we're condo owners!

A quick email to let you know that as of yesterday, we are condo owners!

In a series of what can only be described as miracles, our friend (and now housemate) sold her house on Monday, and we sold her the downstairs apartment as a condo yesterday, turned our apartment into a condo, refinanced, and created a condo association!

No wonder I'm so tired!

So thankful to have reached this completion stage in our ongoing dream of a community house...

we haven't posted because...

1. Melissa always does the posting, and Melissa barely gets time to check her own personal email these days. To say that I'm behind in my schoolwork is the understatement of the year. The doctoral program is entirely challenging (which is expected)...and the classwork on top of the beginnings of my dissertation research is really a lot. It's been an interesting few weeks as I'm truly learning to embrace the "this is the best I can do" philosophy. Thankfully, I'm not stressed, just sometimes very, very tired. (It's hard to be stressed when you consider WHAT would be the cause of the stress...most women in the world don't have an opportunity to graduate high school, let alone get a doctorate, so that keeps my world in perspective, it really does. So does transplant, and our friend Eddie...reminding me that doctoral program is not life-or-death, it's a GIFT).

2. The boys are enjoying their lives too much to think about reporting on them. Yesterday was parent-teacher conferences, and they are having a FABULOUS year. So proud of them. We're also keeping them "off the streets" with after school drama club, Saturday swimming, and fall soccer.

3. We're doing more organized activities and less unorganized hang-around stuff. This is the antithesis of our usual parenting philosophy. The reason? Besides the growing homicide rate here in Lynn, a few weeks ago there was a shooting at 4 in the afternoon one block from our home. Gang-related, of course. But the incidents of afternoon gang shootings are growing, and we have moved closer to the heart of those sort of issues with the purchase of this house this summer. So we are literally trying to keep our kids off the streets more of the time. Pray for us!

4. Our friend, Jodie, moved in downstairs. As of a week and a half ago, we are now officially a "community house!"

5. We're working on closing on the condo-creating of our home; we hope to close at the end of this month, selling Jodie her condo downstairs, refinancing so that we own one condo and not the entire house, and creating a condo association to manage "common spaces" and a condo budget. Whew!

6. Jason has been involved in taking classes, too. They're during the school day, and when he agreed last year to be part of this commitment, he didn't realize that the two classes per month (for the next two years) are a LOT of credits toward a doctorate...so we may both be in doctoral programs very soon. Well, I guess we kind of both are, though Jason hasn't actually signed up for the credits, or chosen through which institution (there are two) he could/would do his EdD. Can you imagine?!?

It's definitely a busy season, but we are well. In case there are people who are still checking our very-quiet blog after so long, I just wanted you to know that. :)

Happy Friday from a contented Team Winchell!

underway

Our school year is underway!

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've posted, but an explanation of our new fall schedule might help to increase understanding here. :) We are all back to school--Orilus and Jackson hop on the bus at 7 am each morning, and get off at 3:00 pm each afternoon. On Mondays and Wednesday, I'm in the YMCA pool at 6:00 am, then walk to work (at my new job, which I am loving!). On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Jason rides his bike for an hour plus, and I take the boys to their bus. Fridays we are all togther in the morning (and, as found out yesterday, Jason and I are quite tired by then!).

Our afternoon schedule is a little full, too. The boys get off the bus at the school where Jason works, so Jason brings them home every day, stopping to pick me up from work on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Mondays and Wednesdays, I'm off to classes in Boston. Thankfully (and this is a HUGE thanks), I've been able this week to catch a ride there and back with a member of my cohort, who VERY graciously brings me even though she lives a town away. It's a HUGE time saver, and has helped me not to feel completely exhausted after a long day.

Thursdays nights I take a Zumba class now (my first one was this past Thursday, and I laughed the ENTIRE time...I had no idea Latin dance was so much fun!), and Saturday mornings I'm either back in the pool or (as this morning) doing homework (read an entire 200-page book on writing a dissertation this morning).

The boys are liking school as much as fourth and fifth graders do (which is to say, sometimes not much). :) Jackson told me today that he feels "really comfortable" at school, which is an amazing and new sensation for him; he's really come a long way in his ability to navigate transitions. Orilus struggles to NOT need to be the center of attention :), but he seems to be settling in. Jason and I have volunteered as room parents for each of the boys' classrooms (me for Orilus' again, Jason for Jackson's), making Jason the first "room dad" at the school. I think that's very cool.

As our next few Saturdays are booked with family obligations, we're celebrating Jackson's 11th birthday today with his friends at a party in a nearby park in Lynn. This morning the boys and I decorated some cupcakes (footballs, soccer balls, basketballs, and baseballs)--you can see those above.

I'm finding the secret to staying sane in all of this is:

1. Commit to do just one thing at a time, and tell yourself that's all you can really do. Because it's true.

2. Transition quickly between roles as necessary. Move from reading a dissertation book to decorating cupcakes without a second thought.

3. Pray a LOT. Learn to pray while working.

4. Embrace God-moments when they happen. Write them down. Last Sunday morning I stepped outside very early in the morning to let Kobe out, and it was a beautiful breaking dawn (after a day of hard rain on Saturday). The sun was rising over the ocean (which we can see from our yard), and falling on the skyscrapers of Boston, and it was breathtaking. And I felt God's beauty all around, and so I just stood, and worshipped.

Remind me of all these things later, should I become overwhelmed and stressed this semester.

Off to eat some lunch and gather things for Jackson's birthday party!

good-bye to summer

Tomorrow Team Winchell returns to school.

Orilus and Jackson have their first day in 5th and 4th grades, a half day (which I think is a lovely way to ease back into a school routine).

Jason is back to work tomorrow, teaching math.

And I go back to the Language Support Office (though I officially started last week). Also, on Wednesday, my two-night-a-week doctoral class schedule starts.

Needless to say, I've spent the weekend preparing for our new season...making 6 pounds of meatballs to freeze for future meals, ironing, laundry, back-to-school shopping, unpacking a few more boxes...and a really great time playing football on Nahant Beach with the boys and my mom.

Good-bye, summer...

our friend Eddie

Orilus and Eddie August 2008

Last week our transplant friend, Eddie, came by for a visit with his mom and younger brother. We were excited, as this was the first time Eddie was allowed into our house, and Orilus and Jackson were proud to show him our new place. It was a precious time with him and his family, and a joy to watch the ways in which Orilus especially tried to encourage his friend. As Orilus said to me before they arrived, "Eddie is so sick, and I don't just want to sit on my butt and do nothing."

And it's true that Eddie continues to be unwell. Last week the doctors noted that CRV (a virus that can be fatal in immuno-suppressed kids like Eddie) had returned. Eddie continues to struggle on an abnormally-high dose of steroids and 3 immuno suppressants (a worse situation than he was in immediately following his transplant over 2 years ago). GVH (rejection disease) continues to cause him problems, particularly on his skin. And ongoing issues with a faulty central line and dental problems are plaguing him--he needs to go in to the OR, but can't until some of the other issues are resolved. On the other hand, he needs a central line to resolve the other issues, which he can only get in an OR. It's a vicious cycle, and Eddie has not been able to catch a break.

Last week I wrote another check from Eddie's fund to continue to help Eddie's family pay the usual bills. Eddie's medical schedule--multiple day-long visits a week to Jimmy Fund--and his ongoing isolation requirements require Kori to stay at home with him. If you had told me a year ago, when I began planning our Eat for Eddie event, that Eddie's family would still be in need of financial support one year later, I would have been incredulous. Really, how could that be possible? How bad could things really get for one lovely eight-year-old? It turns out, pretty bad indeed.

To those of you who continue to support Eddie's Fund through monthly donations of any amount, thanks. Our family, too, contributes to the Fund, and it's one way that keeps me from feeling completely helpless as I watch our friends suffer. To those who are interested in helping, your one-time gifts or monthly donations are gratefully welcome. You can mail all checks (made out to Eddie's Fund) to the Fund at:

Eddie's Fund

Eastern Bank

405 Paradise Road, B337

Swampscott, MA 01907

Thanks for caring for our friend. Eddie's family, and ours, thank you.

the boys in their new room

Orilus (bottom) and Jackson (top) show off their new sports-themed room--the orange and blue the colors of their choice!

connections

To start with, Team Winchell is online again. We woke up Friday morning at Mace Place to find that Verizon had already turned everthing off--phone, TV, and Internet. And since they couldn't come until today to hook up our new house, we've just now re-established our connection to the outside world.

Not that we had much time for that sort of connection, anyway! Friday we finished up some errands and spent an afternoon with Orilus and Jackson. I had an interesting dinner meeting that night with some people from Gordon College about an emerging urban education emphasis there. Saturday morning we were up bright and early and the moving began! It was a LONG day. While Jason helped the Gentle Giants pack Mace Place, I worked with my two moms (Mom Kerr and Mom Winchell) to finish up some things here at Henry Avenue. We received our new appliances that morning (though we were surprised to find our fridge wouldn't fit up the stairs!), cleaned the bathroom and kitchen, moved some doors, and began unpacking some kitchen boxes. By the time the movers and the rest of the family arrived around 1pm, we were already tired!

