Over the past few weeks I have been blessed with the opportunity to offer hospitality to a slew of friends and family. Ket and I have enjoyed the crowds (me probably more so), the business, all the adventuring around Rochester, and the hugs (again, probably more fully enjoyed by me than my house mate!). Because of all that hosting, I have been rather slow on updating people on life in Rochester. Here's a little snap shot into all of our guests and our new adventures:
Thanksgiving!!!! (Canadian Style)
On Friday (10/11/13) we had the pleasure of welcoming 5 guests from Ontario who came to town for their Thanksgiving weekend. The time spent waiting patiently for them to arrive (original ETA was 9 and I don't think they made it in until 10:30) was really good bonding time for Ket and I as we laughed and giggled together in a candle lit house - we also discovered our mutual love of candles :). My sister (Hannah), brother (Joshua), brother's girlfriend (Laura), and brother's housemates (David and Max) were welcomed by hugs, tea and conversation. Eventually we collapsed to our sleeping quarters in preparation of a very early morning on Saturday.
Thanks to our friendship with Sweet Beez, we have access to the roof of a warehouse along the river where they keep their hives, and thus to a beautiful view of the city. Naturally we wanted to share this view with our friends, and so planned to arrive on the roof top before the sunrise at 7:15 on Saturday morning. We were sleepy, but the view was spectacular and company delightful. From there we headed off to explore the public market for the first time and purchase groceries for Sunday's Thanksgiving dinner. The market is massive (thankfully we avoided getting lost) and we had multiple choices for our purchases of sweet potatoes, onions, beets, apples, etc. After a potluck lunch with the Pettigrews, the rest of the day was spent exploring the Genesee Riverfront, abandoned subway tunnels (in which we constructed an ad-hoc see-saw), etc. We also went out for dinner at a local restaurant to celebrate David's birthday. Matt arrived later that night and I think we all feel asleep while trying to watch a movie (More on Matt's arrive to come...)
We had somewhat of a rushed start on Sunday morning and tramped into church slightly later than my ideal arrival time, especially as I had 6 guests in tow and there were only about 40 people in attendance... but we were welcomed enthusiastically by the folks at Rochester Area Mennonite Fellowship as per usual. After lunch some of us hurried to the Pettigrews to begin preparations for that evenings Thanksgiving dinner. The fixings included: mashed potatoes, cauliflower with cheese sauce, stuffing, Chadian beet salad, green salad, baked carrots/onions, baked sweet potatoes, complete with deep-fried turkey (there was much deliberation on this count) and pumpkin/apple pie with ice cream. We stuffed ourselves silly and feel asleep early that evening while trying to play a party game.
Monday we woke up to crepes (prepared by Hannah) and left over turkey before sending our guests Ontario guests on the road and going back to bed to catch up on some much needed sleep. I will see my family again at Christmas time when I make my own border crossing to celebrate with them.
Boyfriend in Residence <3
I mentioned it briefly above, but another reason I was so busy the past few weeks was the opportunity to host Matt for an entire week. His roommate dropped him off late on Saturday night (10/12) (her family lives just south of Buffalo and she took a week off to visit them) and came through town again this past Saturday to take him home again. Having him around was wonderful - not only did he cook/clean for us while Ket and I were at work during the week, but he was also there to provide all the hugs and cuddles I have been needing and got to experience some of what life is like for me in Rochester. He got to visit church with us on Sunday, came to potluck with me on Tuesday evening, and joined us for our weekly book study with the J-team on Thursday night. We also got to go out for a date night on Wednesday to celebrate his birthday and 10 months of dating. On Friday I took the day off work to explore High Falls more extensively with him and checkout another local restaurant. And on Saturday we discovered a fabulous local cafe while treating Matt and Mina (his roommate) to brunch before their drive back to Richmond. I am so thankful for our relationship, for our evening phone calls, and for the flexibility in his work that allows him to come visit me for a week at a time. I'm looking forward to seeing him again for American Thanksgiving in Virginia and then again in Rochester some time in January.
Harrisonburg Crew :)
The last set of guests arrived around 11:30 pm on Saturday (10/19), passing Matt and his roommate somewhere between Virginia and New York and allowing us almost a full day of alone time before hosting once again. This crowd of friends from Harrisonburg (Taylor, Aly, and Melody) came because of Melody's fall break (she's a senior at EMU) and to witness what their past roommate (me!) was up to in the northernly state. It felt so natural to have them join in my life for a weekend that it almost wasn't like hosting at all - they simply fit in with our natural pace of things and made our home feel cozy and full. Aly and Taylor joined us for church on Sunday, and then at risk of getting bored with the downtown Rochester tour we explored a park along the river we had not been to yet. The striking fall colors of the leaves were gorgeous - unfortunately no one had a camera on hand. We went out for dinner in High Falls and stayed up late chatting. Monday, Ket and I left them sleeping as we headed off to work and then joined us that evening for the JPC Monday night workshop at my work place. It was great to show them where I work and what I do, and for them to actually meet and hear from some of my clients too. Monday night we joined Sweet Beez folks for another spectacular view of the city, a photo op (I have a brilliant idea for how to liven up some of our white walls with pictures of the people we host over the year), and a hug-filled goodbye as they started their drive back south. I am also looking forward to seeing these three (and their compatriots) in November/December when I go south to celebrate U.S. Thanksgiving/ Aly and Sam's nuptials.
