What do we have in common with the 5 Friendliest Cities?

Our sister, Renee shared this with us yesterday…for those of you who wonder about us and will we ever stay put? Maybe this is some kind of check list… (I think I’m joking).

By Barbara Corcoran

TODAYShow.com contributor

updated 12:13 p.m. CT, Wed., May. 28, 2008

What makes a city friendly? We looked for certain standards like safety, diversity, pedestrian and bike friendliness, as well as the presence of parks and public spaces. Then we looked for something unique, like a place that always has big, fun public events or someplace with a lot of farmers markets. Most importantly, we talked to brokers to get their personal stories of friendliness. (Did you know that people in Nashville will strike up a conversation with you while waiting at a red light?) And finally, we took a look at statistics that help make a place friendly, such as enough hotel rooms to welcome visitors, enough bars to have a robust happy hour, enough tourists willing to visit and, of course, budget-friendly home prices.

Here are some notes, findings and quotes from our five friendliest cities:

1. San Antonio
2. Denver
3. Davis, Calif.
4. Nashville, Tenn.
   
5. Madison, Wis.

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just got off the plane…

Last week I started a book club in our home. One of my friends commented that this time of year was a good time to read about the faith journey, so this is what we’ll do. I  first learned of Anne Lamott from two of my dear friends from the Quad Cities. Cindy and Jenn liked Anne, I probably would too. I remember Jenn reading an exerpt and not bleeping the language – hilarious! A year and 1/2 ago, I read Bird by Bird – enjoyed it enough to put a couple more of her books on my Amazon wishlist. In September I received two of her books from another friend for my birthday, thanks Analisa! And today, on a plan to Nashville, I had with me Traveling Mercies.

At one point in the book it is said that many things can go wrong as an effort to distract us from the really good thing that is trying to be born.  The suggestion is that the miraculous will break through if we aren’t aware of it enough to manage it, control it and screw it up. I have often said that it is when I whine about how bad things are, it is then that something really good happens to remind me that I do not have the final say – I am not in control – I am an ungrateful little bratt that needs to increase in faith and gratefulness.

So, Gene and I are in Nashville. The boys are with their Aunt ‘Ne. We will be attending the ZMG (Zavitsan Music Group) Holiday party tomorrow night.

Honestly – I even said this out loud – I would really like this to be the time that we hope…and what we experience is even a bit more that what we could have hoped for. Dream big – I want my dreams to pale in comparison to the life God has in store for me.  Many would say I am living a dream life now. I cannot really argue with that. I have an awesome life. While I’m distracted by dreaming big – God continues to unfold more of the miraculous.  I’ll be looking for more of what God is unfolding this week. How about you?

music city

Today, while Gene was writing music on Music Row, we explored the streets of Nashville. We visited the Tennessee State Museum and then enjoyed pizza by the slice at the war memorial plaza. We were on a capital tour when Gene called for us to come and pick him up. We made our way across town to join Gene and continue our adventure. It was fun telling the occasional inquisitor that we are probably one of many families of musicians in Nashville looking for their big break. When we asked one man if he was native to Nashville, he laughed and replied in his southern accent, “I don’t think you’ll find many of those around here.”

It’s a fun city – one that I think we will visit again.  The culture of this city is a bit more relaxed and friendly than other cities I have explored. We have had actual conversations today with people at crosswalks, information  tables, storefronts…conversations that compelled me to exchange names (which now that I think of it was probably not necessary).  I am just not accustomed to exchanging life stories apart from a basic introductions. It didn’t seem strange today, but now reflecting back – this is not what I know of normal city life. I like it.

Tomorrow we tour the Music City Hall of Fame.

For those of you who have been praying for us about what role that Gene’s music will play…he was very encouraged today. A face to face meeting with people who he has up to this time only dealt with over the phone and internet – was a good thing. He also had a good time writing with one of the staff writers. We appreciate your prayers. Our hope is that this can turn into something that funds the mission that God has called us to in Church planting. Why not, right?!

…on a field trip!

We headed for Nashville, TN on Wednesday. After a stop in Indy – thanks Lavon, Jim, Debbie for the lodging – we were off to Music City! Gene has a writing appointment today (Friday) and will meet the publisher he has been working with via phone and internet for some time now. (That was a prayer request.) We have been praying to discern God’s will with the use of Gene’s music for some time. It is my hope that this trip will bring some clarity to that.

