Tag: Family

The Week Behind and the Week Ahead

The adventures of living in Boston, of being a family of three, and of life in campus ministry (an alternative lifestyle to our dominant culture for sure) continue!

Over the past week we’ve been in a mild (to extreme) state of panic regarding our housing situation. Turns out looking for housing with a 9 month old child is a lot more challenging than we anticipated. Add to that an inflated and competitive rental market and we’ve come up empty so far.

Thank the Lord for understanding landlords. They’ve modeled grace to us and given us more time to sort it all out.

In the meanwhile we head in to two weeks of “vacation”. I use quotes because while this trip will be a break from the norm, a break from the heat, and will involve some sweet time with family, it will also include fundraising, recruiting, spring break reconnaissance, and speaking.

And it will involve traveling back and forth across the country separately. I just said goodbye to the girls as I am about to get on a plane and fly to Portland for this. I am looking forward to spending time with the great Ryan McRae and hopefully being inspired and challenged. But, knowing that Amy gets on another plane tomorrow, just her and Marina, and I can’t be there to help them…well, that’s less exciting to me.

I am confident the next two weeks will be great, and I feel much more ready to enter into it knowing some of our housing questions are behind us.

Sometimes I lament the instability that being a missionary brings on my family, but one thing I know for certain: it is never a boring ride!

The Commodification of Everything #quotes

“The family has long been a haven in a heartless world, the one place immune to market forces and economic calculations, where the personal, the private, and the emotional hold sway. Yet, that is no longer the case: everything that was once part of private life–love, friendship, child rearing–is being transformed into packaged expertise to be sold back to confused, harried Americans.

[There is an] incursion of the market into every stage of intimate life. From dating services that train you to be the CEO of your love life to wedding planners who create a couple’s ‘personal narrative’; from nameologists (who help you name your child) to wantologists (who help you name your goals); from commercial surrogate farms in India to hired mourners who will scatter your loved one’s ashes in the ocean of your choice…the most intuitive and emotional human acts have become work for hire.“

– Christopher Lasch

The Simple Joy of Splashing in the Bath

I can trend in the direction of cynicism. There are all sorts of reasons to be skeptical,photo
to be aloof,
to stay removed,
and to avoid getting to emotionally attached to anything.

The world works against joy:
trains don’t arrive on time
and people cut you off
and employees at businesses treat you poorly and have bad attitudes
and other people talk smack about “those” people
and your neighbors are annoying
and your co-workers are frustrating
and I’m just getting started.

I could go on.

But there is a better way to live. Cynicism is just too easy.

My daughter consistently reminds me that the world is actually an amazing and endlessly fascinating place.

There are so many things to see
and discover
and touch
and taste
and feel
and eat.

This weekend we discovered the joy of splashing in the bath.

Such a simple joy. Just flailing arms
and water all over the floor
and giggles.

It was beautiful.

There are so many things to wonder at.
Sunsets and sunrises.
A good meal.
Sitting around and talking
and laughing
and remembering.

I could go on.

Here’s to the simple joy of splashing in the bath.