The moving in took until about 4:30 or so, and then we went out for a hamburger supper at Fuddrucker's with Mom Kerr and Mom and Dad Winchell, who braved our day to its end. I don't know where they found the energy, I really don't.

Sunday our friends Amanda and Angel were moving into our former house at Mace Place, and we decided to go over and lend them a hand. After a quick breakfast (note: we had no fridge until yesterday, so eating has been out-and-about until then) we showed up to find...that we were NOT late, were the first ones there, and with the exception of one more person, we were the only ones! Whew! I have to give tribute here to my husband, who despite his own sense of being completely overwhelmed by the zillions of projects at Henry Avenue motivated us all to go over and help them out, and then stayed energized until 5pm that night when we moved the last of their items out of their moving truck and into Mace Place. After 2 full days of moving boxes and furniture, he did not complain once, and embodied for me what "church" (and, in our case with Amanda and Angel, house church/community) really can be. Friendship is a sacrifice sometimes, but I had a sense that day that we were making God smile. As Angel and I remarked, some people might have lost friends through a business transaction as big as buying a house from one another, but we actually gained friends through that process, and are so blessed to consider Angel and Amanda among our dearest friends here in Lynn now. That is a blessing, a God-work, and we are grateful.

Sunday evening we went home to Henry Ave (Jason thought it was a little strange to walk out of Mace Place and leave our friends there without us, but I felt happy--what was stranger to me was how empty it had been between our moving out and their moving in), popped some popcorn, unpacked some boxes, put the boys to bed...and then, at 9:30, one of my students came over because he needed help with his bicycle (which Jason fixed). Also, he wanted to talk with us about some immigration issues he's having. Amanda and Angel came over, too (Angel made a great translator!) and we heard the most humbling and incredible story of a 15-year-old driven by poverty to flee his country and to migrate without documentation to the United States. Please pray for this student as he is facing a rather hopeless situation and as we try to do what we can to help to him.

Yesterday I went back to work! I had offered to facilitate some curriculum-writing teams in the district, and decided to head to the Language Support (ESL) office to get some of that work done, and to attend 2 meetings.

Which reminds me...I didn't want to post here until I was sure it was official, and those affected here in the district knew, but I got a new job for this school year! I will be a Chairperson in the Language Support Office now. That means I am leaving the high school for a job within the school department (read: desk job). I've been asked how I feel about this, and I really can't say (I haven't had much time for processing this change given all the other changes this summer), but I feel I'm answering a need, and I'm excited to grow some skills--particularly in coaching teachers (I'll be supporting all ESL programs in the middle and high schools in our city), mentoring, curriculum writing, and professional development. I will stay within the teacher's union for now, which means I have all school vacations. I just think it's the right time. As I begin my doctorate I'm also beginning to work and see leadership in the city's school department. It's an interesting match (studying leadership, and participating in it), and I'm excited about that.

But I will miss the high school and the students. A lot. I hope to continue volunteering (maybe at the refugee center where I've been teaching this summer, or by mentoring a refugee family for a few months). I need that refugee-connection in my life, to stay true to my passions and to keep me grounded in the "real world."

So we are connected now...back to work a bit. A telephone. A computer. And a house closer to the heart of the city. I am loving the city view here (of Lynn, of the Boston skyline, and the ocean!), and I really like turning on to streets that are too often in the newspaper. Now this neighborhood is our neighborhood, too, and we hope to invest here as we can and to work for its peace. Pray for us as we work to connect with our neighbors--it's going to take some balance as we have many projects here to do (unpacking, hooking up a washer and dryer, cleaning out the previous owner's things, tearing up the molding basement so Jason can have a work space). But I really want to remember that loving people is really where it's at, and why we're here. We'd like to build a house, but would rather build a neighborhood.

about the summer of Orilus and Jackson

Hey guys!

This is Orilus and Jackson. This summer we've been doing a lot of things. We got a new car. And a new house. We've been doing basketball camp. We found a mini motorcycle at our new house and a Game Cube. And we will fix it up and ride it. Maybe. If it works. We painted our new bedroom orange and blue. We each picked our own color. I (Orilus) picked blue and I (Jackson) picked the orange.

Our two parakeets are doing fine. Their names are Flash and Thunder. Kobe, our new dog, is getting really big. He's been biting a lot because he's getting new teeth.

We are moving this Saturday in 4 days. Almost all the house is packed. Cuz there's nothing on the walls, nothing on the shelves and there are plenty of boxes.

Dad's been at Henry Ave all day. Every day he goes there and he stays there all day and works. Mom and Dad have been doing good.

Last night we had a big party. We invited our neighbors for a party to cook cookies and play video games and eat the cookies. We had 6 friends over.

We entered a contest to win a free trip to Disney World.

I'm (Jackson) done with my two summer reading books. I still have to read one more book. I read The Secret of the Indian and Holes. Now I need to read Because of Winn Dixie. Then I'll be done with my summer reading. I (Orilus) read In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson. Then I read The Borrowers and I'm still not finished. But I'm almost finished. Then I have one more to read.

Have a great summer.
from Orilus and Jackson

new address

Hello family and friends!

As of this weekend, please direct all mail to our new address:

133 Henry Avenue #2
Lynn, MA 01902

Thanks!

on fear

This morning in house church our friend, Karen, led our discussion of Matthew chapter 4. There, we read about the tempations of Jesus. Karen pointed out that Jesus responded to each temptation with the words, "It is written...," quoting the Scriptures (Orilus and Jackson remarked that He must have spent a LONG time memorizing the Bible). And then she asked, what temptations have we been struggling with lately?

An interesting question. I don't often think of being "tempted," but immediately I knew that I was in a struggle of sorts. For the past couple days, fear has been trying to make a home in my heart. Fear that we really are making a crazy decision to move out of our beautiful home by the beach to a two-family closer to the downtown. Fear that we will not be safe there. Fear that we have taken on more than a too-enormous project in the midst of an already-full life. Fear that lots of people think we are crazy, and don't understand. Fear that our dreams are not going to work out, that we will live in a smaller place but without the "community" we desire to create. Yesterday while brushing my teeth I looked in the mirror and thought, "We are leaving this house," and I felt I couldn't breathe. Fear does that, you know. Takes your breath--your life--away.

So my dear friend Karen, a Buddhist-raised Christian, reminded me this morning to align myself with Love. What does the Word of Love (the Scriptures) say about my fear? It is written there that perfect love casts out fear, that I am loved perfectly, and so I do not need to be afraid. It is written that God is with me. It is written that God is for me. It is written that all things work together to good for those who love God. It is written that God is the strength of my life, and that mercy will chase me down all the days of my life. It is written that He will keep me safe in His dwelling, and hide me with his wing.

I'm so grateful to my friend for helping me to find my way back to Love today, and we appreciate your prayers as we spend our last week here on Mace Place and transition to our new home.

Speaking of fear, and of love, I want to ask you once again to pray for our friend, Eddie. I talked with Eddie's mom yesterday, and Eddie was re-admitted to the isolation floor of Children's Hospital on Friday afternoon. He is still suffering from post-transplant complications, and there are so many things wrong with him, and the doctors don't know what to do. My heart is breaking for Eddie and his family, and for Orilus, who prays faithfully at least once a day that God will heal his transplant-friend. We continue to appreciate all of you who have prayed and supported Eddie's Fund. When I talk to Eddie's mom, I feel the static of unspoken fear between us, and she, too, needs to be touched by Love. Please pray with us for love and peace for Eddie and his family this week.

new way of living

I'm making the transition from academic to manual laborer. :)

On Wednesday, I completed the final paper (a rough draft of a dissertation proposal) for my doctoral classes. I'm finished with classes now! To say that I LOVED them probaby sounds completely nerdy, but is also the total truth. My dad would understand when I say that I ventured to the 9th floor of the UMass Boston library last week (to find some books in the stacks), and when the elevator opened on the 9th floor, I almost cried, I was so happy. Rows and rows on books...my version of heaven on earth...

Since Wednesday afternoon, I've become a full-time laborer (Jason keeps teasing me that I've gone from academia to blue collar). We're working day and night on our new house. Lots of things have been CRAZY wrong--fleas, a water main break under the street in front of our house (apparently the sound of a rushing waterfall is NOT a sound you want to hear in your home), fleas, some windows covered by panelling, mold, fleas, lights that don't work for no apparent reason, fleas, wallpaper that all but refuses to come off. Did I mention we had a flea infestation, too?

Um, yeah. It's been quite a different world for me these last few days!

new house!

On Friday, we finally closed on our new house!

The closing was definitely difficult--especially for the family who was leaving the house, as they were embroiled in conflict. I'm grateful we were able to extend grace to them, and in the end, Jason was able on Friday to help them finish moving out and cleaning out. We were glad to be able to build this bridge between our family and theirs in what was an otherwise painful time for them.

Yesterday we spent the day with friends at the new house on Henry Avenue. Many, many thanks to Glenn and Lisa for driving the hour just to help us out. Their engineering skills were put to good use as they helped us to conceive and construct the frame for a closet in our bedroom, which would otherwise have been closet-less. And others--thanks to Val, Sus, and Kim--came over to paint, and we were able to paint the ceilings and walls of both the living and dining rooms. I couldn't believe it. So much done in just one day. And now I don't have to look at sparkles on the ceilings--and walls. Yes, the walls. Thanks, guys.

