Poetry & Words – Page 19 – The Oaxacaborn Blog

There is something in this night that makes it quiet, even though the freeway is just outside my window. Between the time the sun bows down and the sun stands up again, the cars still shuffle past, slowing to pass between the concrete pillars marked with blinking toll lights. The drivers must slow down before they speed up again, driving away from one place and toward another, probably in a hurry, probably unaware that the hum of their car engine is a steady backdrop to my dreams.

Aveline holding yarn looking at tree

I could never have made these dreams come true, not on my own. But you know, don’t you, that the Giver of All Good Things takes these threads, one by one, and gently untangles them. He weaves each shining thread into my life-filled hours, weaving in and out, always with purpose, always with design, always toward a beautiful end, until I’m walking on a tapestry I didn’t even realize was there.

Oh, Father God, Creator, let my eyes always be open to Your beauty.

Christmas, Poetry & Words

CHRISTMAS :: “…the power of Christmas is when spiritual and material meet.”

December 13, 2011March 22, 2014 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

Over exposed photo of christmas ornaments on white background

“Some people want to filter the material out of Christmas and morph it into some pure ethereal spirit religious day. And some people want to filter all the spiritual out of it and make it simply a holiday celebrating the purchasing power of plastic. But the power of Christmas is when spiritual and material meet. And it always has been. That is the joy of the season, that is the good news, that is the laughter and the paradox and the earth-shaking magic of Christmas. The infinite Word became a physical baby.”

-via (Rachel) Lizzie Jankovic’s excellent article Of Kids and Christmas

Poetry & Words

between the way the sunlight fell to earth

November 27, 2011 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

between the way the sunlight fell to earth,
this afternoon, and
between the way it rose yesterday morning,
i can feel how it was to collect drops of sun
for years
the way i did
before they finally settled
into my heart, like a quiet pool of sun and shadows
of rain and things we forgot.

tonight, like the glassine pool,
the house is quiet, settled. there are no swinging
doors, no shutters to creak in the wind
— no wind, in fact
and nothing of mystery, shrouded
but there is
peace

in every corner, settled,
elevating the dust bunnies to some higher, almost celestial plane.
i am surprised how the easily the words untwist and unwind, once i
scratch
the inaugural word out of the pen.

i would have expected something
more akin to the way a rusted pump handle
is sealed to itself, stubborn underneath
the chipping paint of a spring thaw
after a dozen years of unuse.

but here, tonight, in the november stillness the letters seem to
jump into place,
seem to alit the wick, as it were,
and flow like melted wax
and burn

almost,
nearly,
like the flame in the glass bowl

across the room.

Poetry & Words

We did it! We had Thanksgiving.

November 26, 2011March 22, 2014 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

We did it. We had Thanksgiving. Honestly, I don’t know how it happened. I’m tired just thinking about it.

Somehow, on Wednesday at 3pm, even though I was still sick, I found myself buckling Aveline into a grocery cart.

I definitely sounded like a chain-smoking blues singer, but I was determined that our little family’s first Thanksgiving wasn’t going to be lame.

(I’m very stubborn.)

The shelves were already looking really sad and empty, but I was able to track down the last of the essentials, like an extremely frozen turkey. And sage. And celery. And sweet potatoes. And cranberries. And a whole cart full of other ingredients. (P.S. I didn’t even go over our grocery budget. BOO-YA!)

When Josiah got home from work on Wednesday night, he found me in the living room watching a cheesy Christmas drama…chopping rutabaga, sweet potatoes, celery and onions. The make-ahead mashed potatoes were already done, and the sweet potato chunks were roasting in the oven.

I kept on cooking, and Josiah kept on washing dishes…what an amazing man! Aveline’s room is next to the kitchen, and all the cooking would have woken her up, so we let her stay up late. :-) Don’t you remember that about holidays when you were a kid? Staying up too late? Well, that, and getting up super early. ;-) Good thing all three of us were able to sleep in a bit on Thanksgiving morning.

