marriage

Yesterday CA courts upheld the ban on same-sex marriage. Sucky.  

Yes, I am an active, practicing Catholic. Yes, I'm even a minister in the Catholic church. I also wholeheartedly support gay marriage. I fail to see how allowing other people to experience the beauty & challenge that is marriage some how takes away from it.  I think anytime people want to make a public commitment to loving each other we should support it.

I heard someone suggest that if the whole debate is about the use of the word marriage we could just take the word out of legal usage. That way under the law all couples, gay or straight, can be enter into unions but marriage would just be used for everyday language, religious ceremonies, etc.  I don't know if this would satisfy everyone but I would gladly give up the legal word marriage if that meant we could all be equal. If gay couples can't be "married" under the law perhaps we straights shouldn't get to use the word anymore either.

Of course then there's the trouble that the Catholic Church isn't going to marry gay couples any time soon. I think we're going to find ourself on the wrong side of this issue.

last bite

I just heard someone say that while they were growing up in Catholic school the nuns always said the first thing that happens to you when you get to heaven is you have to sit down at a huge table & eat every bite of food that you ever wasted in life.

:) 

This strikes me as so funny. You're not allowed into heaven until you've completely sickened yourself on old food? How does that fit into the big picture?

If it is true I'll be eating a mountain of old, crusty, last bites of sandwich. I never eat the last bite. I have no good reason. Maybe if I knew they'd all be waiting for me in heaven I start eating them.

What would be waiting for you?

i just don't get

the following:

• Donald Trump's being respected.
  
• Any task involving a check book, taxes, or the DMV.
  
• How to plan travel.
  
• How to feed myself well, affordably, sustainably, & without having things go bad in the fridge before we eat them.
  
• Why the Guantanamo prisoners are considered so much more dangerous than other criminals & why having them on our soil increases our danger.
• The popularity of American Idol.
• How the geese outside of our apartment can be so dang loud & honky.
• How to prevent the chocolate chips in my homemade muffins from sinking to the bottom.
• Poverty & why we are OK with it.

I'm sure the list will continue but now, to bed.

new location for 2009 G8 summit

Bet you weren't expecting that...*

So basically, Berlusconi is moving the G8 Summit from this crazy luxurious location on cruise ships in the Mediterranean to barrack formerly used to house married couples during training for a police force near L'Aquila which was damaged by an earthquake this spring.

Not all of these details are in the article below but I heard it on All Things Considered on NPR. Anyway, the point is we're talking much simpler accommodations than these guys (& gals) are used to. Like, bunkers & cafeterias. I think it awesome.

A friend of mine, who is a little bit genius & a little dreamer, used to fantasize about running a Third World simulation camp where anyone who wanted to run for public office would have to live for 2 weeks in  abject poverty.  For perspective, you know.  I love it.

So, this might be as close as we get but it's still pretty great.  Now the only question is, will Berlusconi himself, actually stay in the same place?

Politics: G8 summit to move to L'Aquila. Thursday, April 23rd 2009

The Italian government has voted to change the location of the upcoming G8 summit in July from La Maddalena island in Sardinia to L'Aquila, which was heavily damaged by the 6 April earthquake. Prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has said that holding the G8 in L'Aquila would keep the world from forgetting about the earthquake-ravaged area and provide world leaders with an opportunity to see examples of the architectural and artistic heritage their contributions will help to restore.

Berlusconi also said that hosting the G8 summit in luxurious La Maddalena would send the wrong message given the present economic climate, and that the government would be saving around €220 million by moving the conference to L'Aquila.

*especially after all the girlyness that preceded. But it's my blog & I'll blog how I want to.

back when i was single

i used to do crazy things to attract boys that i liked. It was ridiculous. Not really the things I did, mostly the things I thought about doing & the sheer amount of time I spent thinking about doing said crazy things.

For example, I'm pretty sure that if Facebook had been around back when I was single I would have obsessively checked my guy's profile ALL THE TIME. Admittedly, that might be a little crazy but I'm sure a lot of girls do that. But I'm pretty sure I would have taken the crazy up a notch by posting a status update immediately after him every time so he would see our names together & think, "We should BE together!"

Now that I am married I...
a. realize that no boy in the history of the world would ever think that due to close proximity of postings, or for that matter, notice said proximity.
b. I really appreciate the lower level of crazy that came from Rebs taking me in.

Does that make me sound like a stray? I'm cool with that, in reality, I probably need about as much care as a baby bird with a broken wing sometimes.

WARNING: I know I've been away a while, working on the Farmyland blog which I feel has to be more mature. spiritual, serious since teens from the ministry, their parents, & potential donors will be looking at it. So here is where you'll get the random minutiae. Enjoy.

where have I been?

I have been here:

www.farmingandes.com

Join me!

long overdue

I know, I know I've been neglectful. So let's begin.

Why are we so happy?

Besides the usual living-an-incredibly-blessed-newly-wedded-life-in beautiful-Northern-California way? 

Because we are moving on to something incredibly exciting & adventurous & inspiring.  We got the job. We're moving to Bethlehem Farm in West Virginia to live a crazy, prayer-filled, intentional life of service & simplicity.

So, yes, the pictures from my last post are from our trip out there. We spent 9 days in there getting to know the community members, seeing what life may be like there, & exploring what our areas our responsibility may be. And we loved it. The slogan of Bethlehem Farm is, "Welcome Home" and we felt very welcomed home. This was the end of an almost 2 year process of applying & it truly seems like a great fit, dare I say, "calling" for us.

I've been creating a website to explain this whole deal to the world at large, or perhaps just family & friends so that's part of the blogging neglect. When it's up you'll be some of the first to know.

Some logistics in the meantime, we're moving sometime in September. Right now I'm still at my job (& will be until they tell me to leave), the teens in the ministry were quite shocked & that's been difficult but it'll be OK. And... I think that's all for now. 

More later.

Much more!