I'm especially grateful for the time of prayer we were able to share with our friends last night before leaving Henry Ave. It's good--and needed--to take the time to thank God for all He's done. We've sold our house to good friends, and that has been a lovely gift of friendship in our lives. We've bought a new house next door to some amazing neighbors (we discovered in the last two days) who have many dreams for revitalizing the neighborhood. We're realizing our dream of community living this year. We're moving in well before the start of school, as we had hoped. So much good. And we are grateful to God for all He has done on our behalf.

Today we're taking a "sabbath." We had house church this morning as we continue our discussion of the book of Matthew and talk about the ways in which Jesus is the King we're not expecting Him to be. Soon we're off to Nahant's dog beach with Kobe, and then we'll spend a quiet day here at home (er, at our not-home, since it no longer belongs to us). Tomorrow Jason will be back at work in our new house (adding walls to our bedroom closet) while the boys begin a week of half-day basketball camp, and I'm back to class with just 3 days left of my summer courses remaining.

Thanks to all for your continued prayers for us. And your offers of help in the coming days. We are grateful for all the painting, cleaning, and construction help we are receiving! (And we've decided to hire professional movers on August 9th, to make the actual move less stressful). Thanks, all!

homeless

We are squatters now.

That's right, living in a house that no longer belongs to us. Today at 11 p.m., we officially sold our house to our dear friends, Amanda and Angel.

Now we wait. We thought we were waiting to close on the purchase of our "new" house on Henry Avenue, but many phone calls throughout the afternoon are making this look...doubtful? Apparently the sellers are not all the way moved out, so we may need to request an extension on the closing (until Friday, or Monday). Whether the seller's bank will approve this, given the short sale status of the home, we are not sure. The other option: we sign a legal document allowing them to stay for 24 hours if they put money in eschrow in the off chance we would need to evict them. Yuck.

We are as calm during this wait as I think any homeless squatters could possibly be. :)

we're moving

Dear Family and Friends,

This week is a really important week for Team Winchell. On Wednesday, we are closing on the sale of our current home; on Thursday, we are closing on the purchase of a multi-family closer to downtown Lynn. We're so excited, as our two-year dream of an intentional living community is coming true!

We are definitely looking for help in the next couple weeks, and are humbly putting out word to all who might be able to give us a hand. We need a few things:

* Help on our moving day--Saturday, August 9th. If you are around for all or part of that day and can help to pack and unpack our truck, we would so appreciate it.

* Help with painting and construction projects on our new home beginning next weekend and continuing until Friday, August 8th. During the two weeks after closing and before moving, we'd like to re-paint a few rooms and build a couple closets. If you have skills in either of these areas, Jason would particularly appreciate your help. I'm in class full-time for two more weeks, so I'm not as available as I wish I could be, so if you have a day, an afternoon, a couple hours...he'd be particularly grateful.

If you are interested in helping, you can email us and let us know when. We are needing to rely on the strength of others during this busy, but exciting, time in our lives, and we are grateful for you.

Blessings,

Melissa

camping!

So excited for a family camping trip this weekend (all the sisters together again!)...after the really tiring (but really, really amazing) week of classes at UMass (the first days of many years of doctoral studies), I am anxious to get away, and I've worked hard all week so I can do just that...without bringing homework along. :)

My sister DD will even be joining us this weekend. She's not usually a camper at all. So this is really a cool trip...Bex is coming all the way from New Jersey with kids in tow, Wins has time to break from med school, and DD is coming to "brave the elements." She sent me this "Deep Thought" (an old, old Saturday Night Live feature I used to love when I was a high schooler), and I'm writing a paper just now (a few more paragraphs to go, and I'm D-O-N-E) and laughing about this one:

"Any man, in the right situation, is capable of murder. But not any man is capable of being a good camper. So, murder and camping are not as similar as you might think."

Actually (to use Orilus' favorite word), I've laughed so often this week, in spite of the craziness of school, new car, curriculum-writing work, house buying and selling, puppyhood, and motherhood...many graces of peace and fun, like sailing the Boston Harbor yesterday...more news to come when I actually have TIME to write...which won't be until AFTER Team Winchell goes camping!

S'mores, mosquitoes, kayaking, biking, and sleeping, here we come...

news

We spent a FUN weekend in Connecticut visiting our dear friends, the Brownes (the couple with whom we started our trips to Mexico, and who brought us first to Haiti, which resulted in us meeting Orilus and Jackson in the first place). So lovely to catch up with them! It's so encouraging to see another family realize their dream of community living...they are building a home on the Browne family property, within a few hundred feet of one set of parents, and within a couple miles of the other set. The house is nearly finished (so different than the empty plot of land we saw when we last visited them in November, and equipped with so many eco-friendly features, including solar panels on the roof!), the kids are HUGE, and their town fair a country treat! I think you know you're raising city kids when a cow stops your son dead in his tracks, and he says, wide-eyed, "Mom, I didn't know they were THAT big!"

And yesterday on our way home we stopped in to see family on the South Shore and to say happy birthday to Jason's Grammie. We were especially impressed to see for the first time Mom and Dad Winchell's new remodeling project...they've created an open floor plan in their raised ranch, and it is beautiful!

And our trip was made possible by our friend, Jodie, who loaned us her car, since ours is not supposed to be traveling long distances any longer. We returned it all in one piece...almost...Kobe chewed through a seat belt, and so that needs to be replaced. Ah, puppyhood.

Tomorrow the P&S for our house will be signed, and we're working out a closing date...most likely, August 9th. That will give us 2 weeks from closing to get into our new house, to build a closet in our bedroom, paint some walls...

And tomorrow marks the start of my doctoral program! I can't wait to begin! If you don't hear from me this week, it's because I'm:
1. in class
2. commuting via a 15-minute walk to the train station, a commuter train, 2 T rides, a 1-mile walk to campus...all of which should add at least 3-4 hours to my day (valuable reading and study time, however)
3. doing homework for class
4. packing a box
5. sleeping (if possible)
6. on my way to Vermont for the Kerr family camping trip (Friday through Sunday)

In all of this, I have to say, our weeks have been marked by a true peace. I'm so grateful we had the time away for our anniversary a few weeks ago...it did much to re-orient us to the kind of summer we aimed to create, and the people we would set out to be regardless of how busy our summer might get. And so far, we are experiencing God's peace here. Orilus said to me today, "Mom, I've noticed how calm you are lately. You have been giving us a lot of grace." Evidence of a work of God's good Spirit in my life, for sure.

July 25th

As of 5:30 p.m. today, our must-close-by date!

Thanks for your prayers...they are working, as we were so in need of more time to close on our house prior to Henry Avenue (the 15th was just too soon). It's so cool to know so many others who are resting with us in God's kairos-time and reminding us, always, that in our lives, He has never, ever been late.

boxes, boxes everywhere

Our July 4th weekend was spent in a rather unusual way.

On July 3rd, we hosted about 30 people at our house--mostly refugee students--for a cookout as part of our city's New American Center youth programming. We enjoyed having these students in our home immensely, though when it rained, our house became quite full quite fast! How humbling (to borrow my friend Amanda's word) to explain simple things to these students, and to see them amazed...how to use the ice dispenser on the front of our fridge, for example. And then on the other hand, to talk with a refugee from Iraq who lost a house MUCH bigger than ours when his family was forced to flee. Always, always I am reminded that "refugee" means so many different life experiences. After eating, the rain cleared up just in time for the Lynn fireworks.

On the 4th, we spent the afternoon packing our house, thanks to the organizing effort of my mom. Before we had packed about 15 boxes, probably, and now we have about 40, so we got a lot of work done in a few hours. Much of my dining room is now packed (dishes, china, etc) and almost every single book in our house, as well as our Ripple Effect office, the boys' school supplies, our upstairs den, most of our living room.

After a day spent yesterday grocery shopping and baking, we hope today to resume packing again. With just one week left of "freedom" before my classes start, I'm hoping to get as much packed as I can this coming week.

In the meantime, the boys are busying themselves with friends...playing outside mostly, and at times visiting their friend Joseph's house. Yesterday we showed them on the calendar that they have a full 2 months of summer still left, and they were beyond excited! Next weekend we hope to visit some friends in Connecticut, and the weekend after, to go camping with my sisters and families, my mom, and some cousins.

We're also in the process of looking for a used mini van (preferably a Honda Odyssey or a Toyota Sienna), as we found out a little over a week ago that our car needs too many major repairs. If you know of anyone selling a used van, let us know!

So blessed by the start of the book of Matthew this morning in house church. It was so fitting after our study of the Abraham narrative, to turn our attention now the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham that God would bless the world through him. Amazing how God is both king--from David's line, and King of Heaven--and also so "with us," in poverty, in humility, in ordinary family. We talked a lot about God's time (kairos, in the Greek, meaning "appointed time," as opposed to chronos, our "chronological time") and the evidences of God's kairos we see in our own lives. As we pack our house, it's been comforting and exciting to remember that this is God's kairos--the appointed time for change, for moving. As Orilus said, we can trust God to do what He promised, even when His time is not ours. So when I think, "How are we going to do this?!" I am reminded this morning to remember, in God's kairos.

house update

So no one is sure whether we are closing on the 15th or not. :)

We are waiting for the seller's bank to send us their signed agreement on our offer. We're not sure if they set the 15th as a contingency (ie they only accept our offer if we can close by then). If not, then we have until September 1st to close, per our original agreement with the seller. Very confusing. I'm hoping that the bank's agreement isn't going to suddenly show up next week with a closing date of the 15th...can you imagine?! How would we DO that?!

