Table Talk…
I’ve got some book news! My editor just got my manuscript back to me, and I’m about to begin the next round of revisions. I’ve also hooked up with a dear, new-to-me friend who has a lot of experience in publishing, printing, and graphic design. Over the next couple of months, she and I will be working together to get this little book out in the world and into your hands!
I started writing this book started writing when Atticus was three months old, when I first started to realize how redemptive his birth was for me. For four years I wrote in the middle of my right-here, right-now life. While he napped. While he played. During early morning feedings before the sun rose. On the weekends, after dinner, in the midst of dishes and diapers and toys and lullabies and story time and laundry and play dates. I wrote through doctor’s appointments and new jobs, through our adoption, through the days of adjusting to being a family of four. I wrote despite — no, that’s not the word I want. I wrote with — my anxiety and my PTSD and my postpartum depression, in my faith crisis, in loss and in joy.
And this year, I will be able to release this creation of mine into the world with hopes that someone out there may read my words, my offering, and perhaps feel just a little bit less alone. Bit by bit, piece by piece, page by page, this book is being birthed. Much like how it was written.
Don’t let anyone ever tell you the small steps don’t add up to something glorious. At just the right time, with just the right people, dreams do come true. They may come quietly, maybe after a long labor of love, maybe in the middle of the ordinary or mundane. But that doesn’t make them any less beautiful.
xo,
Elena
Next month, I will be hosting a special giveaway only for subscribers to The Table! Feel free to invite your friends to sign up as a subscriber, as I will not be publicly sharing next month’s newsletter:
A photo of the George Floyd memorial at Chicago & E 38th in Minneapolis
April 20, 2021 — 330 days after George Floyd’s murder. The police officer who kneeled on his neck for over nine minutes was convicted on all three charges he’d been facing. A collective sigh was heard around the world yesterday. I think we’d all been holding our breaths for those 330 days, especially as we collectively mourned the most recent killings at the hands of law enforcement, that of Daunte Wright and Adam Toledo, the latter of who was only 13 years old.
And then, amidst the news of the verdict, we learned of the killing of Ma’Kiah Bryant, 16 years old. She’d called the police for help because of escalating violence.
We scarcely get a moment to breathe before more blood is shed.
And our Black brothers and sisters have to live every single moment knowing they can be killed with impunity simply because of the color of their skin. Because White America sees Blackness as a threat. It always has. Read our history.
Do you know my daughter is almost Ma’Kiah’s age? Do you know that next year, she’ll be driving like Daunte was? Do you know she cried when she learned about George Floyd’s death? Do you know she didn’t know what racism was until she came to the United States? Do you know she’s afraid?
Do you know the pain of a mama whose brown-skinned child has become a hashtag? Do you know how heartless the lists of justifications sound? Do you know that we all belong to each other? Do you know the ground cries out with their blood? Do you know that Jesus weeps?
It’s hard to know what to say in a moment like this. It seems like everywhere we look, there is no justice. Even though Derek Chauvin was convicted. Because true justice always means life. True justice means George would still be alive. True justice means we wouldn’t be a nation living through trauma and death and grief and bloodshed over and over again. It never stops.
My friend Abby Norman has written a book called You Can Talk to God Like That: The Surprising Power of Lament to Save Your Faith. It’s releasing next month and is currently available for preorder.
Abby’s words are balm for my weary soul right now, and I hope they are for you, too. I encourage you to order the book and revisit the powerful spiritual practice of lament in your own life. Lament names what is wrong; it puts guts and girth and flesh on the things that eat away at our very hearts. And its sister is so often Hope, who reminds us that all it’s ever taken is a few people with courage, grit, and grace to enact change.
There is so, so much work to do, friends. But I really believe it can be done. We can take care of each other. We can vote out corruption and bloodlust and greed, call for reform, put forth just policies and protections for our most vulnerable. We can work to heal our earth. We can show that we value life. We can change the story; it’s never too late.
