December 31, 2010
Dear Family and Friends,
A life of gratitude is a life of abundance! There is enough joy, love, hope, peace, light, laughter, and music for all!
As I look back on this last day of 2010, a sense of gratitude rises up within me. What a life! Trying to describe this year in just one sentence or a few words is like trying to follow just one piece of thread in a tapestry. It is a complex picture filled with adventure, health struggles, profound accomplishment, new friendships, new commitments, travels, music and Love. Indeed and in truth, there are many things to be thankful for this year. Here is a listing of some of them:
MUSIC THAT MAKES COMMUNITY: In January, I had the privilege of taking a paperless-singing (worship) workshop in San Francisco called “Music that makes Community” and sponsored by All Saints Company. While I was there a visit to St. Gregory’s of Nyssa Episcopal Church gave me whole new insight into inviting and meaningful worship through paperless singing. Later in January I visited a tiny little spiritual community (St. Lydia’s) in New York City who are taking worship back to the origin of sharing a home-cooked meal while praying for each other, no experience required. Later in August, I enjoyed a reunion with some Umbrian Serenades choir members from last year. Back here in Minneapolis, I was able to sit in on a chanting workshop given by Anna Hernandez. Also here in Minneapolis, I have been active in a hospice/threshold choir. Again paperless and a capella, we sing for people who are struggling with life or in transition to the next life. Did you know that there are now at least two hospice choirs in Minneapolis plus one in Rochester, one in Winona? Did you know that there are four community choirs in the Twin Cities where you can go with no training, no tryouts, and just sing for the fun of it, for the joy of it? We create harmony together that we simply can’t create on our own. I am so grateful for singing; especially when it is creating harmonious communities!
HABITAT GUATEMALA: In April, Pete and I had the privilege of building homes with other Thrivent volunteers for people in eastern Guatemala. What a joy to meet and work alongside the people whose homes we worked on! They were so loving toward us. The goodbye was tearful. How lucky we are to have enough to share our time with others! And amazing that we were able to climb and see the Pacaya Volcano (near Antigua) just weeks before it erupted! Whoa!
LUKE: He’s six-foot-one now. In January he and his friend, Derek won a trip to New York City to compete in the DemandTec Retail challenge. They didn’t win the national but we had a fun trip with them and the scholarship they won locally helped with college. With a big grin and a whole bunch of equally amazing friends, our youngest walked on stage to receive his high school diploma in June. From there he got a job working as an intern at Piper Jaffrey for the summer and then with nine of his classmates, he began the St. Olaf College experience. Luke (18) loves college, the learning, the people and the music. He’s not studying music at St. Olaf but he is playing as often as he can and enjoys finding others to share it with. In addition to piano, he plays guitar and has recently added harmonica and for Christmas, accordion. Following in his brothers’ footsteps, he’s decided being vegetarian is in line with his goals as well.
KARL & ERICA: We continue to have the pleasure of living with Karl (24). Karl has a heart for the world and the earth in particular. To further express this love of his, Karl has decided to be vegan, to walk more, drive less, and to take as many pictures of this wonderful planet as he can. On July 10th, Karl got Erica to say YES. Ever since, they have been excitedly planning the wedding (June 11, 2011) at a state park in Wisconsin, the honeymoon, and where to live next. Karl continues to nanny, and provide after school programs at a local park. Meanwhile, Erica finished student teaching and graduated from Augsburg College just this December. The job hunt is on.
JACOB & BETH: Jacob’s part-time job at Laura Jeffrey Academy in St. Paul grew into a full-time job teaching English to middle school girls. Like his dad, Jacob(26) is regular bike commuter. Beth is already halfway through law school and working part-time at a law firm. They’ve recently added another kitten to the house. Ryan joins Cali and Ronnie, their dog. It is wonderful to have them living only a few miles away.
HOLDEN VILLAGE/TRAIN TRIP: In August, Pete, Julie and Luke went on a great adventure along with 26 other people from GA Church. We traveled by train, by bus, and finally by ferry to Holden Village in the mountains of Washington state. For 50 years, Holden has been a wilderness oasis for people who truly want to be away from it all. It is worth the trip and the time; a place where the soul can really rest, where one can see stunning views in every direction.