So we are trying our best to prepare as much and as best we can. Our buyers will probably not be able to close by the 15th, so we are looking into closing on Henry Avenue before we close on our house--owning 2 at once for a very short time, as it were. We are faxing paperwork, talking with lawyers, broker, loan agent. A busy time. And in the end, we may find we have until September 1st, anyway...giving us plenty of time for a nice and more leisurely closing in August (we do want to be settled in before school start).

And I keep looking at my house, knowing that I need to pack, but terribly unmotivated to do so. As some of you know, I have a HUGE aversion to projects like this...enormous manual tasks that require a lot of detail. I seriously have to discipline myself to do them, because they strike me as so overwhelming I find other things to do instead (ie write this blog rather than pack my china cabinet, which I promised myself I'd do today and haven't started). I would rather sit in a library with 50 books to read, 2,000 pages to write...

Hopefully my mom will come and save me from what Jason calls my ADD. I call it "teacher's ADD"...I'm so accustomed to my life changing every 48 minutes in a substantial way and the intellectual/decision-making/big-picture rigor of that change, that it is a severe discipline for me to attend to one long, drawn-out, seemingly endless task that requires manual labor. It's my own version of character-building hell.

And now...off to pack china and build my character...and to make my much-more disciplined and task-oriented mother (and husband) proud.

fight poverty

As many of you are already aware, the ONE Campaign is a global coalition--people, non-profits, relief organizations--who create a big political voice to work at issues of global poverty.

I just signed a petition asking the G8 to take urgent action against extreme poverty, and I'm hoping that you'll join me.Sign the petition now at: http://www.one.org/2008g8

There has been a lot of progress against extreme poverty in recent years, but, as recent headlines about the global food crisis will tell you, there is still much to be done.When we unite with one voice and call upon our leaders to take action, we can and will solve these problems.

I love ONE...signing a petition there is so easy, and much legislation and initiative has come about as a direct result of the political action of those involved with ONE. When they need your voice, they send you a quick email, you press a button...and you've signed. They also let you know when and how to contact local, state, or national legislators about particular issues. It's that easy, and it's effective. I hope you'll join.

good news

Wanted to share our big news with you...we found out over the weekend that our offer on a 2-family house here in Lynn was accepted! We have until July 15th to close! Yikes!Please pray with us that:
* the buyers of our home can close next week
* we can close on the home we're buying before July 14th (the first day of my classes)
* we can finish packing our house & start painting the new place...somehow, with me in classes full-time from the 14th through the 1st of August
* we know the Lord's PEACE during this time (and not overwhelming, and not stress)
After 2 years of meetings, dreaming, and prayer, our dream of a community house in Lynn is coming true!

busy

I know we all really hate it when people complain they are busy, but last week felt like one of the busiest weeks of my life (though I keep thinking, during transplant, I'm sure I thought that EVERY week, so the cumulative stress is certainly not what it once was). :)

Suffice to say, the school year did finally draw to an end on Friday. I was pleased that during my meeting-crazed week, I did have a few moments to accomplish two "good deeds" before the end of school:
1. I introduced one of my students, an undocument migrant from Guatemala, to the public library. To see him marvel at books--all free!--was a joy. "Estas segura?" he kept asking ("are you sure"). Since this student needs to repay his coyote for his trip to the U.S., and so cannot continue in school despite a shining future in education, I was happy to at least set him on a road to further independent learning.
2. I attended World Refugee Day at the Boston State House on Friday, watching two of my students--a Somali Bantu from my first days of teaching ESL, and a more recent Iraqi refugee--speak. I was so proud. And especially happy that I had managed to get one of these students to the front page of our newspaper that morning...a tribute to him, and to all the refugees celebrating World Refugee Day on Friday.

Also, I finished two GREAT books this past week while waiting for meetings to start and while lying awake too late into the night.
1. Enrique's Journey. The true story of an undocument Central American migrant searching for his mother in the United States. So conflicted, and of particular interest to me as a couple of my own students are undocument and traveled in the same dangerous ways that Enrique did.
2. They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky. The true story of 3 "Lost Boys" from Sudan. Not as compelling as What is the What, but also truer. A painful and hopeful read all at once. Since I have many students from Sudan, I'm always interesting in reading about the refugee experience there.

Saturday was our 11th wedding anniversary! We're going away to New Hampshire to celebrate this weekend...we are very excited!

This week holds VBS for the boys, a few curriculum meetings for me, an opportunity to speak at Camp Cherith for a few hours on Thursday night and Friday morning on writing mission statements...and LOTS of time playing with our puppy Kobe, who is pretty much the smartest and cutest dog EVER.

school dayz

This past week brought the end of school for Orilus and Jackson--they had a half day at their Christian school on Wednesday. We went out to Fuddrucker's that night to celebrate, and gave them the traditional "moving up" cards and five dollars each. Thursday and Friday the boys spent at some friend's houses (which they are loving!) while Jason and I worked. J and I are done on June 20th (this coming Friday).

So the end of another school year is wrapping up. There is much, much for which to be thankful. Mostly, I am feeling awed to realize that this is the FIRST school year since the boys arrived nearly four years ago that I have started AND finished. No leave of absence to travel to Haiti. No leave to school my children at home and help them adjust. No medical leaves for things like bone marrow transplants. :) Just a regular, run-of-the-mill year. And given all we've been through in the last four years, regular is a gift, and I am thankful.

The summer will hold some changes for us (we hope). We hope to move sometime (July? We are still waiting to hear on the seller's bank to get back to us about our offer). I start my doctoral program. We hope to re-organize Ripple Effect. But the summer will also hold the usual lazy-quality that I have come to love so much since the boys came home to us--mornings spent doing some schoolwork (to continue to fill in some gaps that remain in their educational backgrounds), afternoons at Lynn beach, some day trips, a family camping weekend in Vermont with my Mom and sisters and some cousins, an anniversary weekend getaway, and time to see family and friends. After last summer's blitz (South Africa, two trips to Kansas, our Make-a-Wish trip to Disney World) I am looking forward to a slower pace as we find ourselves this summer in a season of "wait." Waiting, mostly, to buy a house. Waiting on change.

And, I might add, waiting on the world TO change. It has been a bloody week here again in Lynn; even Governor Patrick is promising more funding to help curb the violence here. Tonight in the car on the way home from a family cookout, our boys heard a song about God's Kingdom coming and we told them that where God's presence comes through people of His love, there is peace. And that peace is not just "calm," but also "healing." How exactly God might have as work for peace is not entirely clear for us, but if there is a war going on in my city (and there seems to be), I want to be on the side for peace, and wholeness. Ironically, as the city erupts in gang fighting and shootings, our city's schools are in a budget crisis. Schools are closing. Many teachers are losing their jobs. In my "Freshmen Academy," 14 of our 24 teachers will not be with us next year (they have been "bumped" into other positions, or their positions were eliminated). This is not the kind of peace and stability Lynn kids need. And so, to be in the midst of a city that is angry, and in the midst of a school system that is hurting, is a very interesting--and purposeful--place to be. We struggle to remember that God, too, is--and can be--present here. Pray for us as we wait and work.

poems by Jackson Winchell

Last month, Jackson took first place in his class' poetry contest. Here are 2 of his submissions (they came home today among the piles of last-day-of-school papers and notebooks). Happy last day of 3rd and 4th grade, boys!

WHAT IF POEM
Last night, while I lay thinking here
some what ifs came inside my ear
and pranced and partied all night long
and sang their same what if song.

What if I blow up and you need to let some air out of me?
What if I turn funky funky boom man?
What if I forgot my girlfriend's house?
What if I forget my lunchbox?
What if I eat too much brownies?
What if I have babies?
What if I turn a hundred years old?
What if I suddenly got shorter?
What if I can't find my other shoe?
What if I turn into a monster?
What if I can't stop farting?
What if I turn very blue?

Everything seems well, and then
the nighttime what ifs strike again!


I AM...
I am smart and tall
I wonder how God created the earth
I hear dogs bark when I go to sleep
I see imaginary people when I go to bed
I want to get a motorcycle when I grow up
I am smart and tall
I pretend that I can do an arial
I feel very very itchy from laying on the rocks
I touched my imaginary horse he goes very fast
I worry that nobody is left on the earth
I cry when my brother hits me
I am smart and tall
I understand people don't have power only God
I say angels can dress like real people
I dream that God touched my head
I hope people can change the world
I am smart and tall

ripple effect

Got this really cool email from my friend Chrissy in South Africa last week...an example of how one little thing we do (I sent an earlier email to her that prompted this one) can bring about remarkable change. The stress at hand in this email was that she and her husband are moving out of rural South Africa and into a city, leaving behind an unfinished school development project and a nearby school for which they had already raised funds. It's just so cool the way God is bringing justice in places around the world...and how we can all be a part.

