Author: Gina @ Oaxacaborn

Gina Munsey is a Mexico-born, Eastern Europe-raised missionary kid who ended up being a Californian by way of Florida outside of Nashville, Tennessee. She lives her days full of coffee and adventures while her 12-year-old learns Mandarin Chinese and Greek, her 3-year-old uses all the markers, and her artist-husband creates worlds from pixels and light. A blogger since the turn of the century (ouch!) she's an editor, co-op teacher, and writer who has only completed four chapters of her languishing manuscript. You can find Gina right here at oaxacaborn.com, or in the middle of [home]school surrounded by stacks and stacks of books.
Poetry & Words

a different kind of valentine’s day

Gina @ Oaxacaborn

this morning dawned grey and brooding, with thick clouds drawn tightly over the sky, pulling down wind and rain through the tousled treetops.

it had all the ingredients that could have made for a really bad day. monday. exhaustion. valentine’s day. a night of restless, fitful sleep on an air mattress on my in-laws’ living room floor. a fussy baby. all our stuff on a moving truck. husband putting the last few items in his suitcase to leave for florida. me staying behind for two more weeks.

yes, i cried.

but then, my baby smiled at me.

and my husband brought me lilies and roses while i was still in bed.

and God gave me peace.

wonderful, deep, incredible peace.

that doesn’t mean i didn’t cry any more after that. after all, it’s still overwhelming. i still physically don’t feel good, and i am still ridiculously tired (although my recent diagnosis of anemia explains that. hello, iron supplements!)

but i am at peace. i am content. happy. excited about this next chapter. excited to see what God has in store. madly in love with my husband and with my miraculous daughter and with this wild and beautiful life.

Poetry & Words

stacks of boxes, a new iPod, and trust

Gina @ Oaxacaborn

it’s late. i’m too fatigued to have many thoughts. my fingers tap softly across the screen of this brand new iPod. my eyes, tired and scratchy, narrow to read these words. i sit on the black leather couch, surrounded by towering stacks of brown boxes. each is taped and labeled, and each holds a little piece of the personality that made these four walls our own.

i sigh.

aveline lays across my lap, peaceful and trusting, calm in the face of looming change. she is not fretting about where she will live next or how she will manage the next few weeks. she does not wonder if my arms will hold her up. she just IS.

and you know? i want to trust like that.

pure, peaceful, natural trust.

Poetry & Words

we’re moving again

Gina @ Oaxacaborn

the whole United States, it seems, is being swallowed up by ever-falling snow. but here in my favourite comfortable corner of the world–NorCal–it’s warm, sunny, and bright. i could stay here forever, you know. i love it here. the high skies, the dry air, the perfectly majestic california live oaks, the way the sunsets dance purple and yellow, casting long shadows across the white Sierra Nevada peaks…

i could stay here forever.

but i can’t.

you know that pillar of fire? it’s moving now, and we have to follow. it’s been parked here for almost a year and a half (a veritable record, as far as the last 11 years of my life are concerned), but now it’s time to move on.

as hard as this is, i am at peace about it.

Josiah and i have been praying–for the past year and a half–for full-time work. hundreds of resumes later, it was starting to feel like a drought. there was still daily bread and there were still new mercies, but there were no open doors.

and then suddenly, this.

not even two weeks after Aveline was born, Josiah received a job offer from a company he used to work for. it was sudden job offer, with an even more sudden start date.

Aveline Alenka - 2 weeks old - handmade crochet hat - cotton gauze baby swaddling cloth by Living Textiles

and that, my friends, is how this grand adventure called 2011 begins. we’re packing up the house now…wrapping up the insane amount of loose ends…trying to get sleep in between stacking boxes and waking up in the middle of the night with our tiny little daughter.

and in less than two weeks, we’ll be on the road to Orlando with a wee baby and a dog in tow.

as with countless other life events, i’m once again singing along with rich mullins. his music is the soundtrack to my soul. “sometimes i think of Abraham, and how one star he saw was lit for me. he was a stranger in this land, and i am that no less than he.” -rich mullins

so call us crazy. sojourners. gypsies. we wouldn’t have it any other way.

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Guest Blog

Guest Blog: Using Frugal Living/Couponing Sites to Support Your Local Food Pantry for Just $7 a Week

Gina @ Oaxacaborn

(We met Laura last week over homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing. Today, she is back to talk about how she donates groceries to her local food pantry each week while spending just $7.  Laura also shares her favourite deal/frugal living/coupon sites which make this possible. I love that she’s included the Money Saving Mom, as it’s one of my favourites as well. I would also add The Budget Mommy and Mojo Savings to the list.)

Guest Blogger Laura Bosak - Using Frugal Living/Couponing Sites to Support Your Local Food Pantry for Just $7 Week

I suspect Gina is enjoying every minute with a bundle of joy. Gina tweets and blogs about a variety of cool stuff so similar to my own life — from vintage to food allergy — so I don’t think she’ll mind a guest blog about one of my mom issues: budgets, grocery shopping and the local food pantry.

My kiddo has A LOT of food allergies and intolerances (but that’s another entry), so our grocery bill is a bit outrageous. I don’t buy many items in boxes or cans, processed foods, simply because all the label-reading can be a full time job. Plus, I’m kind of a wicked good cook — I must be, judging from the size of my backside.

But I digress…

Continue reading “Guest Blog: Using Frugal Living/Couponing Sites to Support Your Local Food Pantry for Just $7 a Week” →

Life in Photos

welcome baby aveline alenka!

Gina @ Oaxacaborn

AVELINE (IRISH: ăv-ä-lēn) WISHED FOR CHILD; ALENKA (SLOVENE: ä-lĕn-kä) LIGHT, RADIANCE

Oaxacaborn welcomes Aveline Alenka

if we’re not connected on facebook or twitter, then you may have missed the big news. baby munsey is finally here! aveline alenka made her debut on wednesday, january 19th at 2:13am, weighing 6 pounds, 12 ounces, and measuring 20 inches long. i can’t stop thinking about what one of the nurses said when she looked down at aveline —

well, hello, little one! and what have you come to teach us?

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Conversations with Designers

DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT :: Guest Blog: Recycled Silk Ribbon from Nicole of ‘Darn Good Yarn’

Gina @ Oaxacaborn

(Remember a few months back when I talked briefly about a yarn company which produces yarn made from unusual fibers like recycled saris, bananas, and nettles? Well, today  Nicole, the director of Darn Good Yarn, is with us to tell us more!)
 Guest blog - Nicole of Darn Good Yarn - Recycled Sari Ribbon

My mom thinks it’s cool that I have my internet friends because I never leave my office long enough to make the real-in-the-flesh kind. It’s not that I’m anti-social, I just own my own business, Darn Good Yarn. And like a child it consumes me day and night. So, when Gina “@”‘d me on Twitter to guest blog about my child…errr business I was all about it!

At the start of 2008, I wanted to make a difference and I needed to be stimulated creatively since I didn’t have that in my “past life” (I was active duty Air Force). So, I merged these ideals and Darn Good Yarn was born.

Darn Good Yarn - recycled silk yarn, recycled silk ribbon, exotic craft supplies, recycled sari

Continue reading “DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT :: Guest Blog: Recycled Silk Ribbon from Nicole of ‘Darn Good Yarn’” →