For you, wherever you are

A cup of tea, on this grey day.

love and miss all of you beauties.

xoxo

Han V.

lithuania is different but great

xo, all my friends.

hannah b.

We Look to New Horizons

I wanted to say one final goodbye as we all prepare to embark on different, yet glorious, adventures in beautiful places. I'm praying for each one of you, as I know we are all, or most of us maybe, in a place of uncertainty and nervous excitement, and maybe we have preconceived notions about what's to come but we really have no idea. However, we can be at peace with whatever circumstances we find ourselves, remembering:

For this God is our God for ever

and ever;

He will be our guide even to the end.

Psalm 48:14

august is among us my dear friends and i can hardly believe it! i have just read through all of the recent posts and feel so blessed to call you all my friends! Its hard to even start reflecting back on this summer as i begin to prepare for the fall! Recently most of my days have been filled with with sewing a few pairs of mittens, working a shift at Gap and bordering on a bit too much family time! I am loving working in our garden and i also helped my dad build a compost pile- which made me quite happy! I have been trying to keep myself busy despite the obvious lack of friends in the area and at church. But with that God has been teaching me a lot about being content and living Today for today! It is so easy for me to look back and see Gods hand or to look forward to the future and know the love and grace that God will bless me with. But so often i feel blinded to what God is doing today- so that has been a good challenge and lesson for me to focus on these past few weeks! here are a few photos from july! the garden, picking strawberries, outdoor theater production of the taming of the shrew with a dear friend and making some bread!

So these next few weeks i am looking forward to having my cousins visit, harvesting more fresh veggies from the garden, having my good friend from canada visit for a week and then preparing to drive out to boston with alegra! I am so excited for all of the exciting adventures that are in store for all of us this fall!

much much love to you all! c

Let's Turn This Place Into an Irish Pub!

In the last two weeks I believe I reached a junction where my summer went from being, honestly, pretty lonely to being the summer I had imagined in my mind. The transformation commenced with a visit from a couple from Israel that my Dad knows, and truly this was such an honor having them stay in our home for a few days. There names were Moshe (Moses!) and Eitana Oren. I loved every minute with them, learning about everything from Israeli education and the army to Shabbat and what goes on at the synagogue and, of course, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. We were reading Psalm 121 at breakfast one morning and upon recognizing the words began singing the Hebrew version they learned growing up! I found them to be very straightforward and honest people and they love to laugh and have a good time! After hearing all about their children and their experiences in the army (their youngest daughter, who is 18, enters the army this year and might train to be a pilot) I found my life to be so colorless and dull. They said their kids were taking turns hosting parties at their house every night while their parents were gone! Anyways, I know it was a blessing to me just to get to know them.

The day they left was particularly lonely, but everything has turned around since that day. I met three girls that are living in Bristol and interning for a Christian humanitarian organization based here. So far we've played a fun board game called "Ticket to Ride" and been out to the dam to watch the sunset and play ultimate frisbee ~ it's so nice to have a more lively social life once again. They are all very down to earth and non-intimidating, which is refreshing, and God is so merciful and good to provide their friendship in this time.

Yesterday was quintessentially summer for me - I met a friend from Gordon who happens to live in nearby Ashevill, NC and she told me about her experiences on the mission trip to India while we shared lunch, and then we walked around the Bele Chere festival downtown, an outdoor music and arts festival featuring local crafts, photography, jewelry, and plenty of street evangelists preaching messages of fire and brimstone. It was nice to be reunited with some Gordon kin and experience the free-spirited character of Asheville. That night my family went with some friends to a Scythian concert, and the experience could be likened to that of a rowdy Irish pub, without the booze of course, although there were several references to the beer-drinking section of the crowd. We were on our feet the whole time (they were very interactive), clapping, jumping and dancing to the rousing Celtic tunes and deep voices of Irishmen (actually they were Ukranian). It was SO MUCH FUN. I wish every day of summer ended with a live band and dancing.

