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kristinfl
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Country: United States
State: Florida
Birthday: 5/4/1981
Gender: Female
Interests: Bible study, community, sports- (playing, not watching) basketball, ultimate frisbee, flag football, volleyball, tennis, movies, reading, traveling
Expertise: I'm still learning...
Occupation: Other
Industry: Medical
Message: message meEmail: email me
Member Since:
2/23/2005
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| I realize I've been updating this about once a month, but I missed October altogether. Here is a little glimpse into what is going on in my life lately. I moved in with Mandy and Kara, two other interns last summer, into a 3 bedroom apartment that Reba Place owns. We had an apartment blessing/home warming party last Saturday, which included communion and prayer. It was beautiful because of the people that were a part of it. Last Saturday, a carload of us went to Dominican University for a Food and Faith conference where we discussed how our eating habits are affecting people and the environment around the world and steps we can take to restore those relationships. I'm learning that buying organic and fair trade is not just for people with higher eating standards, but for people who care about how their food is produced. Our apartment is attempting to budget more money for food. Now I compare grocery shopping to buying expensive crafts from people around the world. I pay a little more so they can actually afford to feed their children and so their children don't have to be sold into slave labor. I'm also learning people have not always had every type of food available to them year round, but only in seasons. When I eat out of season, I am eating food that probably has been shipped from other countries or been frozen/refridgerated for up to a year. When I eat out of season I am feeding (haha) into my self-centered consumer mindset that my demands must be met immediately. I'm on a slow path to transformation though. I started working registry, or per diem, at a hospital a few blocks away. It is much smaller than my recent employer, and I'm still adjusting to the different way of doing things there. I enjoy walking to work and only working about 30 hours a week. Because I'm registry, I only work when the hospital needs me and when I agree to it, similar to a substitute. Therapists are always in demand, so I basically have the freedom to choose my own hours and this means no weekends or holidays! Wahoo! I don't think I'll work anything but registry if I can help it. It is nice to be back into a routine and to do something productive and helpful again. Andy and I are doing well and learning from so many people here. We are discovering our brokenness and Christ's redemption as we strive to serve one another and share deep friendship. Some ways we've been enjoying each other's company are riding the tandem bike my dad and Steph lent us, cooking, reading, praying, running, volunteering at a homeless ministry, and getting each other crazy Haloween costumes at thrift stores. I was Jasmine from Aladdin, and he was a cowboy. That's my life lately. Now it is time to do some dishes. | | |
| Ahhhh, Madeline L'Engle. She reminds me of C.S. Lewis in that she can write a book that is enjoyable for all ages as she writes about good vs. evil.
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| I realized that my favorite aspect of this weblog is sharing what books I'm reading. I haven't done that in a while, so I will play catch up. I read We Belong to the Land slowly this summer. Elias Chacour does a wonderful job discussing his struggle to love his enemies that are coming against his ministry as a Melkite Priest in Palestine. He attempts to see them as human beings, children of God, even though they are treating him as he is less than human. Great read.
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| As you requested Grete, a story about the kids at the daycare. The Kingdom of God can be seen in a group of children on a playground. When a few children play on the swings, all the children want to play on the swings. There is not enough for all to swing, so there is crying and fighting. When a few children find the swings boring, they go to play on the slide, and all the other children then want to play on the slide. But soon the slide becomes crowded and children are pushing and shoving to get down it. When a few children leave the slide to play on the teeter-totter, all the others soon follow, climbing on the middle of the teeter-totter to become some part of the excitement. There is always a child though, who never seems to become part of the fun in any activity on the playground. She follows all the other children from activity to activity in hopes of joining in the laughing, joking, and acting along. However, when it is her turn to swing, there is no one to push her. When it is her turn to slide there is no one to watch her hurry down. When it is her turn to teeter-totter there is no one to balance her because they have all gone on to find something new to play. But one day, a few children will play tag and all the others will follow along in the game. Trina will run away from the person who is it, and she will be chased. She will be included in the game no matter how many times she has hit or bit or kicked the other children and regardless of all the times the teachers have told the other children to stay away from Trina. She will be chased and laugh and scream aloud from the thrill of finally getting to play along and they will too. | | |
| I've made it to Reba Place Fellowship where I am interning for the summer in attempts to learn about how one group has been called to live out the kingdom here on earth in community. After a week in San Diego and a couple days in Tennessee, I still feel like I'm on vacation somewhat. But it has been tough because now that I'm here, I have 9 weeks remaining to figure out why I'm here and what God is calling me to do next. I'm supposed to be volunteering in a day care center, but another intern, Mandy, and I have to get all the required paperwork done before we can start. It's been good not being there yet. We've had the opportunity to see how Reba receives produce from its sister community Plow Creek Fellowship. We sorted it and met some of the community that came to pick it up. I've gotten my hands a bit dirty doing some weeding in Evanston's garden. I've heard some stories, baked some banana bread, been doing some good running along the lakeside, and even learned how to play a domino game Mexican train. I like that people know their neighbors here and share their possessions and eat together. I'm learning that life is still very comfortable. Are we called to live uncomfortably? Or are we called to be with those who aren't able to live comfortably? Is it ok that we are comfortable if we are helping others in the process?
We are studying the parables of Jesus this summer. Next week some of us are going up to Plow Creek to give them extra help picking berries. Right now I'm learning about city community. Next week I'll get a taste of some country community.
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