Oh, Hello September

Woah - Hello September! When did you arrive?

September will always feel like "back to school" time. Time to bring out the pants and socks, the new notebooks, the pens and the backpacks. Time to leave the flexible summer days behind and enter into the schedule filled with school, extra-curricular activities, and youth group. It's time for packed lunches, late night paper writing, Saturday sleep-ins and life being organized by the agenda book.

For the second year, September does not have me going back to school (although late-fall may see an online course). September now means cooler days, a more relaxed schedule and the next set of projects and deadlines approaching alongside a very full schedule. September still has the joy of bringing out the fall wardrobe (I'm one of those people who love fall and winter clothes!) and doing some preparations for children and youth ministry in the church... which is sort of like school preparations!

My work has the summer months as the most full and most busy months of the year. The summer months are filled with some of the most joyful and holy days as people gather together to form community, to pray, to play and to learn. Which means that when the fall days come I have both a more relaxed and more flexible schedule alongside a more full schedule as commitments beyond Sorrento Centre come back to life and the meeting commitments I have made fill up many days and weeks of the year.

At the Cathedral everything starts up again in September: Sunday School, Youth Group, Young Adults, Staff Meetings, Bible Study, Parish Dinners, and the list goes on and on and on! And I am so excited and so ready to continue the planning and get back in touch with everyone. Alongside this my National Church commitments begin again: meetings, readings, writing, gatherings, traveling. There is much new for this year, namely - heading off to the World Council of Churches in South Korea as one of the handful of delegates representing the Anglican Church of Canada. Excited. Terrified. Honoured.

For me, the fall days also are the days when I get back into my cooking and preparing of meals. And I love cooking and baking - so when the time comes for me to get back into the kitchen I find myself filled with peace.

Fall means planning, traveling, preparing, cooking, resting.
Fall means new challenges and opportunities.
So, as much as I am surprised that September has already arrived I am also so very ready for it!

How to stay sane...

When your house goes from only you to 4 people overnight!

My lovely brothers and sister have come for a visit... Taylor, Rhys and Aaron are all here for the week. This is fabulous and so what I need and I like to think also what they need. The thing is, my schedule hasn't changed - it is still the middle of the summer with a full week of programming with 110 people on site ahead of me. The other things is - I'm still tired with no solid sleep time in sight. And we have a wedding this weekend in Vernon for a cousin (yay!) followed quickly by the start of our final week of programming! The season is full right now.

I'm grateful for the energy my brothers and sisters bring with them and the way they are able to be both mature and fun at the same time. We hit a few road blocks once in a while (getting up in the morning - eek!). So in preparation for their arrivial I tried as hard as I could to make sure that things were as organized as possible. Here are a few of the ways I attempted to do just that:

- We're all eating meals in the dining room on site, this is great because it means no food preparations, cooking and clean-up for me. But kids still want to eat snacks! On my counter is a container of all the "odds and ends" from my cupboard that they can enjoy at any time, including: trail mix, crackers, rice cakes, rye crackers, peanut butter, nutella, granola bars, etc... And in my fridge: pickles, pepperoni sticks, cheese sticks and sliced watermelon. And they grab something when they need it.

- A laundry basket is in a central location for all dirty clothes... once this basket is full laundry must be done ASAP!

- They are all registered in programming at Sorrento Centre. Why?! Because otherwise they'd be inside all day while I'm working and they'd end up so bored. I'm hoping for a flexible enough schedule that I'll be able to spend chunks of time with them in the afternoons. But if I can't, they are old enough to go to the beach (lifeguards on duty) and play around site without me.

- I'm aiming for a 10:30pm bedtime - earlier if possible! This means technology off, lights out and heads on pillows! The kids arrived at my house with their summer sleep schedule... stay up all night and sleep all morning/afternoon. Well, let's just say breakfast is served at 7:30am these days!!! So an early bedtime is a must! (If not for them... then for me!)

- I've entered into the week thinking about fun and flexibility. We all need to have fun but we also need to all be able to live with some flexibility. On my end (that work project CAN wait until a different time) and on their end (oh, Melissa needs to ditch basketball for a few moments and go help someone at the office).

It's already off to being a great week and we're having a great time together!

Summer is here!

Staff Campfire

 The 2012 summer at Sorrento Centre has started! The staff have all arrived, the training has taken place, the team is coming together, the guests for week one have come and gone and the very hot weather has arrived!

What have I learned?

I've been reminded how very much I love staff training. Well, I love the intentional community building part of it. I love gathering together, getting to know one another, discovering what we will be and how we will be it, setting commitments and boundaries.

