Cold Potato

Monday: January 25th

Here are the highlights:

Christian, Li and I cleaned the sun room. The sun was shining, so the room was warm. Li and I joked that the newspaper on the windows sounded like R2D2.

The kids, Alley, Christian, Li and I went into the woods where the guest house is going to be built.  I, Emily Marie Henderson, used a chainsaw to defeat some small but strong trees. We logged the trees and loaded them into the pickup truck. Working outside is extremely empowering. Alley decided to try driving the truck for the first time on the muddy woods terrain. It was pretty terrifying for all parties but we made it out just fine, minus the huge tire marks we left on the lawn.

Scott arrived with a ridiculous amount of food. Christian was exhausted from manning the chainsaw for most of the afternoon. As Christian took a nap I captured the alone time for yoga. I had not practiced by myself since I arrived at the hostel and it was just what I needed. I lit my candle and practiced gratitude as the sun went down. After an hour or so I heard my phone start buzzing. This is what I received:

These insane txts made my day.

After dinner the adults hung out for a bit. Yen shared her intentions of volunteering at the Lost River Hostel. She hopes to one day open a healing center/hostel/retreat. Being so passionate about all kinds of healing techniques she wants to have a center where people can come to heal and meditate. She believes food, herbs, and yoga can save the soul. I am fascinated with Yen because she has found such a beautiful balance in life. She is not calm until everything, I mean everything, is clean, yet she meditates whenever she gets the chance. We could all be sitting around talking sharing stories and she will listen while she practices her yogi breath. She realizes what she needs in life to feel bliss everyday. Everyday yes, but not all day every day. I appreciate her attitude so much because she is conscious of the good and the bad. Dealing with the bad and being grateful for the good. At least once a day she expresses her gratitude for a specific moment or meal.

The night ended with everyone goofing around the kitchen. We learned how to play hot potato from Li. We searched and searched for the perfect item to play with. Finally we came to our senses and used a potato. Hot potato was getting too loud so we tried cold potato. Li was making it up as we went. It turned into the silent game where the loser is the first one to laugh. Alley lost immediately, and then so did the rest of us.