Quote...

So I just found this quote and thought I would share it with you all.

For it is the soul’s joy to become effective in the body.
She strives forever to perfect the work of the body that was created by God
—Hildegard of Bingen, De Operatione Dei IV, 19

So true hey.

What makes your soul joyful? What makes your body feel effective?

I love being outside in my garden, being at the farmers market and riding my bike (preferably downhill to be honest). I love talking about life and loves and God and lessons learned with friends. I love taking pictures. I love being here with my neighbourhood. I love when kids hug me, and I love going for walks. I love when a song brings a well of emotions and praise and I am overwhelmed with love. I love talking about days events before bed. I love learning about the world and cultures. I love dreaming about what could be. I love the library. I love my mom. I love driving in silence and I love singing at the top my lungs while I drive.

These are just a few things that I am learning that I love. These are my soul's joys. It is here that I feel effective. It is here that I feel God and his goodness. And I guess if this quote rings true. My soul will continue to perfect these things... (Now as I re-read this quote I guess it could be thought of in a few different ways but this is what I'm going with tonight)

(and Lisa I switched the comment thing so you can make comments now. :) I thought you would like this quote...)

So...

I really don't have much to write right now... but I'll try cause I want to know if this blog feed thing I'm doing is working. Hmmm, what can I say.... Here I'm going to ask Erica a question and then I'll answer it, ok, here I go... "Dana, what am I reading?" - Gee Erica, I don't know, oh --- it's your cool CSI story book to go along with your finished puzzle. Shouldn't you be using the lazer decoder to read that book, hahahaha.... ok, here's another one.... "Dana, do you think your flowers look pretty?" - Yes, I do, they smell lovely too, especially the freesia, thanks Erica, you really know how to cheer a girl up, my flowers on the balcony however do not look as great because I forgot that the rain we had could not reach them on out little deck, hmmm, I hope they live... ok here's another one... "Who is Jay Smith?" - asked Erica as she was intent on solving the crime, I really don't know I hate puzzles and have a bit of ADD which allows me not to be into hard questions that take me longer than two minutes to answer... ok, and I know you wanted to read another, so here you go, one last and final question... "Why am I so darn sexy?" - hmmmm, I just don't know what to say to that one and so with that I am off. I hoped you enjoyed reading about the last 5 minutes in the Erica and Dana home... come by and visit sometime... It's a good time... hope you have a good night...

Cinderella

Today I had a few extra minutes before my friends arrived for the evening. I could hear the kids in the playground outside playing and so I grabbed a skipping rope and headed out for some fun. I ended up ditching the skipping rope and let the kids fight it out who was going to turn the rope and skip first and I wandered over to the swing set where I pushed the younger kids on the swings. I was talking and laughing with a little girl who is one of our little 'regulars' in the park and she was trying to touch my hand as she got higher and higher on the swing. She had finshed swinging and asked me "Do you know what my name is?" I answered her full well knowing her name. She shook her head and said "No, here I'll tell you." I bent down for this magical secret, expecting her to give me some made up goofy name. Other kids tried to listen in but this was top secret and she promptly got a little upset with them. She looked at me this excited look and a glimmer in her eyes and said "Cinderella". She said it like it was the most enchanting secret ever. I wasn't expecting that at all. I laughed at the beauty of this little girl who if only for that second really felt like she was Cinderella.

It's later now and my friends have gone home. My evenings been one of hanging out and visiting with friends. But as I sit and ponder the day I think of that little girl and the secret that she was Cinderella. There's a weird sort of truth to her little game. Wishing she was someone else; someone magical; someone like Cinderella. In a land where mice sew pretty dresses and a pumkin turns to a magical carriage. It's fun to play that game. To know who you are but to dream about who you would like to be. To dream about something magical happening. I think the point I'm trying to make is sometimes I wish I was Cinderella too.

Snapshot of today...

