We are going pioneering... to Poland!

For some, this will be the first you have heard about our family's impending adventure and I apologize if it comes as a shock... Hopefully, I have personally reached those for whom this matters most and for everyone else I am just so excited and shocked that I want to scream it to the world... We are moving to Poland!

Shoghi Effendi said, "The Work of the Pioneer is the Most Important Task an Individual can Perform; Its Blessings are Great."* Yikes! What are the chances we can live up to the weightiness of the work of the pioneer?

In a few days, Solomon and I will celebrate our 16th wedding anniversary. Over the course of these years, we have tried to pioneer and at times we have come close but it had not yet worked out. We moved to Florida 2 1/2 years ago because of Solomon's job. It has been a hard couple years for us, the kids most especially; but we have learned so much about IPG's and the work at the cluster level. I can now see how this time in Florida has been a training ground for pioneering.

As a matter of fact, I was just resigning myself to life in Florida when Solomon called me up during Fast and said, "Did you ever have one of those moments when you feel like your life is going to change? You know... like when we decided to get married..."

Yes... Life is changing for us but it is as exciting as it is daunting. The kids are thrilled and the dogs ought really not know the difference as long as they are still with us (but the cold will be biting for our little, thin-haired one).

God willing, in two months we will be on a plane headed to Warsaw. I can hardly believe that Baha'u'llah has blessed us with this opportunity and I only hope that I can even begin to live up to the honor.


*(Compilations, Lights of Guidance, p. 578)

The Ridvan Cake

(NOTE: I wrote this post during Ridvan and only now realized I had never published it!)


I thought I would share a photo of the cake my son made for our Ridvan celebration.

What I love about this cake is not only was it made by my son, but it took a lot of effort. Every year I ponder the idea that Ridvan is the King of Festivals or the Most Great Festival. It seems rather self-explanatory to me!

Truly, as the Baha'i world evolves, we will figure out how to make Ridvan feel more important, more joyous and more momentous than everything else we do. It is not that the other celebrations are not important, joyous or momentous but we have to remember that Ridvan is about the very founding of our Faith. It is a celebration of our beginning... It is a celebration of the beginning of the new spiritual journey of the entire world... It is a celebration of the birth of a New Era that signals the coming maturity of a planet that has struggled for millions of years to attain this day without night... How could we relegate this time to something we merely squeeze into the craziness of our lives?

I throw these thoughts out there not because I feel like our family is living up to the standard I feel we should; but solely as food-for-thought. It is just something to ponder at this joyous time. Maybe next year we'll do it just a little bit better... and the year after that... and the year after that...