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Airport Excitement

We left our house at 5:30 am overloaded with excitement and 8 checked and 4 carry on suitcases. Will’s mom, Ann, drove our neighbor’s van and his dad, James, drove his car to manage it all. Halfway to the airport we realized that Niko did not have his driver’s license. A moment of quick thinking had us off the freeway, Will and few items of luggage squished into the van with the rest of us, and James on his way to our home to get the license.

As we maneuvered all the baggage through checkin, I prayed that all the bags would meet their expected weight restrictions and that the 2 bags that were each over the size restriction by an inch would go through without notice. As each bag was weighed and thrown onto the conveyor belt without comment, I breathed a little deeper.

The next hurdle was clearing the South African government restrictions for traveling with minors. Just a month ago they instituted new requirements that minors traveling with their parent’s must have both a passport and a stamped birth certificate. Minor’s traveling with anyone but their parent’s must have a signed and notarized affidavit from each parent. The beautiful young woman checked over these items thoroughly. Then she called over her supervisor, who studied each item with scrutiny. They were very clear that if our documents did not meet the requirements, we would not be allowed into S. Africa. Again I found myself holding my breath as the minutes ticked by and still we waited for clearance.

As we waited, I took a deep breath and said a prayer. Immediately, I felt the presence of a very large protective angel standing to my left. I breathed a breath of gratitude and relaxed into the knowing that all would be well. Just as we were cleared and checked in, James arrived with Niko’s license and we were ready!

Preparations

It is almost time for us to leave. These past weeks have been spent packing and repacking the countless donations that have been put Into our care: Soccer balls, clothing, jackets, hats, shoes, socks, school, supplies and books challenge the seams of our suitcases. Meeting the weight and size restrictions challenge our minds. We are each allowed 2-50 lb bags, plus a carry on. Each of our checked bags can measure no more than 59 inches, our carry ons must be under 29 inches. Filling each bag with just enough heavy items with just enough light items so,that the bags fill the space and meet but do not go over the size restrictions has been a giant math puzzle. We finally had our 8 checked bags ready. I looked around the room and still there were so many beautiful items waiting to be packed. I called our airlines and discovered that we could add up to 25 lb per suitcase for an added cost of $50.00 each. Back to the Math problems. Which suitcases have more space to hold additional items? Which suitcases have heavy items that can be exchanged for light items without going over the size restrictions? The shuffling began and many hours later we had 40 additional pounds added for a total of 440lbs of donations ready to be delivered to Lesotho, in the name of our incredible community.

St. Camillus Wish List

Lesotho Bound

This summer, I will spend 3 weeks in Lesotho, Africa with my husband, Niko, my 16 year old son, Sam and his best friend, Will. Our focus is 3 fold. First, to see our daughter of the heart and to meet her husband and 4 year old son. We were Mary’s host family for a year as she volunteered at L’Arche Tahoma Hope. She walked into our home and immediately was a part of our family. After Mary returned to Lesotho, she married her beloved, Paul and had a baby whom she named after her Tacoma brother, Sam. We are so excited to see Mary again and to meet our extended family in Lesotho. When I told Mary that we were coming to see her, she replied “I have prayed for this for so long. I never knew when it would happen and now it is happening.” Together we wept with joy. Mary has enlisted Sam and Will to teach in her classroom for 2 days that we are with her.

Secondly, we will spend 8 to 10 days at the St. Camillus Center. I was on the board of The Lesotho Connection(TLC), here in Tacoma for 3 years. TLC has recently completed a long time goal of building a new home for the St. Camillus Center. This home houses 20 children orphaned by AIDS. There are over 200,000 children orphaned by AIDS in Lesotho. This is roughly the population of Tacoma. We will spend our time serving in whatever way we can be most helpful to the center. Also, Sam and Will will use their talents in music to write a song with the children that we will record so that it can be used both by The Lesotho Connection and by the St. Camillus Center in their promotional materials.

Thirdly, we will spend 3 to 4 days at a game reserve in South Africa to take in the amazing animals of South Africa and to learn about conservation projects in place. Sam and Will have been animal enthusiasts from the start. Their love of animals has been one of the things that has nourished their deep friendship for the past 16 years.

