A Birthday Blog for My Mother

For most people, September 15 is just another day like all the rest of the 364 days that fly by each year. In my family, it's a special day, and the only one like it. September 15th is my mom's birthday.

My mom is a pretty much a professional when it comes to throwing parties, so over the years we have had some pretty awesome celebrations for her birthdays. However, over the past few years, I haven't really been around on her birthday since I've been living in Texas and she's in Arizona. And the worst part is, I only seem to be getting farther and farther away. Sadly, some of the most interaction I've had with my own mom on her birthday recently was a few years ago when I ended up in the hospital with a kidney stone on her birthday. Probably not the most exciting birthday celebration for a mother to hear about her daughter having to go to the hospital!

So since I can't be with my mom on her birthday, I can't exactly throw her a party or bake a cake, and I can't even very easily send a present or a card, I decided to write a blog dedicated to her.

Someone at G42 asked me today if I was close with my mom. I told her the truth: we do fight a lot, but I tell her everything and she's very involved in my life. My friend's response was, "That's a really special relationship to have with your mom and to be able to be that close." I agree. Although we are typical mother and daughter sometimes, I honestly don't know what I would do without my mom. She is there for me all the time, from the super serious stuff in life to the ridiculously dumb things. She listens to me, she tells me good advice, she lets me complain to her, she helps me when I don't know how to do something right, she is generous to me, she loves me and supports me, and she puts me in line when I am being stupid. I may not be in the same state or country as her very many days out of the year, but I know that she is just a phone call away, and I can call her anytime to talk about any random thing that's on my mind (which I frequently do, sometimes several times a day... thank goodness for Skype!!).

But Mom, I want you to know that I don't take any of it for granted. The fact that I can call you ten times in an hour and ask you how to cook lasagna or talk to you for an hour about my life drama or rely on you to run errands at home for me shows me that I have a wonderful mother who truly cares for me. I know it's not easy that I am so far away from home, but you have let me go and have supported me in what I am doing, and I want to thank you for encouraging me to pursue my dreams, even if it's not particularly preferable for you. And thank you for all the advice and wisdom that you share with me. I know that I can trust the things that you say and I appreciate that you help me get things into perspective a lot of the time.

Pretty much, I've got a great Mom! Thank you for loving me the way you do and for always being willing to sacrifice for me and make sure that I have the kind of care and nurture that a child should have. I have often not given you the credit you've deserved in the past, but I want to now, in a place where everyone can see what a wonderful mother you are and how much you have done for your children.

I'm sorry I can't be there today to take you to lunch or buy you a lemon meringue pie from Marie Callendar's, but I'm trusting that you will throw an awesome party with your friends to celebrate and do something fun. I wish I could be there for it, but since I'm not, I hope you know how much I really love and appreciate you.

Thank you for giving your life the way you have, and for just being my mom, and being a good one. I love you, Mom.

Happy Birthday!

P.S. I don't have a clue how old you are turning this year!!

Lessons from the Warrior Shepherd

A few weeks ago, we had a week with Dave Hearn as our teacher, current G42 staff and former officer of the United States Air Force. I haven’t had a chance to blog about it yet, but I wanted to make sure I highlighted it because Dave brought a fresh facet to our curriculum and schedule. We spent the morning class periods talking about tribes, networking, goal setting, and our vision projects. In the afternoon, however, instead of returning to the classroom, Dave took us on several hikes and walks in the mountains surrounding Mijas. It was hot. We hiked a lot. We got sweaty. And it was fantastic. Dave told us it was a lesson in hard work, which was true, but it was so much more than that. It was an opportunity for us to use every part of our being to grow, learn, be challenged, and love God. At the peak of each hike, we would take a break and use our resting time as an opportunity to do a group activity or assignment.

One of the days, Dave instructed us to design a logo and come up with a name for our hypothetical business or non-profit organization. We also had to write out our own mantra of who we are. Another day we had to do a team building exercise where we had to carry out a task written on paper without verbally communicating with the rest of our group. On another hike, we played a crazy version of Telephone, alternatively using charades and story-telling to pass the story along. Each game or activity had an intentional purpose and taught us a new lesson or opened our eyes to the importance of a principle or idea. I found them to be quite helpful and impacting!

Essentially, I really enjoyed our week of physical labor (ok maybe it wasn’t that intensive) and exercise. It was a great chance to start putting into practice healthy living habits and remembering the importance of taking care of the bodies that God has given us. Plus, it was nice to have a break from being in a classroom and taking notes :)

I figured I’d post some of the pictures from our hikes so you can see what our class experience was like that week, plus enjoy the beautiful views we got to see in Mijas.

