Valentine's Day

It’s my first Valentine’s Day as a wife! I don’t know what today will bring, but as long as I get to spend it with my husband, I’ll be happy.

He took me ice-skating last year!

Ash Wednesday

Lent is an ancient church observance, like Advent, starting 40 days before Easter on a day known as Ash Wednesday. Some people observe Lent, some have never heard of Lent, and some write it off as “a Catholic thing.” As a Protestant and observer of Lent, I encourage every Christian who hasn’t observed Ash Wednesday before to take a second look. 

Lent is a time of quieting your heart, reflecting on the realities of death and suffering, intentionally doing good, and giving up something that you will miss strongly enough that it’s never far from your thoughts. In a culture of consumerism, we’re not used to giving up anything (it’s one of my biggest struggles), so intentionally depriving ourselves of a luxury and filling ourselves with prayer and God’s word is a harder discipline than I’d like to admit.

I’ll tell you what, though, nothing focuses your thoughts like praying every time you think about chocolate, Facebook, video games, snack food, or whatever you’ve chosen to give up. And this small sacrifice reminds us of where our focus should be constantly, no matter what time of the year.

Travel Tip Tuesdays: How to Find People to Help You on the Road

There’s no way I could have traveled as extensively as I have without a ton of help. Something that has surprised me most over the years is how incredibly generous people can be. From taking me to sightseeing in Utah to buying me a train ticket, family, friends and strangers have showed me kindness that I could never hope to repay. 

My second cousin Nichole took me to see Red Rocks
Amphitheater near her home in Denver, Colorado.

Asking for help requires humility, a sensitivity to other people, and a readiness to take whatever the experience throws at you. In each of these suggestions, think about what you can give to the people who help you, even if it’s just the gift of gratitude and making beautiful memories together. 

Post on your Facebook wall. A few days before spring break one year, I posted on Facebook, “Spring break is coming up. Where should I travel?” I got two different invitations to far-off locations by friends I hardly knew.

Join couchsurfing. Yes, yes, I know I harp on this a lot. But it really is one of the best ways to find travel help! I’ve saved hundreds of dollars thanks to this community.

Find some distant relatives. This depends on your family, of course. Still, I was surprised at the number of relatives who came out of the woodwork when I needed help on the road. I owe a lot of my travel experiences to my uncle (Germany) and a few different second cousins and first-cousins-once-removed (Colorado and Arizona).

Not only did I get to experience the stark beauty of
Wyoming, but the kids I babysat were darn cute.

Ask around about help exchange. I used volunteer programs to find most of my opportunities, but friends and relatives in other towns are often looking for a tutor or babysitter. A note from a former coworker took me to Wyoming to see the sights in between babysitting his kids.

Keep your eyes open. Opportunities are everywhere, so don’t write anything off. I usually felt uncomfortable with my friends trying to find me places to stay, but the week in the Netherlands, courtesy of my future grandmother-in-law’s neighbor’s friends, proved that a wonderful situation can blossom in the most unexpected places.

Now that I have a little house of my own, I’ve been thinking about the ways I can help other people on their travels. Generosity, like any of the virtues, is deeply inspiring. Who will you be generous to today?

~~~

On Sin and Sickness

A few days ago, I woke up feeling (in my dad’s Iowa-farmer lexicon) “like I’d been drug through a plowed field.” I didn’t feel sick, just exhausted— the kind of tiredness you feel just before crashing at the end of the day. I forced myself up to see my husband off to work, but all morning I fought with fits of anxiety and weepiness bordering on panic. Around noon I read my Bible in bed for a while, and then the next thing I remember was waking up three hours later. 

That’s when I realized: “Wait, I never take naps during the day. Huh. I really am sick.” This was a huge relief— if I was going to feel that awful, I had better be sick!

Although the theology of original sin is something I’ve grown up with, it’s good to remember every once in a while what a freeing doctrine it is. People who take a good look at themselves— all the meanness and jealousy and selfishness and bitterness and pride— should be relieved to know that they are not “basically good.” If people are going to be this awful, we had better be sick!

So after my nap, I took it easy, and got plenty of rest, and remembered that the day is coming when sin and sickness will be banished— along with all the awfulness that comes in tow.

~~~

A Photo for Sunday

Usually I don’t blog on Sundays. However, today I decided that every Sunday, I’m going to post a photo that I’ve taken, to remind us of the amazing world God has given to us. Enjoy.

Southwestern Wyoming

Our Founding Fathers and Yosemite Sam

Over the past few days, I’ve been reading Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States. While some of you might start snoozing before finishing the title, it’s much more interesting than you think because the author is Bill Bryson. Well-known for a variety of books, including A Walk in the Woods, The Lost Continent, and A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bryson pulls out another sardonic, irreverent, well-researched and fascinating book.

Made in America is not simply about the language, but the people and history that shaped it. Since I haven’t studied American history in seven years, I’ve been having a blast taking this refresher course that focuses on the changes that occurred as seen through the language. Bryson is not needlessly cynical, but likes to talk about people’s flaws as much as their accomplishments. I appreciate this especially in the discussion of America’s early years, as we Americans could stand to take a more realistic view of our Founding Fathers and the Constitution, rather than idolizing them as patriarchs and scripture. 

