Ash Wednesday

I'm still processing the Ash Wednesday service I was just a part of at Wilshire.  It took place in the outside columbarium at the church.  This is an area of deep reflection as members can come visit loved ones who have gone on, there are benches throughout the area to sit on and pray/reflect etc., and even a labyrinth to encourage a contemplative spiritual practice.

Having the Ash Wednesday service in this setting was truly humbling.  We are reminded during this day that we come from ashes and to ashes we will return.  Being in the columbarium puts a whole new perspective on this truth as we are worshiping in a place with the ashes of beloved church members who have passed on.  At the end of the service we imposed ashes onto our foreheads, which reminded me of not only the fact that one day I will leave this world, but that it is to God that I will return through his grace and abounding love.

I wish I had more insight to give to you all, but as I said above I'm still processing so all I'm able to do is simply relay the experience I just encountered.  I hope during this Lenten season that you are able to find moments where you are humbled, and moments that don't provide clarity right at the onset, but leave you in awe at the complexity and beauty of God.

Getting to know you...

I cannot stand still when I brush my teeth...is that weird?  Perhaps its because I absolutely hate to brush my teeth...it is beyond boring and such a hassle.  Thus my way to cope is to meander through the apartment until my mouth is too full of toothpaste gunk that I must go spit it out in the sink, at which point I walk back into the bathroom.  Steven does the same thing, so if it is weird at least I'm not reminded of it on a daily basis.

So...what about you all? (I know this is the dumbest excuse ever for a poll but please humor me)

Saga at the Dry-Cleaners

Today I dropped off the following at our dry-cleaners

1 Suit
2 pairs of my dress pants
13 of Steven's dress shirts
1 white athletic sock (Steven's)
2 pairs of my undies....

I'm never going back there again...

Sweet Treat

Still going organic and loving it.  

I took to the world wide web this past weekend in an effort to see how to save some moolah in our organic endeavor.  Tip #1 I found on all the websites...don't buy produce out of season, buy it dried or frozen.

So in the midst of the fabulousness that is Girl Scout Cookie season I bought some organic dried cranberries this week in hopes that I could hold off my cravings for thin mints until after dinner...

My waistbands are pleased with my very tasty work snack choice :)

I remember...

A blog I read had this great assignment where you are supposed to make a list of the things you remember vividly from your past...I couldn't resist.  I hope some of you will do this too!

1.  I remember crying in the back of my AJ (Aunt Janey) and Uncle Steve's car as we drove away from Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas after visiting my Mom, Dad, and new baby sister Lizzie at the hospital.  

2.  I remember sitting in a tiny cubicle with a curtain with my mom and dad waiting for the nurse to come pick me up to take me back for my surgery to remove my tonsils...she put me in a rolling bed with either Susan (my cabbage patch) or Roger (my bear) and I cried all the way down the hall.

3.  I remember waking my mom up in the middle of the night because I had put the stuffing from my Ernie doll's nose up my own nose....sadly this wasn't the first time I did something like this...but it's the only one I vividly remember.

4.  I remember coming home from school with Haley and Jenna (preschool friends) and sitting on my mom and dad's bed and passing my brand new baby brother James to them.  

5.  I remember the time in Kindergarten when Lindsey threw up her lunch (a hot dog) on the big rug in the middle of the room...I also remember when I "almost made it" to the bathroom a few weeks later and lost my lunch on the bathroom floor.

6.  I remember getting bit by that damn squirrel in Zilker Park at the "end of kindergarten picnic"...running to my parents and taking pressure off the bite and watching the blood shoot up like a volcano...and then going to the hospital with my dad where a guy in the ER was in a wheel chair with a two-by-four sticking out of his foot being held there by a huge nail...I also remember when he fell forward in his wheel chair and the nail went further into his foot...ack!

7.  I remember falling off the front of the swing in preschool and getting a pebble stuck in my forehead...I also remember when my teacher took it out of my head later that day and I got to get a butterfly band-aid at the doctor.  

8.  I remember singing Willie Nelson with my dad in the car countless times.  I also remember making up words to the Santana album because we didn't now what he was saying in Spanish...

9.  I remember spending many Saturday's with my Dad at the office, teaching myself mine sweeper and solitaire (I could never figure out Free Cell), running all up and down the halls squealing, drinking so many ice teas and cokes that I had to go to the bathroom every 30 minutes (thus the running down the hall squealing...)

