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Podcast Recommendation List | PART 2

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A few months ago I recommended some of my favorite podcasts (and received some great recommendations back!), because there is rarely a time when I don’t have a podcast playing in the background.  While all of my previous recommendations (especially Dear Hank and John, Overinvested, and The Liturgists Podcast) are still high on my priority list, I have since added some new ones to my queue!

600x600bb1|  The Guilty Feminist

Big thanks to blogger Jesse for recommending this one to me.  Sofie Hagen and Deborah Frances-White are European comedians who record their shows about “the feminist ideals we hold and the insecurities and hypocrisies that undermine them.”  They start each show with a series of “I’m a feminist, but…” confessions that create a safe place to laugh about all the ways we fail to be as body positive and self-confident as we profess to be.  They’ve done shows about exercise, apologizing, femininity, and many more, and I look forward to each new episode every week.

14711124649122|  Harry Potter and the Sacred Text

This is a new podcast that I only just discovered, but I LOVE it. Continue reading →

#SAME | You Really Get Me

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It’s been a while since I made a #same post (parts one and two), a kind of series I made to celebrate the ways tumblr posts unite us in our weirdnesses!  

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That’s it for this round of #SAME!  

Until next time…

A Week in Greece #32: MOM LEAVES

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I’m back with weekly recaps!  Hyper-observant readers of my blog might notice that Weeks #30 and #31 don’t exist, the former because I forgot and the latter because it was actually A Week in Slovenia.

Mom and I finished up our vacation on Monday. In some ways it was hard to return – being in Slovenia rekindled my wanderlust in a big way, planting visions of new jobs in new European countries in my brain.  This is unfortunate, since I literally just committed to staying in Greece for another year.  But it’s also pretty standard, since my reaction to any kind of commitment is usually “JUST KIDDING OMG THIS IS SCARY.” Most commitments, anyway.  The great thing about returning was getting back to my cat-shaped cuddle-monster, Hans Harrison.

On Tuesday, my mom and I did a lot of shopping, both practical and fun.  We went to the mall, an hour-long journey that got us thinking about the differences of city and country travel Continue reading →

Fundraising Shirts

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I love multi-purpose fundraisers!  Buying a t-shirt is a great way both donate your money AND promote awareness of the thing you’re wearing (and to have a new shirt)!

In order to stay with HD in Athens, Greece for another year, I need to raise $32,000.  Sales from these shirts will go toward that goal!  So please, if you’d like to support me or support awareness of HD, consider buying one of these three shirts:

  1. a traditional t-shirt ($18)
  2. a female cut t-shirt ($18)
  3. a hoodie ($28)

They are on sale now and will only be available until Monday, August 29th, so buy yours TODAY!  Leave a comment if you have any questions!

The Loneliness of Culture Shock

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I’ve been emailing with a friend of mine who is serving as a missionary.  I asked her how she was doing with homesickness and culture shock, and she wrote back about loneliness. In particular, she wrote one sentence that really resonated with me:  “My most understanding Arab friend thinks in ways that are worlds apart from me.”

This idea, that the very foundation of how we think affects the way we can relate to others, helped me clarify many of my own feelings of culture shock.  I am in a more Western country than my friend, but even in Greece, there is a slow loneliness that comes from representing your nationality by yourself.  Continue reading →

A Week in Greece #29: Not Much…

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When I write these posts, I look back through my pictures to see what I did during the week.  I have nothing worth posting here, because they are either pictures of HD participants or pictures of stray cats.  Which, honestly, is a pretty good summary of my life in Athens.

I dunno!  This week involved a lot of Skype meetings: with my GEM supervisor, with my SA supervisor, with my brother.  They were fine.  I also had a visit from my “cat supervisor,” to keep this paragraph on point.  Cordelia told me that I can keep Hans Harrison for as long as I’m in Greece, which is excellent news!  She also gave him a cat nip mouse toy that he carries around with him in his mouth as I move from room to room.  Then he tosses it around and meows at me to find it when it disappears from his sight.

Work was fun/rough this week.   Continue reading →

Ilvermorny and Eaglecrest: Sorted into American Wizarding Schools

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Always the land of diversity, we here in the US have not one but TWO wizarding schools (one official, one made up in the wonderful world of the Internet, which is…very American):  Ilvermorny and Eaglecrest.  I wanted to sort myself in both and see what happened!

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On Pottermore, J.K. Rowling recently announced that the United States has its own wizarding school, Ilvermorny.  While it is AMAZING to have a Hogwarts of our own, the school has been pretty controversial.  Each house is represented by Native American legends, which could be cool if it were coherent or based in a narrative where Native Americans created the school.  Instead, Irish wizards created Ilvermorny and adapted Native American culture as they saw fit, which is…pretty problematic.   Continue reading →

The Doubting Christian’s Starter Pack

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Are you drawn to the story of a God who lives and dies full of love for a rebellious creation…yet find yourself wondering how it could possibly be true?  Have you grown weary of rules that seem to cause slavery rather than freedom?  Are you skeptical about the usefulness of “good news” that doesn’t seem so good?  Do you worry that the religion you grew up with doesn’t apply to a more diverse population?

