A gathering of souls, meeting to discuss the future, full of excitement. You can see what the world might look like one day, if we strive hard enough. News of my great-aunt’s passing at the age of 94. Maryam Saniei…
Search Results for: joy
These chocolate chip banana muffins are a huge hit in our home. We always make the full batch because we work through them quickly. They stay really tasty for several days, which some GF muffins can’t do. Enjoy and let…
It’s hard to believe that I had a baby nearly 7 months ago. So many things have happened since then. I quit my full time job after many years of non-stop work, immediately got hired to work as the event…
“We wish to address some additional words to those of you in whose surroundings marked progress is yet to occur and who long for change. Have hope. It will not always be so. Is not the history of our Faith…
The Bicentenary Event We started at 5 pm on October 21 with a special reception for our friends and partners in the wider community. At 6 pm the doors opened for everyone, and people were greeted with a chocolate in…
The Planning Process for the Chicago Bicentenary event So there is this funny thing that happens in my brain and heart when I get asked to serve the Faith by planning events. Since I am a certified meeting planner in…
I have always loved to read. I was blessed with parents who read to me a lot as a child, and who acted as though reading an entire adult-level book in one day was a totally normal activity. There are…
It is really hard to write blog posts while on vacation with family. So for this last part of the Feast posts (1, 2, and 3) I will just post a few final quotations. I wasn’t super organized about these…
In parts 1 and 2 of the series, I reviewed the importance of Feast and the times and locations of Feast, and now to look at the guidance about the structure of Feast. “This institution, established by BahaÌ’u’llaÌh, has been…
In part 1 of this series, I contemplated the importance of Feast. Now, what are the guidelines on where should it be held? “The matter of where the Nineteen Day Feasts should be held is certainly one for the Spiritual…
I think this is going to be a longer and more thoroughly researched post at some point, but I’ve been wanting to record these quotations somewhere for a while, because I spend a lot of time thinking about Feast, how…
I have lived in Chicago for the majority of my life. We moved here when I was 8 years ago because my parents wanted to live near the House of Worship and my dad was offered a job in the…
Over at Nineteen Months (the site that I founded and now run with my friend Caitlin), we had 19 day project of words from various authors about the Baha’i Fast, and Caitlin organized it all. She put it together in…
At the end of the July I had a conference in New Orleans for work, and since it was so close to our two year anniversary, we took advantage of the opportunity to enjoy the city together. I had been…
5 Things I wish I had known earlier in my career (or: things no one talks about but I really wish they would! All of the below items sound like common sense…but it truly isn’t so common.) 1. Always thank…
I was born in Minnesota. I’ve been coming to the land of 10,000 lakes for my entire life but I have never made it to the Minnesota State Fair. This year I decided that it was our opportunity, since my…
It has just been a lot recently. A lot of things, a never-ending stream of scheduling and travel and mostly fun things and a few not-so-fun things, and it was getting to the point that I was resenting my calendar….
“The Most Great Name beareth Me witness! How sad if any man were, in this Day, to rest his heart on the transitory things of this world! Arise, and cling firmly to the Cause of God. Be most loving one…
This was a chaotic year. A very good one, but I feel like I haven’t really stopped moving. In January 2013, Shea and I took our first trip together, driving to Minnesota to visit family and friends in sub-zero temperatures….
I had a plan to write all sorts of blog posts recently. And then…well, I had to dive into the 4 youth conferences I’m working on and then something else really big happened in my life and suddenly it was…
This morning I woke up to the sounds of a thunderstorm raging against my windows. I woke up before my alarm, so I lay in bed, trying to wake up by checking emails. Unfortunately my coordination is not the best…
“O thou maidservant of God! Every woman who becometh the maidservant of God outshineth in glory the empresses of the world, for she is related to God, and her sovereignty is everlasting, whereas a handful of dust will obliterate the…
It still feels like winter here…the gray and cold have seeped into my body, I crave sunshine, heat, and friendly faces. I was reminded this weekend that I can bring joy to myself and others simply by choosing to be…
You may be aware that there is a snowstorm in Chicago right now. There was an Ayyam-i-Ha party at the Baha’i National Center this morning, and after lunch everyone was sent home because of the impending storm (which had already…
“Be fair in thy judgment, and guarded in thy speech. Be unjust to no man, and show all meekness to all men. Be as a lamp unto them that walk in darkness, a joy to the sorrowful, a sea for…
we are an entire generation silent we are here to serve, to work, to strive we are silenced we raise our hands to voice concern we raise our voices to fight injustice we are silenced our brothers and sisters are…
I have to say that this year started off with a lot of things…none of which I’ll talk about here for now, except in a very general way. I will say that a lot was thrown at me at once,…
I have been thinking about some of the difficult things going on in my life right now, and while I should not dismiss them as small or insignificant, I can choose to focus on better things, on the good things,…
she is watching the ground rushing toward her, a free-fall of joyful absolution. she is wrapped in trust. she is watching with her eyes closed. once there was a story in her head about the possibilities and then time took…