red white and blue

Hi Friends.

Peace to you all in this August, ever the month of transition. I love you all, I am glad to have heard about your summers so far, and the prospect of seeing you is making me truly look forward to returning to school.

At the beginning of July, I went out to Cornerstone Festival in Illinois with my family and lots of friends. This was, sadly, the very last Cornerstone. There was one evening where I took a walk around the midway, gleaming in the night with local food trucks and bustling with people eating, playing frisbee or listening to one of the 3 or 4 different styles of music coming out of as many tents. I cried that this had to be the end. Cornerstone embodies everything I love about being a believer in God- community, the arts, prayer, and the respectful and beautiful balance of silly and sacred. We were all sad to say goodbye to it. But at the same time, those things are rooted in God and can be found elsewhere. At that moment in the midway it seemed to me that Cornerstone is a seed that has to die for many other awesome things to sprout up- things inspired by it and informed by the its culture. At the end of the festival was an impromptu rallying-up of almost all 5,000 people as we made a funeral procession for a boat (representing Cornerstone) and burned it on the lake and sang hymns! (The silly/sacred thing comes in here.) It was so sad, but so wonderful. Oh joy. I'll tell you more about it later. Here are some photos from that experience.

Fourth of July!

Chloe became a believer four years ago at Cornerstone, so we sang Happy Birthday!

My two older sisters and me in the midway.

My parents.

That last photo is from before the fest, with our friends the Ottos at the farm in Gridley, Illinois. 

From there everyone else went home- to Lancaster, Philadelphia, or Texas- and my parents and younger siblings William and Maggie and I went out west. This is a trip that my dad had had in the works for at least ten years. We traveled through Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and into California. I saw and experienced lots of new things, including:

1) Arid climates

2) Desert

3) The whole "route 66" thing

4) Cactus plants

5) Ranches

6) The Pacific Ocean

7) Oil fields

8) REAL burrito and taco opportunities

and I was glad to become a little bit familiar with more of our country. It was a rough time for me emotionally, though, and I was relieved to come home to Lancaster. (I can tell you more about that, and about my return home as well, later on!) Here are some photos from that end of the trip.

Strange film but happy smiles in New Mexico!

Oil fields of wonder + the squirrel 

Texas.

This was at a street market in San Luis Obispo, California.

A huge highlight for me was staying at the Bradleys' cabin in the piney, magical Sedona, Arizona. Falling asleep to the sound of a creek and waking up to a view of a canyon! My family and I still oooh and aaaah over that experience. Thanks so much Sarah!

Post-trip, I've been trying to spend time with people as much as possible before I leave again. That has been very special. I also have been trying to prepare myself for RAing again (if that's possible.) This summer's been a time of thinking a lot and processing and struggling through necessary thoughts and problems, and not necessarily finding all my questions answered. I think that God has shown me more the importance of scripture and of giving up my endless worries to him when I'm being engulfed by them. This summer has also been a time of enjoying life in a new and free way that I have not been used to, which is a blessing. Fake tattoos, biking around the city, Settlers of Catan, doing dishes, being ok with sleeping in.

Again, can't wait to talk to you girls more about our summers and fill in all the blanks for each other. It'll be so good to see you in a few weeks. Lots of love,
Hannah B.

I Wanna Dance With Somebody

Hello ladies! Tis a fine night in Wenham-- the sunset was like "cotton candy," as a fellow staff member put it. Bettina, one of the junior counselors, and I were trying to start a water balloon battle but the fun was ruined when a big group of our staff opted to go see the new "Batman" instead. But no worries, I had great success in starting a water balloon fight a couple weeks ago, although it evolved from water balloons to cups of water to full pitchers of soapy water:) It was definitely the highlight of the summer so far.

Being the Adventure Camp chef has been such a blessing. Every day is so rewarding, between the hours of dinner prep and the satisfaction of sitting down to a meal with such a rambunctious crowd at the end of a long day. One of the best parts is when people start dancing spontaneously in the kitchen during kitchen duty. My Romanian pop has been a big hit, and just yesterday evening we were doing the "Cha Cha Slide" during dinner prep. It was pretty chaotic.

The picture above is the Giant Swing, my favorite Adventure Camp activity. You're pulled up 50 ft by the rest of the group, where you then pull a cord and swing back and forth through the trees! Oh it's so much fun! Sarah did it for the first time today and she was cringing the whole time, her eyes  shut tightly as she squeezed the rope. I love seeing people's reactions.