Melissa,

GUESS WHAT!!! So I read your email about a half hour before the meeting. I was actually about as bummed out about it as I've gotten. I actually woke up two nights before the meeting and was wide awake for an hour, feeling like I had to just beg God to help, like old testament people who would put on sack cloth and said stuff like "God, we're so totally miserably helpless in this situation without you." Then the next morning I spoke to the person who had sort of offered to coordinate the project after we left, a Brittish couple who live right down the driveway of the school. I was standing right next to the principal as we talked on the phone, and she went into a long spiel about how she was so busy she just couldn't take on another project, and tell her about it later but she couldn't really help with anything. I was so angry I almost cried when I turned and told the principal that we would have to hold the meeting without her.

SO then I went on feeling helpless and hopeless until 30 minutes before the meeting, when I read your email and once again felt this wave of needing to just pray and ask God for help more and more. So I sat down and closed my eyes. And the first thing that came to my head was I needed to call this guy named Kevin. And the next thought that came in my head was "that's the most ridiculous thought ever. He's so busy, he already knows about what you're doing and if he wanted to he would have volunteered already, and he probably won't answer the phone anyway." But the nagging feeling like I had to call him persisted, so I went and called. No answer. Fine, nevermind, I thought. Kevin, I should explain, is the owner of a huge construction company and gives away thousands of dollars toward a orphanage/development project that his family runs. In the last few months their project, ekuJesu, or "the place of Jesus," opened three new preschools in a nearby town, got training for all eleven staff of the preschools, got funding for daily meals for all the kids at the schools, oversaw the building of a church, as well as its day to day running of a small orphan home and it's own primary school that buses in kids from rural areas. They have their own builders, social workers, pastors, and more. Plus Kevin works full time for a construction company building roads. So anyway, I figured they'd be a little busy.

Twenty minutes before the meeting, Kevin called me back from his car. I explained the situation, not really asking for anything, just saying maybe he had some advice on what to do with the $3000 we had raised. And he said flat out he would be happy to manage it. Then he asked if we needed more teachers (yes, another one left this week), and if the teachers were trained (no, a brand new preschool teacher who used to be a housekeeper just became the fourth grade teacher), and if they needed food (that they actually have) and could he and a social worker come and assess the whole school's needs and put together a plan by the end of this week. YES!!

So then basically I went to the school board meeting, flying way higher than my motorcycle was carrying me, and just gushed out how God had set all this up for us. Then we all just sat around being thankful for half an hour. They thanked me, I told them to thank God (and really meant it from the bottom of my heart!), they thanked God, we told the story again of how I had ended up there and how the money came in and how Kevin showed up, and we all thanked each other some more too. When I piece back together the timing of everything, that I called at just a moment when Kevin was ready to take on a project (I had suggested it months ago and he kind of shrugged off the idea), that my Brittish friend turned down a job she was not meant to do (only just today a friend stopped me on the street and went into a long talk about how he had read a story of Jesus turning down work he wasn't supposed to do!)

So that's the story. WHOOPEE!! It was the biggest burst of God-action I've had in a while, and how fun.

Love you, and THANKS THANKS THANKS for your prayers.

Chrissy

she who laughs

This morning I woke up wide awake at 5:00 am, nearly laughing. And I thought immediately of Sarah, Abraham's wife, who laughed when she was told that God was going to do a miracle. Her laughter--and her husband's--was so prominent that when God gave them the son He had promised, they named him "he who laughs."

I'm laughing this morning because every now and then, God completely surprises. Yesterday afternoon in a flurry of email and phone calls, we received word that the 2-family on Henry Avenue is moving in the right direction! We're going today to sign a Purchase and Sale on our offer. The seller loves our offer, but because it's a short sale, the seller's bank needs to approve it still. But the bank has had another appraisal done, something for which our broker told us many buyers wait months and months in this market to happen. And we waited just one week!

Thanks for your prayers. I love it when God surprises us with a "yes." Mostly, I love praying directly, because then the answer...be it "no," or "maybe," or "wait" is always so clear. Prayer is such a gift to my awareness of God's activity in this life. And yesterday evening after these phone calls and a retirement party at which so many Spirit-moments touched me, it was so evident that He is involved here in our life, and in our city.

And we continue to pray daily for Eddie...

"Is anything too hard for the LORD?"

This morning in our house church we continued our reading of the book of Genesis. Today we read and talked about chapter 18, in which the Lord appears with 2 angels to tell Abraham (and an eavesdropping Sarah) that within the year, they will have a son. Sarah laughs, to herself. And the Lord overhears and asks, "Is anything too hard for the LORD?"

I was inspired by our reading this morning to dedicate this week to faith-prayer, the kind of prayer that trusts that NOTHING is impossible for God. Would you join with me this week in praying for two seemingly-impossible requests?

Nothing-too-hard request one. Pray for our transplant friend, Eddie. He had to go to the hospital unexpectedly on Friday, and continues to suffer from being unable to come off of his immuno-suppressants. When the doctors lower his dose, he gets very sick, and his body flares up with transplant rejection disease. This specifically affects his skin and his ability to eat and gain weight. Would you pray with us for Eddie this week, that his recent days of pain would end, AND for the miracle of healing he so desperately needs?

Nothing-too-hard request two. We made an offer on a house last Monday. Yes, we already have an offer on another house, but I think that this more recent offer is the one we actually are praying will work. The house is closer to the heart of the city of Lynn, at the feet of a difficult neighborhood, which is part of our heart...to live intentionally in such a place as learners and peace-makers. It's a two-family with a ton of potential--both for our family and for our dreams to do community work. Because it's a short sale, it could take MONTHS for the bank to even let us know if our offer is acceptable or not...would you pray with us that we would hear something THIS WEEK on our offer?

Thanks for all your prayers...we are so amazed at all God has done for our family, and there is a growing sense among so many of us here in Lynn that despite a bloody many weeks here in our city, shalom is at work. A subtle, but poweful, force for love and change. We pray for this healing to continue for all who need it.

In family news: tonight we are welcoming a boarder to our home for the summer, a student at UMass Lowell who is interning at GE in Lynn. And this week is the last full week of school for Orilus and Jackson. A week from Wednesday, they will finish 4th and 3rd grade! Jason and I are finished on June 20th (World Refugee Day, as a matter of fact, a day I hope to mark by going into Boston to hear many of my students speak at the State House). Welcome, summer!

transplant update

We have returned home from a weekend away visiting our friends, who moved away from Lynn to direct a camp for girls...what a beautiful and fun Memorial Day weekend we had with them! It was so refreshing to leave the city behind for a weekend and work and play in acres of woods and grass.

I have been anxious to post all weekend and to share some AMAZING news. On Friday afternoon, Orilus' transplant fellow called with the final results of the tests from our two-year anniversary appointment at Jimmy Fund. In his words, Orilus is "free not only from sickle cell, but from all its effects."

The tests showed:
* that Orilus is making 100% of Jackson's blood
* that Orilus' body has fully adadpted to Jackson's blood, including taking on an allergy that Jackson had and becoming all sickle cell trait, and not diseased, blood
* that Orilus' previously-shriveled and non-functioning spleen has regenerated! The doctors who ran the test wrote the report not knowing that the spleen had barely existing previously, and noted that it was normal, and footnoted just one very small place that appears not to be functioning fully. WOW.

As Orilus' doctor commented, we are DONE with sickle cell disease, and DONE with transplant entirely. He recounted all the things that have healed in Orilus' body since transplant...a brain occlusion, an enlarged heart, a messed-up liver, a shriveled spleen, ongoing pain crises, a need for constant antibiotic, an automatic visit to the ER for fever...and ALL of these things are resolved. Orilus is medicine-free, pain-free, and WELL.

Friends, I can't really explain how this is truly more than we could ever have asked or imagined (as the Apostle Paul writes). Surely God has done so much for us! We had hoped that the sickle cell would be gone, but were cautioned that Orilus' organs were probably permanently damaged, and that transplant could prevent further damage, but not necessarily "heal" what was already done. And so this is MIRACULOUS news. Better than the doctor's anticipated, and WAY more than they even encouraged us to hope. Amazing.

Many of you may recall what a comfort Psalm 40 was to me during our long transplant year; it hung in our hospital room, and here at home. While for much of that time, the verses on being in NEED were most applicable, now verse 5 resonates:

5 Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.

Thanks to a God of wonders.

thankful

So much good news in that last week!

Last Wednesday, I went to my doctoral interview at UMass Boston. I walked away from the interview feeling confirmed in my pursuit of that particular degree, at that particular place, in this particular time. I also felt an assurance that I had earned a place in the 2008 cohort...and yesterday, I received official word that this is the case! I'll begin my 3 1/2 years of classes this July with 2 courses offered over three full-time weeks. In the fall, I'll begin my academic year schedule of 2 evenings per week and one Saturday per month.

Last Thursday we completed academic evaluations for both Orilus and Jackson, a process we undergo every year to check in with their progress. Both boys are grade-ready, though they still lack significant background knowledge (obviously). We were pleased to see such great results on their tests...yet more evidence of how much they have grown since coming home with us nearly four years ago.

