About Me, How to Say My Name, and Shalom

Hello lovely and welcome to my blog!

My name is Osheta.  It’s pronounced, “O-she-da” and even though it’s unique as all get-out—I have a love/hate relationship with my name. Other than, “girl with a really imaginative dad”—it doesn’t mean anything.  My name reminds me of his twenty years in the Marines and his tour in Okinawa where he fell in love with the Japanese language. But get this: while my name sounds Japanese…I’m not Japanese.

I’m an African-American, suburbanite Texan who fell in love with urban core development in New Orleans when we moved into an under-resourced neighborhood.  Since then, we’ve evacuated New Orleans when Katrina hit, my husband finished seminary and now serving at a church in Los Angeles.

I’m  a stay at home mom whose ten-year plan had me comfortably settled in a law firm on the partner track, not settled at a messy kitchen table keeping track of an urban minister’s tight budget. And until I married my white husband, I didn’t listen to rap music, know the difference between Tupac and Snoop Dogg, or watch BET.

But you know what? Living at the intersections of so many seemingly contrary ideas and identities has helped me confidently embrace the “middle”: the gray space where most of us reside, but constantly feel tugged to be either/or.  I’ve learned life and people are messy—it’s all too complex to pigeon-hole as this or that. So, I’ve grown to love being in the middle.

And this space… “Shalom in the City” is where I’ll write my journey as a woman in the middle. Starting with my favorite word:

Shalom:

Shalom is the Hebrew word for peace; it is a multi-directional concept of relational wholeness between us and the earth, each other, and God.

Also, “Shalom” is a  common greeting and farewell book-ending interactions with a hope for God’s best and his harmony. I love it. I wanna live in it and let it surround  blog post I write.

I’m an Anabaptisty Kingdom-minded woman who can’t help but talk about Jesus.  An urban pastor’s wife living in the suburbs, a black mama navigating race conversations, a peacemaker who struggles with letting her gentleness be evident to all, and when I clean house, I practice Shalom with a Swiffer.  When my daughter got her ears pieced for the first time, I got my nose pierced and for Lent a couple years ago, I celebrated 40 days of peace by getting a dove tattoo.

When I’m not writing here,  I’m combining my passion for Jesus, justice. and jewelry as a  Noonday Ambassador.

I believe everything is better after a nap, brunch with girlfriends is a necessity, and nothing beats a good Netflix binge.  I think going to the library by myself is a luxury, Sunday worship is soul-nourishing, and butter popcorn tastes better with red wine.

I’m a contributor at SheLoves and a Deeper Story story-teller. I’ve been featured on ReKnew and although I’m not Mennonite, I’m a syndicated  MennoNerd.

So, thanks for stopping by! I’m excited to know you better.  I love hearing from you so comments and emails make me happy.  My email address is osheta (at) gmail (dot) com.

I hope you follow “Shalom in the City” and get ready for it to get really real in your inbox.

And this is my really real, y’all:

I am broken.

Broken, but being made whole.

Yours Because We’re His,