10.  I remember when I took Mary to school for my show-and-tell in 4th grade, which also happened to be hat day, and she took the hat off of the cutest guy in my class...that's also when I learned the benefits of having a sister 9 years younger than you  (other benefits include getting to watch Disney Channel all through High School with the excuse of "spending quality time" with her...)

11.  I remember the first time my Mom cussed in front of me...I cried profusely

12.  I remember my first (and only) alcoholic drink before I turned 21 the summer after my freshman year in college...I felt so guilty and confessed it to my mom a few years later.  (baha!)

13.  I remember when my brother bit me on the butt when I told him I was going to go tell on him...I also remember my parents laughing profusely and being so unfair by not immediately punishing the behavior...

14. I remember mom having BUNCO nights at our house growing up and how Lizzie and I (we shared a room at that time) would jump on our beds each time the bell rang...not sure what that bell did though

15. I remember making cookie dough with my MeeMee on the lid of the dishwasher since I couldn't reach the countertops

16.  I remember how my Greedad would never let me sit in the bar chairs in the kitchen because he was so afraid I would fall off...I also remember wondering why he had them if we could never sit in them...

17.  I remember when Greedad came to speak to my 4th grade class for veterans day and my mom came to watch...I also remember her nursing Mary (covered) during class...I was HORRIFIED!  still kinda am...

18.  I remember when I came back from college and started wrestling with James (we did this all the time growing up because I always won) and then he picked me up and pinned me on my bed...we haven't wrestled since...

19.  I remember when I took my first flight alone (elementary school aged) from Austin to Dallas to visit my AJ and Uncle Steve and I got to be a "special flyer" with Southwest Airlines...I also remember the cutest, sweetest old lady sat right next to me and offered me one of those strawberry candies...I took it from her but didn't eat it because my parents always told me not to take candy from strangers because they are poisoned...

20.  I remember waking up at AJ and Uncle Steve's (a few years later) with Lizzie and AJ telling us that our baby sister had been born...still not sure why we weren't there...

21.  I remember throwing up in the back of Mr. Luckett's car

22.  I remember getting a spaghetti noodle stuck in the back of my throat at the dinner table and pulling it out with my hands...I also remember my mom being really grossed out by this :)

23.  I remember always getting in trouble for leaning back in my chair at the kitchen table

24.  I remember taking apart my bell kit in 6th grade (each individual piece) and counting it as practice time 

25.  I remember watching the Atlanta summer olympics at the beach in Gulf Shores Alabama

26.  I remember during recess when everyone was making fun of a girl named Amy, I went up to them and told them to stop and walked with Amy to play at a different part of the playground.  (This still might be my proudest moment...Lord knows I haven't always stuck up for people when I should have).

27.  I remember when our PE coach told us we needed to start wearing deodorant

28.  I remember when I sat down with my parents to have the "sex talk."  they asked me if I knew how sex was done (which I did) but I didn't want them to know so I lied and said "it's when a guy puts his thing in a girls belly button."  I was so afraid if they knew I knew the real answer I would get in trouble. (baha!)

29. I remember asking the vice-principle who was leading the girls sex-ed class in 5th grade what an applicator was (as in a tampon applicator).  Everyone laughed at me and then when the VP asked someone to say what it was nobody knew (sweet revenge!)

30.  Lastly, I remember taking my troll doll with the jewel, kissing it and saying my wish that "I could fly" and then jumping off my bed in hopes of never touching the ground...sadly my flying powers have yet to be discovered. 

Oh So Organic

Well Steven and I finally bit the bullet (what a strange saying...).  After a year of debating about whether we wanted to buy organic food, discussing the pros (our nutrition, health, the environment) and the cons (the COST), we finally went to Whole Foods on Saturday night and bought all of our groceries organic.

Our bank is saying "ouch" but just after 2 whole days my body is already screaming "Thank You!!"

I can hear it now..."really Katie?  After only 2 days?"  and friends I must be honest, I'm not even joking.  Now granted I think a lot of it has to do with the recipes I chose for this week, all from Wholefoods.com.  They are very bean and veggie heavy and only one has meat in it (that was by complete accident, I didn't even realize it until I got home).  So far we have tried two of the recipes Layered Vegetable Enchiladas and Three-Bean Salad with Quinoa.  Both were delicious, very satisfying, and unlike so many of my dinners didn't leave me feeling "weighed down" and bloated.