Last Friday Orilus and I spent a full day at Jimmy Fund and Children's Hospital. We're still waiting on results of some of his tests, but so far, all of the news is extraordinary. For the first time in his life, his blood labs are completely perfect! Some of you may remember how confusing his liver numbers were throughout his transplant, so often halting our progress...well, they were PERFECT last week. The doctors are amazed. And...we don't have to return to Jimmy Fund for ONE YEAR. Considering how often we used to visit there (and how we lived across the street at the hospital), this feels like quite a miracle.

This week promises to be full...the boys' chorus concert tonight, Jackson's "Biography Day" Thursday morning (he's dressing up as Paul Revere and presenting a biography poster), and the boys' Field Day on Friday (Dad's volunteering as a coach that day). Also, the boys are fully into their soccer season now, with games on Sunday afternoons. And piano lessons and soccer practice Thursday afternoons. But the school year is winding down...we are already anticipating a slower pace in a few weeks...and we are getting excited for summer (the boys already counting down the days).

happy anniversary to us...and news

Today is our two-year bone marrow transplant anniversary. Or, as we used to call it, the 2-year anniversary of "New Life Day." Since we went out for dinner yesterday on Mother's Day, we celebrated with a simple meal here at home...and homework...and an ongoing science fair project...and a Paul Revere project...you know, the usual fare. But all day yesterday I kept thinking, "Life is not usually this usual," and in fact, for so many moms this week, it's anything but. Yesterday during our house church we remembered my friend Kori in prayer, whose son Eddie is still recovering from his bone marrow transplant, though it was only days after Orilus'. And a colleague, who lost her daughter this year in a car accident. And another transplant family, whose precious little girl lost her fight before the holidays. On Saturday we spent the day with friends who are home now after a scary heart surgery for their infant son. We talked about a "theology of remembering," about living off paper plates and donated frozen food, about an inability to carry conversation, and medicines, and forgetting our children's birthdays while standing in a stupor at a pharmacy, about sleeplessness. I could relate to all these things, because I now belong to what I fondly refer to as the "club of the suffering." And I assured these parents that someday, they, too, would be thankful to belong. "The rain falls on the just and unjust," the Scriptures remark, and so we are not surprised by suffering...rather, it is the healing and the miracles that are surprises to us, and great gifts that interupt the usual patterns of heartache, grief, and loss. I am thankful for these gifts, and for a faith that teaches me that my God is (as we read in house church on Sunday), the God Who Sees. I took great comfort yesterday in knowing that He could see my suffering mom-friends. And I found great joy in the pleasure He must enjoy when He sees our family--healed, and still healing, and going about the mundane. So on our anniversary today, I pray, and I thank God for SEEING us.

I'm also thankful today that God is a God Who Protects. Friday there was a shooting outside of our high school and Jason was nearby when it occurred. I can't write many details here as there is an ongoing investigation, but Jason in his courage and his readiness to respond came very, very close to an armed gangster, and all I can say about this encounter is that I am so very, very grateful that God saw fit to protect him. Every morning we pray together as a family on the way to the school bus stop to drop off Orilus and Jackson, and on Friday, I realized after we had each prayed that we hadn't prayed for protection (usually I ask the Lord to bring us all home together at the end of each day, and I always mean it so seriously, because I know how quickly life can change, and how tenuous our existence and health can be). So I prayed again and asked. Sometimes God answers these requests, and sometimes He does not, and I am just glad that on Friday, He had mercy and grace on our family, and kept Jason (and all at the scene) from harm. What is most disturbing about Friday's incident is that it comes after a month or so of great unrest here in our city. All weekend I remembered this verse from the Scriptures: "Pray for the peace of the city. For if it prospers, you too shall prosper." I hope you will join me in praying for the peace of Lynn. We need shalom (healing, wholeness, restoration) here.

And finally, while I am giving thanks...I am thankful that late last week, I received (finally) word from UMass Boston that I am finalist for the doctoral program to which I applied there. On Wednesday of this week, at 3:15, I will be interviewing for a place in the EdD Leadership in Urban Education cohort. If God is a God Who Hears (and I know He is), then this is what I ask--for peace, and not panic, as I anticipate the interview.

On New Life Day, we are celebrating New Life in a variety of ways...for Orilus' health, for Jason's protection, and for the anticipation of new venues of service in Lynn. Happy New Life Day to us!

our dreams for community...coming true

My last post apparently sparked a lot of requests for "more information," and it was then that I realized I haven't really explained a lot of what Team Winchell has been up to lately.

For over 2 years, Jason and I have been talking, praying, agonizing, and longing for more community in our lives. Our year-long isolation following Orilus' bone marrow transplant served as a further catalyst for reading about community (from Bonhoeffer to secular models of "co-housing" that are growing in popularity in Europe)...and as further convincing that isolation is NOT how we humans are meant to live. During that year, we were surrounded in some ways by community (mostly on our Care Page), but in many ways it was a lonely year, as we were not allowed to have guests in our home, and our mutual social life suffered (only one of us really could go out at a time). This year, I have realized just how "isolated" we really were...we went from a rather openly hospitable home (we've had lots of foster children over the years, and many small groups meeting here, and friends-with-house-keys, and friends who never knock) to having to get used to a social calendar, and a bustling house again. Maybe someday I will find the heart to write about how difficult this transition back-to-community was, and how telling it was of how much we had suffered without it.

And so our dream of community has only grown in the last year as we have returned to "normal" life. We very clearly see the ways in which our life continues in "isolation," as do the lives of most people we know. These include (but are not limited to) the duplication/waste of resources (ie we have power tools, as does our neighbor next door, as does our friend...and so we have all spent money on tools we use very little, rather than giving our resources to people who actually need it), the duplication of energy (I make my boys' lunches each evening, as does friend with kids down the street...both of us taking time away from our families to do the exact same activity), the extravagance of most of our single-family homes (the statistics on the escalating home space "needs" of suburban American families are alarming, especially given that the majority of the world lives in homes with far less space, or no homes at all), the lack of extended families nearby (though we feel a sense that we are supposed to be in Lynn, we see that our family suffers without extended family living with/near us, and we think the next-best-thing is to create a secondary family of friends).

Most significantly, we see the way in which the way our current life hinders--and does not enhance--our spirituality. We send our boys off to school, go to work ourselves, and then return home to a single-family home in which we spend 2-3 hours each night mostly alone as a family, doing homework alone, eating dinner alone, going through the bedtime routine alone. We DO cherish family time, of course, but we are realizing that our spiritual lives--our own spirituality, and the faith journeys of our sons--would benefit more from the (difficult, messy, and beautiful) work of creating and keeping community with others. In short, we see how we say that following Jesus isn't a solo journey, but our daily life really doesn't reflect that supposed belief. And to a great extent, I think that we are not going to grow in our faith without embracing all that Jesus has to say about relating to others (which is most of what He had to say, after all).

Which brings me to another thought: the more and more I have read on Christianity (from Bell to Claibourne to McLaren to Yancey to Chesterton to the Scriptures themselves) the more a third "Way" of faith is opening for me. It is becoming apparent to me that the call of Christ is not just a personal call--Come, experience me--but also a communal/societal/local call--Come, be restored. And at the heart of our own hunger for community is a growing desire to engage our city with others, and for others. I think this is fundamental to what being a "Christian" really is--to bring justice, and healing, and hope to people of all faiths, to restore streets and neighborhoods and families. "Pray for the peace of the city, for if it prospers, you, too, will prosper." We want our life to be that prayer, a life of engaged and thoughtful "shalom" on our city's behalf. And we know we can do this only with others--others of faith, others in our neighborhood, others in our school district...with anyone who has a vision and heart for peace, and change.

So our vision began as an intentional living community. In fact, before our transplant year, we had begun gathering a group of friends in Lynn who were also interested in this idea. The questions we were asking each other were, "What would it look like if we merged a co-housing model with faith? How might we in proximity to each other, and grow in faith? How might our community be committed to a neighborhood, and to our city?" The group changed dramatically during the transplant year (and after)--my sister and her husband moved to a New Jersey to be part of an exciting urban ministry there. Another couple moved to Philly for grad school. Another couple moved to Maine to begin their dream of directing a Christian camp. In one year's time, in fact, it seemed that God had done a great work--giving many of us the dreams of our heart, and narrowing our group to those who were destined to remain in Lynn.

And so now our living community has 2 committed participants--us, and a dear friend we met through church years ago. Our plan is simple: to sell our house, to purchase a multi-family, to condo the multi-family, to sell one condo to this friend, and to prayerfully consider others who might be interested in renting/owning with us (there are a number of people who are apartment-hunting and/or house hunting and who are people looking to be intentional about life and faith here in Lynn).

In the meantime, during the fall, another "community" came into being in our lives. Now termed "Soup Group," this is a group of (some old, mostly new) friends in Lynn who meet once a month (in our home or in another friend's) for prayer, for discussion, and for soup! Our vision is to encourage each other in our faith and in our engagements with the city of Lynn...we are all people of faith committed to positive change to benefit all Lynn-ers (we are teachers, non-profit directors, CFO's, Board members of all kinds, students, refugee workers, real estate brokers...in short, an amazing synergy of really cool people doing really cool stuff). This group is becoming a sort of justice sounding-board for us, a wider circle of people with whom to dream, and to practice loving (Jesus, each other, and our city).