For now that is a sum of our hosting experience - I certainly do not expect it to continue to be so. We loved hosting the past few weeks, even if it was a little intense to have so many guests in a row, so it follows logically that would love to host you too! It was a blessing to offer hospitality, and it will be a blessing to extend that hospitality. So come and visit us. See what MVS is doing in Rochester. I promise they'll be tea and probably home-baked goodies.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Covenanting
I've been thinking about covenants lately.
Ket and I had to put together a covenant for our unit - it's full of fun and thoughtful things, full of details of how we are going to try to live together, an attempt to clarify what we are trying to build together so that we have something to which we hold ourselves accountable, a goal for how to care for each other during this, etc - and this morning I signed the covenant at Rochester Area Mennonite Fellowship.
Each covenant is unique, and I guess they are upheld in unique ways, but the act of promising to each other is not a new one. Our scripture in church this morning came from the book of Joshua - of Israel's covenant to follow and serve the God of their ancestors after they have entered into the promised land. There are earlier references of covenants too.
I think the act of covenanting with some - of intentionally making clear expectations, guidelines, and even dreams for living, being, and caring together - is beautiful. i love dreaming out how to live intentionally with others - its why I'm with mvs in Rochester, it's why I lived with "granola united," "the pit of awesomeness," the WCSC program, why I love the J-team so much, why I go to Tuesday night potlucks, why an afternoon spent in someone else's living room can feel like I'm at home, etc. I'm not sure how well I do at living out the covenants, but I love dreaming them up and praying that we will support and love each other.
Lately I've also been thinking about how we build this act of covenanting into other, more 'secular' and every day relationships. What type of covenants do we sign with co-workers? friends? fellow Rochestarians on the bus? are there not a million covenants we adhere to every day, some voluntary and others not, some explicit and others not, that dictate our interactions and define how we build society together? I guess that's what Locke was getting to in the "social contract" theory...... No wonder why I'm so attracted to this idea of covenants.
Ket and I had to put together a covenant for our unit - it's full of fun and thoughtful things, full of details of how we are going to try to live together, an attempt to clarify what we are trying to build together so that we have something to which we hold ourselves accountable, a goal for how to care for each other during this, etc - and this morning I signed the covenant at Rochester Area Mennonite Fellowship.
Each covenant is unique, and I guess they are upheld in unique ways, but the act of promising to each other is not a new one. Our scripture in church this morning came from the book of Joshua - of Israel's covenant to follow and serve the God of their ancestors after they have entered into the promised land. There are earlier references of covenants too.
I think the act of covenanting with some - of intentionally making clear expectations, guidelines, and even dreams for living, being, and caring together - is beautiful. i love dreaming out how to live intentionally with others - its why I'm with mvs in Rochester, it's why I lived with "granola united," "the pit of awesomeness," the WCSC program, why I love the J-team so much, why I go to Tuesday night potlucks, why an afternoon spent in someone else's living room can feel like I'm at home, etc. I'm not sure how well I do at living out the covenants, but I love dreaming them up and praying that we will support and love each other.
Lately I've also been thinking about how we build this act of covenanting into other, more 'secular' and every day relationships. What type of covenants do we sign with co-workers? friends? fellow Rochestarians on the bus? are there not a million covenants we adhere to every day, some voluntary and others not, some explicit and others not, that dictate our interactions and define how we build society together? I guess that's what Locke was getting to in the "social contract" theory...... No wonder why I'm so attracted to this idea of covenants.
To Begin With, the Sweet Grass - Mary Oliver
The following poem was given to me by a dear friend while I was in Chad almost 3 years ago. Today I find myself writing it out again to give to another friend, one who is also a world traveler off on an adventure to discover herself. I find myself blessed to be friends with such amazing women, to have as friends and mentors, to be learning together what it means to love ourselves, and to love the world in which we find ourselves.
