the storycorps interview is here!

[Approximate video running time: 40 minutes]

NOTE: If you would prefer to download an audio-only mp3 version of the interview (in order to burn to CD or upload to an iPod), right-click on this link to access the save options.

First of all, heaping amounts of gratitude are in order. Sharing this interview is only happening because we had some help. And have we mentioned how excited we are to share this with you?!

Our StoryCorps experience would not have been possible were it not for the orchestrations and masterful maneuverings of God. Christianne and I really and truly mean that; we are both incredibly humbled that God chose us for this experience and that we have the opportunity to share it with you. If you don't know the story, I'll give you the abridged verson. It happened like this ...

Thanks in part to an unrelenting double-tall soy latte addiction, Kirsten makes a totally impulse purchase at Starbucks of the Listening is An Act of Love Gift Set. She falls in love with it and writes a blog post about it to share it with those she loves. She even gives a copy away to another lucky blogger. Marisa in marketing at StoryCorps finds said blog post and informs Kirsten they've linked to it on their own website. Cool!

Fast forward about four weeks. Marisa follows up on Kirsten's original post and finds Christianne's comments, sees that Christianne lives near Orlando. StoryCorps will be in Orlando to record interviews January 10 through February 2; would Christianne be interested in participating?

Okay, now rewind a little bit. At the beginning of December, Kirsten bought a plane ticket to go visit Christianne from January 29 through February 2 (which, in addition to being an insanely good deal, works perfectly with Christianne's and Kirk's schooling schedule). E-mails exchanged between Florida and New York and Washington state with all sorts of excitement brimming over our this most unforeseen opportunity. Would we like to interview one another?

Um ... YES!!!!

And that, in a nutshell, is how it came about. We could not have pulled this all together if we tried and are ridiculously grateful that the opportunity was handed to us as it was. So it is with utter humility, profound thanksgiving, and much prayer we share this with you, asking only that it go forth and bless our friends and whomever else might find it. God is big and He is great. And so we surrender this as offering of love, for Him to do with as He will.

We sincerely hope you are blessed in listening.

A special thank you to Christianne, who spent hours upon hours on her Mac in an intensive labor of love to put it together in the video format for you. We are so happy to share with you not only from our interview, but with photos of the beautiful time we spent together. We desire for you, our readers, to feel included in this since our relationship was reforged in your company.

And a very, very special and large thank you to our friend, Biola alum, and fellow honors program survivor Sean, who is not only a good friend, but a very tech-savvy and generous guy who is hosting our interview in the mp3 format and who has been so encouraging and supportive in this process. Thank you Sean, from the bottom of our hearts, not only for offering up your technological know-how, but for listening and encouraging us.

So without further ado ... enjoy the interview, friends. We are so proud to share it with you. We know that this does not belong to us: feel free to share the love.

blessings & peace ~ c & k

christianne & kirsten: the storycorps sessions

It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for! Christianne and I are very eager to share our StoryCorps experience with you by allowing those of you who have a desire to listen to our interview of each other while we were together in Orlando.

But we have a quandary: we’ve been deliberating over the best and most convenient means of delivering the interview to you, but there are pros and cons to each. That is where you come in.

We’ve identified the following possible means to ensure that everyone who wants to has a chance to hear the interview and want to know what you would prefer:

Full-Length Interview Posted Online
We can post the full-length interview so that you can listen to it from a link available online.
PROS: You can listen to the full-length interview in the comfort of your own home, at your convenience.
CONS: Being 40 minutes in length, it means a commitment of time for you to sit in front of your computer to listen to the audio.

Interview Snippets Posted Online
We can break down the interview into more digestible pieces (5-8 minutes in length) and post them in succession.
PROS: Not as big of a time commitment to listen to the whole interview at once.
CONS: Losing continuity of the conversation we shared.

Mailing a Full-Length CD
We have burned several copies of the interview to CD and would be happy to mail them to you.
PROS: You have a hard copy of the interview for yourself so you can hear our voices whenever you please!
CONS: Time and expense. We’ll have to collect everyone’s names and addresses, so there will be a bit of a wait as we collect this information and mail it to you.

So now it’s your turn to provide us with some input! You’ll notice that at the top of the sidebar at the right, there’s a poll where you can choose which means you would prefer. Feel free to leave any additional comments or ideas in the comments section of this post. Please provide your input by 6 p.m. (PST) on Monday, February 11.

