Kookie Cut-Outs by Rachel Britz

Delivering cookies and good news.

Food for the Famine

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It’s been a little dusty and dry around here lately.  Not an uncommon climate for this Minnesota girl in  late June except that I’m not referring to the external temperature. I suppose we all go through times that are mundane and more of the same. It’s just that when it comes to my spiritual life its quite agonizing. 

The feeling is as if I’ve been cut off. My life line to the invisible is no longer palpable. I can’t see, taste, or feel anything. Nothing. I long for the familiar voice to wake with me in the morning. Nothing. I long for the food of kindness and the drink of wisdom. Nothing. I long for the deliverance of pressing matters. Nothing. 
So here I am. Hungry. Parched from the sand in my eyes. This sister waking with a longing, churning in her belly. Scorched knees, with only her hands to hold high as she kneels in the dessert. Longing for the wind and the rain to refresh and renew the land. 
I believe a day is coming. Soon. The season will change and new life will emerge. For this is the faith that I stand firmly upon. The one made with promises of stone and pearls and precious gems. For this faith is not visible to man alone. And if I must walk through the things I cannot see nor understand then I must choose to trust. Trust that a new day is coming! 

Livestock Music Festival

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This is my favorite time of year. Time for the annual Livestock music and giving celebration! Being able to serve on the planning team has become such a passion for me and in so many ways I am overflowing with gratitude. Let me count the ways…

1. God is using this singular event to save lives, families, and communities who are fighting extreme poverty with the simple gift of a livestock animal.

2. God is using this event to bring a community together for one day each year to give to those in need.

3. Wholesome memories are made with friends, neighbors, and families.

4. Livestock is forging a legacy in my children.

5. I am able to passionately do this life-blood work alongside my best friend Jill.

6. God is using my gifts, talents, and time for a greater purpose in life.

7. Grateful for an entire committee who is equally passionate, pouring all the love in their hearts into this event! We have so much fun together!

8. I don’t get paid a dime to do this!

9. I’m reminded that I have been given an abundance. Everything I have, all that I own is more than enough.

10. I’m able to put my hands into something that participates in giving another hope for tomorrow!

Just a few days away from the big event. Looking forward to seeing you out there! www.LivestockMN.com

In Memoriam

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“Memory is a slippery thing. When something terrible happens to you, like the loss of someone you love, like the loss of a mother or father, or perhaps a twin sister or an old hound, memory can turn into a soft blanket that hides you from the loss.” – Kathi Appelt, The Underneath


Over the last century, a indelible bond has been forged on my mother’s-mother’s side of the family. They are the Irish ones. A common blood so true that each and every year the clan gathers to reunite, remembering our roots through song and brew, and honoring our beloved family members that await us on the other side. When I say clan, I mean clan. Big, extended, far reaching. So far reaching, that most of the second cousins and great aunts and uncles, I barely know. We are big and extended but woven oh-so-tightly together. It’s a beautiful bond-this Irish family I have.
Last week I received an email from Cousin Mike. My second cousin once removed, or something like that. He is the glue. The communicator and coordinator of ALL things. In his email to the clan, he asked each of us to consider sharing our memories of a special cousin who recently passed away. This beloved family member’s wife had reached out to Cousin Mike with a special request and simply desired to hear more stories of her late husband. Then yesterday a friend on Facebook posted a similar request, reaching out with a desire to hear stories of his brother who had passed away.
Memories. It’s all we have really. They carry with them transforming power; to calm or ease and even ignite a dying passion. The memory of a beloved holds a certain dignity that bestows honor. So often we wonder how to be a better companion to a hurting friend or neighbor, especially those who are walking in the wake of loss. We don’t know what to say or how to comfort, so instead we go the other way.
Giving comfort to someone hurting makes us uncomfortable. I remember it well. In 2007 a very dear friend committed suicide. It hurt so bad. But then, there was his mother. I remember her so well. I was desperate to comfort her but didn’t know how. Until one day I forced myself to pick up the phone and call her. With sweaty palms and a lumpy throat, I did it. We talked for hours. And then many days after and many, many more hours, we talked. Memories. Over and over the same old stories. She wanted to hear them, she wanted to share them. And that’s how it went.
So, when I consider our hearts desire to comfort those with broken hearts, I pray for you to take courage and press on and step outside of your comfort zone. Memories are a gift. And so is a solid clan. It’s friends and community that hold us together. Without them, were just an isolated island but with them we can be lifted up, sharing in life and longings, surrounded like a soft blanket.

