Seattle and the Seahawks

I had a wonderful weekend full of quality family time! On Sunday, we left the house at 6am to make our way to Seattle to see the Seahawks play. My parents own seats at Qwest Field so every home game they go, but this was my first time after years of hearing about it!

Once again, I'm not really a sports fan whatsoever, but I loved being with my family and participating in something they love and I adore Seattle despite the fact that it was raining so hard on the way there that my feet were completely soaked the entire game.

[Seahawks played the Cardinals and we totally kicked butt!]

It was a long day as we didn't get home till about 11pm, but so fun!

One way I kept myself occupied during the game [obviously during the breaks because football fascinates me . . .] was to create this!

My Postsecret Book

A few weeks ago, I ordered this Postsecret book from Amazon. I've blogged about Postsecret before, but just in case you missed it it's an . . .

. . . ongoing community art project where people
mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard.

To put my feelings mildly, I LOVE Postsecret! Not only do I think it's an amazing creative outlet, but the way it brings commonality and understanding is quite simply beautiful. Like I've said before, the secrets are from REAL people with REAL problems and issues so this is not for the faint of heart.

That being said enjoy a selection of my favorite secrets from the book! They range from the funny to the horrifying to the heartbreaking and they never fail to remind me that I am not alone.

[I know I selected too many, but I just couldn't narrow it down!]

Doesn't it just make you want to run into the street, put your arms around a random stranger, hug them tight and tell them how much Jesus adores them?? No? Just me then . . .

Family Outing

I love hanging out with my family even when we're arguing and not getting along very well. We are a loud, opinionated bunch and not afraid to use physical force to get our point across!

Yesterday, we decided to all go together to Greenbluff which is a local farm area that simply comes alive during the Fall with pumpkin patches, art and crafts fairs, corn mazes and apple orchards. It's a huge Spokane tradition during this time of the year to take an afternoon and enjoy the Autumn colors, drink fresh-squeezed cider, stand in line forever to get hot pumpkin donuts, and listen to an old guy on a banjo croon country favorites. Wonderful!

Now my family is not so normal mostly because with both my sisters currently out of the country the only female power in the house is my mother and I and against 6 guys that's not so much. So lets just say that my younger brothers didn't enjoy the experience quite as much as the rest of us did.

Inspiration

How do you inspire yourself? That's a question I've been asking myself lately more and more as I've found myself less and less moved to create and be passionate about the beautiful things around me.

I've noticed my blogging, my knitting, my journalling, my photography and frankly the way I view and live life have suffered lately. I used to be inspired by the little things around me. I'd carry my camera around with me, shoving it in my friends and families faces snapping photos of whatever caught my eye.

I love seeing a pretty hat on T.V. or a movie and running to my needles and yarn to try to duplicate it or copying a quote from whatever book I'm reading into my journal so I can remember and be inspired all over again sometime in the future.

I want to be inspired again by the small things. I want to see beauty in the everyday. How I get back there? I'm not sure yet, but I'm going to keep trying.

Adjusting

I had been preparing to move back to the States mentally long before I actually stepped on the plane in September. Through my own past experiences and learning from others, I thought I generally knew what to expect and while I've found that to be true for the most part there has been the occasional unexpected adjustment.

For instance . . .

1) Do you know how lucky we are in the States to have laundry dryers?? I can get all my clothing cleaned in less than 2 hours and I don't have to wait for a sunny day! How crazy is that? I'm not even going to mention dishwashers.

Photo found here

2) Security has been a huge adjustment. I had no idea how used to the danger in South Africa I'd become. Burglar bars, gates, and security guards had become my norm and it constantly makes me nervous. I don't want to stop at traffic lights at night for fear of hijacking or leave my windows open. I double or sometimes triple check that my car has been locked properly. It's odd to come back to the US and see how relatively casual people are here about security.

3) Everyone is so busy! I love living at home and with my family, but for the most part I feel like I just have brief moments with them as they run out the door for work and/or school. I know that that is the way life is here and to a certain degree I need to adjust, but I miss the quiet evenings in South Africa. I miss people dropping by at all times of the day to sit and chat. I miss having the freedom to walk into friends' houses unannounced and being offered coffee or dinner. I miss the fellowship and the sense of having a common purpose. I miss the slower pace of life.

As it is, I just feel constantly lazy these days and I have to almost continually remind myself that I've lived in a much slower culture the past few years and that it's going to take time.

I know there's more and I'm still processing, but I'll keep you updated.

Beautiful Montana

This past weekend I had a chance to go to Montana to visit my little sister, Natalie, who is preparing for a two month outreach to Mongolia through YWAM Montana. I was so excited to see Natalie and get a chance to visit her before she left.

The YWAM base is right in Lakeside on Flathead Lake and it was absolutely gorgeous! Fall was definitely starting to make its presence known in the colors of the leaves and the brisk feeling in the air.

Natalie had to deal with me sticking my camera in her face the whole weekend especially when we spent time with her boyfriend Rudy. They were good sports about it though!