The Lord is so good and I don't deserve his mercy. I'm slowly reading through the Old Testament, and I can only marvel at God's steadfast mercy towards the Israelites, even to this day, after all the moments he wanted to destroy them and their stiff-necked ways. I realize God is only seeking righteous people who will love Him with all their might and obey his commands, yet this is so incomprehensibly hard.

Love to you all on this beautiful day.

colorado isn't the only place with rocks. . .

MY SISTER NOW HAS ONE TOO!

(she and andy are engaged.)

they're getting married, people!

i'm the maid of honor.

my good friend matt is the best man.

it's going to be one big PARTY.

it might be happening as soon as november -

my mom is going a tad bit crazy.

i'm excited. (and let's be honest, a

little sad and nervous and nostalgic, too.)

(ok, they both might not like it if they saw this picture on the internet buuuuut, look how happy andy is! haha and let me tell you, he is so happy now too so i thought this did justice. haha this is them at nick's roast beef for the first time. my dad loves that place waaaaay too much.)

Moving on . . . I have not posted in a long time and for that I apologize. All of your posts however, are simply delightful as always.

Sarah, I do believe we are in a time machine! I am glad that I am not the only one who has felt crammed unwillingly into a time machine set on "as fast as possible." Seriously, almost August? Almost time to set out on all of our adventures? (and Nina and Claire, you are not left out of that! Every day is an adventure, my friends - and sometimes adventures in the midst of normalcy are the sweetest of all.)

Uh oh, I feel a ramble-y update coming on.

In most recent news, I just returned from Colorado! Friends it was lovely, breathtaking (quite literally and figuratively.), indescribable and oh so fun. I have been longing to go to Colorado for quite some time and finally being there was nearly magical. We spent the days hiking and exploring, two of my most favorite things. We saw the most magnificent sites and laughed as we crammed into my brother's little car. We went to a market and ate a lot of yummy food. We saw elk and snow cap mountains and the prettiest skies every day. One of my favorite moments was when Zach took me on a sunrise hike. I was nervous because I had never gone hiking in the dark before. (Zach hadn't either, and he was scared too though he tried not to show it.) But oh, it was lovely. We awoke at 3am, were on the trail by 3:40ish and reached the top just in time to see the sun cresting the horizon. About an hour and a half of our hike took place in the dark and oh my heart trembled. (especially when we passed a sign that warned us that "bear activity" was reported in the area a few weeks ago. I had zero desire to run into a bear in the dark.) I thought often of that verse in psalms, 'Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and light unto my path.' I told Zach about the chapel at Gordon, the one that shared how that verse means that God sheds light enough for one step, not enough to see down the whole path necessarily, but enough to take the next step. (because that's all we need, even though we argue otherwise time and time again.) The hike proved to be such a pleasant time with mybrother. I love him so and miss him when he's not at home.

[...a few photos. ]

.. i am trying to remember what else has happened in the past weeks. my days are still filled with babysitting mostly, and landscaping and grass. God is helping me to love the kids i babysit, to sincerely love them and speak to them with patience and gentleness and for that i am thankful. i think we are going to pick peaches next week and i am really excited for that! we baked cupcakes two weeks ago and oh it was fun. they love baking but their mom does not do it very often so it's always a pleasure helping them bake something tasty. i have had some pleasant conversations with fred, ethel, and michael while weeding and that has been a blessing too. michael is slowly inching his way into my heart despite his anything but speedy work habits, (haha) he really means well and has a kind heart, this i am learning. (oh to stop judging others! i do this far too often.)

my really good friend Laura is getting married this Saturday and that is CRAZY! ellie and i are both bridesmaids and our friend jeremy is the dj so it should definitely be a a great time, it's just so bizarre to think about such a dear friend getting married! (she is not quite one year older than me..., actually she's more like three months older than me- haha.) it will be my first time ever being in a wedding so i am really looking forward to sharing in such a special day, what an honor.

other than those things, i've still been playing soccer and whiffle ball a lot with friends*, swimming late at night, picking raspberries along the road, making zucchini bread, crafting, writing, reading, and soaking in these summer days that sift like sand through my fingers!

