Jonesberries

So, we went to the market on Saturday. Samuel says, “I want to learn to cook squid, well, maybe octopus”. As this is not a typical request to get from a teenage boy we decided to oblige and Sam picked out his octopus, had the man de-ink it and carried it home. Edna coached Sam and Donald through the cooking and we had 2 beautiful octopus dishes.

Even Hannah loved the octopus. She wasnt sure about the tentacles but decided they were good too. “tastes like chicken chewing gum”, she said. I wonder if the whole exercise was just for the photo opportunities. hmmmm.

Happily waking up this morning surrounded by billowing, beige, canvas and doing way too much thinking. Thinking why do me and Andrew choose to sleep in our little tent when we were offered a bedroom in the large villa next to us. Our girls are in the bedroom because we didnt want it. We normally sleep in our truck and sleeping surrounded by canvas is a special luxury for us because campgrounds charge extra for our little tent and it looks too obvious when we are wild camping. We didnt want the bedroom. Are we weird or something?

So anyway, as I got out of our little canvas sleeping chamber (tent) I saw the crooked window in the shed I see every morning since we arrived. I see the crooked window. Or is it. The other day I was talking to Edna about it while we were staring at this window. You see the window only looks crooked. It was put in with a “spirit level”. The window is straight. The window is fine. The window is true to its nature. The building was built by the builders of the large villa. A place to shelter from the sun and siesta. A place to rest and sleep. The building lies straight with the lay of the land so as to lessen its impact on the land.  The building is straight. The building is fine. The building is true to its nature.

We havent been very good at saying the why of what we are doing on our blog. The truth is, now that mum and dad are in their 40s, we are learning about being true to our nature. Giving ourselves permission to be ourselves. True to the way we believe God created us to be. You know, no two of us are the same, inside and out. We started traveling again because it is true to our nature. Sure it is not the norm. It doesnt seem consistent with the straight line of contemporary culture. We are lousy at keeping up a house, our hearts just arent into it. Sure, we like to play with a house but we sure dont act grown up and responsible with it. I figure what if we traveled not because we are hedonists or rebels or circus performers or outlaws but because it is true to our nature. Are we blazing a trail for others like us. It is time to stop playing house and feeling guilty about not being like anyone else. We actually are grown up and we are settling into our lives. Lives that are true to our nature.Yeah, we ARE weird but this is who we are. You know I think we need to accept each other with all our differences. What is right for us may not be right for you. What is right for you may not be right for me. We need to accept the uniqueness of each other. To DANCE together in a technicolour celebration of diversity. Maybe there would be less wars if we did this. Less judgement. More joy.

We celebrated Donald’s 18th birthday. He got some manly gifts, since he is a man now. As part of our family tradition he got to choose all the food for the day. We have never had such a detailed birthday menu. The best was his choice for a cake. He chose chocolate fondue.

The little ones, Nelson, Joshua and Rania, couldnt believe such a thing existed. The sheer decadence of dipping fruit or cakes into a chocolate puddle. They persevered long after the adults called it quits. We tried to capture photos of them but they were moving so fast and consistant that even though we took about 10 or 20 photos this is the only one without motion blur. At one point Nelson (right) wouldnt take his eyes off of the wonder for fear it was just a dream. He was so focused he fell off his chair, didnt cry, got up quickly and almost fell off the chair again because he refused to take his eyes off the chocolate. I am sure they were swimming in chocolate dreams long after the chocolate fondue was put away.

It was extreme decadence. It was a celebration. I think that especially in times like these when funds are tight we need to celebrate. We are back to a breakfast of porridge oats this morning but even if we had to have porridge for every meal for the next week or month to balance out the decadence of a single day of celebration we still need to do it. Celebration brings joy and life. We dont need a lot of money to celebrate, sometimes what is needed is simply to make the mundane feel special. We have had years when we had no money to celebrate a birthday or other holiday and have pulled the strangest combinations of food out of our cupboard and melted it all together to create some kind of cake but we have always celebrated. Lets celebrate life. Lets learn from the little ones and not miss the wonder and joy, beauty and celebration of life.

For our Halloween party with american friends we had a mushroom, a tree, a snail (unpictured), a leprechan (unpictured), and some batman characters. We had GREAT pizza with the Hurst family on Friday nite. Abigail is still blowing bubbles of various sizes and TJ lost her first tooth.

We arrived in south Portugal and are preparing for a rock festival to be held here in a month’ s time .It will be called Rock on Christmas and it will rock. I will be the VJ. Unfortunately, we don’t have a location just yet but Denny Hurst, the festival organizer, is working hard on it.

This is me this morning, standing in front of Maggie, our 4×4 truck that is home to our family of 7 and sometimes others who join us. We will be turning this land into a makeshift campsite for festival goers over the next month. Lots of work but it should be fun.

I found myself at an english magazine stand. A rare opportunity in my life. I had the urge to pour myself into a bit of brain dead entertainment. I went from section to section with no satisfaction. I found myself in the home improvement section. I used to like this bit but now they have no attraction.

Why? I still like pretty things. Finding that unloved chair and making it into something beautiful. I used to love this stuff. How have I changed. I think the change started years ago when I got fed up with the talk about decorating according to a theme. Being of a rebellious nature I decided to simply strive to fill our family space with things that we loved and wanted to look at. A series of photos of good friends and times stuck to the wall with blutac, a mural of angels, an astroturf wall, a giant blow up bumblebee, you get the idea. So, now we live in a truck, not as much room. We still have a flying chicken clock, a sparkly “chandelier”, a 1940s kitchenette and old “gypsy” wallpaper. Why? because it makes us happy – not because it is cool.

Lately, I have been going even deeper into my weirdness. We have been in many, many homes. I have seen some perfect homes that are really nice to look at but leave me dry. I have seen other homes that are absolutely beautiful and make my heart dance. Right now we are in the beautiful home of Edna and Paulo in Portugal. Their home is stunning. Why? some of my favourite things would have to be the long table made of plastic patio tables, the pile of mattresses in the corner of the living room, The overflowing bowl of soaking beans in the kitchen and eager generosity with every movement. It has nothing to do with money or perfection. It has everything to do with love and humanity. I think about other homes I have been in that would fall into my category of “beautiful homes”, being with the Simsons in Germany, the Carters in U.K., The Hursts in Lisbon last week. I think the main reason is not because we are recipients of such selfless hospitality but because we are witnesses to their overflowing hearts. Homes should be extensions of ourselves, be it a house, a flat, a yurt, a truck or a tent. People should be able to see our hearts. We shouldnt be trying to make them perfect but true as an expression of our hearts, our passions, our lives. Lets stop hiding behind bricks and mortar, canvas or fibreglass. A beautiful home is one that lets us see truth in each others lives. To bear witness to lives, the dancing and the crying. Thank you to all who have allowed us to be in your beautiful homes and lives.