A group of us had a cookout at Gull on the 4th, complete with roasting brats over a fire, reading historical speeches from atop the picnic table, and noodle hockey. I'm really thankful for this opportunity to be apart of a new community and get to know people I never would have met otherwise. Everyone has different eccentricities that come together to make one lively and vibrant community. But it's definitely not perfect.

 Sarah was ready for action, bringing out her wild, mischevious side that we all know *wink wink*

 Sarah and I spent one Saturday evening in Rockport and then ate dinner at the Lobster Poole, where it's BYOB:) We then witnessed a splendid sunset at Plum Cove Beach. We shared our life stories over lobster rolls and hard cider. I think we learned a great deal about each other that we did not know after these three years at Gordon together. I have enjoyed our pillow talks and sharing with one another about the different challenges we're facing in our respective positions. I'm learning just how much wisdom and discernment is necessary when striving to be a good leader. There is so much to take into consideration-- disciplinary measures, the line between treating people like children and treating them like adults, when to be firm and when to be understanding, etc. I'm learning to be a better communicator and to be more honest in the moment rather than hiding my frustrations.

I'm not looking forward to the summer ending and being torn from yet another community in which I've begun to put roots down, but I'm excited to be returning to the wild and wonderful, spunky and spontaneous community that is YOU LADIES! We should start a bucket list for our final year at Gordon... I hope all of you are being stretched and filled up in this summer before our final year. I've thoroughly enjoyed reading about everyone's adventures.

Much love from Gordon.

sage, SAGE!

Schmello all my dear and wonderful friends! Guess what - I'm all done! My farm-hopping, road-tripping extravaganza has come to an end, and alas, I am back in gloomy (truly) California. It seems as if June Gloom has decided to linger for a while, and thus we are lacking sunshine and heat. What a world. I hope those of you caught in the heat wave are staying cool and have no problems with power outages, lack of air conditioning, etc.!

My trip was excellent. I feel as if I've learned so much and I just don't know what to do with all of it! Every place was so different and I'm so thankful to have had the opportunity to be apart of this! I think I'll break it down into weeks to make this a bit easier:

Week 1: I drove up to Canada and stayed with the Keesmat-Walsh family on their homestead in Ontario. They had a rather large piece of land with a nice sized garden, a hay field, a barn (for two horses and some ducks), a chicken coop full of chickens that had some genetic disorder which caused them to have bare bums, barn cats and new kittens (!), beef cattle and a very nice dog named Shadow. The family was so great (they greeted me with a cup of earl grey!), and so were all the interns at the house. With Sylvia, a professor of Neensy's in Belize, we talked all about the history of the relationship between man and land, and she gave me a slightly overwhelming bibliography of titles to catch up on. Sylvia and her husband Brian have two daughters, and their 13-year old, Lydia, and I got a long very well. I'm hoping to visit them again soon!

Week 2: From Canada, I drove to New York and stayed at an empty farmhouse for  a night before driving on to Camden, NJ. This was probably the most difficult week of my trip. Camden is a low-income neighborhood just across the river from Philly, with lots and lots of environmental issues. The city receives a ton of sewage from surrounding counties daily which really affects the community there. I met up with a lady named Andrea who is doing some really great things as the employee of the Center for Environmental Transformation. There are a few gardens around the city, but she mostly works in a small garden in a community park, and in a greenhouse with some students after school.  She's very different from anyone I've encountered before and our discussions about violence in the community, ecofeminism, and a lot of other variables really challenged me. Sometimes it's hard not to feel the weight of the world when you're learning about so many of the injustices that take place each and every day. While there, I got to sit in on a meeting with the Department of Environmental Transformation which was pretty cool. 

Week 3: From Camden, I drove down to Annapolis to meet up with a certain, wonderful someone for the night! Woo! Nina met me at his house and we caravan-ed to Virgina the next morning. I'm so thankful for her, goodness. After a couple weeks of meeting new people in new places, it was nice to have a bit of familiarity to be, unpack, and think with. I was at her home for a day or so before she gave me directions to Shalom. There, I stayed in a Thoreau-ish cabin with Shalom's intern (Lauren), swam in a river in my underwear, read some Wendell Berry, drove stick-shift, and ate lots of blackberries! Steve, le farmer, is really, really great. I wish I had another month or two to really sit down and talk to him, rack his brain about theology, community, the church, and other hot topics. Neens came to volunteer a couple days while I was there and together, in the heat, we had some breakdown and crises, haha! But it was all really great to say the least. 