JULIE’S FAMILY: We loved the train so much on the Holden trip that Pete and I decided to use it again to visit my brother Erik and wife Kathryn in Washburn, ND. The train travels by night between the Twin Cities and Minot where Erik picked us up. We had a fun time catching up and eating at community dinners. We even got to see niece Gracia in her digs down in Bismarck. And earlier in the year, I planned extra time in my trip to San Francisco to drive up to Grass Valley, CA to see my brother Peter and Emmy. It was an extra bonus to spend some time with Peter’s son Scott and his family. It was a special pleasure to get to spend time with Karissa and finally meet Chelsea who is already quite a young lady at 3 or is it 4? I am grateful for these reunions. Meantime, each week my sister Vangie and I connect by phone, a habit we have maintained for decades now. Even as far apart as we are, the distance has not stopped our hearts from being close. For this I can never thank her enough. I hope to see more of my family in the coming years.
A VEGAN THANKSGIVING: This year, we had one thanksgiving with Pete’s parents and family. I am so lucky, so grateful to be part of the wonderful Bonde family. The next day, we had another, very special, Vegan Thanksgiving at our house with our boys and their girls. The five of them planned, shopped and cooked the entire vegan meal while Pete and I relaxed. Our menu consisted of Harvest Wild Rice, mashed potatoes (no butter), mushroom gravy, cornbread, Brussels Sprouts, Tofurky, Golden Orchard Quinoa, Veggie Stuffing, vegan gravy, Old Fashioned Sweet potatoes and vegan chocolate muffins for dessert. Wow! It was delicious, satisfying and packed with joy and gratitude. We recommend the experience. We are so grateful and proud to have such beautiful, thoughtful, generous and kind children! We can’t wait to see what they cook up next.
GARDENS, GRASSES, TREES: Pete is our gardener with me helping a little on the raspberries. It doesn’t seem like much sometimes but a well kept garden with lovely flowers and grasses to decorate continually reminds us of our intricate relationship with the earth and that abundance is more nature’s way, more God’s way, than scarcity is. Next time you go for a walk, take a camera and photograph the abundance, the beauty growing on your street. Wow!
A NEW CAR? Just before the snow blew this year, Pete and I did a revolutionary thing. We went out and bought our first ever new car. It had only five miles on it when we picked it up. We are very happy with our new blue 2010 Prius. The gas mileage is twice what we used to get and the quiet ride is very comfortable! We can’t help but be grateful that the green Town & Country and the blue Toyota Corolla have served us so long and we are also glad to be only handling one car now.
HEALTH STRUGGLES: Beginning with kidney stone surgery in March, I have had a year long struggle with nagging health issues. After three sprained ankles, numerous kidney stones, bursitis and a nagging backache, I am finally beginning to understand what I need to do to be healthy. I am now on supplements to correct my Vitamin D deficiency which in turn should curb my hyper-para-thyroid activity which should put the calcium back in my bones and not in my kidneys. The goal is to be able to get back to exercising in 2011. I am also pursuing acupuncture and chiropractic treatments as well as beginning Tai Chi for balance. I am grateful for all that I can do and have done in spite of this.
On another whole level of health struggle, we are in the midst of praying for Pete’s sister Karen, who is battling breast cancer (surgery was in December, chemo starts in January). And we are praying for Earl, Pete’s dad who was diagnosed with amyloidosis late this year. Earl, 85, has been struggling for much of the year with a variety of symptoms; the most irritating one being that he has blackout spells where his blood pressure plummets and his loses consciousness. As I write this, he is back in the hospital once again with a urinary tract infection.
There is nothing like cancer or a blackout spell to put life into perspective. Nothing really matters except love and the people we are privileged to meet and share it with. During our Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations, Earl has stopped us all twice to just say “You are all the best family ever!” Perhaps we could take Earl’s habit up and stop more often to say what is going well for us.
FRIENDSHIP: On a fairly warm October weekend, I spent a good chunk of my evening laughing in the dark with one of my dearest friends. We were at a retreat up at the Dwelling in the Woods and got to giggling. We couldn’t stop…for over an hour, we laughed and laughed. I just can’t think of a better way to say how grateful I am for my life than this small snapshot from my year! It doesn’t get much better than laughing oneself to exhaustion with a friend in the dark under a sky filled with trillions of stars in the north woods. I have often wondered, how did I get so lucky as to have the extravagance of laughter, the pleasure of friendship and the chance to know so many loving and light-filled beings?
YOU: If you are reading this letter than you must know that you are part of my abundance, part of my joy, my love. I pray, ask, wish that you will find abundance in your life as you walk through the coming year, as you plant your feet in this moment right here. There really is enough love and joy for all of us!
Blessings on you,
Jules along with Pete