And...finally another, and more surprising community has been birthed during the last few months. In December, Jason and I were shocked by a sudden revelation in each of our minds and hearts. We were literally sitting at our dining room table, going back and forth between talking and praying, and it was like suddenly we knew that we were supposed to leave our church...and to begin a house church of our own. The story of how we came to know about house churches is a crazy one (I first encountered "house church" as an actual term while in South Africa last summer, though of course I have heard of such a movement in countries like China), and then we were suddenly hearing a lot about it throughout the fall. So we started reading about it (some prefer to call house churches "organic churches," which I think is a better description of the heart of a house church--a desire to be an organic, unorganized--in the sense of a governing religion or organization--gathering of faith people). And in the words of our (now former) pastor, the church that we dream of does not exist in our city...and perhaps, the only way for it to exist, is to create it.

So what is this church we dream of? A group of a few people (enough to fit in a living room, or around a dining room table) who have committed to exploring the Christian faith together. A group that is committed to living faith, especially as that applies to our neighbors--all of our neighbors--in Lynn, and worldwide as we have opportunity. A group that becomes genuine friends with one another, recognizing that true and honest friendship is a hallmark of spirituality, and of Jesus. A group that can pray together. And eat together. And question, and doubt, and cry, and laugh together. This, for us, is "church"--the body of Christ are His people, not the buildings, not the programs, not the committees--and so we decided to start a small and simple group of that sort, a house church.

In January we stopped attending "church" (funny how even our language implies that the meeting place, and not the people, are the church), and began reading the book of Genesis with our sons at home, making time each weekend for a discussion about a chapter, and allowing our boys to lead, to question, to dialogue. Sometimes we sang. We always prayed. And three weeks ago, we began inviting some of our friends to attend. So far, three friends are joining us on Sunday mornings (because this is the best time for a friend of mine who works 364 days a year at her restaurant) around our dining room table. We eat breakfast together. We read aloud a chapter (we are discussing the Abram narrative), talk about it. We always end with 2 questions, "God is the main character. What do we learn about Him here?" and "How might this reading change my life this week?" We share our needs, and we pray together. We catch up on our weeks. We call each other during the week, and send emails, and drop by each other's houses. We are, in short, a simple house church.

So these are the seedlings of community we are growing here in the home of Team Winchell. Perhaps in my next post I will have more time to write about other thoughts...relational tithing, the future of Ripple Effect, and so on. Stay tuned, especially to God's good spirit building community in your own life.

changes

We have a verbal offer on our house!

And...this past Saturday we saw a BEAUTIFUL three-family with a HUGE yard here in Lynn, and we're going to make an offer on it this week. Please pray for us...the house already has an offer, so we're not sure if we have any chance at all, but we're going to try. And keep looking at other possibilities, too.

Also, our house church is up and running, and we are LOVING sharing breakfast every Sunday morning with our family and some friends, and discussing the life of Abraham together and how it can change our own walks of faith.

In the meantime, we're enjoying our school vacation, which has included our boys' first trip to Fenway Park (though Orilus was so upset on Sunday when his favorite player was kicked out of hte game in the first inning!), some time with family, lots of friends in and out of our house, and warm, sunny days. We are so enjoying the spring weather.

on domestic things

I HAVE been finding a lot of solace lately in mindful domestic tasks. My herb garden continues to grow--my cilantro and parsley is OUT OF CONTROL in its small pots (and yummy). Apparently, thyme takes a lot longer to grow...and poor, poor rosemary. Struggling, to say the least. Also last weekend (was it?) I started tomatoes and lettuce indoors in the hopes that I can have a couple of large pots of vegetables this summer (an urban garden of sorts). Though Christy just told me about a square foot gardening concept and book that I apparently need to read.

I've also made good on my word to make our own soaps. We've still got plenty of cleaners left, but in the past weeks we've run out of dishwasher soap (equal parts borax and washing soda are doing the trick...though we are going to start adding vinegar to the rinse cycle to get rid of the cloudly quality of the glassware), laundry soap (water, borax, Ivory in a 5 gallon batch), and today, dish soap (Ivory, water, and lemon juice). It's so FUN, and the kitchen smells like boiling soap, and (apparently) I'm saving LOTS of money. And best of all...sticking it to the man (or, the cleaning companies).

Another case of "proximate justice," maybe? Small rebellions, indeed. :)

We are about to receive an offer on our house...and still prayerfully looking for one to make an offer ON here in Lynn. Such an interesting month or two of waiting this has been. Pray for an AMAZING three-family in a DIFFICULT neighborhood to come our way!

on birds

We added ANOTHER new addition to our family this last weekend. After a week of deliberation, Jackson decided he wanted a parakeet, too, and since he had the money for one (and, like his brother, promises to buy its food and so on), we figured it was a worthwhile investment in childhood responsibility and fun.



That was, until we got TO the pet store and were told we would need a MUCH bigger cage for 2 birds.



After THAT it became our investment, too...a Club Med for keets. sigh.

However, the birds are HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY and I have to say, it's the new family entertainment to sit in our "orange room" upstairs and watch them.

And so, for your viewing pleasure, Orilus' parakeet Flash (the yellow one) and Jackson's parakeet (what else?) Thunder, in blue. Both boys are doing a bang-up job at getting the birds tame (by sticking their hands in there quite incessantly, petting them, and trying to get them to sit on their finger). It's actually rather satisfying to watch them work so hard at something (although I keep wondering if our birds are going to be traumatized by the amount of "training" they are getting). "Feelings doctors" for birds, anyone? :)

Happy birthday

to Jason today! I told him this birthday marks a year of change in our lives...the ending of two years of anticipation, and the start of many dreams. "Rebuilding cities devastated for generations"...one of my favorite quotes from the biblical book of Isaiah, and a vision for what Jason's life has been thus far, and what it will be. In less dramatic terms, Jackson said after Jason opened a present tonight (Jackson has been memorizing his times tables lately), "Dad, you know what 6 times 6 is?! THIRTY-SIX!!!" Well, then.

happy easter

Our Easter weekend passed blissfully. Somehow, I feel today as if I had a week off, instead of just a long weekend. I LOVE that.

I was so refreshed this weekend by so many details. Dyeing eggs with the boys on Friday (and the feeling of HAVING time to dye eggs). Our last date swap night with our dear friends, who move to Maine next week, marking the closing of a long and lovely season in our lives. An unexpected phone call on Friday from my missioner friend Ellen...I haven't seen her in nearly 11 years (since my wedding) and haven't talked to her in 5?6?, and she lives in India so we may not talk again for some time. But we had time to talk meaingfully, and to pray, and it was so refreshing to speak to an old friend, to connect, and to encourage her in her work. Lunch with Val Friday. Out with the family Saturday. Bread making. Tart making. The preparation of our Greek-inspired Easter meal (oh, it was so delicious). The realization that after all these years, Jason and I finally share a "hobby" (of the ordinary kind, not the bringing-kids-to-Mexico kind, or the sure-we'll-be-a-foster-parent kind, or yes-let's-adopt kind). We are SO into cooking lately, and enjoying the newest experiments (lentil soups and gourmet pizzas and vegetables whose names I can't always pronounce). Oh, and laundry soap making--I made my first batch of homemade laundry soap this weekend! An inspiring sermon at Val's church yesterday. And such a fun, fun time with Mom, and DD, and friends at our house yesterday around an Easter meal. Yay for a new and emerging community of friends here in Lynn, even as old friends move on to other ministries and lives.

And in really big news...we welcomed a new member to our family on Saturday. Orilus' long-anticipated most-wished-for birthday gift, a yellow parakeet he's named Flash. Flash--because he's yellow (like a flash of lightning) and because he escaped us when we tried to put him in the cage and "flew like a flash" around his room for quite a while. Orilus was quite excited to have a pet to show off yesterday...and Jackson's talking about getting one himself to add ("Flash looks lonely," he told me yesterday). Oh, my.

proximate justice

A friend emailed me this week a series of articles around "proximate justice," and I have spent much of Holy Week reflecting on their meaning, and application. The concept is not new, but it is at the heart of faith: how are we, as people of faith, to both yearn for justice to come to the Earth, and also to live with it coming-in-part?

Last weekend proved to be a lovely way to reflect on these meditations, as I had opportunity to meet or communicate with other women who are asking the same questions of their lives. Sheryl, a friend I met in Haiti years ago, emailed me from a gut-wrenching conference on adoption advocacy. She encouraged me to keep yearning for goodness to come in the midst of all the suffering I see, and I was buoyed to know her companionship in this justice pilgrimage. On Saturday I sat with Lorrell, a missioner friend who is waiting for her visa to arrive so that she can return to her NGO work in Sudan. She spoke frankly of the pain of the wait--so much that she could be doing throughout the country in the work of literacy and literacy advocacy. Anne, a universalist friend who has been bringing her church to Mexico since I told her about our trips years ago. She told me about a safe house she visited last month for illegal immigrants in El Paso, Texas and the pastor who works there, a man so impassioned with justice (and with grace) I cried over my coffee.