Sam and Will have committed to paying for their airfare, spending money and time at the game reserves and to help raise funds for playground equipment and a sign for The St. Camillus Center. To fulfill this commitment they have created and are selling cards with their original artwork as well as selling my Umbutu tea. If you would like to support their efforts, you can purchase their items at Sam and Will’s Etsy Shop or you can check out their project updates on their fundraising page at Sam and Will’s You Caring Site

This is a trip of a lifetime, but it is more than that. As parent’s it is an opportunity to offer these young men an opportunity to have their image of themselves and their world expanded. It is an opportunity to allow and encourage them to steadily and faithfully work towards a goal and to bring it to fruition. It is an opportunity for them to share their gifts in a profound way and to have their gifts shaped in new and profound ways by the Lesotho people. This is a trip that will crack all of our hearts open, that will change us in ways we do not yet know, and that will imprint on our souls our place in the family of humanity.

Click the link below to watch this beautiful video about the St. Camillus Center:

About the Lesotho Connection

Spiritualitea: A Cup of Blessing

From beginning to end, the process of creating a Spiritualitea blend is a process of intention, prayer and blessing. When I decided that I wanted to create a line of teas for my clients, my idea was to create a line of teas that would support them at each stage, each mood of the spiritual journey. Immediately, I knew that I would begin with 4 teas and that the teas were meant for more people than just my clients. The first 4 teas in the line are:

Umbutu Tea: A tea of deep connection. Infused with joy, strength and deep connection.
Sanctuary Space: A tea for deep listening. Infused with Comfort, Courage and Deep Peace.
Possibilitea: A tea of empowerment to follow where your soul leads. Infused with clarity, vision, power and peace. And
Body Blessing: A tea to bless each cell of your being. Infused with love, gratitude, and healing.

I began taste testing over 50 teas, looking for teas that held the qualities I was looking to inspire with each tea. I narrowed the base for each tea down to 4 possibilities.

As in all spiritual quests, I coul only go so far by myself. I needed to enlist the help of other spiritual guides. So, I gathered a group of wise women, who are committed to their own spiritual journey, and asked them to help me choose the most powerful base for each tea.

We gathered in prayer and stillness. We began by first looking at, smelling and touching the dried herbs of each tea. In silence, we recorded our individual observations and preferences. Next we sat in meditation with a small cup of each brewed sample, noting the color, smell and taste, observing how it played on our tongue, felt in our body and what emotions and feelings we experienced as we savored each cup. This process was done with great care and after hours of savoring tea we had chosen the base for each tea.

Once the base was chosen, It was time to broaden the circle again. I enlisted the help of Heather Foster, Chef Extraordinaire. Heather took each base and brought it alive by adding just the right ingredients to fill out the taste and intention of each tea. So far we have completed the Umbutu tea and Sanctuary Space tea. We are currently working on perfecting Possibilitea and will add Body Blessing in 2015.

When the blends were perfected and we were ready for production, 16 year old, Will Bentley, created the artwork for each blend. Susan Sezgin, took my design of the labels and perfected them. And Sam Colella, began blending the teas in small portions, so to ensure the best blending of ingredients in each bag.

Once the teas are bagged, each blend is blessed. The Umbutu tea is calibrated with African music that is filled with joy and strength and speaks of our deep connection. The Sanctuary Space Tea is calibrated with chants of peace.

The end product is a work of love, blessed by many hearts and hands, ready to be passed onto you, with the intention that they will bless you and support you as you bring your spirit more fully into this world.

To order your Spiritualiteas, go to

https://www.etsy.com/shop/BodySacred?ref=hdr_shop_menu

May you be blessed.

Uncharted Territory

The uncharted territory of our time is silence. Our lives are filled with the constant hum of our technology: phones, computers, televisions and music. When is the last time that you sat in such silence that you could hear the beating of your heart? If we are to stay connected to our own true self, it is imperative that we create such moments for ourselves. In these moments, we hear the beating of our purpose, our calling, our truth.