We are really thrilled to be able to share this with you! Thanks for helping us determine how we can best accomplish this. We will certainly do our best to ensure it is as convenient and accessible as possible for everyone.

StoryCorps van photo by kirsten.michelle

transcendent

Deep. Special. Amazing. Blessed. Grateful. Sacred. Thank you.

These are all words that were common to my vocabulary this past week, words which only scratch the surface of what Christianne and I experienced. For women who have identified their calling to be writers in this world, it is amazing how often we were rendered incapable of speech this week; how many times the experiences we shared transcended language.

We had both been in prayer for this week long before I got on the plane, asking God to make it what He would have it to be. He did. Every moment was rich and dripping with divine blessing. There were a few plans in place, but mostly we left our time open to the movement of the Holy Spirit. And He moved. There were tears, there was laughter. There was conversation and there was silence. There was joy and grief and amazement. There were extended hands and open arms.

And there was always a deep and abiding love.

I am certain that I've never experienced friendship like this before; there is a deep and hidden place in my heart that only she may occupy. How rare and beautiful a gift; I hold it close. I hold her as dear. On a day when cloaked and hidden things rose to the surface of our hearts and spilled out of our lips, we were there to minister to one another; to tend to those tender and most vulnerable places.

I imagine that in the coming days and weeks, we will allow our shared and individual experiences from this week to sink into our bones and flesh, to allow them become a part of who we are in a deep and visceral way. Though I look forward to sharing from our time together, there are some things that I may continue to ponder in my own heart, to hold as sacred and secret for a time, much like Mary did when she received the news that the Messiah would make her womb His home.

It was a privilege to share these days with you, Christianne; to be in your home, share meals with you, to hold your hands and be at the center of your embrace; to laugh and to cry and to pray with you; to entrust each other with places in our hearts that we have been in the habit of hiding away. To share our story in the StoryCorps van; to dance and play at the seashore; to speak affectionately to alligators and our breakfasts. To share life itself.

Until we meet again, friend; I hold you in that place in my heart, the place reserved only for you. There is always a place for you here. Love to you.

NOTE: To see some photos from our week together, click on the link of Florida pics below my profile information. Enjoy!

a thrilling & unexpected turn of events!!

See how my socks have been knocked off?? And they're not just any socks. They're the cozy, supersoft green ones with a blue star on the side. Not just anyone or anything can knock these socks off.

So much has been transpiring in my little corner of the world lately, I hardly know what to do with myself. I feel like the fact that I possess a body and that those pesky laws of gravity just won't let up are the only things contributing to the sad reality that I'm not orbiting the stars at this very moment.

Thank you all -- each and every one of you -- for sharing your hearts and thoughts in your comments on my previous post. You've touched me, moved me, and inspired me immeasurably. Honestly and sincerely. To brand new visitors and those of you who have been here from day one, and to everyone in between. You own words have made me excited, giddy, and wanting to spend a small fortune buying plane tickets to give each of you big hugs in person. It's so exciting to me to be witness to the ways in which my own story intersects and resonates and rings with yours. And I love that you allow me a bleacher seat to see what's going on in your worlds, too. I consider myself ridiculously blessed these days.

Deep breaths now ... I have some very exciting news to share with you!

About a month ago, one innocent little blogger [that would be me] shared with her audience about a wonderful gift she stumbled upon at Starbucks one day: the StoryCorps Listening is An Act of Love boxed gift set (see original post here). Not long after the post was published, I received an e-mail from Marisa, a marketing & communications coordinator at StoryCorps thanking me for sharing the news about StoryCorps and the book and letting me know that they had linked back to my blog from their website. Too cool, right?!

Now wait. It gets better.

Today, Christianne and I had the good fortune of receiving an e-mail from Marisa letting us know that she had found Christianne's blog through my own and that StoryCorps was going to be in Orlando -- just a hop, skip, and a jump away. There is a book-reading event on January 12 and the mobile recording booth will be stationed in Orlando from January 10 through February 2.

You might also remember from yet another post that I will be visiting Christianne in Florida from January 29 - February 2.

What?! HOLD. THE. PHONE.

Allow me to do that math for you. It seems that in a beautiful twist of events, the following has transpired: I secured an amazingly good deal on a round trip plane ticket from Seattle to Orlando, for dates which also happen to work well with Christianne's school schedule. We're both deeply passionate about story and have fallen in love with the work StoryCorps is doing in particular, both desiring to be involved with that work. During the time I'll be there, it just so happens that StoryCorps is going to be there, recording people's stories. And we've been invited to participate in our own mobile booth recording session.

