Week 47 (2021)
the care of caregivers, holiday supply chains & fostering abundance, a conversion story, family trees & family grief
(Open in your browser — emails cut off at the end!)
to read: essays, articles
When Do You Shower? — Rebekah Curtis, Plough — “A happy caregiver is one who receives the same kind of care she gives: immediate, personal, and attentive to the needs of the moment. She does not want less of her work; far less does she want to outsource it to a hired hand.” Beautiful & poignantly written, the last paragraph made me cry.
The Family Tree, Stripped — Andrew Yuengert, The Front Porch Republic — “When average family size falls from three to two there are only half as many aunts and uncles to lean on, to visit, to identify with, to support you when things go wrong and rejoice with you when things go right.”
Dreams Of Our Daughters — Gideon Zielinski, Ekstasis — “Oh, so I’ve won? Victory! I’ve fought off grief? So, I can just move on now? No. I don’t think so. But I’d rather have a small sip of water than no water at all.”
Potlatch Garden — Matt Miller, A Habitation — “For this reason, a good gardener should never just feed the gardener. There should always be excess, always be seeds and divisions and extra zucchini. In this way, a garden by its nature creates the possibility of a form of gift-giving, common to many traditional societies, known as potlatch.”
The Supply Chain Crisis Could Save Christmas — America: The Jesuit Review, Tsh Oxenreider — On local shopping, gifts of experience, making with our hands, consuming less, enjoying more. “In fact, we may create an abundance of another kind…”
How To Feel Like A Stranger In Your Holiday Home — Sara Billups, Bitter Scroll — “The holidays are a concentration of all kinds of dynamics around home — or its lacking… The Christian story speaks less to nostalgia and more to a home-going.”
The Cross And The Machine — Paul Kingsnorth, First Things — Finally got around to reading this beautiful essay, a conversion story, after seeing it going around ever since this summer. Worth it. “The icons glow in the half light. This could be a thousand years in the past or the future, for in here, there is no time. Home is beyond time, I think now.”
to read: books
The Cult Of Smart, Fredrik deBoer — audio — Whether or not you agree with his ultimate conclusions or framework for what ought to be the solutions… the realities are there and should be recognized. How we reckon with them (or don’t) could be the start of some necessary, interesting conversations. A fascinating book for parents, educators, or anyone interested in how we view academic intelligence in schools or value work in our economy.
to watch
New York City Blues — Ryan Booth
You Climbed Down — The January Lanterns
to listen: music
New moody music to match the season!
30 — Adele
A Pillar Of Salt — Noah Gundersen
to listen: audio
Connected In The Body Of Christ (with Fr. Josh Johnson) — Haley Stewart & Christy Isinger, Fountains Of Carrots — I respect different aspects of the Catholic tradition, and there is certainly wisdom in gleaning what other Christian traditions have to offer that build the rest of us up. A great chat!
Marriage Series — Phylicia Masonheimer, Verity — Caught up on the last episodes in this series she’s completed with her husband. Alway enjoy her refreshing, fun, & practical wisdom.
to cook
Soup! — For an emergency meal that made several meals, I combined Italian sausages, garlic, and onion with chicken & beef broth, red potatoes, lentils, and some thyme.
to remember, reflect
A Year Ago...
Team Baumeister tackles flying with an 11 month old for Thanksgiving.
This Week...
Our family has been a bit down for the count with sickness for much of this week. But I’m grateful for rest, reading, conversation, planning, and other connections with people. And tea. And the tiny, runny noses we get to wipe.
I bought advent devotional & narrative books for our family (on Bookshop, a great way to support local businesses when buying books!) That first book is by Tish Oxenreider, who wrote the supply chain essay I linked above — in addition to writing & creating a million other fabulous things.
If you need it in the next few weeks, here are reminders regarding wisdom for engaging conflict. And many advent resources over at sacred ordinary days & risen motherhood.
“You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.
When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.
So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”
John 16:20-22