Week 4: This began with an extended weekend back at the Voli place, from whence I drove down to North Carolina. This was the greatest place to end my internship. Dave was my supervisor for the week and he and his wife (both Gordon grads) are so, so great! Dave was super intentional about making sure my last week was meaningful by giving me space to ask and discuss some major questions that the last few weeks had prompted. Everyone else at the garden was super great and, again, I wish I could have stayed for another month. There's so much to tell still, but I don't really know what else to say.

I'm back in California with these muffins, feeling restless and trying to keep myself occupied. Suburbia is weird. Can't wait to be with you all again soon! I hope that summer is shaping out to be excellent for all of you ladies. Miss you lots!

xoxo

HV

In waffle ball one eats waffles

Summer greetings from the place we know and love.

Gordon is shining fresh and clean after a long day of heavy rain and thunderstorms. The night air is cool and refreshing and this evening the clouds broke for some lovely sun and even... a rainbow! These past few days have been hot and humid so the cool front is welcome by all.

(above: a friendly game of "waffle ball". In "waffle ball" one eats waffles.)

Genny and I are both learning many things and working hard. Genny has successfully figured out how to feed twenty-eight spry young adults in a kitchen without a working oven or stove-top (there was a bit of a malfunction last week in Conrad). I have been learning things like "hashtag," and who Miley Cyrus is engaged to (Liam Hemsworth), and how to get a group of high schoolers to be ready to lead and interact with a party of middle schoolers.

Training has just finished here at Adventure Camp and I must confess, though it has been fun, I am very much relieved. It will be nice to be able to sit back and get into the routine of things and not be quite so involved with extra planning and presentations of material I really don't know very well.
But, we have made it through--camp starts Monday and the staff is ready to go!

 (Above: In "waffle ball", there are no bases, home is the only safe spot and its the batter against everyone else--the batter doesn't make the home "plate" very often). 

(Above: In "waffle ball" any hit counts, as long as it doesn't fall in back of you. If the ball hits you as you run through the field, you're out! [holding and tackling is acceptable, along with thwapping noodles])

Genny and I miss you all greatly--we have enjoyed reading the posts as they come! 

Much love,
"Brad dog"

P.S.
Will send along a picture of the geese families. The goslings have reached adolescent years. I'm afraid it's rather an awkward time for them, but they're still adorable.

This is crunch week. Why?

a. I made homemade granola for the first time: as HannahVee and I have begun to say, I luh it.
b. Its the final week of the wonderful-inspiring-academically-challenging-Scientific-Enterprise.

For the most part, I say that seriously. Its been a good class for sure. A little dry at times, but several honest conversation/discussions in class more than made up for that. Usually I don't speak in classes such as these, particularly when there are many outspoken people (which there were a few in this class). But one day I had about 3 cups of coffee and we were talking about climate change and environmental stewardship and I started jumping right in in terms of discussion. The passion button was turned on. I even recited a quote to the class, haha. It's a quote by James Speth that has been a constant guide to me as I've thought about creation care:

I used to think the top environmental problems facing the world were global warming, environmental degradation, and eco-system collapse.. but I was wrong. The real problem is not those three items, but greed, selfishness and apathy. And for that we need a spiritual and cultural transformation.”

It reminds me that people of faith, and the way of life they choose to embody, can change things in significant ways.
Kind of nice that my May term class ended up continuing to fuel the things I learned in Belize. The things I am currently learning...

If I may, I'll take a brief detour to recap the past month.

Part I: HannahVee and I take on life in Ferrin headfirst, making it our home for a few weeks. Obsessive composting, repurposing, putting up clotheslines, the cutting of hair, the breaking of bread, and the hosting of funerals for birds are a few of the things that made us the strangefolk of summer housing. Props to the magnificent Jess Hunkler who both provided the clothesline and joined in our strangeness these weeks.

Part IIa: Hannah departs and I'm left all alone with my lettuce plant (which, by the way, is my first attempt at growing food, and has blessed me with many delicious leaves thus far!). Just kidding about the alone part... stretches of solitude have been nice, healing to say the least. Plus, a last-minute babysitting job, trips to Marty's with random summer-housing friends, farming, tea with Jess, and plenty of homework more than filled my time for this part.

Part IIb: Mom visits! This deserves special mention. I was so thrilled that my mom was able to take off work and come spend the weekend with me, and moreso that all my homework was CANCELLED for the weekend, that I decided to go all out. I called it a last-minute mother's day gift, planned an itinerary for us, decorated the room, and used my surprise baby sitting money to treat her to some yummy foods. It was a great success!