These last few days I have made more peace with proximate justice. Yesterday I was able, after much advocacy, to work with some teachers in my building to get a student evaluated for special education services. There are a few others I know would benefit from such testing, but the system is slow, and often unwilling, and it is heartbreaking work. But yesterday, I was able to bring justice to this boy's life, and to translate for his grandmother, who told the team, "Finalamente, tenemos una escuela que puede ayudar a el...tuve esperanza" ("Finally, we have a school that can help him...I had hope"). I almost cried, to think how he close the student came to being overlooked.

It is not justice for all, and it is not justice in every situation. That, my Scriptures tell me, has not yet arrived. But I pray for the Kingdom of justice (of "enough," of healing, of grace) to come to this earth, and I work for it. And as I do, I'm learning to make my peace with proximate justice, and to offer my small works to God as great acts of hope.

happy birthday, orilus!

Friday was Orilus' 12th birthday! After school on Friday we took Orilus, Jackson, and two of Orilus' friends out for supper at Bugaboo Creek, where we met my mom...and had a GREAT time! The boys were SUPER entertaining...chatting, having thumb wars, opening gifts...what a good time we had! To think that at this time last year, Orilus was still at home recovering from a bone marrow transplant...and now, he is 12, and taller, and 71 pounds (a skinny muffin, but healthy), and not taking any medications...watching him open gifts Friday night, the miracle struck me all over again. Thank you, God, for our son! HE is the gift.

(photos: Orilus, Jackson, & friends; Orilus opens his new parakeet cage, a gift from Grandma; Orilus opens our gift to him--Red Sox tickets!)

hilarious

Thought you'd enjoy the latest goings-on here at our house. On Saturday, Orilus got an (early) birthday present from his grandparents (his actual birthday is March 14th)...a much-anticipated chin up bar. The bar was installed yesterday (of course) and since then, we have heard non-stop about chin ups and push ups (the bar can also go low to the floor) and growing pecs (what IS it with all the talk of pecs lately?!). Thought you'd enjoy seeing both boys in action (Note: they videoed each other, and you can see here which is the better videographer).

P.S. We are all finally healthy here, and my stitches came out today!

on justice

The theme of my week has certainly been justice.

Not only have I been re-writing my essay for graduate school around this very theme (as "doing justice" is THE reason why I switched from teaching AP and honors English courses to teaching ESL, and what I am trying to explain to admissions), but I have also finished reading an unforgettable book this week based on the true life experiences of a refugee from Sudan.

If you are looking for a book you won't put down, and a book that will change your perspective entirely, please read What is the What by Dave Eggers. Since so many of the refugee students I have taught in the past year are from Sudan, and even more of my students have lived in the refugee camp that is the setting for 10 years of the narrator's life (Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya), the book was of great personal and professional interest to me. Lately I have been helping one of my own Sudanese students write her life story. She began the project with the accounting of fleeing her village, suddenly, as soldiers descended upon them. As she runs, a five-year-old with her mother, her mother tells her, "God will help us." And this is the title of the book she is writing--God will help us. I am stunned by her faith, honestly.

Two weeks ago I finished reading another remarkable true story. You may have seen the book featured in Starbucks last year (my reason for thinking, actually, that it might not be so great). I was wrong. It was extraordinary. The book is A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah, and it is one of the most disturbing and hopeful things I have read in a long time.

So justice is on my mind lately. Sometimes at night, when I am sitting at home in a quiet and warm house, I wonder how it is that I can inhabit the SAME world as so many people I have met, whose stories are so traumatic, so gruesome, so terrible. I drink tea, and think about the refugees I know who used to eat only one meal a day, who have been raped, or tortured. One of my student's fathers had acid poured into his eyes by rebel forces because he refused to fight with them; he is now completely blind. How can this be the same planet? How can we let people suffer like this?

This week I have nearly cried at work every day. Today, I couldn't help it, and finally did. It's the injustices that get to me. Last week one of my favorite students--a refugee from Burma--moved to Ohio (we have seen a large migration of this group of people leaving our city, as they cannot afford to live here; a loss for our city entirely). Her school called me yesterday to ask for a missing piece of paper, and the woman on the phone complained to me about how many of "these people" they have in their school now. She refused to pronounce my student's name, though I said it nearly five times for her--she prefered to rushedly spell it instead (as in, "Can you send M-Y-A's paper to me?"), and I have a sinking feeling that my students will remain nameless in their new city. Other injustices, of just this week: the school personnel who yell at my students, imagining that if they yell louder, my students (who are learning English) will understand them better. Or the student whose family is barely eating each day, here in Lynn, in my own city. Today a student comes to me to tell me of a grave incident--something said to her by a person in our school who had no motivation to say any such thing (unless you include bigotry, racial prejudice, socio-economic assumptions, gender bias...). The student was demeaned, and degraded. She came to tell me because she wanted me to know, NOT because she expected me to do anything about it. And that's when I cried. I couldn't help it. It's one thing for a person to take another person's insult, or bigotry...but it's another for that person to be so beaten down by so much insult that they no longer expect that justice CAN be done. They no longer will fight, or will allow people like me to fight for them.

On days like today, I remind myself that at least I can tell the stories. I am challenged in my thinking to read these words from a Sudanese refugee, the closing paragraph of What is the What, as the narrator/refugee speaks directly to his reader:

"Whatever I do, however I find a way to live, I will tell these stories...I speak to these people, and I speak to you, because I cannot help it. It gives me strength, almost unbelieveable strength, to know that you are there. I covet your eyes, your ears, the collapsible space between us...I will tell stories to people who will listen and to people who don't want to listen, to people who seek me out and to those who run. All the while I will know that you are there. How can I pretend that you do not exist? It would be almost as impossible as you pretending that I do not exist."

On days like today, I am at least comforted to know that I am not pretending the refugee students I serve do not exist. I cry, and I care. I remember their stories.

quite a week

Well, I almost had time this week to post that my herb garden is beginning to grow (so exciting...it's been so long since I've made anything from seed, so I am unusually amazed). But the week turned out to be challenging. As I'm typing with limited mobility, I will post a list of prayer requests below, and keep this brief:

* On Wed, I sliced open my left hand while teaching my ESL biology class (my first day doing so without my co-teacher, who fell and broke 2 bones on Tuesday, needing plates and screws...pray for her, she is in for a long recovery, and I am sad without her). Off I went to the ER for stitches...
* On Friday Jason and I went to a cooking class (his Christmas present from me), and while chopping fennel on a Japanese cutter thing, I sliced off the top of my right index finger (hence the difficulty typing). Bled for HOURS. Pain-full.
* Sick, sick, sick this week. Orilus' fever lingered much of the week, and his cold. And I'm sick with a sore throat, cough, and laryngitis.
* And truly, my friend and co-teacher does need prayer for her leg to heal. Also, since this is the couple who was looking at our house, many of our plans to proceed with buying are obviously and indefinitely on hold. Pray that their lives will not be "on hold" for too long, for the sake of their own sanity! We are trusting God has a plan for them, and for us, in all this.

A week in which we see how quickly life can change...

Love from a quiet and healing Winchell house

on failures

So I have been taking a graduate-level professional development course this week. Yesterday, I was chosen by the course presenter to share a story of a "failure" that turned into a moment of great learning for me. The incident came to mind immediately...

Five years ago. It was a few days before my master's thesis presentation, and I was meeting with my faculty advisor to receive her feedback on the written summary of my work, which I would present at the college in a few days' time. Much to my absolute shock and horror, my advisor told me that the entire document needed to be re-written, that it was certainly not an example of my best work. I was panicked to think that I needed to revise a summary of what had been an entire year's of research and classroom ethnography. But I did re-write it, finding in the end a beautiful and fitting analogy to tie the research together, and to reframe the paper. In the end, the experience of failure--and of disappointing my mentor--proved to be a great catalyst of learning, and inspiration. And it caused me to appreciate my advisor more, for staying true to the high standard to which she knew I could attain, and for never once blinking in the face of my own anger and fear at my failure to get there on my first try.

Tonight I had the opportunity to meet with that mentor again. It has been years since I have seen her...five years since I received my master's degree, and I can't quite remember if I have seen her since then. If so, only briefly. We met to talk about my newest venture...an application to a doctorate program (and to catch up on all of our personal news). Last night I emailed her the first draft of the application's personal statement, and in true form, she brought the three pages to Panera today, her comments written throughout the margins. In short, she told me I needed to revise the entire piece, that it needed to be a more authentic telling of why I left teaching English to teach ESL. And I realized, sitting there with my mug of ginger peach tea, why I love my mentor Donnalee so much. She is difficult to please, but absolutely delighted with me, all at once. I want to be the woman she sees me to be.

I recounted the story of my original thesis failure to her tonight, and she laughed, put her hand in mine, and said, "You were so angry with me when you left my office." But in the end, I needed a mentor like her--someone who could point out my failure to live (or write) my real, true self.

Tonight I'm writing in praise of women like Donnalee who are guiding lights to younger women like me, struggling to see themselves clearly. When we have lost our strength and inspiration, it's women like you who keep us grounded and real, helping us to love our families, and pursue our dreams. For this, I am giving thanks.