I *really* love doing this work with young people... there is just something beyond amazing about it! This is what I want to be doing all of the time. Can I just go from place to place helping to guide the building of community? Starting to conversations and allowing community to blossom and grow? My other thought is living in a big house for young adults to live as an intentional community knowing that the community would change in size and structure often as the lives of young people does. But wouldn't it be amazing.

Words for Community!

And so we built community. A community around respect, trust, teamwork and creativity! The building is not over, that will continue for the remainder of our time together. This was just the beginning. Now that that piece has been done it's time for my other favorite part to start: weekly checkins with staff!! This too is a time for much conversation and discovery. This too is a reminder of the work I love doing!

So: here we go! Together walking forward in a community of strength and the willingness to discover! Not only will I teach and lead but I will be taught and led.

We are a community

Wordless Wednesday

Some pictures form the last week or so... 

One lone, perfect, beautiful pansy in the labyrinth.

Sorrento Centre Leadership Team 2012?! Yep, exactly.

Stunning.

A glimpse of hope after so much rain!

My new friend... the Cathedral dog from Victoria. Adorable border collie. 

A gift from Amanda. Swans, purple, needed words.

Campfire anyone?

Sorrento Centre - Join us for Summer 2012

Bring your children and your grandchildren! Bring you and your amazing family and join us for a week of Summer Programming at Sorrento Centre this July! 

You can find our program guide on the website: www.sorrento-centre.bc.ca and view the video below to catch a glimpse of what a typical week of programming from the experience of children, youth, families and staff might be. 

Mornings

I have always loved the mornings... I just am unable to actually get up and enjoy the peaceful quite time unless there is something I have to do. So when my phone went off on Saturday at 6:16 in the morning, a staff member asking when and who unlocked the front gate I got up to let him out, not wanting to move and yes, rather grumpy about it... but I kept that to myself. (And no, it was not my responsibility!!) I got to the gate to find the staff member and a guest trying to leave and our food delivery truck trying to get in (thank goodness he didn't leave with our food!!). Since I was already up I decided to walk down to the beach to unlock it a the same time, otherwise I'd be wandering out again in forty five minutes time.

By the time both gates were unlocked at the beach I was not very pleased that I was out of my warm bed and in the

coolness of the morning. Knowing that I had to shake this feeling off I went and sat on a log overlooking the lake and took in the sun, silence and prayed. I looked over the waters to see an odd shape and movement by one of our docks... and then another, then it disappeared and back again. I looked closer and came to the conclusion that it was an otter feeding in the water and eating on the surface. And not one otter but four!

I stood next to the waters edge and just looked, just watched this sight that I had never seen in the waters at Sorrento Centre. And as I watched I calmed down, my grumpiness began to leave, I started to become thankful for the day and the early morning. And I gave thanks for this most sacred God moment, a reminder that all is good, all is good!

I'd love to awake early in the morning and enjoy that time before the world becomes active again... but until my late nights at the Centre disappear and I get back into a regular routine... I'll take what comes!

Batty Tales

I've had my fair share of crazy (but exciting) things happening to me over my four summers at Sorrento Centre... but I now have had an experience that has given me much greater sympathy for those who wake up in the night to a great surprise! Took four years, but I've now survived my first bat adventure!

I woke up on Tuesday morning at 2:17am hearing something flying in my room, I tried to ignore it but I was just getting more and more freaked out. So I turned on my light and there I saw a bat circling my room. Ah!!! Turned off light and hid under blankets until I accepted that I had to get it out of my room. So, I got up, opened my door, turned on the hall light and waited. Once it departed by room and took refuge in the hallway I hid in the bathroom. Eventually I realized I had to go back to bed, peaked outside the bathroom and didn't see the bat anywhere. Relived that it had made it's way to the living room I went back to my room.

I was partially asleep again at 3:45am when I woke up hearing something crawling on fabric and making a strange noise. I tried to convince myself that it was just the start of the coming rain. I decided that if I moved my curtain and listened carefully to the rain hitting the roof all would be fine. I chickened out of moving from my bed (if there is a mouse on my floor I will freak!!). So I turned on my lamp and scanned the room and saw the bat climbing my curtain, turns out it did not go into the living room but took refuge back inside my bedroom. This time I left the room, turned on the hall light and as soon as it flew out of my room I ran back in and closed the door. Just to be on the safe side I but a blanket at the bottom of my door. At this point, I have no idea what this bat is willing to do to get back into my space!