Something that has struck me in the book is the way that fiction affects what most people believe about history— sometimes to an alarming extent. Thanks to Washington Irving’s romanticized and completely inaccurate account of Columbus’s voyage to America, a huge part of the population still thinks that people in the 1400s didn’t know the earth was round. Due to fanciful poems, made-up accounts, and hero-stories that unapologetically exaggerate, some basic concepts about the founding and growth of America get skewed. Bryson inspires me to double-check my facts and be sure they are pulled from reliable sources, not just romanticized accounts.

Although I’m not finished with the book yet, it’s already been a fun and fascinating ride. If you get the chance, check it out.

And now, will all credit to Bill Bryson, here is my favorite quote in the book so far. Here he talks about how the way that people in the 1700s spelled shows a lot about their pronunciation. Keep George Washington, Paul Revere and Patrick Henry in mind as you read this passage that blew my mind:

“…We can find find libity for liberty, patchis for purchase, ort for ought, weamin for women, through for throw, nater for nature, keer for care, jest for just, ole for old, pizen for poison, darter (or even dafter) for daughter. The pronunciations ‘chaw’ for chew, ‘varmint’ for vermin, ‘stomp’ for stamp, ‘heist’ for hoist, ‘rile’ for roil, ‘hoss’ for horse, and ‘tetchy’ for touchy were commonly, if not invariably, heard among educated speakers on both sides of the Atlantic. All of this suggests that if we wished to find a modern-day model for British and American speech of the late eighteenth century, we could probably do no better than Yosemite Sam.”

When I teach my kids the Preamble to the Constitution, I’m going to tell them to recite it in Yosemite Sam’s voice. Sound good, Zachary?

~~~

Sweeping the Floor

Sitting at a messy table in a room that smells like two-month-old Christmas tree (which stands in the corner pondering why it is still in one piece), I take a deep breath and feel happy to be home. The past ten days out west have been filled to the brim with family time— the longest concentration of hanging out that I’ve done for as long as I can remember. I’m grateful we had the time to visit almost everyone in Zach’s family without feeling too rushed.

Now I return to normal life, where the work I didn’t carry with me— laundry, dishes, freelancing, cooking, being a housewife— resumes at the pace it moved before. I believe it was Mother Teresa who said, “Do you want to be great? Pick up a broom and sweep the floor.” That’s what I’m going to go do now.

~~~

Why I Love Southwest Airlines

On Zach’s and my flight from St. Louis to Portland, the flight steward gave everyone on the plane a worksheet of visual puzzles to solve. A few minutes later he came through and listened to everyone’s answers. Then, we all got prizes! I chose crackers, but Zachary got a bat ring and gave it to me.

As we got ready to land, the same steward sang instructions about landing procedure to the tune of “She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain When She Comes.” Is it any wonder that I love Southwest?

Where to Go: SkiBowl, Mount Hood, Oregon

Last Saturday, Zach and my sister-in-law and father-in-law (the novelty of this statement still makes me feel all bubbly inside) and I left an unseasonably sunny Portland in the morning and set out for Mount Hood. This was my first time visiting a snow-capped mountain, and as the picturesque peak drew closer I got more and more excited. We had one thing on our mind: sledding!

After driving over slushy roads between walls of two to eight-foot deep snow on either side, we arrived at the Mount Hood SkiBowl, an area where you can rent inner tubes and sled to your heart’s content. Armed with three-hour passes, Zach, Ivy and I were determined to make every minute count.

Sledding at SkiBowl made me relive those wonderful moments of childhood, from death-defying drops to airborne leaps to bailout and collisions and giggling and burning legs and shoes slipping on ice as you scramble to reach the top of the hill again. That said, SkiBowl employees monitor the sledding and you are assigned lanes, so it’s more like an amusement park than anything else. There are also two (sometimes three) levels of sledding, from mild slopes to more exciting plunges.

Why you should go: Sledding is awesome. Sledding with a stunning snowy mountain peak to keep you company is even better.

How to get there: Here is the direction page.

What to bring: Money ($25 for a three-hour pass), warm and waterproof clothes, shoes with good grips.

What else you need to know: You have to be in good shape to do this right, and like any good sledding experience, it will leave you sore. Two days later, my arms are still killing me from dragging my inner tube up the slope a thousand times. This makes me happy.

10 Photos of Our Trip So Far

Although most of our trip has consisted of spending time with family, we’ve taken a bit of time to see the sights, too. Here are 10 photos to prove it.

Cloudy Northwestern skies, as seen from above.

Zach wearing his cool new hat on the Portland waterfront.

My obsession with waterfowl continues…

Checking out the St. Helens waterfront.

More Portland.

It's a cormorant!

Steel Bridge, Portland.

Urban art with flowers.

View from a summit in Forest Park.

Redwood tree mosaic, Forest Park, Portland.