*on the note of playing soccer and whiffle ball however, i went to the doctor today to (ahem, finally...) get my knee checked out because it has (still) been rather sore lately and i need it to be in top condition for the wild semester. i was given some drugs and some instructions to stay off of it for the next 10 days. this is going to be hard but i know i must. i was thankful because the doctor was really thorough, knowledgeable, and friendly. (sometimes the doctors do not seem to do very much which is why i was hesitant to go in...) God is faithful in answering prayers. if you girls remember, please pray that it would heal and be ok for the wild semester... or just pray that i will trust God and learn to fully depend on him. i have often wondered if this is one of those things that maybe God will use on the wild semester to teach me a lot about humility and trust and faith.

i am still reading and thoroughly enjoying N.T. Wright's book 'Surprised By Hope.' it is making me think a lot and it's good. i'm still trying to memorize psalm 25 before august 21st. on another note, i feel like God has been teaching me a lot about his love recently, i feel like he has been saying something like, "Let me love you, fully without restraint. Do not seek satisfaction in other lovers, I want to satisfy you - I want to be enough for you." this is a hard lesson, my friends. i am so easily distracted. as we hiked a trail in Colorado i read a sign that read "If a forest at this elevation doesn't burn about every 50 years, the entire ecosystem suffers." i fear my heart is an overgrown forest. it needs a fire not every 50 years, but every day (perhaps every moment.) a multitude of weeds eat up sunlight in my soul. that which is good and beautiful is choked out. the cactus of 'what does everyone think of me' is running rampant. the thistles of 'what the future holds' trip my feet while the dandelions of pride and selfishness keep me from loving others. (and being loved.) i need God to daily burn away everything that is choking him out. (that is what i penned in my journal in colorado...)

fire burns, fires do not leave behind much. but what else do we need but Christ? (mewithoutyou says it well, "if i come without a thing, i come with all i need." you can listen to it here.)

this is long and ramble-y and perhaps unexpected. i need to go get ready for a little girl's night pre-wedding gathering tonight, hurray!

i love you all so much.

and here's a thought, what if we kept this up through the fall since we will continue to be apart from each other? i would really be glad.

here's hoping your days are filled with rhythms of rest, joy, and gratitude.

with a heart so full,

ashley

Oh ADVENTURE!

Dear friends,

I've loved hearing from each of you, and miss you immensely! Here we are, already coming to the end of the summer. It's hard to believe that after the end of this week, there will only be two more weeks of Adventure Camp! crrazzzzzy. unbelievable. are we in a time machine to the future??

Being a camp counselor, working so closely with a co and a j.c. (junior counselor), has definitely stretched me in many ways--but God has been so good and been teaching me much about communication, love, letting go, and having a grand old time! So, my first week was pretty difficult, and though it certainly hasn't been all flowers and sunshine since, there have been so many encouraging moments which continually renew my energy and remind me why I'm here this summer. Not only that, but why I absolutely love being here this summer. And truly, my friends, it has been such an incredible experience. I really love working with this age group (11-15). I love watching the group start out in the "forming" stage move through "storming" (and boy, oh boy, when it storms, its a real boomer!), and then into a phase where they are working together and encouraging each other and it melts my heart every time! The thing is, once we get to this point, its time to get a new group and we're back to forming and storming--that's the real difficult part. It's terribly sad to make so many connections throughout the summer and then never see them again..

It has been such a blessing getting to spend time with the rest of the staff--they're pretty swell! Last night we had girls night with delicious Bertucci's dinner and henna. We enjoy taking the canoes and kayaks out on Gull on weekends (or just swimming), playing games (I have learned more games than I will know what to do with this summer!) making sushi, going to the beach, Beverly, and even a couple of us climbed Mt. Washington. This weekend three of us are planning to camp out for the REI garage sale, it will be a first for me!

Alrighty, well, its just about dinnertime. I wish I could see you all!
if you think of it, would you pray that would be able to finish all of the homework and reading I need to accomplish before Aug. 6th? Thank you dear friends!
Much LOVE.

Sincerely,
Sarah

P.S.
Hannah & Hannah - Here's my address in London: Hampdon House, 2 Weymouth Street, London. I'll give you updates as I get them..