I felt that the whole weekend served to not only draw us closer, but to help us to understand and communicate with each other better, something that's been a perrenial struggle in our relationship. One day we shared a lunch with farmers Ben and Devon, having an open and lengthy conversation about God, the earth, food and heaven. As most of you know, its hard to find words to describe these conversations, other than Good. But more than that, the next day we had a picnic just the two of us by the ocean in Beverly. We spent hours sitting in the grass and talking- about people, places, dreams, forgiveness. Friends, it was so Good.

Mom at "secret beach", a recent discovery

And that about brings me to the present. To share one more recent highlight from this week, I must mention swimming accross Gull with Sarah, Genny, and Alegra (its been a joy to cross paths with them here!). I'm pretty sure I speak for all of us when I say it was breathtaking. We were lost in the beauty of the blue sky, the lilly pads, the feeling of warm water and cold toes; not much talking, but more laughing was had by all. What a gift this place is. And what a gift it is to be here. I thank God that places like this exist.

Friends, I hope wherever you are, your heart has found itself uttering the same statement.

Love

It really IS Cupcake time!

Dear friends,

Thanks for writing and existing and being my friends. It means so much to me. It is Monday, June 4th. I've been in Lancaster, Pennsylvania for sixteen days. It feels like a bit more than that, because of buzz of activity that surrounds transition, but it's been mostly simple and enjoyable.

Aurelija was here for about a week. That was awesome. That woman is a wonder, I do declare. She's encouraging, compassionate and cheerful. I'd never had a friend from college come and stay with me before, and it was very rich! The unimaginable circumstance of returning home with someone from both of my semesters continually shocked and delighted me throughout those days.We did a lot of exploring of Lancaster and Philadelphia, on bikes and on feet. This had many highlights and was an exceptionally patriotic experience. Aurelija studied Benjamin Franklin this past term and thought it was cool that his name and legacy are printed all over the city of Philadelphia. Then we met up with my family at my grandparents' in southern NJ for Memorial Day. Something that you should know about my family is that we LOVE Memorial day. This is some of us at the ice cream stand, Hudock's- sorry it's blurry.

On top: Maggie. Then, me and Eliza. Then, Aurelija, William and Katie. On the bottom: Uncle Thomas, Ben, Dad, Mom. (That's right, my dad is wearing a bucket hat in this photo. And about three minutes ago he was carrying our small dog, Star, around in his hoodie so that it looked like he had two heads).

I was blessed by being with Aurelija for sure. My time here has indeed been mostly pleasant, but I've had a few really hard days, still dealing with the break-up and depressing thoughts. Aurelija was always so uplifting and such a godsend. And as I've started working and have been relatively busy, I have been able to feel ok. But working through stuff will just have to be a part of the summer, I guess. I appreciate your prayers! Please pray specifically for patience and forgiveness.

My occupation this summer is spending three days a week with a girl and a boy who are nine and seven. I am their babysitter. They rock. I have learned at least three important babysitting lessons already: avoid 'The Game of Life" at all costs; seek out animals to spend time with; don't touch the animals. On the days that I don't explore, read, cook, eat, and run around with them, I'll be working on projects, which will be a lot of... reading, cooking, eating, and running around. Oh!- and Music! Also, I'm currently painting my room yellow. Scattered, but content. Family, friends.

To kick-start the summer, Lancaster has The Red Rose Run. It is a five-mile loop in the hot sun on a Saturday morning, complete with a rock band and boxes of oranges. I didn't register because I am a cheapskate, but I ran it, and gosh was it miserable! But, of course, it was awesome as well. Several friends and relatives ran it as well, which made it very sweet. This is a simply b-e-a-u-tiful photo of me and my little brother, close to death and not talking, as we stumbled toward the finish line, which was a few blocks away.

Sorry if that scarred you for life! This is WAY COOLER:

I couldn't end a post without noting my personal excitement as to the music world: there is a new Tallest Man on Earth single, heralding his upcoming June album. Also, there is a new mewithoutyou album coming out, and this is a song from it. 

I miss you all, friends. It will be extraordinarily lovely to be in your presences again soon. Until then, be well. Thanks for reading!

Yours,

Hannah B.

a heart overflowing, a brain of mush.

Friends! My Dear and Wonder- Full Friends,

How anxious I am to use this blog again as a means to keep each other posted on our summers! I was so pleasantly surprised to see miss Hannah Vee already jumping on the blogging band wagon, way to go dollface! Your posts make my heart smile.

