Once again, let me show you some of the scenery around here. Thanks to Marsha and Anne for capturing these images!
The service this morning was again really good. We like this preacher. He told a story of how after seventeen years of working in Atlanta, he was called to a church in St. Paul, Minnesota. He moved there in the summer, and thought the moderate weather was lovely. He bought a heavy winter coat, heavier than any he had ever had in Atlanta, and when he showed it to a church member, she said, “Ohhhh. That’s a fall coat!” He eagerly waited for the first snowfall. He wanted the snow, a symbol of his new life in Minnesota. Finally it came in December, the second Sunday of Advent. They got ten inches of snow that first day. He had a statue of St. Francis in the front yard, and he was buried up to his neck. It hadn’t dawned on him that he wouldn’t see the grass again for four months. The snow would melt a bit, and then more snow would come, and more snow. By the beginning of May, when it snowed six inches, he reached his breaking point. After all that snow, however, through the winter, he learned something about death and the hope of resurrection that he didn’t know before.
The banner was changed today. It’s actually part of the same banner – they are just hanging it so that a different part is showing. Very clever.
And here are Noah and Bruce ringing at the beginning of the service.
Jonathan and Marsha took the Middlers to The Huckleberry for lunch after worship, and then they spent their free hour at the pool. Fun times! Thanks for the great picture, Jonathan.
Noah, Tressa and the other senior high kids also went to The Huckleberry for lunch, and got some of their yummy ice cream.
Here are some pictures from classes today.
I’m blogging from outside Convocation Hall right now. They have a lovely patio area that is now slightly crowded due to some construction equipment. The view is spectacular, and I have to keep scooting over to stay out of the direct sunlight, but it’s so worth it! It’s been threatening rain, so as soon as it starts, I’ll have to pack up my blogging equipment (iPad and bluetooth keyboard) and run under the awning.
This evening I believe we’re grilling out burgers and hot dogs. You just can’t believe how much food these kids can put away! Amy and Anne have done the bulk of the cooking (which as been awesome!), but Jonathan will do the grilling out. Woot! By the way, all the kids do the kitchen clean-up with some adult supervision, and they’re doing a great job. The children, middlers and senior high kids rotate through, collecting all the dirty dishes, emptying them in the trash, and rinsing and loading the dishwasher, as well as wiping all the tables off. Maybe they’ll go home with some new skillz! 🙂
Well, no rain so far. Here’s hoping it can hold off for another 10-15 minutes, so the children and I can walk up the mountain without getting too wet!
Random thing, but Jamie just told me when she was little that she thought I didn’t speak English, since she always saw me signing at church. And little Emma said she knew how to sign ‘dance,’ and when I asked to see it, she did this hilarious little dance and cracked us up! Gotta see about posting a short video next!
– Sharon, the hungry blogger
Tonight I will begin with how the day ended. We took the kids to an organ concert in Anderson Auditorium. It had been pouring down rain, so we shuttled them car- and van-load at a time, since we didn’t want them to be washed down the mountain. Now, for the uninitiated, you may think kids would be bored to death at an organ concert. However, you would be wrong! The organist, whose name I haven’t been able to find, did a wonderful job of engaging the audience by telling backstories on all of the pieces he played beforehand. They had a camera trained on him while he played, so we all watched a big screen, and could see all the hand and foot action! He did Variations on “America” (1891) by Charles Ives; several children’s stories (The Tortoise and the Hare: The Race, The Shoemaker and thee Elves: What the Shoemaker Saw; and Rapunzel: What the Prince Saw at the Top of the Hair); Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, BWV 543; I Love Thee My Lord by Shearing; and Irish Air from County Derry by Lemare (otherwise called County Derry Air, which if said without the all-important glottal has a totally different meaning).
