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Tara in Real Life

I called a church recently on a conciliation-related matter and I was blessed by the most fun conversation with the church secretary. After I introduced myself (and asked for the pastor), it started out something like this:

“Tara Barthel? Tara? Barthel?” (Yes.) “You’re a real person!?” (Smiling. Yes.) “We just did your video series and we loved it! I can’t believe I’m speaking with you in real life.” (Well, I’m super happy to get to meet you too. And yes, I’m a real person. My three year-old just came in, climbed on my lap, and spilled something all over me …)

What a nice way to start the day. I love friendly church secretaries! They really set the tone for the entire church. Plus, they are a storehouse of important information related to church conflicts. I can’t imagine any experienced mediator going into a conflicted church and not talking to the church secretary. And the janitor.

But I digress. Back to the reason I titled this post “Tara in Real Life” …

For the first time in 8+ years and 3,551 posts, I am actually so thoroughly engaged in my real life at home that I haven’t been blogging much. I don’t know what to say beyond that except that:

  • Fred and I are very grateful for the sweet season we are currently in. Life is full of ups and downs, suffering and joy. And right now, other than my missing my mother very much, we are not currently persevering through any major griefs or trials. This could change at any moment, of course, so we are not grabbing onto it. But we are enjoying it.
  • God has been orchestrating some very interesting and redemptive things in our lives in the last few weeks and this is amazing and scary and comforting all at once. Mostly, it is simply good. And we are grateful. We are also having intentional times of quiet, reflection, prayer, study, seeking counsel, and conversation. Again, all good. But not conducive to much productivity in the slightly-strange two-dimensional world of the internet.
  • I will be traveling out of state the next three weekends … so airplane and airport time might allow me the margin to catch up on things online and process things here on the blog too. So if I had to guess, I’ll be back into more normal patterns before too long. But just in case, I encourage you to keep an eye on Challies and Aquila. (Two of my favorite sites for reading interesting things.)

 
Lastly, on the point of “real life” … I’ve been meaning to let you know that I still have a few openings for Fall 2013 events. So if you’ve ever thought about having me out to your community for a women’s event “in real life,” this year might be a great one. Our family has no set speaker fee (although honoraria are always greatly appreciated) . We just ask you to cover my travel/lodging, etc. expenses. (We do have highways and airline flights in Montana, but not very many. 🙂 )

You can read all about having me out to serve at your event (and submit an event inquiry) here.

Thanks, all!

Gratefully,
Tara B. 

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