A bit more about me...
My entire adult life has been tinctured by the pursuit of the "extra-ordinary". Having spent most of my formative years in small-town, white, Christian, middle America, I entered early adulthood with an intense yearning for diversity of people, place, culture, landscape and spiritual practice. This yearning opened the doorway to life experiences in Europe, South America and all across the Continental United States. It inspired endurance quests emotionally in relationships, physically on a mountain bike from sea-level to 16,055 feet, and spiritually through deep contemplative practices working with teachers and living in community. Ultimately, it led me into service as a Christian Mystical priest and eventually an arranged marriage with a dear friend and spiritual brother...and eventually into the birth of our daughters in the sacred quiet of our own home and spiritual training center.
Walking around in clerics, carrying a babe in arms and another at my side was anything but ordinary. I chalked up the extreme challenge of it all to the extraordinary mission I had taken on when I was ordained. This was all well and good until our spiritual community began to fray at the seams. It unearthed the reality that I, too, felt myself coming unraveled. A decision was necessary.
After 13 years of service, I finally felt I was gaining my wings as a priest but failing miserably as wife and mother. I was beyond exhausted from the work itself and from trying to maintain a facade of "holding it all together". I longed for companionship with family members I had alienated years before and for ways of life I had long since given up. Self-deception was no longer an option. I couldn't reconcile succeeding at one while failing at the other. I knew it was time for serious change.
In fairness to my husband, daughters, and ultimately myself, embracing marriage and motherhood and being true to the quieter yearnings of my heart felt like the only right choice to make. Thus began my journey embracing an "ordinary life", living in a slower and simpler way. This journey has been ripe with challenge, discovery and whole lot of grace. Today I write from the serenity of our homestead overlooking a rural Wisconsin landscape.
This blog reveals the heart of my journey from serving as a priest in an order to homesteading with my family...living a slower simpler life and celebrating the sacred in the ordinary. I dedicate these writings to my daughters who have lived through this transition and will one day surely want to know the story of their roots, to my husband who has traveled with me each painful and beautiful step along the way, for friends and family near and far who have served as witnesses to our process, and for anyone yearning for inspiration to begin the incredible journey of slowing down, simplifying and creating your life anew. If we can do it and thrive, so can you!
Walking around in clerics, carrying a babe in arms and another at my side was anything but ordinary. I chalked up the extreme challenge of it all to the extraordinary mission I had taken on when I was ordained. This was all well and good until our spiritual community began to fray at the seams. It unearthed the reality that I, too, felt myself coming unraveled. A decision was necessary.
After 13 years of service, I finally felt I was gaining my wings as a priest but failing miserably as wife and mother. I was beyond exhausted from the work itself and from trying to maintain a facade of "holding it all together". I longed for companionship with family members I had alienated years before and for ways of life I had long since given up. Self-deception was no longer an option. I couldn't reconcile succeeding at one while failing at the other. I knew it was time for serious change.
In fairness to my husband, daughters, and ultimately myself, embracing marriage and motherhood and being true to the quieter yearnings of my heart felt like the only right choice to make. Thus began my journey embracing an "ordinary life", living in a slower and simpler way. This journey has been ripe with challenge, discovery and whole lot of grace. Today I write from the serenity of our homestead overlooking a rural Wisconsin landscape.
This blog reveals the heart of my journey from serving as a priest in an order to homesteading with my family...living a slower simpler life and celebrating the sacred in the ordinary. I dedicate these writings to my daughters who have lived through this transition and will one day surely want to know the story of their roots, to my husband who has traveled with me each painful and beautiful step along the way, for friends and family near and far who have served as witnesses to our process, and for anyone yearning for inspiration to begin the incredible journey of slowing down, simplifying and creating your life anew. If we can do it and thrive, so can you!