Thank you both for your very kind words of encouragement and support. I'm very excited for you to interview together in Orlando. If you are unable to get a spot by calling on the morning of 1/11, email or call me and I will see what I can do. We will get you in there!

I've been squealing since I found out [and I am not normally the squealing type]; we most certainly could not have orchestrated or coordinated all this so perfectly ourselves. I've lost track of how many times I've used the phrase over the moon today [those words are not a regular part of my vocabulary]. I am blissed and blessed, my socks are knocked off [see photo above]. It all seems incredibly surreal.

I can't help but think this is only the beginning of something big and amazing for us both; that somehow God is at work directing our paths as we surrender ourselves and our gifts to Him [as the One who gave them in the first place], using our collective love for story while simultaneously weaving us into the great and glistening fabric of His own.

fabulous green socks on my bed photo by kirsten.michelle

If you're at all interested in StoryCorps & the wonderful work they're up to, I encourage you to find one of the links in this post or on my sidebar and take a listen. You'll be moved, I promise. Please support the work they do & if so inclined, share the love and tell others about it too!

everyone has a story to tell

Have you all heard of StoryCorps?

StoryCorps was founded by Dave Isay, a familiar voice to NPR listeners. StoryCorps began with the simple idea that everyone has an important story to tell. With that in mind, Dave Isay and his StoryCorps teams traveled the country to small towns and large cities with mobile recording booths collecting the stories of everyday Americans from a variety of generations, backgrounds, and walks of life.

The Listening is an Act of Love Deluxe Gift Collection (which includes a hardback book, an audio CD with ten selected stories, and a companion book with few ideas on how to collect stories of your own) caught my eye at Starbucks the other day. I perused the description on the back of the box. Hmm. It made me think of Christianne and her work collecting the stories of hospice patients. I turned it over in my hands, intrigued, but left without purchasing it. This morning that I went back and purchased my own copy.

I listened to the CD when I got to work, barely able to contain my tears. These people are your friends, your grandparents, your neighbors; they are in line with you at the grocery store, they sit in the row behind you at church. And they all have remarkable stories to tell if only someone will ask and listen. There are stories from the Great Depression, from the ER, from military wives, from teenagers, from young couples, and from those who have enjoyed years beyond their golden anniversaries. There are stories of loss and of separation, stories of first loves, the deaths of parents, the loss of children. There are stories from Hurricane Katrina, from 9/11, from the trenches in the Middle East. A common thread of love runs through them all. You don’t need to know the people to be moved by the stories they tell.

It made me think of blogging and how those of us in this sphere are essentially writing our own stories as we move through our lives. It made me think of how our stories connect, and how that connection is a seed from which community grows. We all have stories. And I think we all want our stories to be validated somehow; we want to share them, we want them not to be forgotten. We use them to connect with one another in this virtual blogging space.

Especially at this time of year, I’m mindful of how I can be most generous with those I love. It has nothing to do with how much I spend, how big the box is, or how long I spent in line waiting to purchase it. I think the gift of listening to the stories of the lives around me is a gift. Validating their stories and our stories together. I think of the stories my grandparents have told, and how sad it would be if they were lost. I think of my parents’ stories, of my siblings’ stories. I’m inspired to collect their stories, to really listen, to record them, to write them down. To ask the thoughtful questions. After hearing some of these stories, I cannot think of a better gift.

So this is what I’m going to do to spread the love (thanks to Blue Mountain Mama for this wonderful idea): I’m purchasing an extra copy of this book/CD set. I'm going to send the extra set to one lucky reader. Leave a comment here by Saturday the 15th. I’ll drop all the names into a bowl and pull one out on Sunday. I’ll send it to you (most likely after the holiday mailing rush has passed), and then you can enjoy it too.

Merry Christmas, all! May the gift of Love be yours.


NOTES:
** If interested, you can purchase a copy of the book or the audio CD from Amazon.com.

For a sampling of stories, you can go directly to the StoryCorps website and click on “Listen to Stories” to hear 2-3 minute snippets of StoryCorps’ work. If you're anything like me, you'll get addicted to these moving first-hand narratives!

P.S. Check it out! Click here and scroll down to "On the Blogs". Too cool!