The Story of a Cloud and the Sun

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One of the most gifted artists I know lives right under my roof. My 14 year old daughter Lily. Today, I share with you one of her recent works of prose. Enjoy~

The Story of a Cloud and the Sun

A heavy lightning bolt slips out of the limp hands of a dark gray cloud.
The bolt hits the ground with a great force, shaking the earth’s floor violently.
A loud groan from the cloud as he awakes to realize he’s lost his most valuable lightning bolt.
Rage fills his translucent lungs as he shouts out in anger.
A pang of sadness hits him as he recalls what he’s done to achieve that particular bolt.

Tears begin to fall from his cheeks, he doesn’t bother to wipe them away,
and lets them fall to the ground.
Thus begins an unstoppable storm of tears that fall heavily from his face.
Once again he fills himself with anger and shouts out,
grabbing a basket of smaller lightning bolts from the shelf,
and throws them to the ground.
Each thrown hard enough to rumble upon its impact with the earth.
He sits down and weeps gently into his hands.

Sorrow overwhelms him,
until a beam of light shines down on him.
He looks up, blinded by the light, he calls out.
A choir of birds sing such a beautiful note that it brings the cloud to his knees.
With a voice that sounds like a chorus of angels playing their harps to a most wondrous song,
the light greets him sweetly.

The cloud finds himself walking towards the light,
knowing in his heart that he’ll spend the rest of his days by her side,
for she is far better than any lightning bolt he could ever earn.

As he grows nearer he’s astonished to look down and see
that he is the purist white of any cloud he’s ever seen.
His heart beats loud and he smiles genuinely as he runs to her.
For the rest of the clouds life he stays by her side,
his love for her never wavering.

They live out their days together in the bluest of skies,
in the brightest of lights,
and in a love that radiates across the world.
-Lily

Unofficial Movie Review: We Bought a Zoo

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For starters, I’m not a film critic. I wish I was sophisticated enough to watch the big screen with the eye of an artist. But I’m not. However, last weekend we took the family out to the theaters to see the movie We Bought a Zoo. I loved it so much that I felt that I needed to write about it.

Did you know that there are 10.5 million widows in America? Although the big screen capitolizes on heartbreaking dramas and tragedy, its rare to find a story-line surrounding a widow. We Bought a Zoo is based on a true story about Benjamin Mee who is widowed with 2 children. The film picks up after the death of his wife where you find a grieving husband wrestling with putting the pieces of his life back together. When his teenage son gets expelled from school (a result of his own struggle with grieving over his mother), Mee decides its time to move his family into a new home. To start over. To find something new. As a result he moves his family onto a 18 acre farm that is actually a zoo!
This is just the premis of the movie but I found so much beauty in the process and details that Benjamin Mee and his family share and show, in regards to the grieving process, throughout the entire film. That is not to say that Hollywood doesn’t have its fingerprints on it, but all-in-all I felt that this film captured some very real widows-walk experiences. For those of us who truly desire to care for the widow, this is my compiled list of valuable take-aways:
Something New
The loss journey that this family must walk is new. Unwanted. Undesired. Everything is new. From the beginning, Mee is surrounded by well meaning folks. Women thrusting casserole dishes into his arms, pity in eyes, family members who weigh in on their own thoughts and opinions. Then there are those folks who just say the stupidest things.
For Benjamin Mee, you get the sense that his deep desire is to just survive. Except nothing around him is the same, everything is new. He pulls himself together enough to make the decision to move both literally and emotionally. Moving is his desire; a need to create something new.
Bravery Changes Your Life
From the beginning of the film, Benjamin struggles with towns corner cafe’. It’s the place he met his wife and the moment when his life changed. Now that she is gone, he wants to avoid this one place, forever. As the scenes play out, a subtle shift of inner strength begins to manifest when at one pivotal moment, Mee embraces a significant opportunity to share with his children one of his greatest mantra’s. Mee tells his children that in life all they will ever need is “20 Seconds of Courage.” He believes that 20 seconds of bravery have the power change your life forever. During this lesson Mee, along with his children, return to the corner cafe’ where he vividly describes his personal 20 seconds, meeting and falling in love with their mother.
Never Let Go
When the family moves onto the 18 acre zoo, they are faced with a series of new challenges. The old zoo keepers have remained. Weary and tired they stick it out with the likes of their new owner and boss. The head zoo keeper played by the beautiful Scarlet Johansen takes a liking to Benjamin but at the end of it all he cannot let go of his one true love. Benjamin Mee describes it as, that sorta love that only comes once in a lifetime.
I love these three little take-aways. Life is filled with uncertainties. For myself, I’m trying oh-so-very hard to handle them with more grace but, the truth is its hard. If I can focus more on moving through life’s challenges by creating something new out of it or taking my 20 seconds of courage, then maybe just maybe I could garner the power to make the difference in me for that moment.
Yet- at the end of it all, if I can just settle in on the beauty of Never Letting Go. I believe some things are just way too precious in life to ever truly let go of.