Thursday, April 29, 2010

Delicioso

Fact #4: Emirati food sounds delicious!

“Meals usually start with meze, Arabic appetizers such as hummus, tabbouleh, baba ghanouj, falafel, and kibbeh (ground meat with spices) served with pita bread and salad. Lamb, beef, and chicken are the favored meats, often accompanied by rice, spices, nuts (especially pistachios), dates, and yogurts. [The majority] are forbidden from eating meat that has not been slaughtered in accordance with Islamic rituals (called halal), and they do not eat pork.” - of course from Frommer’s Dubai

In short, I’ve fallen in love.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

The Story

Here is an entry from my journal that I thought I'd share this morning:

Okay, so I just finished "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years" by Donald Miller and it was a beautiful book full of stories. It has been so encouraging to read this week. As I think about the stories that I truly fall in love with, they always have hope and they are stories that are full of purpose. This makes me think about my own story and the stories that I entangle myself with every day.

I feel like most people get to a point in their lives when they become all about risk management. I know I am all about it. Because we've been hurt before or gone through something, we want to control things in our lives so we never have to feel that pain again. But I truly admire people who aren't concerned with risk management. Who aren't afraid to get hurt. Who aren't afraid to love with their whole being.

Actions between people are always closely monitored by others. And they are the things that I'm most critical of in my own life and in the lives of others. It's almost as if actions are words spoken out. Words we have written in our thoughts and hearts that when carried out penetrate darkness. They either add to the darkness or they penetrate it and break it down. Pops, I desire to see others the way you see them, not with a critical heart, but a heart full of love. I want to be someone who's ready to see words lived out in their lives. Too often I limit others because I'm so used to limiting myself, but I've realized I'm showing others that it's better to adopt a discipline of risk management than trust.

I don't want anyone to tell my friends they can't do something. And I don't want to be the neigh-sayer in their lives. I would rather speak life. I'm full of love for dad. So grateful that he lets us feel even when we try our hardest to stay away from pain. Our stories begin when we let them begin. But as Miller says, we're just a single tree in a great big forest.

Maybe the ramblings of thoughts mean something to others and I hope they do.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

The Reason for Nostalgia

I just looked on the calendar and realized that there are only 5 more weeks of teaching! That blows my mind. When I sat down on Wednesday to post something, I really wanted the post to translate my emotions about the end of this season well, but it's hard. There are so many people that I love and respect who I won't get to see anymore in a few weeks and the transition between now and then is one of the fastest I've ever experienced. I feel like I'm grasping the bottom of my seat to get ready for a wild ride.

But really my hope for the end of the season is to be able to walk gracefully.
To smile more than frown.
To cherish the people around me and the memories we've made together.
To prepare for a summer full of sugar and laughing.
And spend as much time with dad as is possible!

So here it goes! We'll see what happens!

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Nostalgia


Nostalgia

a wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period or irrecoverable condition

That is the way I'm beginning to feel about the end of our Outdoor Education season. If there's one thing I love, it's teaching OE in the Spring...

It's also the way I feel about wildflowers and lighthouses, especially from Michigan.

And Katie, Emily and I looked up the definition of tattle, from tattletale. Tattle means idle talk or chatter. Do you want to find a time to tattle with me?