I had the pleasure of talking to my parents this afternoon, its been about two weeks since I got to talk to them and over a month since we had the time to be open and honest and real, just the three of us. I found myself crying because of the journey I am on, a journey of self discovery that has brought me here to Rochester with MVS, but also a journey that they have been witnesses to my whole life. I am blessed to have such supportive, caring, and inspirational parents - even (and especially sometimes) if they are a world away fulfilling their own questioning and discovering and service adventures. (My parents - Doug and Naomi Enns - are MCC country reps in Syria/Lebenon currently living in Beirut).
Speaking to my parents about journeys of self discovery and writing out "To Begin With, the Sweet Grass" for a friend leaving in two weeks for Croatia have reminded me today that my tree of life will grow at its own pace, in its own way. That though my life "trajectory" may not be clear, I am called to live life - to love and be loved - and to eat the sweet grass and admire the hummingbirds, especially here in Rochester.
I had the pleasure of talking to my parents this afternoon, its been about two weeks since I got to talk to them and over a month since we had the time to be open and honest and real, just the three of us. I found myself crying because of the journey I am on, a journey of self discovery that has brought me here to Rochester with MVS, but also a journey that they have been witnesses to my whole life. I am blessed to have such supportive, caring, and inspirational parents - even (and especially sometimes) if they are a world away fulfilling their own questioning and discovering and service adventures. (My parents - Doug and Naomi Enns - are MCC country reps in Syria/Lebenon currently living in Beirut).
Speaking to my parents about journeys of self discovery and writing out "To Begin With, the Sweet Grass" for a friend leaving in two weeks for Croatia have reminded me today that my tree of life will grow at its own pace, in its own way. That though my life "trajectory" may not be clear, I am called to live life - to love and be loved - and to eat the sweet grass and admire the hummingbirds, especially here in Rochester.
1.
Will the hungry ox stand in the field and not eat
of the sweet grass?
Will the owl bite off its own wings?
Will the lark forget to lift its body in the air or
forget to sing?
Will the rivers run upstream?
of the sweet grass?
Will the owl bite off its own wings?
Will the lark forget to lift its body in the air or
forget to sing?
Will the rivers run upstream?
Behold, I say - behold
the reliability and the finery and the teachings
of this gritty earth gift.
the reliability and the finery and the teachings
of this gritty earth gift.
2.
Eat bread and understand comfort.
Drink water, and understand delight.
Visit the garden where the scarlet trumpets
are opening their bodies for the hummingbirds
who are drinking the sweetness, who are
thrillingly gluttonous.
Drink water, and understand delight.
Visit the garden where the scarlet trumpets
are opening their bodies for the hummingbirds
who are drinking the sweetness, who are
thrillingly gluttonous.
For one thing leads to another.
Soon you will notice how stones shine underfoot.
Eventually tides will be the only calendar you believe in.
Soon you will notice how stones shine underfoot.
Eventually tides will be the only calendar you believe in.
And someone's face, whom you love, will be as a star
both intimate and ultimate,
and you will be both heart-shaken and respectful.
And you will hear the air itself, like a beloved, whisper:
oh, let me, for a while longer, enter the two
beautiful bodies of your lungs….
both intimate and ultimate,
and you will be both heart-shaken and respectful.
And you will hear the air itself, like a beloved, whisper:
oh, let me, for a while longer, enter the two
beautiful bodies of your lungs….
4.
Someday I am going to ask my friend Paulus,
The dancer, the potter,
To make me a begging bowl
Which I believe
My soul needs.
And if I come to you,
To the door of your comfortable house
With unwashed clothes and unclean fingernails,
Will you put something into it?
I would like to take this chance.
I would like to give you this chance.
5.
We do one thing or another; we stay the same, or we change.
Congratulations, if
You have changed.
6.
Let me ask you this.
Do you also think that beauty exists for some fabulous reason?
And if you have not been enchanted by this adventure-
Your life-
What would do for you?
7.
What I loved in the beginning, I think, was mostly myself.
Never mind that I had to, since somebody had to.
That was many years ago.
Since then I have gone out from my confinements,
through with difficulty.
I mean the ones that thought to rule my heart.
I cast them out, I put them on the mush pile.
They will be nourishment somehow (everything is nourishment
somehow or another).
And I have become the child of the clouds, and of hope.
I have become the friend of the enemy, whoever that is.
I have become older and, cherishing what I have learned,
I have become younger.
Never mind that I had to, since somebody had to.
That was many years ago.
Since then I have gone out from my confinements,
through with difficulty.
I mean the ones that thought to rule my heart.
I cast them out, I put them on the mush pile.
They will be nourishment somehow (everything is nourishment
somehow or another).
And I have become the child of the clouds, and of hope.
I have become the friend of the enemy, whoever that is.
I have become older and, cherishing what I have learned,
I have become younger.
And what do I risk to tell you this, which is all I know?
Love yourself. Then forget it. Then, love the world.
Love yourself. Then forget it. Then, love the world.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)