The Wait is Over - The Journey has Just Begun

After 2 years of knowing a change was coming, 10 months of actively praying about the change, 6 months of applying for jobs, and 2 months of interviewing, the Taylors finally know where they're moving: Bellingham, Washington.

This past week, Western Washington University offered Dwayne a Resident Director position beginning August 2nd and Dwayne accepted it.

Bellingham is located 20 miles South of the Canadian boarder, right on Bellingham Bay.

Dwayne took a few pictures while he was up there for the on campus interview.

No, that is not a UFO in the upper right hand corner. :-) It's the light shining off the glass of the dining hall.

So this is our soon-to-be home. Now it's time to prepare for the transition both physically and emotionally!

A Beautiful Mess

This past Fall I had the good fortune to meet and befriend Kristin Ritzau, the author of _A Beautiful Mess_, forthcoming this summer from Conversant Media Group.

Kristin has the uncommon ability to inspire the best in those around her, and to then motivate those of us lucky enough to know her to go achieve that best. Her first book is an embodiment of the work she does with women to overcome perfectionism through the principles of Spiritual Direction.

She has basically taken this practice, Spiritual Direction, (something that is only open to those who happen to live close to Universities or churches who offer it) and made it accessible for readers in their own living room.

My latest article at Ungrind called, Recollection, is a reflection on the contemplative prayer called, The Prayer of Recollection. I was introduced to this prayer by my spiritual director and those who have read the article and taken a moment to write me, have expressed just how nourished they were by that prayer.

Well I'm here to tell you that my article is just a drop in the bucket! It is just a tiny taste of the depths and riches that exist in the practice of Spiritual Direction, and Kristin's book is a 200 page tour-de-force of this practice made available for you!

Her latest blog at Conversant opens the topic of Contemplative Prayer and explores the ways in which this sort of prayer experience cultivates intimacy.

If you liked my article and want to learn more about contemplative prayer, check out her website here.

Recollection

"As a working mom it's easy to forget that my body cannot be broken like fishes and loaves and multiplied to infinitum. It's easy to forget that my broken body, unlike the Lord's, does not, in fact, give life to those around me."

To read the rest of my latest article on Ungrind, go here.

Thanks for taking a look!

Happy Easter!

Up-gathered

I feel all ramped up.

Something is going to happen but I don't know what. I'm waiting for something to break - but there's nothing immediate on the horizon. Perhaps it's just all the excitement of these last few weeks. So many things coming together, moving forward, sweeping me up like Wordsworth's howling winds in, "The World is Too Much With Us, Late and Soon."

"The winds that will be howling at all hours/ and are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers."

I feel up-gathered, like many petals spinning toward the eye of heaven.

Next week Dwayne has his on-campus interview out of state. Who knows what will happen. We could know in two weeks where we're moving. Or we could be waiting for another handful of months.

I was realizing just yesterday, that my incessant need to know seems to have subsided. Somewhere between writing about it to you all, and praying about it, and thinking about it - I made peace with the uncertainty of our future.

I stopped trying to visualize just where we will be and realized that I could bend, and flex.

At some point I realize that this spiral toward the sky is going to break, and my many members will float back down to the earth, but that's in the future, that's a moment in time I can not hold. So be it. Right now, I'm following the ride.