Monthly Archives: November 2017

Thankful for Beauty

We had a wonderful and peaceful Thanksgiving basking in a baby glow. This year our family had 2 new babies around the dinner table and it was such an extra special celebration with a lot to be thankful for. But I have been thinking a lot lately about the future of my girls. I have 5 daughters who will be women of color one day. And honestly I am pretty concerned about how they will fair out in the world. But there have been many positive changes and I am always on the lookout for affirming resources.

This week I was at my favorite bookstore (Scout and Morgan, see below), when I came across a beautiful book The Atlas of Beauty.

I was immediately drawn to the cover and the story of author/photographer Mihaela Noroc. Noroc has been traveling the world for the past 4 years photographing all the beautiful women that she meets.

As you can see her idea of beauty is far from conventional but it “smacks of truth,” as one of my college professors, Robert Grunst, used to say. This is the kind of world I want to live in, one that celebrates the beauty of the all women (and more then just the beauty of women). I love especially the pictures of women that you wouldn’t expect to see where they were photographed. The women of Iran were particularly surprising. Even I had some preconceived ideas of beauty

I plan to share this book with my girls, having it readily available. In this time I am very grateful for all the beauty in the world.

Welcome to Scout & Morgan Books in Cambridge, MN

Reinventing

It has been a very hectic and tragic year for us. We lost Proeun’s brother unexpectedly in an accident in the spring. He was young, vibrant and in many ways held the extended family together. It was a total shock for us that rocked us to the core–most notably Proeun, who had lost his younger brother, a brother that he always wanted to protect but couldn’t when it came right down to it.

I had just had our 7th baby. I remember just holding that new life, breathing in that new baby scent and burying my face in her neck when I wanted to cry and knowing that a new life was beginning while one ended–a cycle.

Afterwards the family was thrown into turmoil. We had decided last year we needed a sabbatical from the busy summers of vegetable growing. So we didn’t plant, thank God we didn’t. One neighbor said that He knew what would be coming up and that we would need time to deal with it. And so we struggled this year.

Now months after the accident that rocked our world and family we are finally getting our life and home back together. We are in the process of reinventing, rebuilding and moving forward. Thank you for your patience!