Welcome to the Doubting Christians Club!

In a desire to provide a strong foundation for its members, the Church has often promoted a rigorous belief system that seems to leave little room for doubt…which can make doubters feel like they either need to leave the Church or else hide their doubts.  I don’t believe either of these options is a good idea for the Doubting Christian – the first because you will miss out on the beauty you are drawn to, and the second because you will live a double life that will slowly isolate and destroy you.

Luckily, there are others out there just like you (myself, for instance)!  Listed below is the Doubting Christians Starter Pack that will stretch your mind, give you hope, and assure you that you are not alone.

71891781|  O Me of Little Faith: True Confessions of a Spiritual Weakling by Jason Boyett  

This is the book that began my journey toward becoming comfortable with my doubt.    It was given to me, unasked for, by my pastor, which has earned him my undying respect.  In this book, Boyett gets honest about his doubts and comes to the conclusion that perhaps doubters are closer to God than those who never question their faith – after all, doubt is an inextricable part of a faith given to something unseen.

Continue reading →

A Week in Greece #28: I Slept A lot

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There is very little to say about this week, because I basically went from work to my bed.

No, I am not suffering from depression (I don’t think).  I got my first Greek cold.  Waa waa.  It wasn’t all that bad, since I just…slept constantly, but it does mean that I have very little to talk about here!

Let’s see.  I publicly announced that I will be staying in Athens for another year, which is pretty exciting!  I thought I would stay more than a year before I even came here, and by March I knew I wanted to extend at least through December 2017.  Granted, there was a month or so where I was super homesick and culture shock-y and I just wanted to go home nooooow, but that was expected.  Anyway, it feels good!  I’ve been here seven months now, and it still feels so much like I’m settling in.  There’s so much more I have to do to make this place my home, and I don’t want to leave before I get to experience that.

Plus my work at HD just keeps growing and growing, and new challenges pop up literally every other day.  It’s a perfect job for me: enough routine to make me feel safe, and enough fires to put out that I feel animated and challenged.  It’s so fun to be a part of a new organization where everyone is doing three jobs at once.

But…I’m super not a workaholic, no matter how that last bit sounded.   Continue reading →

Fundraising Worries

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At HD, the staff meets every week for a Formation of Servants meeting.  FoS is a 12 Steps program that is a more explicitly Christian version of the Alcoholics Anonymous 12 Steps.  These mandatory meetings were part of why I wanted to work with HD; I love being part of an organization that focuses on the brokenness of its staff simultaneously to the brokenness of the people we serve.  BUT.  I also.  Don’t like it.  Because it’s haaaard!

We’ve been doing these meetings for at least three months now, and I’ve been stuck on the first two steps the whole time.  The first step is:  “We admitted we are powerless over some of the effects of God’s sovereignty in our lives and because of our lack of trust in him our lives are unmanageable.”  I was on this step for a LONG time, because I do not want to admit that I am powerless or that my life is unmanageable.  I’m pretty good at managing my life, thank you very much.  But eventually I did come to a breakthrough of sorts that allowed me to move on to step two, where I promptly got stuck again.

“We came to believe that our loving God, in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, could restore us to sanity.”  This is the natural progression of step one; if I am not in control of my life, then God is.  And…is he?  Do I want him to have all of that power?  Do I want to admit that I’m insane without him?  No, no, no, I would much rather have everyone believe that I have it all together and can do anything that I put my mind to.

Underneath all of this is the question: do I trust God?  Do I trust that he is both loving and powerful?  I mean, definitely not always.  It is hard to be a counselor and not think, “Um, God, what are you allowing in their lives!?”  It is hard to be a human being and not think, “GOD, I could have used you just then!!”

These abstract thoughts are taking a coherent form in my new round of fundraising.  This time last year, I worked on raising $27,000.  I sent out many letters, I worked in a church where everyone could hear my story any time they stopped by the office, I ran a t-shirt drive and put together a yard sale.  I had a team of people who consistently showed up to support me.   I made a month-long road trip to visit people and tell my story.  I did it.  I mean, God helped.  But in the narrative running through my head, I’m definitely giving myself the majority of the credit.

A caveat: I don’t think that is entirely bad.  I definitely think God used my fundraising experience last year to develop my creativity and confidence, and I think I’m going to use those skills in the future for HD.  But that was last year’s lesson.

This year’s lesson?  It’s about actually trusting God, I think.  It feels INCREDIBLY daunting to do fundraising in the United States from halfway around the world.  I can send letters and emails and make Facebook announcements, but I can’t BE there.  I can’t talk to people face-to-face, and I can’t motivate or manipulate or beg.  I just have to…sit here, and trust that God will work in people’s hearts.

THAT IS SO HARD.

It is going to take a lifetime to learn to trust God fully.  And the part of me that isn’t scared is really grateful for this chance to see God work.  But.  You know.  There’s still that part of me that’s scared.

I guess I just have to wait and see what happens!