Well, I have less than 2 hours of free time left and if I am honest - I hate to spend it on this computer so I am going to try and make this post speedy, yet worthwhile. So here goes:

Trip ended on Friday and I have been soaking up the little bit of free time we have. After much gear cleaning and what seemed like endless debriefing, the time was finally mine. I spent it moving into the dear red wolfjaw cabin, writing letters, talking to my mom, doing laundry at the laundromat! (I have a secret admiration of laundromats.. they seem so magical to me.), getting to know these fine friends who I will be working with all summer, and relaxing - I am hoping to get in some really good reading and thinking and writing before 5pm because my mind still feels a bit like mush. Last night I went to Nate Hausman's favorite pub with Tom, Rebecca (who were visiting!), Nate Mori, and Dan. It was such a delight. I felt a little bit like an after-thought invite but the time proved to be entirely worthwhile. Nate and I shared in such honest and genuine conversation and I walked away feeling so grateful once again for friends who live with such integrity. Somehow conversations with Nate Mori always refresh me in unexpected ways. Fortunately he is sticking around until about June 16th and that makes me so happy.

Beyond that, I finished my first trip as a Sherpa! CRAZY! My friends, it was crazy, absolutely crazy. We started out with 6 participants (3 boys, 3 girls) but one girl could not do the trip because of really specific dietary needs. In hindsight she was probably the most solid participant in the group and we were sad to see her go. So the 7 of us set out for the high peaks and the absurdities did not end until they got on the bus to go home. Imagine a group full of class clowns, and that is about what we were working with. We wrestled every day to have a serious conversation, we wrestled to get them to think, to get them to articulate thoughts that weren't jokes, we wrestled to get them to be quiet...we did a lot of wrestling. Even now Dan and I are unsure as to whether or not they are taking anything serious away from their experience, but we are praying that they are. Yes, we loved "our little darlings" as we called them in jest - but they were a challenge, a huge challenge. Dan and I wanted so badly to have good conversations, to talk about God and our purpose in the world, to bounce ideas off of each other and see them grow spiritually...and the reality is they just were not there. It was discouraging and tough, but we made it. We learned a lot along the way - and for that I am so grateful. I am grateful that I got to lead with Dan because  we really balanced each other out. Although we struggled to connect with out group, we were able to be on the same page as a sherpa pair almost effortlessly and that was so good. Not only that, but even though our group could not handle serious conversations, we were able to hike near each other and wrestle through some thoughts so our hunger for substantial discussions was not totally starved.

Some crazy things happened along the way: One night we got into camp and Nate Josephs was there doing some solo hiking! We got to camp with him two days in a row and Dan and I were incredibly thankful for the presence of normalcy in our chaotic trip. We took turns escaping to talk to  him when our group was driving us crazy. One day our participant almost died and I wish I was exaggerating. He slipped on wet moss and slid about 50 ft down a rock face, stopping himself on a sapling. By far it was the scariest thing I have ever witnessed. On finals day we almost lost our group. On solo one of our participants CAUGHT A BABY DEER AND PUT IT ON A LEASH. (Does this even sound like real life?) The boys in our group hiked in spandex and loin cloths (I was disgusted.. the day one of them put on real shorts I told him he looked good.. haha) The list goes on, I could tell you so much more.

The good thing is that the trip was so crazy that I feel more prepared for the rest of the summer. (Especially after hearing about how so many other trips were so relaxed and thoughtful and good.) So much learning is necessary but I am looking forward to growing and being stretched, even if it feels a little overwhelming. I am looking forward to calling base camp home, to living in this magical peaceful place for a time. (but I am hoping that rest is valued, I hear rumors of having little to no free time.)

Pray for me friends, pray that I would fix my thoughts completely on Christ as I feel rather disjointed. Our participants were very distracted and in some ways I too feel quite distracted these days. I long for presence of mind and wonder in the mundane. I long for deep thoughts and long conversations that edify me and make me a better human. I long for growth and wisdom, for love without restraint and questions without fear. This summer adventure is new and that is both enticing and terrifying. Pray that I would live well in each moment, that I would live faithfully and thoughtfully.

I am sorry this is scattered and quick but I have to get off of here. This computer screen is driving me crazy. I do hope you all are well and I cannot wait to hear from you!

Here's to today - find something to celebrate on this happy Sunday indeed, ok?

with a heart so full,
ashley