Adventures in Moving On

Well folks, it's been a good two years, but my updates and posts on DaleAdventures are coming to a close. J and I started this blog right before leaving to serve with Maya Mission in Guatemala, to keep all of our friends and family stateside (and around the globe) up to date with all of our happenings in Guatemala. We had a wonderful time in Guatemala and couldn't have asked for an easier transition back to life in the U.S.

After one full year in the states (hard to believe it's been a year already!) we have moved on to being involved with other things. We now live in Alexandria, VA as part of an intentional Christian community called Casa Chirilagua. We also have full time jobs, and are greatly involved with our faith community, Holy Grounds. I (Sarah) am also looking forward to the future, and attempting to build up clientele, so that I can start a graphic design business one day, called Sarah E. Dale.

With all that said, we have lots and lots of things going on in our lives, and this blog is falling by the wayside. But have no fear...we aren't leaving you in the dark! Thanks to the great connectivity of websites and social pages like Facebook, you can still keep up with the latest happenings of DaleAdventures. If you aren't already friends with us on Facebook, please look up J and myself.

I hope to have a full website with a new design blog up and running by the end of the summer at www.sarahedale.com and we hope to more consistently update www.casachirilagua.org with the latest happenings in the neighborhood.

Thanks for continuing to view our blog and a special thanks for our committed readers!

Good night and Good luck.

18 days until closing on the house!

Almost there people...almost there...

Adventures in being overwhelmed

J and I had a great weekend at the Mujeres de Virtud retreat in NY, but boy, am I tired and feeling overwhelmed, while now back in DC. Luckily for me, this is a slow week at work, so I can catch up on things, but I'm really feeling overwhelmed in everything going on.

Via a twitter post online, I found a link to this blog, which I think was exactly what I needed to hear with all of my current overwhelm-ness. Please enjoy: http://tinybuddha.com/blog/how-to-enjoy-the-journey-more-by-eliminating-should/

How to Enjoy the Journey More by Eliminating the Word “Should”

by Maelina Frattaroli

“Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.” ~Proverb

A friend of mine once said, “If there’s a word in the English language I detest, it’s ’should’. What a pointless, useless, waste-of-space (euphemism for other choice adjective) word.”

I think he’s right on the money. At the risk of sounding hypocritical, you should consider the definition of should, as defined by dictionary.com:

Should: must; ought (used to indicate duty, propriety, or expediency): You should not do that.

There is always something we feel we cannot and should not do for fear of humiliation, regret, having to explain ourselves to others, and sometimes to ourselves.

Read more here: http://tinybuddha.com/blog/how-to-enjoy-the-journey-more-by-eliminating-should/

Adventures in Baby Showers

Photo courtesy of: http://www.casachirilagua.org/

I had the privilege this weekend to attend a joint, surprise baby shower for 3 women within the neighborhood: Maribel, Juana and Rachel. I had a great time getting ready for it with D by shopping for baby items (who knew I could like shopping) and baking cakes (my newest creative endeavor), but most of all, it was just great to meet more women in Chirilagua and get to know new names and faces.

Normally, I'm really not into these kinds of things (baby showers, bridal showers, engagement parties), I think they're really silly and people just do them because they're traditions and they feel they have to, not because they want to. However, this time around, it's different. Having a couple of hours to gather together without husbands around, chores to do, errands to run and food to make is a big deal for the ladies in our neighborhood. They did have to bring the kids with them, but they got a chance to catch up with friends and just have a fun time with the girls.

It's also a big deal for them to celebrate something in their lives. As we were slowly gathering in the apartment, I noticed there weren't a lot of smiles on the faces gathering together, waiting for the arrival of our honored guests. But then I thought, 'Of course they're not smiling, they don't live such a wealthy privileged life like you do!' Having an excuse to get together and celebrate something is a big deal to them - they don't have much to celebrate when they're just trying to survive day by day.

A lot of us don't realize what a privilege it is to have parties, whether for a birthday, graduation, new baby, engagement, etc. When you live in poverty and you live day to day, parties are not a given right, they are reserved for the privileged and wealthy.

So the next time you're obligated to go to someone's birthday party, bridal shower, baby shower or graduation, remember how wonderful it is that you have something to celebrate and how privileged you are, to able to have a party for those special occasions in life.

And about those sad gathering faces I wrote about earlier... once the honored guests arrived, the games began and the food was served, there were smiles all around. And what a great blessing it was to witness them.

Adventures in Real Estate Continued

Well folks, we did it! We made the leap and put a contract on the house!! (see below) It seems pretty crazy that J and I can actually do this – that we can actually afford this – but the Lord has provided for us in incredible ways, and we really hope and pray that this house will be a blessing to the community.

The next steps are we have to get the house inspected, get the roof inspected, see that our mortgage application goes through, have a termite/bug/rodent inspection, among other things like that. The whole process is a little overwhelming for J and I because we're first-time home buyers, but our realtor is fantastic and she's been great the whole way through.

If you know anyone looking to buy anywhere in the DC metro area, I highly recommend her, her name is Jennifer Myers. Check out her website here: http://jennifermyers.com/

Adventures in Real Estate

This week J and I have been at it again, debating buying a house. We weren't really looking, until we found this house pop up on the market a little over a month ago (I just happened to be browsing properties online at lunch, just for fun).

It's pretty close to the exact location we want, and we're thinking we might be able to get a good deal on it. Right now we're just trying to weigh all the options and pray thoroughly through it with the members of our intentional community to see if it's a wise thing to do or not.

We're not sure how it will turn out, but it's fun to entertain the idea! Pray with us this week for wisdom from God to make the best decision for us and the community.

We'll let you know what happens after this weekend... until then enjoy these pics from the listing!!

Adventures in Taking a Sabbath

Photo Courtesy of Jade M. Sheldon on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmsheldon/3421819023/

During this season of lent (and hopefully continuing afterward too), J and I have decided to start practicing the art of the sabbath. Here's the definition from our friends at Wikipedia:

The term "Sabbath" derives from the Hebrew shabbat (שבת), "to cease", which was first used in the Biblical account of the seventh day of Creation (Genesis 2:2-3). Observation and remembrance of Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments (the fourth in the original Jewish, the Eastern Orthodox, and most Protestant traditions, the third in Roman Catholic and Lutheran traditions). Most people who observe Biblical Sabbath regard it as having been instituted as a "perpetual covenant [for] the people of Israel" (Exodus 31:13-17), a sign in respect for the day during which God rested after having completed the Creation in six days. ; Sabbath desecration was originally officially punishable by death (Exodus 31:15).

As I was discussing with A last night over pancakes at the Elder's pancake dinner at Fairlington, there are so many Christians and people of religion in general that pick and choose what commandments they like to follow and what others they want to sort of bend the rules on (I am completely guilty on this one!).

The sabbath, is definitely one of those rule bending ones. Most people don't realize that taking a sabbath, a full day of rest one day per week, is a command from God. J and I have been convicted to start following that command. We've decided that Sunday will be the best day to do that, so we can run errands, grocery shop, clean, etc. on Saturday.

I think practicing this spiritual discipline is going to mean that we have to be more efficient during the week, but it's also going to mean that we're going to have to do less stuff or take more time to do things – not do them as quickly as we would have in the past.

Yesterday was my first sabbath that I practiced and it felt great! I didn't do any shopping, no errands, I went for a long run, I took a hot bath, I watched a movie at home, I also watch some TV episodes on hulu, I went and ate pancakes at church and attended a really awesome confessional service at HG. Overall, I'd say I successfully rested and successfully took time to commune with other believers and take time to worship God.

Let's hope I can continue this in the weeks to come also! We'll see...