down by the Willamette River:
sisters holding hands on the swings
a boy in a patch of wild chamomile
and bachelor buttons
a rawther nice stache
looking upsteam
what an osprey left behind (there is a nest just here, and they are so busy and fascinating to watch)
3 on shore
one skipping stones
looking downstream
3 on a log
creepy nymph husks
Today we ran up and down by the Luckiamute (apologies to those who follow me on instagram, as this is a repeat):
the first thimbleberries
a new house
Asher: "This is uncozy."
a large stick to throw in
up on the bridge the school bus drives across each day
the maple queen
three run down
two on shore
the quintessential "really?" Bella look
what may have caused it (this goes right along with "Ana is the funniest person she knows").
the river
she still seems amused
and we left with the promise of blackberries to be
Simon comes home tonight.
We. Are. So. Excited.
ps-- for some reason I have simply been using my iphone lately. No, I don't know why. There it is.
This is a difficult post to write. Not because I don't want to write it, but because there re so many factors I want to do justice to, so many complex aspects that deserve to be noted.
After three short years in this house we now call home, we are moving yet again. Not too far away, but enough that it will mean significant changes in our lifestyle. We had not planned or wanted to move-- we were requested to move in order to become more involved in the process of community development alongside others we have come to know and love. As members of the Baha'i Faith, our foremost desire is to be of service to humanity. That is the underlying goal and guiding principle behind all we choose to do. So. When one of the institutions of our Faith asks us to move so that we can be of more direct service as an entire family (via participating in the system of providing spiritual and moral education for children, junior youth and youth), well, we wanted to do that.
It has been a long and difficult process. The request to relocate came last fall. We tried to rent out our current house, but had no takers. We scoured the local real estate market for a place to move into, but came up empty handed. Again and again. In the midst of my studies, we had to scale back and wait for spring to try one last time. So about a month ago, on a bit of a whim and as a last desperate attempt of sorts, we wrote up a Craigslist ad for this house of ours. And within three days we had five different people vying to rent it. Actually, the people who will be moving in after us requested a long term lease instead. Which is much, much better for us. It sounds straightforward now, but there was a point when the entire women's rugby team was milling around in our driveway wanting to rent the place when we found ourselves laughing hysterically and wondering what on earth we were thinking. So. Anyway. Perfect tenants lined up within three days. Yay!
Except. We still had nowhere to go. The town we are moving to is tiny, with a limited real estate market. I think we have peered at every single house in that place. We made multiple offers on homes, only to have them inexplicably fall through at the last minute. Then last Friday, we went to see a century old farmhouse. Yellow, on an acre and a half that backed onto forest, with a beautiful garden and orchard and outbuildings. It was a total fixer-upper, and it was beautiful. But it was also twenty minutes outside of the community we were meant to be getting involved with. We sighed, shook our heads and walked away. If it were the dream lifestyle we were chasing, we had just found it. But this move wasn't supposed to be about us in that way-- this move was so that we could have our front door open to neighborhood kids and our backyard overrun with junior youth. It was hard to walk away from it, but freeing once we did.
Yet we were still homeless. On Saturday, our good friend called. His next door neighbors had decided to sell their house, but hadn't listed it yet. Would we be interested? Um, yes. Simon had left at this point (he still isn't home yet), so my mum and I went to meet the neighbors and check out the house. They were lovely. They had been praying about a resolution to their house as they were trying to move to a new property to help develop their church. We said yes. They said yes. And now we will have a home right next door to some of our dearest friends once we get all of this darn paperwork sorted out.
It is not a dream house. There are no pretty mouldings or tile or even exciting carpet. But it is solid and it is right in the heart of everything, and it is very clear to all of us involved that this is just precisely where we are meant to be.
The children will continue in their same school. I will now have a forty-five minute commute to school. But I don't mind that as I suspect that will become my only alone time in the next while, and writing requires a good deal of quiet alone time-- so in a way, I think this is my gift.
There is a lot going on now. So much needs to be done, we have a house to relocate, and another to get into pristine condition, and all those odds and ends that need to get tended to... It is overwhelming at times. Our underlying feeling though, is one of gratitude and great joy. If you follow my instagram feed, you will have seen this photo:
It is Bella sitting under a tree, saying prayers of gratitude and to be of service right after we heard the news about the new house.
All we have to do is take that first step, and trust in the rest. And be willing to do the work, of course.
Anyway, that is what has been going on in the background, behind the final exams and projects, and it is why I have had to take a break here. Thank you for following along with us, with all your kindness and support. If you have been reading this blog from the beginning, you will have seen our Nsumbu and Cedar road houses in Zambia, the two houses in Malawi, and the house we are in now. I hope we can settle into our new place for a good while. But since we've been married, three years in one house has been our record- and that's only happened twice!
Maybe this new beginning can be new in more ways than than one.
As in, the last few weeks of term, and Simon is about to start traveling in earnest. I can't predict how often I will be able to check in with this space-- it is likely to be spotty at best until mid-June. Thanks for hanging in there.
Before I disappear beneath a pile of papers and projects, a recap of Asher's field trip:
We went to a local managed forest where the Tree Guy gave us a guided tour through different habitats, areas, etc. I have always been skeptical of logging practices (at best), so this tour helped me to feel a bit more reassured. This is a family owned company who want to be in this for the long term, so they need to maintain a sustainable approach in order to profit economically. While there were areas of clear cut, there were also protected areas and a degree of education and awareness regarding watersheds, habitat protection, etc that I appreciated. I especially noticed how much planting and managing techniques differed between plantings from even thirty years ago and those from the last few years. A lot of improvement, which is hopeful.
Asher and his friend in the trees.
Can you identify these trees?
Oxalis, mossy trunks, a bumblebee in the salal, wet thimbleberry flowers.
Beautiful paths and canopy.
Mushrooms, newt, false solomon's seal, wild iris, snails.
Learning about animals tracks, wood beetles and how to identify mosses.
The day itself involved lots of running after hoards of children through beautiful forests with a very knowledgable guide and capable teacher. It was pretty great, actually. We had loads of fun, learned a lot and found oodles of newts. All we could ask for.
I also learned that we can show up at the office and get a permit to hike on these trails on our own. Guess where we'll be this summer...