I'm sitting here on my couch. It's later than I would like to be up. I decided this morning not to sleep in past 9:30 all the time. It feels like my day just slips away when I'm not up early. So this is not a good start to the wonderful attempt I'm going to make of that tomorow morning. But I feel like writing. Maybe I'll give you a snapshot of a part of my day. I exited the apartments next door after spending a couple hours organizing pricing an apartment of stuff we are going to sell to raise money for new playground equipment. "Adina!... Adina!... " says Majok, who seems to think this is my name even though he hears all the other kids say 'Dana' all the time. I wave and say hi and walk into the tennis/basketball court and all of a sudden I have 5 little African children climbing all over me asking me to come out and play, telling me about this and that, giving me big hugs and asking me to pick them up. I hang out for a bit and run upstairs to get them a few balls to play with outside. Then I watch them as they so proudly play their version of tennis/volleyball they have just made up. I tell little Nyjema that she is doing good and she beams. Then I tell Majok that he is responsible for the balls in the park and after they are sone he needs to bring them to the apartment. He looks proud that he has this grand responsibilty and after we shake on our deal (because what is an agreement without a trustworthy shake) that he will bring me the balls after they are done I head inside for a bit. Maybe twenty minutes later there is a knock at the door. Only to find about 6 kids bringing back the balls and coming for a visit. We all have freezies and Erica and I try to tell them that we need to stay in the living room as they are curious about every room in our apartment and everything we seem to house in those rooms. Finally we are done the freezies and are all back in the living room. They decide to go play outside, they grab a licorice at the door and then head outside where they will continue to play into the evening... There's a little snapshot. There's no story, or lesson, or anything deep about this little snapshot. It simply just is.

First thoughts on Community...

Hmmm, sometimes it feels like there's so much going on and I don't know where to begin. This is my friend Jenn and her soon to be husband Mark. I am at her house right now and love is in the air. She is getting married this week-end. So we've decorated the chapel, and tomorow will continue to make preparations for that big day, more decorating, do the nails, last minute details on the slide show, rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, and all that other stuff. It feels like everyone is in love and there's a sweet feeling in the air...

On another note, last night was one of the first nights I really thought about what it means to live in community. You see it's easy for me to think about community and Appleby Drive because I love it and this is my dream and I think community and living with others and joining together is something God has called me to right now. But truely did you notice in the last sentance how much "I' came up. And that's exactly it. Sometimes I get really sidetracked, and I think about myself an awefull lot. But that's not what community is. And that, my friends, is what I need to remember. Living in community doesn't mean everything will be easier for us. It doesn't mean that things are simpler, or that you have more people to accomplish your dreams. Living in community means that you think about others before yourself. You listen to others dreams and you join alongside them and press on to make them happen. Living in community means you listen. You wrestle with what is being said and you let it challenge you and mold you and change you. That is living in community.

So yes, I do only live with one other person right now (well one and half really, right Jane), and you may think that's not enough people to really have a community, but I think it is. And you know what, I think it'll grow and even it doesn't the things I learn by intentionally living with a few committed people will challange how I look at life. Of this I can be sure.

Gardening

I never have grown a garden, much less been overly interested in the whole process but this year for some reason it is what I long to do. I've only been at it a week but I am truely captivated by the whole process. You see I have a little garden plot down Ave. K sandwiched between 20th and 21st Street. I (and by I, I mean Erica, Jane and myself) have planted beans, peas, radishes, lettuce, spinich, carrots, tomatoes, and even cucumbers. We planted them all on Monday and I am proud to say after much watering that the radishes are all in a row and tonight as I carefully inspected the other little rows I saw carrots, onions and even some pease peeking it's way up through the ground. How truely amazing it all is. But what I find most amazing is what comes alongside this gardening adventure. You see it's a community garden I grow in and so naturally there are people whom I garden with. Within the first week I moved into this apartment Erica and I became friends with the family down the hall. The friendship defies all logic. They are a couple in there forties with four kids, they are professional people from Afghanistan, they are practising Muslims, we are different as night in day in come aspects and yet our friendship has blossomed as we have begun to garden together. And everyday Mohammed and Sangin and I trek on over to our garden. We have searched for water in this past week (as the garden's water is not yet hooked up) and our search has allowed us to meet our new gardening neighbours, a sweet chinese woman who barely knows English, makes tofu in her backyard shed, and is delighted that we are gardening next to her house and a generous older man who graciously lets us use his water when ever we need it. I have met a couple who normally I would be rather hesitant to talk to on the street. He had slashes all up his arm and she was in some rough shape and yet they helped me carry the heavy water container over to the garden and were very interested in what was growing, we stood there for a couple minutes talking about this little piece of land I have and joked about how I was so attached to it and I wouldn't know what to do if it doesn't grow. It's amazing how this garden brings people together. I have thought of the garden of eden and how lovely it must have been to garden next to God himself. Imagine the stories He told and the lessons they learned just while digging in the dirt and` getting their hands dirty next to God. How exciting it must have been to see the seeds that were planted flourish and how lovingly God must have smiled the first time Eve giggled in excitment as the plants were breaking through the soil. Truely how beautiful it must have been. So there you have it. I love my garden and the people that surround it.