But the best part of the evening by far is when they played a 1927 silent movie, Chasing Choo Choo on the big screen, and he accompanied on the organ. He encouraged us to cheer for the protagonist, and to boo and hiss when the antagonists were doing their thing. The kids really got into this! The movie was hilarious, with the bad guys chasing the good guys by foot, on horse and buggy, on motorcars, and on trains. At one point they got rid of the bad guys, but they had to figure out how to get off the runaway train! The man uncoupled the caboose from the rest of the train, but accidentally ended up on the main train, leaving his girlfriend on the caboose. Then we see him knocked from the train, rolling down hill really fast. We think it’s over for him, and the woman zooms ahead on the caboose going crazy-fast down the winding path on the mountain. She rounds a corner, and here comes her man, rolling down the mountain above her, and right onto the caboose with her! The kids were absolutely screaming with laughter!! When we got back home, they were gushing to the couple of adults who stayed behind, telling them about the “awesome silent movie we saw”! Whoda thunk it?!
Earlier in the day, the middlers had an hour of free time before their afternoon choir class, so I took them shopping at the general store on campus, where they bought momentos and silly stuff (see picture below of my moustachioed son). I had them pose for a couple of pictures by Lake Susan. I took a similar one a couple of years ago. I’ll see if I can juxtapose them and post that later.
Here are some shots today of the kids at the house, and some in Orff class.
And finally, today was Thea’s ninth birthday. She was funny all day – looking in the kitchen for evidence of a cake.
Eren liked his dessert so much, well, he didn’t want to leave a morsel!
It’s been a very full day, and we’re only 1/5 of the way through the week!
– Sharon, the sleepy blogger
My last post is a good example of what happens when at Montreat. You lose all track of time! I called that one “Monday night in M-town” when it was Sunday night!
This lovely view is courtesy Elizabeth Riddick. It is literally and figuratively an expression of what it is like here. Peaceful, serene, contemplative… at least til the kids wake up. KIDDING!!
The teacher for children’s bells spent the first half-hour of class reviewing some key terms with the kids. She asked what’s a thumb damp, shaking, marting, and our kids answered lots of them. It’s obvious they have a good firm foundation. They made us all proud, as always.
And then the children got to go to beautiful Lake Susan. It was a lovely day to be on a paddle boat with friends!
Well, this blog is to tell all about our time at Montreat, good and bad. Our first worship experience had a pretty rocky start. At some point in the months leading up to this conference, someone in a planning meeting had the idea of having the congregation to process in together while ringers rang bells all around the sanctuary. It’s one of those ideas that sound good and pleasant and meaningful while talking about it in a meeting, but it didn’t translate well for the participants. For those who don’t know, there is no air conditioning in Anderson Auditorium. And since we have such a big group, we always go early to worship to grab three pews in a row to accommodate all of us. So last night we weren’t able to go in early, so instead we waited at the door until they let us in. The lobby area in Anderson is stifling under good circumstances, but with people pushed in like sardines, it was unbearable. Several of us were feeling pretty rough after about 20 minutes. When I started feeling sick to my stomach, Mary beckoned me to come to the front, where she had the door opened a crack to get a bit of air from the sanctuary. I had my face pressed against the glass, trying to cool off. I felt like a prisoner of war or something. All the kids were red-faced, sweaty and listless. When it was 7:30, the opened all the doors and we came in quickly to get seats. The bell ringing was nice, but I don’t think most of us noticed or cared. The leaders welcomed us as we came in. We all said ‘thank you’ but if you listened closely you could hear us collectively hissing at their poor planning. I think a few of us are going to write a strongly-worded letter.
The tapestries were lovely, as expected.
The preacher is Bradley Schmeling from St. Paul, Minnesota, and he’s very engaging. He had the kids’ attention for the whole sermon. I think his main point was that it is God’s good pleasure that we be together, and that’s what church does for us. That’s what Montreat does for us.
Some of the music was gorgeous. One piece, Bless The Lord, My Soul, the congregations sang over and over during communion. Mary began to improvise, and I joined in, making it a truly memorable song that I’d personally love to see sung at SPC. One hymn, Sending, made Mary’s allergies go off (Bevan Keating’s euphamism for tearing up). Her allergies were really, really bad! 🙂
Clara fell asleep on Anne’s lap, so she wasn’t able to get up for communion. That took me back to those early days of parenting, with a twinge of longing.