So, if you are on your way through Kentucky at lunch time, where would you stop?! The boys thought this was a no-brainer….

 

We spent Thursday night just hangin out downtown Nashville. This one thing I’ll say, Karaoke in Nashville is like no other Karaoke I’ve heard – amazing!

apples and honey

we are celebrating Rosh Hoshana – a Jewish holiday this week. We don’t really know any Jewish people who have taught us this, and we attempted to go to a ceremony this morning and couldn’t find the “community” of the community service. There was a house with two cars in the driveway – looked kind of private. We will try again… For now, we are doing the best we can with information from the internet and studying the prayers in scripture.

You can check out the boys’ blog sites for some of our experiences. One tradition that has been particularly meaningful to me is that of eating apples and honey – symbolic sweets.

There is a difference between the sweetness of an apple and the sweetness of honey. An apple is a sweet fruit which grows on a tree. There is nothing surprising about that–many fruits are sweet. But honey comes from a bee–an insect that is not only inedible, it actually stings. Nevertheless the honey that it produces is sweet. In fact, honey is sweeter than an apple!

Similarly, there are two types of sweetness in our lives: we have times of family celebration, successes in our careers, personal triumphs and harmonious relationships. These are sweet times like the apple is sweet. But then there is a different type of sweetness; a sweetness that comes from times of challenge. When things don’t go the way that we would like them to, when tragedy strikes, when our job is in jeopardy, when we fail to reach the goals we expected of ourselves, when our relationships are being strained and tested, when we feel alone.

At the time when we are facing these challenges, they seem bitter and insurmountable, like the sting of a bee. But if we are strong and withstand the difficult times, and overcome the obstacles to our own happiness, we reveal layers of our personality that we would never have tapped into if we weren’t challenged. Something deeper is brought out when we are tested. Tension in a relationship is painful, but there’s nothing better than reconciling after that tension. Losing a job is degrading, but how often it is that we find bigger and better things to move on to. Loneliness can eat us up, but it can open us to higher levels of self-knowledge too. We have all experienced events in our lives that at the time were painful, but in retrospect we say, “Thank G-d for the tough times–imagine where I would be without them!”

So we eat apples and honey on the first day of the new year. We bless each other and ourselves that in the year to come the apples should bring sweetness, and what the bee stings bring should be even sweeter! (Sweet Stings, Aron Moses)

“…until tomorrow!”

…why we are going to give home school a shot.

Just about every day, usually first thing in the morning, Spencer can be observed conducting some kind of experiment. Now, you cannot see it in this picture but each container here also is accompanied by a label – a name of the chemical that he has invented by mixing various hand soaps and food colorings. This is followed by a heightened interest in learning actual element – Sodium being his favorite, although Na makes no sense to him…”Why isn’t it “So”?

 

 

During the school year, it’s a completely different attitude toward learning. He is still very creative. Most of his energies go toward coming up with reasons he cannot go to school or stories for why he could not do as he was asked while in school. We have had a couple conversations about Ritalin with teachers and counselors…we just think there is a better way, it’s worth a shot.

Earlier in the summer we began discussing the possibility, researching, interviewing others and praying. Not too long ago, we talked to the boys about it. This was followed by a week of entering into more focused family prayer about this possibility.

With prayer, we also read a few more books and attended a network gathering for home schoolers. We met a couple families with boys of a similar age and were very encouraged. One morning, Sam came to me and said that he had been thinking about it with God and that home school is something he thinks we should do. Sam’s biggest concern was his friends.

Please pray for us. The boys are excited. We are too. I am a bit nervous. We will be intentional about building on the relationships that have become very important to us over the past couple years. Both boys will continue to play soccer on their teams with their friends and many of them live close by as well. We have friends that we need to connect with in other ways and new networks of friends to discover. Our hope too is that we will be able to travel internationally, building relationships with the Body of Christ more globally. We are praying that we will have an opportunity to partner with an international church plant and gain a bigger view of the world and the family of God. We are going to begin a fund for this and are praying through the logistics.

We are excited about the possibilities of this new season. We are realistic about the challenges that we will face. We have the peace of God. We’ll take a step out on this path and see where it will take us, what we will learn….

One very wise new friend shared with us that when she is asked “How long will you home school?” she replies, “Until tomorrow!” I think that’s something I’ll take with me as well.

So…until tomorrow!

Leadership Summit

Lead… encourage… cast vision… be clear… inspire… strategize… care… give… invest… motivate… plan… quiet yourself… hear from God… process… Three days of the Leadership Summit is a lot to unpack. We will be processing the things that we learned for months to come.