All was fine now that I knew the bat was out of my room and I slept... fully prepared to find the bat in the morning on a wall in the hallway. Morning came and no bat could be found. We searched everywhere with no luck, I was beginning to wonder if it had all been a dream. But no, one of the girls said that the hall light was one when she got up... and I definitely was not sleeping under the same blankets when I woke up as I was when I went to bed the first time. Thankfully, moments before going to bed Tuesday night someone saw the bat on the curtain by the main door... I called the farmhouse and two of the guys came to my rescue and removed it.

The bat was adorable - they are cute when they just sleep and stay in one place. They are cute when they are not in my bedroom!! It seems to by my summer to deal with crazy creatures... dead or alive. And this does not impress me at all.

Summer beginnings...

I'm halfway through my summer work at Sorrento Centre and things are now in full swing. Last week was our Anglican Programming Week One, what I call the “experimentation week” began. This is the week where I re-learn what forms of scheduling works, how to gather enough time in each day to accomplish all that needs to be done, how the staff team is going to mesh together as community, so on and so forth. And I love it, I love all of it. Some days and moments are more crazy then others, but the end product of the week often is feeling prepared for the coming four weeks of Anglican Programming.

A few things took place last week that have been first time occurances for me, even though this is my fourth summer here. 1) We had a very sweet elderly lady on site who required a lot of assistance and I somehow took on a major piece of that role. It was great to be able to help her, which in return meant she was able to say for the whole week and enjoy her Sorrento Centre experience. And yes, for a few days I thought that I'd make a good seniors care aid... but by the end of the week that thought too had gone! 2) I cancelled our water fight on Thursday afternoon due to the thunder and lightening storm that was taking place. Safety comes first, but it doesn't mean our young folks were not disappointed. 3) Again, due to the weather our Variety Night had to be held indoors opposed to outside in Kekuli - our large outdoor round gathering place.

All this learned, experienced and discovered while figuring out how the summer is going to work the most smoothly... And now, day two of our second week of programming... we have had yet another storm and three of our buildings are without power. Two of which hold guest accommodation and the kitchen. To top that, my laundry (for the second time this summer) is stuck in the washing machine while the power is still out...

The best part so far. Seeing and listening to the pure excitement of the staff team as they learn, face challenges, plan new pieces of the work life, and continue to love God and what they are doing. They are amazing, tons of fun, and super energized and engaged in the community.

Here's to waking up to the power being back on in the morning... it would help with the breakfast making and laundry doing...

Summer may be coming...

I have many awesome friends who are so good at blogging regularly, I apologize that I do not fall in that category. So often I think to share with my experiences with my friends via this means but at the end of the day I so often need to choose whether to blog for others to read or write in my journal as a way of reflecting, discerning, and remembering. I suppose you can imagine what I so often choose. And then of course I wonder what the point of blogging even is... like really, is taking this time actually worth it? One will never know. I love the idea that it allows my family and friends to know even a mall bit of what I'm up to... but does it actually serve that point?

Here I am once again at Sorrento Centre well immersed into my fourth summer. I'm excited about this year's Children and Youth program, this years staff team, and all the many adventures and experiences that will take place.

A few of the things I've been up to since completing this past year of school (year four complete!!) and some of my pondering thoughts:

- Sorrento Centre is a place of such deep peace and reflection for me. Yes, it always comes down to me making the decision to take the time to engage in spiritual practices and reflection, but as I learn to do this more faithfully I remember more often how important it really is.

- An undergrad degree is designed to be completed in four years for a reason... planning year five is no longer exciting!

- Amazing things happen when committed folks gather together to make decisions and learn together.

- It's worth it to say "no" to people when asked to take on a commitment/committee appointment as it allows you to say "yes" when the right opportunity that matches your gifts and interests and the world's needs comes along.

- Songs get stuck in my head... for a very long time!

- Gathering with 130 colleagues who share a passion in (youth) ministry is again and ag

ain an amazing experience. Learning, sharing, rest, renewal, conversation. (Common Ground 2011)

- I fell in love with a camp while in Ontario... and the idea of raising a family while directing a camp (at least that is this month's new idea for life!!)

- Lake Huron - stunning!!

- Really good worship makes my day... or week!

- Spending time with my siblings, well I never get tired of it. But yes, a bit sleepy by the end of a full day.

- The Leadership Team I work with at Sorrento Centre is crazy, well we all are! But they keep me laughing and on my toes... and that is good!

