I’ve lived the suburban life in Indianapolis, and the slightly rural life of West Texas. Now Katrina and I are living in one of the biggest global cities in the world. Here are a few things that we love from our first weeks of living the big city life:

Getting to know our neighbors - within the first week of our living here, I had met not only ALL our neighbors in our building, but also the neighbors in homes and apartments all around our building, the clay guild down the street, members of a church nearby, and most of the coffee shops and businesses on the block. It wasn’t some conspiracy of mine to meet every neighbor on the street - I just kept bumping into people walking to and from work, the beach, or the grocery store. Its just the culture here, you get to know your neighbors.

Spending a little more for groceries - I know, something strange to enjoy, for sure. But if you factor in that we don’t drive to the grocery store or out to eat out or basically anywhere else, we end up saving hundreds NOT driving to the grocery store and restaurants with a local farmer’s market, 3 nearby grocery stores, shops/etc - we’ll pay a few cents more for bell peppers.

Block Parties - there are more celebrations and festivals than any one person could possibly attend. In a city that prides itself on working hard and playing hard, we’ve been invited to our neighbor’s backyard block party, and an art fair.
Public Transportation - You can get ANYWHERE with a mature public transportation system. And we do! It does take a little more time, but its clean, fast(er than a traffic jam) and stress free (no gripping the steering wheel)!

Diversity - I’ve never heard so many languages spoken on the street anywhere else in my whole life. The other day I had an hour long conversation with my Babylonian banker! I’m doing my best to learn bits of Spanish, and I’m experiencing more lifestyles and worldviews than ever before. I’ve fully enjoyed learning in the alcoves of academia in the middle of the desert, and I’m thankful for the person it helped shape me to be. I’m also super pumped about entering a diverse culture and sharing what I know/who I’ve become as well as learning/changing as I interact in the world’s gathering place.

There’s more - like reducing our carbon footprint, the Cubs-Sox inter league series, great radio, live bands, free events, beaches, parks, ministry opportunities…

An inspiring “money drop” on Wall Street from some inspiring brothers and sisters in Christ.

What if another world is possible???

I’ll get back to talking about brain dumping again soon. I promise.
In the meantime, I want to share with you a little Christmas cheer. The other day I had my good friend Jennifer over. She was telling me about how she is planning on heading to meet with family for Christmas. Apparently, her parents rank at the top of the stack for dreamers at Christmas time. They want it all - -and they send her an itemized list prior to the holidays, so she can prepare… and save up her money.

Well, this year, she decided to buy them a llama. “A LLAMA?!?” You heard me right: a llama. I could hardly contain myself. Her logic went something like this, “Well, Katrina… It generously helps a family in the south, and it cost about the same amount of money I would have spent on them, and if they complain about it, they’ll have to live with themselves… it’s great.”

Needless to say, I could barely stop laughing out loud. At first, I thought she had physically bought them a pet. Then she mentioned Heifer International. She proceeded to describe a little toy llama she had bought for her family as well. “I’ll put in a box with a card, so they’ll have something tactile.” Brilliant. And the heifer website gives you a printout of the gift you’ve purchased, too. It’s great.

I knew about Heifer before this, but I never connected it with Christmas time. It’s great if you’re doing some last minute shopping. You don’t have to walk into any stores— you just print the card and hand it over. And it’s a great conversation piece. Merry Christmas!

Just a little more inspiration from this post:

Commercials 2007

Commercials 2006

Other cool ones

With the biggest shopping day of the year just around the corner, I’m already thinking about ways to avoid the holiday rush. It’s got me on a few other rants too:

I’ve been listening to Speaking of Faith, a radio program and podcast on American Public Media which sparks some amazing conversations on ethics, religion, meaning, and more. Recently Krista Tippett did a episode on “Money and Moral Balance” (you can listen to it here). She spoke with Nathan Dungan. Dungan is a financial educator and president of Share-Save-Spend, an organization that helps people develop healthy financial habits. It’s a fascinating look at how our culture has moved to a new center - from freedom and a pioneering, adventurous spirit to capitalism and consumerism as the main force behind our culture. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, Bush urged his fellow Americans to show their American spirit and “go shopping”…ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy, wrote a book back in 1998 called Hundred Dollar Holiday: the Case for a More Joyful Christmas. The average American (averaged including children, the poor,) spends $863 dollars on Christmas presents. (Time) “What we need and long for now are the gifts of time, meaningful family connections, periods of silence, a relationship with the divine,” McKibben writes.

If I still haven’t convinced you to take a chill pill on the holidays, I just won’t shake ya - and I might as well show you this nifty tool.

Mark’s Wish List by mufincutter

Its a web wish list - meaning you can add items from any website. My wish list posted below for fun! Make a wish list and share it with me! We can yearn together.

Happy Turkey Day!