Kortney Garrison

Open Advent :: Jesse Tree

30 November 2018 by Kortney

Let everyone who is thirsty come

Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift. –Revelation 22.17

Walter Brueggemann says that hope is rooted in memory. God has been faithful in the past and so will be faithful in the future–our hope is built on nothing less. Listen to the beautiful symmetry that flows from this couplet in Psalm 63:

Because thou hast been my help,

therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.

If I had to choose just one practice to keep Advent, I’d choose Jesse tree coloring. (And lighting all the candles and baskets of picture books and fir trees brought inside. Don’t make me pick!) The Jesse Tree invites us to step into the strange river of God’s faithfulness. We follow the winding water courses until we all finally end up at an outbuilding in Bethlehem.

One Practice to Rule Them All

But who exactly is Jesse, and what’s he doing in a tree? In the opening chapter of Matthew, the lineage of Jesus is recounted. The practice follows those stories hinted at in Matthew and takes it’s name from a line in Isaiah’s prophetic poetry:

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.

Our practice centers on reading and contemplative coloring. Each day during Advent, we read a story from scripture and color a simple image. The materials aren’t complicated or messy as long as your printer has ink! Sarah Mackenzie says that reading aloud together can slow down this sometimes frantic season. Coloring just gives us an excuse to linger just a little longer, to let the stories do their work on us.

I favor this Jesse Tree collection because it includes the woman/outsider stories of Rahab and Ruth. But the images from Paper Dali are so lovely! We also have this embroidery collection because handwork is a perfect accompaniment to winter evenings. But we are taking things very slowly! This will be our third year working on it, and we’ve competed 5 ornaments.

How has reading about the ancestors of Jesus shaped you?

….and this is the introduction to the series, Rest in Advent

Rest in Advent

26 November 2018 by Kortney

Let everyone who is thirsty come

Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift. –Revelation 22.17

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Well, on the beach in late July celebrating my birthday is pretty wonderful too. But really? It’s hard to beat carols and twinkle lights and trees inside your house all to celebrate a baby being born!

This season also comes with a good bit of pressure to make things magical. But what if the magic and wonder are a part of the deal? It’s not something we can make or will to happen. What if the magic of Christmas is something to receive?

Lower Your Expectations

William Stafford says that if you’re writing and you get stuck, lower your expectations and keep going. Keep going. Everything in our culture tries to ratchet up our expectations. If you feel you aren’t measuring up, they can sell you something! But if the magic of the season isn’t dependent on us, things don’t have to be perfect to make a memory. Ma Ingalls says that enough is as good as a feast. What if your Advent celebrations were enough? What would it look like for you to lower your expectations in anticipation of receiving the gifts of the season?

Take Your Time

The world is full to bursting with beautiful, worthy, life-giving Advent practices. There’s Jesse Trees, saint days, Advent wreaths, and picture books everyday! But you can’t cram any of these into an already full day. Something has to go. Make room in the school schedule. Plan less than you think you need–good opportunities will present themselves! In our homeschool, we put our history and science spines on hold until the new year. It changes our routine and makes space for the extras that aren’t really extras. You have almost the entire month of December. Take it slow.

Prepare

Even if you are lowering your expectations and taking your time, there’s still plenty to do to get ready! What if you took this coming week to do a little prep work? Clear out the library basket so there’s a place to put seasonal books. Double a meal or two this week. You can eat one, and stash the other in the freezer for a busy night later in the month. Declutter or spend 15 minutes each day working down the list from Apartment Therapy. You can’t do all these things–remember we’re taking our time and lowering our expectations! Take a deep breath, get quiet, and think about which one will make the most difference?

Look for a new series called Open Advent coming during each week of December. And in the meantime, a few favorites from the archives.

:: Creating Space for Advent :: How Do You Want Advent to Feel? ::

:: Keeping Advent–a free ebook for you ::

Way Leads On to Way

4 October 2018 by Kortney

Do you follow Sally Thomas on Facebook? She’s a serious poet who posts the most delicious poetic links. Yesterday I followed her suggestion to a piece by C.M. Burroughs called “How to Make a Poem.” For me, the best part of the essay were the poems she linked to–Rita Dove, Lucille Clifton, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Robert Hayden.

When I clicked through to read the Hayden poem, my response was visceral. I was back on the #12 Sandy bus turning south from Burnside on to 5th, reading this poem as a part of the Poetry in Motion series more than 15 years ago. It’s a stunning narrative poem that hits complex emotional notes. There’s longing and regret, gratitude alongside fear.

I wondered if in the vaults of the internet there would be some way to trace that collection of poems on buses. Low and behold, Poetry in Motion has collected the poems that ran in each city. Here’s Portland’s collection. Louise Erdrich. Tess Gallagher. Jane Hirshfield. William Stafford (never cared for this poem, would feel disappointed when I got on a Stafford bus. Spoiled). Makes me want to read the collections from Boston or Fresno or Salt Lake City.

Riding the bus from the Hollywood district downtown to school and later on out to work, spending long hours on the bus reading and writing. This was formative work for me.

Peace and Progress in the Kitchen

10 September 2018 by Kortney

The light is changing here as we shift into Autumn, and we woke to rain. New corners of the house are illuminated, new shadows cast. We’ve started into our Fall routine. This tends to be our busiest, most productive academic season. This past month as I finalized our school plans, I was also working through Jessica Fisher’s Mom’s Kitchen Survival Workshop (affiliate link).

Our kids’ tastes have expanded enough so that dinner isn’t a struggle every night. And my energy levels have also given me a little wiggle room. On most nights I’m not completely dragging by 6 pm. So, it felt like a good time to level up my cooking game. I’ve used and loved Jessica’s freezer cookbook for years, and her granola is in regular rotation around here when it’s not too hot to turn on the oven. This workshop gave me the opportunity to participate in 4 coaching sessions with Jessica. The woman is funny and smart and ready with suggestions. She’s a homeschooling mama with 6 kids, so she knows what’s she’s talking about!

Here are my favorites from this month spent planning and cooking!

Sourdough Crumpets–I started making sourdough bread last Spring, and revived my starter to make pizzas on the grill. This recipe uses up extra starter in the tastiest way! We like toasting the crumpets and adding jam for a sweet treat or cheese to make them savory.
Oatmeal Bites–this is a wonderful version of the classic no-bake snacks. We’re making a double batch today.
Sausage Egg Potato Bake–freezer cooking for breakfast wasn’t something I had considered before. I made 4 of these casseroles and stashed them in the freezer. The first harried morning I tried to cook them, they hadn’t fully thawed out and needed a lot longer cooking time. But the second round was divine!
Sausage Broccoli Quiche--I thought this would be a hit–even made an extra to freeze. Everyone ate dinner. But two people were not very enthusiastic! Jessica recommended the book French Kids Eat Everything. She also recommends offering a side that you know the picky eaters will love. So, we had corn too to make Jojo happy!
Sausage Sheet Pan Dinner–everything cooks on one pan? Yes, please! We are having this on Wednesday to go with this Cheesy Spinach Dip that Mabel’s going to make for us. We would love to have you join us!
Sheet Pan Chocolate Chip Cookies–a total winner!

I’d love to hear what you do to make dinner easier!

Kortney Garrison