Today we spent some time talking about what inspires us. As leaders, as neighbors, as friends…it is true that the best way we can motivate or inspire others to dream big dreams with us, to give the only life we have to something that is worth it…is to live inspired lives. Then we came home, attended a local Africa festival and then jumped in the pool! Now we are preparing for a cook out (when I say “we”, I mean Jenn, and she’s a fabulous cook!)

What do you really like to do? What charges your batteries…makes you feel alive?

Fast Forward

It’s National Mustard Day!

these things have in common…

• Jack Bauer a household name. (a hero of sorts)
• the “Brady Bunch” and “Everybody Loves Raymond” move to the documentary category.
•  a TV and computer in every room.
• setting up tents in the back yard when hosting guests overnight.
• dinner at 6:30, every night.
• the merging of 9 people and 6 small animals into one household!

…community.

At the beginning of June we began a journey with our friends – an experiment in community. We introduced the Nobrega family and Jenn M. to you as part of our team. We didn’t discuss too much of the idea of all living in the same house together. This came, at first, out of necessity as all parties moving from La Crosse also were still trying to sell houses. (Which is still the case.) But as we journey together – sharing chores, our lives, our meals, our time and resources- we wonder if this is something that God is calling us to do on a longer term basis.

This move has been fun, tough, rewarding, challenging…all at the same time. Jesus seems to live his life in an interdependent stance. He encourages his disciples to the same.

Today, I reread some of what Henri Nouwen wrote in his book, Creative Ministry.

For a Christian is only a Christian when he unceasingly asks critical questions of the society in which he lives and continuously stresses the necessity for conversion, not only of the individual but also of the world. A Christian is only a Christian when he refuses to allow himself or anyone else to settle into a comfortable rest. He remains dissatisfied with the status quo. And he believes that he has an essential role to play in the realization of the new world to come – even if he cannot say how that world will come about. A Christian is only a Christian when he keeps saying to everyone he meets that the good news of the Kingdom has to be proclaimed to the whole world and witnessed to all nations (Mtt 24:13). As long as a Christian lives he keeps searching for a new order without divisions between people, for a new structure that allows every man to shake hands with every other man, and a new life in which there will be lasting unity and peace. He will not allow his neighbor to stop moving, to lose courage, or to escape into small everyday pleasures to which he can cling. He is irritated by satisfaction and self-content in himself as well as in others since he knows, with an unshakable certainty, that something great is coming of which he has already seen the first rays of light. He believes that this world not only passes but has to pass in order to let the new world be born. He believes that there will never be a moment in this life in which on can rest in the supposition that there is nothing left to do. But he will not despair when he does not see the result he wanted to see. For in the midst of all his work he keeps hearing the words of the One sitting on the throne, “I am making the whole of creation new” (Rev. 21:5).

I think those ideas are some of what have made us willing to engage in this experiment, to consider that God has something planned for this community that is glorious – if we are open to His agenda and willing to “lose our lives for the sake of the Kingdom, in order to find life (Mtt 10:39). This week, the “honeymoon” of this happy family came to an end and we had to do some of the tough work of togetherness. It won’t be the last of our difficult conversations. I’m sure that there were thoughts of “I can’t do this anymore.” And then the next day one of the boys ran in the house “Mom, where are my swim trunks?!” and from upstairs, I heard Becky answer, “They’re hanging up in the laundry room.”, “Thanks!” and without a word from me, Sam was out the door to go swimming. In that moment, I felt the Spirit of God encouraging me… “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35).

So, maybe that’s what it’s all about.

 

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. (ephesians 3:20)

On my (Juli’s) list of “things to do before I’m 40″ is sailing. Now, I may have shared this before, but I had in mind getting to ride on a sailboat – with a friends, or paying a lot of money to go on a tourist boat. Today, with my friend Jenn, I joined Hoofers Sailing Club. I hope to receive my membership card in one week and then will begin taking lessons. They say 2-3 lessons and I will be qualified to sail a tech boat – and take a couple friends out. It’s a smaller boat, but if I enjoy this new hobby as much as I have enjoyed dreaming about it, it’s only the beginning.

 

Today with many other things in my head that need to be done and considered, I am extremely grateful for this opportunity. I pray that God would use this for His glory. I’m so glad that my God loves fun!

 

I’m going to learn how to sail! I’m pumped about that!