5 Things That Are Giving Me Life This Month…
1) Young Living released a whole bunch of new products for their Spring Launch, including this new diffuser bundle called the Ember Collection. This + a basic membership is a great way to slowly start using oils, if you don't want to jump in all the way with a starter bundle.
2) The cherry blossom trees! These only bloom for a short period each year, so I am always thrilled when I see their pink blooms bursting forth. Do you have cherry blossom trees where you live? I’d love to see a picture!
3) My son is learning how to read, and it really is the most amazing thing. He knows a couple of sight words at this time, and we are working with him on combining letter sounds to figure out words. I don’t often stop to consider how incredible it is that our brains are able to function in such an awesome way that we can look at letters on a page and somehow glean meaning from them, but seeing it through his eyes has been such a gift. If you have kids, when did they learn how to read?
4) Purging for our move. I am a minimalist by nature, but my husband definitely holds on to things, so we’ve accumulated a lot of stuff over the years. Since we are preparing for our move to Albany next month, we’ve been able to assess a lot of the things we’d been hanging on to and get rid of a bunch of it. It feels very fitting for our family’s fresh start, I have to say!
5) My friend Elise’s book was just published, and is available on Amazon now! It is called In Every Season, and it is filled with photography and poetry that encourages the heart. I highly recommend grabbing a copy!
In Case You Missed It:
I wrote a post about Easter and the complexity of holding space for grief and hope together
I prophesied on Instagram about the American Church and racial justice
My friend Heidi lost her husband in a tragic accident, and there is a Go Fund Me set up that I shared on my page
I got inspired by a Sam Cooke song on Palm Sunday
This Month’s Read…
Since I am on the book launch team for Osheta Moore’s book Dear White Peacemakers, I’ve spent the last month engrossed in this. Osheta’s work on addressing racial injustice with white people from the perspective of welcoming all into the Beloved Community has been life-changing for me. This book is informative, funny, genuine, and heartbreaking all in one. If you want education on racial justice as well as practical ways to apply anti-racism work in your everyday life, you need this book. You can preorder now; it releases May 18.
On My Plate…
Wasabi pea crusted tuna steak. Y’all. If I had to eat one thing for the rest of my life, it might be this.
Now, I admit that I don’t like my fish as rare as in this photo, but this recipe is just as good when the fish is cooked a little more. You’ll need a couple of tuna steaks, patted dry and rubbed with coarse salt. Grind up a half cup of wasabi peas to a rubble (shouldn’t be a fine powder), add some ginger paste, and crust the steaks with that mixture. Get a nonstick pan very hot, then add a little sesame oil and the steaks. Sear each side for as long as desired. These are great drizzled with a bit of lime juice and served with some rice or Asian slaw. You can also cut the steaks into strips and serve on a salad.
Young Living Oils…
What's in my April Young Living box? Soooo many goodies! I keep telling you: Young Living is not just oils!
Savvy foundation, a mineral powder foundation with clean ingredients that provides coverage and is also good for your skin!
Super B tablets because I need a boost in my B vitamins
ART toner, which I love because it’s gentle yet effective for my face
Toothpaste
Shampoo for Atticus - smells good, cleans well, and is toxin-free!
Bedtime oils like White Angelica, Seedlings Calm, and Vetiver
Oils to add to my Thieves cleaner and hand soap, like Lemon, Eucalyptus, and Vanilla
Charcoal mini-diffusers to use in the bottom of stinky trash bins in the house
A ton of freebies because YL is so good to us! Kyle has a YL account too, so we get DOUBLE the rewards every month!
If you're not on ER, why the heck not?? There are so many goodies you can get for FREE! Essential Rewards offers you a percentage back for each month you order, plus promos each month and free products along the way!
Does your favorite subscription reward program do that? My favorite bulls-eye store only offers 5% (still love you, Target!) & Kyle and I are earning 25% back with YL after more than a year.