So - will you hear from me again before the summer is over and I am preparing to dive into my final year of my BA? Who knows... I can try, but we'll see. I guess first I need to see if summer actually comes, time for the sunshine to come out!

Sorrento Centre Video

My third summer at Sorrento Centre is quickly coming to an end. This year saying goodbye is particularly hard, I've had an amazing staff team - some really super awesome people to work with and get to know. I've once again been challenged, supported, encouraged, and given many opportunities to share and explore my gifts and passions.

We've made friendships that will probably last for our lifetime, and we've laughed tons and shed a few tears together. We say goodbye knowing that our paths will cross again... maybe even in a few weeks when the provincial youth conference happens again.

It's been great - and I hope those of you who have not been to Sorrento Centre before will consider taking the opportunity to. It is one pretty awesome and amazing thin space. Below is a link for a video that shares some of what happens in this place.... filmed in 2008... take a peak!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3zaF4MlxAQ

I wish I was still in silence... at Sorrento Centre

I have attended my first silent retreat, it was only for a weekend and I could have continued for a few more days of silence, but nevertheless it was amazing. Don't be surprised if I one day take off for a longer silent retreat; I was definitely not ready to go out of silence when Sunday worship ended, I could have continued in mediation, thought and prayer for a few more days. There was just something about it, something about the silence, something about the yearning of my heart and this need that had just began to feel like it was being filled. I really resonated with the idea that when we wonder where we are going in life we need to ask ourselves "what is my deep desire?" The desire that is deep within our heart, below the surface, what is it that I need to listen to?

We gathered together on Friday for dinner and shortly after started our first session which was all about the practice of the Awareness Examen. The Awareness Examen is an exercise where you look at the last twenty-four hours and how it was filled and what feelings you felt during each of those activities. Then we ask ourselves what gave us joy in the day and what gave us anxiety or disturbed us. As a secondary question, after doing this exercise for a fair bit of time, one might ask "where is God in my life" but as a starting point it was recommended just looking at the joys and anxiety. By naming our feelings we can own them, and then we can offer them to God. We sat for a fifteen minute block of silence taking part in the Awareness Examen, had night prayer and took off to bed. 

I woke up with a cold nose... no one told me that I had to turn up the heat in my room - I thought it was all controlled in the building as a whole!! (Yes, I worked at the Centre for four months and did not know this!) We had two sessions on Saturday, one on the use 

of imagination, Ignatius, where you become "personally present through the imagination to an event in the life of Christ" and one on "Word into Silence" where you choose a word and keep reciting it in silence. We looked at a piece of scripture from John for the Ignatius exercise, the story of the nativity. I couldn't get the image of the stable with Mary holding the newborn baby Jesus with the smell of straw and joy out of my head. Even though I knew that it should be a not so pleasant smell my imagination was never able to reach that... it was a stable after all! We did the "Word into Silence" for thirty minutes, reciting (in our heads) 'maranatha' which means 'Come Lord, Come Lord Jesus', when thoughts or images enter into your mind you are suppose to acknowledge them but quickly go back to reciting your word. This was probably the hardest for me, I had a really hard time getting thoughts to stay away and I think to reach the point of having the maranatha recite from my heart rather than my head is going to take many days and many weeks of this practice. I particularly enjoyed this method, so we'll see what happens. Our final session of the day combined all three practices for a total of forty minutes in communal silence. Doesn't sound like a lot when you look at the whole time spent in silence, but sitting in one spot, in one position, for that long can make a knee sore! 

We had morning, evening, and night prayers throughout Saturday and I spent a fair amount of time outside enjoying the sunshine and beautiful world. The Centre was filled with snow, it was beautiful and gorgeous, and I took the chances of walking on top of the three feet or so of snow to stand in awe of the view and wonder of our world and our God. I also did a lot of journalling and took a well needed nap. I had individual time with the retreat director, Bishop John, which gave me not only some direction and assurance but also some of my thinking. 

We concluded on Sunday with a session that provided some direction on how to continue of the the practices in 'regular life', and also on the importance of scheduling that time with God each and every day, and to keep it like we would keep any other appointment. After worship ended our period of silence also ended, we engaged in conversation before departing on our ways. 

When I first stared working at Sorrento Centre Bishop John was doing a silent retreat with the clergy from his diocese, I was amazed at the extent of the silence and was in awe of the peacefulness I felt just being in the presence of them all. So, when I saw this opportunity to take part in the weekend retreat I decided to attend. And my excitement just continued to grow as the time grew closer, and now I'm excited to see where my next silent adventure will have me!