 

 

The Almond Branch

 

Everything is shifting. It is the last full week of the term and in less than two weeks, half of the interns graduate and will be heading back to the U.S. to move forward with the next step in their lives. We’ve all been trying to push it out of our thoughts, but the impending change is still hanging in the air, weighing on us as we begin all of our “lasts.” Last weekend together, last time at the beach, last class with this group of ten, last house dinner together… They are all coming and soon after, everything will change.

What is even harder is that the change has already begun. This weekend I took a two-day trip to Granada with Allison, Brook, and Grant, some of my fellow interns. While we were there, Grant got news on his iPhone that his mom had a stroke – her fourth one in the last nine months. He left early the next day, a couple hours before us, to head back home to Mijas where he could more easily get into contact with his family. When we walked in the door a few hours after him that evening, we found out that his mom was in ICU and was probably not going to make it, so he was being Skyped into ICU.

My heart broke.

This is one of our interns… one of our friends, our family members… and things haven’t exactly been easy in his life. To hear about such a distressing, heart-wrenching thing sent our whole group into tears and prayers. The leaders of G42 stopped by our house periodically throughout the night to encourage and support Grant while everything was going on. It was a tough night, but Grant is a really strong man and demonstrated peace and hope in the midst of that horrible situation we never want to imagine ourselves in.

Right now, Grant is on his way to Madrid to catch a flight back to L.A. where he can meet up with his relatives and brothers and see his mom one more time before the machine is turned off and she goes home to the Lord.

Graduation is one week away. Our hearts are broken for Grant. And we’re so sad to see him go, only days before getting a chance to celebrate his graduation from the last six months of hard work here at G42.

The house feels extra empty tonight, and I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like in a couple weeks when every leaves permanently.

However, I know that although the change and transition will be sad for all of us, it is an occasion of celebration and an event to rejoice in. The interns who are graduating – AnnieRose, Allison, Lynsey, Jenny and Christ Telfer, and Grant – have been poured into for six months here and have grown, changed, been challenged, and been filled up to the brim. They are bursting at the seams, ready to embrace their life-passion and the dream that God has put into their hearts. They are prepared, they are passion-filled, and they are ready – and they are about to go and do incredible things in this world! As sad as my heart is to see them go, I can’t help but also rejoice, knowing that they are fully equipped to do the work God has set out for them to do.

Andrew, the director here, taught us a story from Jeremiah 1 this week. It’s when God speaks to Jeremiah and calls him to be a prophet. After telling Jeremiah that, even in his youth, he is still qualified and capable of leading God’s people, simply because God has chosen him, God then asks Jeremiah what he sees. Jeremiah gives a simple answer – an almond branch, which God affirms is correct.

So what’s so important about an almond branch? Andrew has one in his garden and he told us something unique about it: the almond tree is the first tree to bloom in the winter. He walked out onto his terrace one grey January morning and saw the tree with blossoms budding on the branches.

Jeremiah was living in the midst of a winter. His country and his people had hardships whirling down all around them – economically, politically, spiritually, and socially. Yet when Jeremiah looked around him and described what he saw, he didn’t say he saw winter. In the midst of the coldest, darkest time, Jeremiah saw the one tiny thing that wasn’t winter: a fresh new bud on the almond tree – the symbol of hope, the promise of spring, the reminder of new life ahead.

In the midst of change, in the midst of goodbyes and departures, in the midst of our friends’ winters and our own winters, I hope we can always remember to look for the almond branch. There is always a spring ahead. And there will always be a sprig of hope in the middle of the winter.

New Realities

The G42 House on Calle San Sebastian is always bustling and teeming with interns and guests who are running around the house, laughing, cooking, working, and talking. It's rare that the house is ever empty or left alone to one person, but right now that's where I've found myself. The whole group, including some of the G42 staff members, has gone to hang out at a local pub, something I would normally love to do. All the G42 interns here are well aware of my enthusiasm for social events and have quickly learned how keen I am on getting out of the house, going new places, and meeting new people. However, tonight I had to decline the invitation to go be a social butterfly and be a part of all the excitement and interaction. Instead I decided to stay home and have some alone time.

So the house is quiet. And I'm enjoying sitting here and having the chance to reflect.

A lot has gone on in the last couple weeks. I think I've experienced a little bit of every emotion possible. After I got back from London, we had an incredible and intense week with a teacher from the U.S. named Ted Hanson. Ted is from Bellingham, Washington where he has founded House of Bread Ministry and a training school called the School of Eagles, both ministries in which he is currently involved. In addition, Ted is an apostle and a prophet and does much international travel and public speaking in order to train, activate, and release people into the future God has planned for them.

