Faith and Freedom

Happy Saturday!!

This weekend is Faith and Freedom weekend for Human Trafficking Awareness Month, so our house has been going to a lot of different interfaith activities since Thursday evening. We have not only been able to learn about more spiritual traditions, but look at social justice through the lens of another faith, and it's been a refreshing experience so far.

Thursday evening we went to a Seder in honor of the anti-human trafficking movement. While Seders are usually held during Passover in the Spring, this one included many traditional elements as well as special quotes and readings related to modern-day slavery. We learned about the traditional foods of the Seder, and while ours was a "reader's digest version," it was still very moving. We also enjoyed a dinner of traditionally Jewish foods, and as JVs got to bring home the leftovers- I just had a lovely cup of motzah ball soup for lunch!

Friday, we didn't have a specific faith and freedom event, but the theme still fit the evening- freedom! It was so great to be able to relax, hang out, and watch a movie (Dirty Dancing- Anne Jordan, I think of you every time). We went to the refresqueria across the street from our house, which is kind of like a corner store and restaurant combined. Rachel had some really good nachos and I got a licuado, which is somewhere in between a smoothie and a milkshake. Mine was strawberry, so delicious! The family who runs the refresqueria is so sweet, and while I couldn't actually communicate with them, it was so great to find somewhere so close to our house to get a good, cheap snack. I passed out on the couch not long after 10 PM... I was a little tired.

This morning, we got up and drove to the Memorial part of the city, where we went to "Flow for Freedom," a yoga practice and meditation focused on anti-human trafficking efforts. It was a little bit humid for outdoor yoga, even at 9, but it was a great way to start the day, and the bagels after were delicious, as well as the fair-trade tea! After yoga and breakfast, we continued our very stereotypically "kashi granola-crunch" day and went to the new Trader Joe's in Houston! It opened yesterday, and we were so very excited to see what they had to offer.

I'm still not over the ability to buy alcohol somewhere other than a state store, and I was finally able to partake in the infamous "2-buck Chuck," the Charles Shaw wine for $2 (it's actually $2.99) per bottle. We got a few little treats for the house, and have had such a lovely, relaxing afternoon. This is one of the first Saturdays that we've been able to enjoy the whole day to ourselves with electricity and air conditioning, and I have really enjoyed the freedom to do things like catch up on TV that I missed this week and just curl up in my bed with my book.

We're heading to the gym for a quick workout before we get our plans together for the night, and I have some pretty serious grading and planning to do before Monday morning hits, but I'm hoping that we can still find some time to blow off some steam tonight and go out for an hour or two- though I do want to catch Mumford and Sons on SNL tonight!

Tomorrow will be the usual Sunday errands, Mass, and a quick Torchy's tacos trip thrown in. I do like our Sunday routine a lot, but it's been so nice to have Saturday to relax and do what we want to do!