This and That, October 2020 version

It is morning and the sky is just becoming light. I’m at home, still settling in after being away for three weeks. Yesterday I checked off 22% of the things on my to-do list and called it a day. I looked over that list with admiration. Basically, I am amazing. 22%! Incredible.

I wish I could pick the roses outside my window and heap them in your lap. I think you need them.  

I have found myself having a hard time with words in the pandemic. The only natural voice that comes is poetry. I think that is because it doesn’t need to adhere to a narrative, or logical ideas, one after another. 

What has been happening with us? Well, our Shekina Garden community here in Pai is small, but continuing on. It feels more necessary than ever that we have the words of love spoken over us, that we all swim in the great ocean of love that abides in Christ. So we are holding community lunch, meditation, and other little circles here and there. The international community here has become closer. These are beautiful things.

Our dear friends, Brendan and Leaf and their kids, moved back to Australia after fourteen years in Asia. We spent three weeks with them, helping with all the assorted things that come with an urgent, health-related international move (in a pandemic.) It is heartbreaking for us, and the time before they left was very hard and also full of love. We all feel like we are still processing this, and it may take a long time.

Because the rules in Australia are so strict, they couldn’t bring their beloved dog, Honey, and she has come to live with us. She spent six weeks with us last year, so she already is familiar with our home, and Wookie, who believes she is human and tries to speak to dogs with her voice, loves her. I haven’t photographed Wookie a lot (props to dog photographers, it is hard!) but now that she has a sister, the cuteness might propel me into more pup photography. Honey belongs to both of our families. She even has a hyphenated name— Honey McTrawsome Reilly-Ford. (Ruby came up with the name.)

I cut my hair, all of it! After eighteen years, it was time for a change. It is an adjustment, to say the least. But all of life right now is an adjustment. I am forty years old, figuring out what this next decade of life will look like. I am entering the era of letting go of my children. And I want to face all of it with freedom, trust, and love. Sometimes you do something to represent what you want. So there we go.

And guys, it’s a countdown until Beloved Night, World Whisperer Book 5 is out in the world. Here are the cover and blurb.

Haunting dreams. The power of the resistance. A battle for freedom.

Betrayal magic from the past is still hindering Isika’s powers, and the rains haven’t come to the lands of the Maweel, causing drought. Growing desperate, the elders decide to crown Isika queen, and at the same time, Ben begins to dream of Aria and the Desert King at sea. He senses that these dreams have been sent by their sister to warn them.

Fearing an attack on the Hadem, Isika gathers a group of travelers to aid Maween’s allies, journeying great distances to confront the king and put an end to the poison of betrayal magic for once and for all. Will they succeed this time? Or will the power of the Great Waste be too much for the resistance?

I’ll be posting the release schedule very soon!

I’m hoping to show up here at the blog more, with this and that: conversations with my children, life for us right now, art, writing, life.

I’m also at Instagram often, and still writing poetry for every day at Patreon.

Your support on Patreon means the world to us right now. You can support your author friend for a dollar a month or more. I have a goal of 100 patrons—this kind of patronage would make writing time much more viable!

And you can always hear my voice at our meditation podcast.

Ro and I often do an introduction with little bits about life right now, before sharing guided Christ-centered meditation from our community. 

So that’s where I am and a little of how I am.
More stories soon, beloveds. Be gentle with yourselves and everyone around you, as God is gentle with all of us.

xoxo