After the service we had a porch meeting outside Anderson. Then Mary turned to Noah and told him why she was glad he was on the trip. Then Tressa, then each and every one of us. I was standing beside Mary when she did this, so I had an excellent vantage point. The looks on the faces of all the kids, little and big, when it was their turn to hear her affirmations were just priceless. I think each and every one of them stood a little taller after that. I love Mary Ibis.
Stayed up late playing rummy with Jonathan, Mary and Elizabeth. Having a spell of adult conversation and fun with other adults with the kids sleeping is very therapeutic. And hey, we listened to a bunch of jazz covers of 1980’s songs. At first it felt just wrong, but then it morphed into pure awesomeness.
– Sharon
We’ve all enjoyed our free day today. One of the big benefits of staying at the Linger Longer Lodge is that we have most of Sunday free to explore the campus, to nap, to go grocery shopping (yay), and to rock hop.
This is how I started my morning. Sitting on the upper deck, just me, To Kill A Mockingbird, a Diet Coke, and a gorgeous view!
We didn’t think to take a picture of the carts of groceries we bought today. There were three carts. Double-wide carts. All full to the rim, including the trays at the bottom. We now have two refrigerators/freezers full, a pantry packed full, and buns/bread, chips, and boxed food on top of all the upper cabinets. We’ve taken up about all possible space in this kitchen.
Just how many kids can fit on one couch?! This was taken last night during our porch meeting. We still call it a porch meeting out of tradition, even though we met in the living room. The porch meeting is when we talk about the schedules, review the rules (like picking up after yourself), and making kitchen-duty assignments.
Rock hopping is the favorite activity of the kids (next to going to Huckleberry’s for ice cream). We had a couple groups go today – the first of several trips this week. My group started at the dam, and then moved to the main rock-hopping area by the playground.
Harrison was the first at the dam, enjoying the view.
I love this picture of Jamie climbing down the rocks. From the photographer’s vantage-point, it looks crazy steep!
Spencer, king of the mountain! This is a favorite spot of all the kids.
Okay, so Noah wanted to hold up Donovan as though he was Simba! The circle of life!
Noah being Noah.
Noah teaching us new songs – counselor in training extraordinaire. Look how hard it’s raining! He did a great job of keeping the group occupied while we waited to see if the rain would slack off. It never did, and my son of course gave me an “I told you so!” Hey, I can hope!
The kiddos were a little chilly after rock-hopping. We were waiting under an awning, trying to stay out of the downpour! They were still in great spirits.
Okay, we’re just being silly now!
Pics of Jamie, Donovan, Jamie, Reilly, Spencer, Mac and Emma rockhopping:
You can’t tell from this picture, but I actually didn’t get in the water! It poured on us most of the time down there, and the whole walk back!
Some of the group went rafting – here are some great pictures!
And a couple more pictures from yesterday:
Clara and Mac on the bus
James and Jackson cracking us up at McDonalds!
We just finished having tacos for dinner, and will be heading to the opening worship session shortly. Elizabeth and I can’t wait to see how the sanctuary is decorated! Every year it’s gorgeous, and there’s always so much creativity in the design of the banners and the other decorations. We start classes tomorrow, and so we’ll all be busy like we are every year. It’s a lot of work, but it’s full of fun, fellowship, and learning.
– Sharon
We’re back on the road after an early lunch. It’s very cool having all of us together on the same bus! I got lost in my book and didn’t even realize we made it through Nashville! Not having to drive = AWESOME! The bus has wifi, and I just FaceTimed with my brother-in-law in Virginia. This is so completely different than the road trips of my youth.
Here are a few shots from our lunch stop. Enjoy!
– Sharon
Bubbles are fun to make…
… and to catch!
A big group of children and youth, and adult chaperones, will board at 4:30 Saturday morning for our annual pilgrimage to Montreat for the Worship and Music Conference! Keep an eye on the Montreat blog for stories and pictures! Prayers for our safe travel are welcomed!