The cost was definitely the thing keeping us from going organic in the past.  I mean who wants to spend more money on food?  Definitely not a young married couple with one still in school for another year and one who just started a new job...(oh and plenty of grad school loans to pay off...).  But we realized there will probably never be a time we want to spend more money on groceries.  Once we pay off the debt we will probably have kids and they are certainly expensive etc. etc. etc.  So we decided if we were ever going to do this we just needed to do it asap.

To be honest we went a bit over our grocery budget for the week.  It seems like we will really have to cut back on how many "involved" meals we have every week (involved = meals with lots of ingredients).  I'm on the lookout for simple dinner options which will help us save some moo-lah, and lets be honest, probably make me want to cook more often since when I come home from internship the last thing I want to do is cook an involved meal.  (so basically it's a win - win)

Let me know your thoughts on Organic food.  If you buy organic fill me in on some simple recipe ideas!  If you are debating like Steven and I were until just a few days ago let me know that too!

I'll leave you with two pics (from Whole Foods) of our last two dinners.  Both were delicious and I would definitely recommend the recipes!

The sacrifices of Justice

I have been following the work of Julie Clawson ever since I heard her speak at a Women's Conference this past fall.  She is a brilliant writer and someone who isn't afraid to say what she thinks in order to further the causes of social justice.  She's written a book that I can't wait to get my hands on entitled Everyday Justice: The Global Impact of our Daily Choices.  (Click on the title to go to her website and see a summary).


She also writes for two blogs that I know of: her own entitled One Hand Clapping, (a very self-reflective title given that she was born missing one of her arms from the elbow down), and God's Politics Blog (a blog by Soujourners, a Christian organization that looks at Biblical responses to faith, politics and culture).


During her session at the conference I attended she was discussing her book and the practical ways we can begin to make more Just choices with our purchasing.  Being in social work and being lucky enough to learn from my awesome colleagues I had heard a lot about the injustices behind coffee and chocolate production and had made the choice with Steven to start buying Fair Trade coffee.  I knew that so many of our clothes are produced by child labor overseas...but to be honest I hadn't (and still haven't) done anything about my purchasing in that area.  But then she discussed another form of injustice in our consumerist culture that I was unaware of...our technology.


Many of the minerals used to make our cell phones, computers etc. work come from the mines in the Congo, where terrorist groups run rampant in order to take control of these mines and in turn control of the money countries like America and others "technologically driven" give them in return.  These groups are a true terror: mass killings, raping men women and children (one as young as 1 month was found), and many more horrific things all throughout the region of the Congo.  Unfortunately the technological companies aren't being held accountable for where they are buying these minerals, and when asked about the terrorist groups they are purchasing from many say that buying from this region reduces the cost of technology for Americans (and other "stable" countries).  But as Julie says in a post on the subject, "Putting out a product as cheaply as possible should never be an excuse for supporting terrorist groups that maintain control through mass gang rape."


As of now there are no "conflict free" cell phones (meaning cell phones, or other technology, that does not use minerals from this part of the world), but in her post Julie writes a thought provoking reflection on the subject.  If you are interested you can find the post here.


My purpose of writing this post was not to guilt you into action.  In fact the main reason I'm writing this is so that I won't forget about how many of the things I enjoy (chocolate, coffee, clothing, and my cell phone) can create such terror for my neighbors.  I'm using the word neighbor very purposefully here.  As Christians we are called to care for our neighbors, and thanks to Globalization even the people in the Congo are our neighbors.  How can we allow these things to happen to them?  How can we support buying products that bring them such terror?  To put it more bluntly, how can I buy a product that I know was used with minerals a terrorist group profited off of by raping a one month old?  How will we care for them?  


I don't know all the answers to these questions, and I'm certainly not a model for what we can do.  I enjoy the comforts of my own home even though I know so many of them come at a cost to my neighbors.  One thing I am certain of though is that taking a stance on these issues will not be popular.  Nobody wants to give up their luxuries, and certainly nobody wants to hear that they are supporting terrorist groups, I mean hello, we are America, we fight the terrorists


(...apparently only when the terrorists are going against our own self interests...)


Certainly we will have to go against our American culture in order to take a stance on these issues and care for our neighbors...but then again, isn't that what we are called as Christians to do?