And what a beautiful Thanksgiving it turned out to be! I thought I was going to be really hard because we weren’t near family. And I did miss our families — a lot — but my day with Josiah and Aveline was just all kinds of wonderful. The weather was beautiful enough to open the windows, and we had a long leisurely morning, watching the parade and drinking coffee and laughing. No coffee for Aveline, although she did eat an entire banana for breakfast. Oops.

And then in the afternoon, we all feasted on glorious food.

Oh, and you know Josiah is the only person in this house who eats turkey, right? Yes. Twelve pounds of turkey for one dude.

Guess who doesn’t have to make dinner for a long, long time?

Poetry & Words

A “more different” start to Thanksgiving week

November 21, 2011March 22, 2014 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

This is Thanksgiving week, the very first time in which the entire meal preparation falls to me…the very first time it’s just our little family for the holiday.

I was planning to take Monday — this week — by storm. I was planning to finish painting the letters on a handmade Happy Thanksgiving banner, package up another order and head to the post office, then drop off the Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. Then I was planning to break down the Thanksgiving preparation list into today’s, tomorrow’s, and Wednesday’s tasks, figure out what other ingredients I still need to pick up from the grocery store, and start cooking. Visions of pumpkin pie, orange-cranberry sauce and roasted garlic mashed potatoes were dancing in my head.

Instead, I’m sitting here wrapped in a blanket, coughing and sniffling. The Thanksgiving banner just says “Happy”. Aveline is yelling in an ear-splitting manner while she gleefully beats a wooden spoon on a cooking pot. Maybe I can just toss some ingredients in her pot and hope for the best?

Aveline cooking Thanksgiving dinner

Christmas, Poetry & Words

Published in Babiekins Magazine!

November 6, 2011March 22, 2014 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

November started off with a bang — getting published in Babiekins Magazine! I couldn’t be more thrilled to be a part of such an amazing issue. Perhaps you’ve heard of them? The blog was recently named to Babble.com’s Top 50 Best Design Blogs for Moms, in the fashion category.

The newest issue is full of wintery goodness. My story, which is on pages 221-224, (Click on Table of Contents, then choose “Christmas Underwraps” from the third column) was delightfully illustrated by the talented Andrea Sardo of Munieca.

I hope you’ll check out this issue — it’s so fun!

Another fun thing this November — the Monthly Photo Challenge is in full swing again! Here’s the full list of November’s photography topics so you can jump in. During the last two challenges — June and August — I only managed 16 and 22 pictures. So maybe the third time’s a charm?

Poetry & Words

I love you, my little Aveline Alenka

October 14, 2011March 22, 2014 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

Aveline is amazed by the simplest things. I love that. Yesterday she was amazed because I pulled open the blind and let her look out the window. She stood there for the longest time, just taking it all in, softly jabbering away in her tiny (okay, it’s not always tiny) baby voice.

I love her to pieces. I love to scoop her up and kiss her all over her cheeks and forehead until her eyes crinkle shut and she giggles. I love the way her head smells, and the little microscopic curl she gets at the back of her head when she’s sweaty. I love her sticky little hands and her clammy toes.

Yesterday, she stood up all by herself. Josiah and I looked over at her, and there she was, standing up on those fat little legs without holding on to anything. She wasn’t even wobbling, and acted like it was no big deal, like she didn’t even notice. Then she “jumped” up and down in that cute way babies jump — with her knees getting all bendy but her feet staying on the ground — she jumped three or four times before she plopped back down on her soft bum.

My wee girl, standing.

I don’t know where the time has gone.

I do know that her laughter makes the world go round. I know that when she falls asleep in my arms at three in the morning, and I hear her tiny breaths rise and fall in between Josiah’s sleeping breaths, I am so happy my heart could burst. I know that I prayed for her, and I know God answered with a miracle. I know that she is a gift, and I hold her with open hands.