The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 4,700 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 8 years to get that many views.
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The baking begins…
Last year we decided to start a tradition…neighborhood cookies! In an effort to reach out and get to know our neighbors, the holiday season provides an atmosphere conducive to this very thing, we bake and deliver cookies to our neighbors. In addition, it affords an opportunity to teach a few lessons to our children along the way.
First, the work behind the cookies. The baking, decorating, preparing and packaging. Jody, my beautiful wife, spent the majority of the day mixing, rolling, baking and decorating a variety of cookies, all the while engaging Rhiannon and Kade in the process.
Kade decorating…
Appreciating and valuing the preparation and origin of the food we eat has become a focal point in our family, adding another great lesson for us to teach our kids. Near day’s end, the table overflowed with heartfelt goodness.
Staging area…
The loading of plates into our mobile delivery system began!
Loading the delivery wagon…
Baking the cookies, the time spent preparing (a bit of eating) and decorating, all led to the best part of the day…the delivery! Going door to door to give our neighbors these plates of cookies seems like a gift from us to them, but in my eyes, it is a gift to us as people who share a block of space in our community.
Off we go…
The opportunity be with old friends, neighbors we know well, enhances our sense of belonging to one another.
The Beeson’s receiving their cookies…
The opportunity to use this time to meet one or two new neighbors and future friends, brings a sense of hope. 
A hope that this “life time” of neighboring, and practice of welcoming, will help facilitate the abundant community that we seek. The lessons learned and taught by all of us, will hopefully pave a way to a better place to live for our children. One where we stop being too busy to know each other, care for each other and rely on each other. All people who share this place we call our neighborhood. We just need to invite people in…and perhaps, during this season, one plate of cookies at a time!
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“About 6 weeks into this research, I ran into this unnamed thing that absolutely unravelled connection”.
To love with our whole hearts
I have mentioned Brené Brown (in passing) on this blog before. And if you have spent much time with me since I saw her TED X talk a couple of years ago, I have probably chewed your ear off about her work. But I need to share this here as a focus, not just in passing. I think her research is incredibly important and valuable, and if enough people watch and reflect on her words – I believe the world could be a better place.
I would love you to watch this talk. If you like this one, she has a second which can also be found on www.ted.com. If you get addicted and want to join me in stalking her, she has some books published and she is well worth following on facebook.
http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html
Please offer comments below!
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When Linda and I decided to embark on this blog together, it was rooted in the idea that we all seek deep connection with each other. We inherently belong to one another…so how can we be open and welcoming as an on-going practice in our lives. This past week, I had the pleasure of being at the TASH conference in Long Beach. Friday morning I wandered into the “Gathering Space” around 10am to listen to a man named Gregory Boyle. There were about 15 to 20 people sitting in a circle when he introduced himself and shared his stories. It didn’t take long to realize, for me personally, that this man grasps the concepts we seek to write, share and learn about on a day to day basis. If fact, he is the living embodiment of said practice. This small gathering of people laughed, cried and shared one of the more powerful hours of our lives that morning. He talks about kinship, and rather than butchering his conversation, I’ve linked in a TED talk from him. It is about 20 minutes and I truly hope you’ll spend the time to watch it. What he speaks about is blurring the margins to the point of extinction. Have a wonderful week!
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A year ago, my partner and I applied to become adoptive parents. We all but completed the assessment and preparation process, our assessment was done, and we were a matter of weeks from sitting in front of the approval panel when we had a bereavement and had to postpone these plans. It was a dreadful time and a hard decision. We had started to see our identity as ‘Adopters’, we had been very excited about our less common path towards parenthood, and we had made some solid bonds with others who were on a similar journey. Continue reading
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Come In From The Cold 