Need, I am finding, is one of the greatest gifts in the world. Maybe it is a gift to need redemption, to need grace, to need water, to need God to provide. I have never felt my need as clear as I do here in Mekelle; it’s a combination of the brokenness I have embraced in myself in recent years mixed with the vulnerability of our life here. Away from the familiar, distant from community,  and adapting to the unknown.

Quitting my job last summer made me face my real life, or should I say lack of a real life here in Mekelle.Greg had started a business, he had employees and friends and was getting a hang of the language. It had been tons of work for him, but it was paying off. He was blossoming and I was sinking in to the shadows.

Looking for inspiration on how you can do more with less in your home? When I was young, I was embarrassed when my mother went to thrift stores and bought things second hand. Then I had a house of my own and I stood wide-eyed, mouth gaping at the price of new hand-towels, much less a set of plates. My mom’s shopping habits suddenly made more sense. My mom’s whole home is from thrifting, repurposing what she already has to make a space and create peace. Isn’t that the point of a home anyway? For more inspiration for thrift store decorating visit my mom’s Etsy page called the Refurbished Farmhouse. Originally posted on Upper Barn Blog.

There are very few of us that can live off of our passion or our craft. Most of us work to pay the bills or we stay at home to keep the kids and then by the light of a candle or in minutes stolen from an early morning we do what we are passionate about. Maybe it is because it is in stolen-time that we dream, craft, and create that keeps the passion aflame. My stolen time on the elliptical at the gym; no husband, no cooking, no housework, just me and my music and words. Luisa Ellis, my friend of 27 years, is a candle light creator. She calls herself the paper piper. Photo contributions by Elisa Bricker & myself. Originally posted on the Upper Barn Blog.

In Ethiopia, the Melse is part two of the Ethiopia wedding celebration. The bride and groom wear the traditional Ethiopian clothes and partake in traditional dancing and food with a smaller group of closer friends and family. The word Melse means, ‘a return,’ and in this case ‘a changed return’. The significance is that the man and woman were recognized as single individuals before, but now they are welcomed as a married couple to the community by the Melse. Our Ethiopian friends and family wanted to welcome us as a married couple to Mekelle as we entered this new chapter of life with a Melse.