While he was here, he taught on New Covenant Realities - basically the differences between the old covenant God made with the Israelites and the new covenant that has been established through Jesus Christ. The way he taught was innovative and offered a brand new interpretation on things that I had never considered before. As a result, I found myself mentally and spiritually challenged every moment we were in class. Most of the interns left class every day overwhelmed by the amount of new information that we heard and exhausted by trying to keep up with Ted and understand it all, yet we still felt full and satisfied because we knew that we were retaining and understanding exactly what we needed to for the time being. Throughout that week, I frequently heard phrases along these things: "I have no idea what's going on, but my spirit is getting it and I'm feeling really good about what I am catching onto!"

Basically, we knew we were hearing truth and being changed, but our minds were being blown beyond our comprehension. All that to say, I can't really explain yet what I learned that week. I'm still processing it all, still trying to make sense of it, and still recognizing places that it has hit me in my life and seeing the changes it has caused in my mindset and actions. The good thing is, Ted is coming back next semester and we get another chance to soak up the wisdom and passion that are dripping off of him. That's gonna be another intense, but insanely good week.

The whole week that Ted was here, we had a group of seven people from England visiting to check out G42. I was also cooking dinner that week, so my afternoons were spent cooking and my evenings were spent making new friends :) 

cooking dinner

While cooking, I realized these important things:

              1. I like cooking (even when it's for 22 people!)

              2. I'm not that bad at cooking

              3. Cooking can actually be kind of fun

I know... not all that novel of thoughts, but they were quite revolutionary for me! I always hated cooking and thought I was never capable of doing it, but I actually found last week that not only can I do it, but I can do it without anxiety and stress and can actually have a decent result! Of course, it helps a whole bunch having AnnieRose, my cooking partner, working alongside me in the kitchen with her easygoing and peaceful demeanor, because we always figured out a way to deal with whatever went wrong... and it was never a big deal! 

setting out the yummy food!

I also had a ton of fun with all the English folks visiting, and spent lots of time discussing different English dialects, accents, and odd phrases. It was also really nice having some extra people to hang out with throughout the week. On Friday night after tapas, we all headed down to the local pub (the one where everyone is at now) and hung out there for a bit. When they kicked us out at closing time, we then relocated to the terrace at home where we could sit in the cool night air and look up at the stars. It was brilliant.

dinner with our English friends

Dave Hearn

In the midst of all the fun and excitement with visitors and the thought provoking times with Ted, we were assigned a vision project. I've known about this project since before I even arrived at G42, and I knew that it was going to be a lot of work and a big deal, but I was really looking forward to the day when I actually created it and completed it.

Basically, our vision projects are an opportunity for us to communicate to others what our passion is and what we want to do about it. As I've explained before, this can be anything from a business to a non-profit organization to a ministry - essentially something that we want to start and put into effect in order to share God's love with people around the world. 

Bec Hearn

We haven't presented our projects to each other yet, so I haven't seen or heard about everyone's vision specifics yet, although I know that there are some really cool ideas that have been thought up. During the moments when I wasn't racking my brain to make sense of Ted's life-changing wisdom, cooking dinner, or hanging out with new friends, I was spending time with Andrew or his daughter Bec and son-in-law Dave to try to refine and sharpen my vision. I had a general idea of where I wanted my focus to be, but I had a lot of options and wasn't sure how to narrow it down. A nice conversation with Bec over lunch helped open my eyes to where my heart and passion truly lie and almost instantly provided me with more direction and plans for the future. After recognizing where my heart is and what I want to do, I had a much easier time sitting down to complete my project.

The project itself is simply a five page magazine article that explains our vision and includes the problem, existing solutions, and what our solution to the problem is. Sounds simple, but there's a lot of heart and passion that go into this article, so I definitely took my time with it. I wrote several pages about the problem and how it needs to be fixed, and then I got to the end and suddenly realized I didn't have a concrete solution. Another visit over to Dave and Bec's house, and I walked away with a crystal clear idea for how to materialize my plan. 

the awesome Hearn family

Of course, the plan is flexible and subject to change over time as I grow in my vision and define it more specifically, but for now I have a good lead that will take me where I need to start, and then I can proceed from there. I am quite anxious and excited to share this project with you, as it expresses my heart and is the beginning of what might be something really big in my life. I have a few changes to make still, but be looking for my article to be posted in the next week or two so that you will be able to read it and hear about my vision!

In the meantime, I am going to get some rest and relax and enjoy the last few weeks of the semester!