Another Auction Surprise...

I wrote LaVonne (the generous friend who purchased the quilt for me) a thank you today and told her the following story as a part of my thank you. It was fun to write out this memory.

When I was in 5th grade we had a huge family reunion out in Colorado. One of my great uncles built a special building for this family reunion, complete with a stage and sound system, sleeping quarters and a kitchen with three ovens to feed all of us.

As a part of raising funds for the next family reunion, everyone brought collected items of my great grandma Anderson’s to be auctioned off to other family members. My mom had put an old, paper-thin apron of great grandma’s in the auction without my knowledge. I was playing Vanna White and when they handed me the apron to display for the bidders and I was horrified. I didn’t want the apron to be auctioned off. I loved that apron.

So from that stage I was silently lipping to my mom that I wanted the apron. She could see I was sad, but sort of communicated that it was too late and she was sorry. When the bidding started my mom tried to keep up with the bids, but her cousin Chuck kept increasing the bid so that she had to drop out. The apron was sold and cousin Chuck spent A LOT of money on that thing.

I walked the apron to him and when I got there he pushed it back into my hands and told me he bought it for me. And I absolutely fell apart. I actually remember this moment as pretty awkward because I couldn’t even tell him thank you. I was just overwhelmingly humbled and grateful and relieved.

There is something about a free gift that is so hard to comprehend. Our nature wants to earn it, to be sure we've contributed something, to repay them later. But truly accepting a free gift...it might just take me an eternity to figure out what this is really all about.

The last day of summer camp.

Our summer staff left this afternoon, and camp is officially over. Nebraska school's start early, and though it feels crazy to be done before August we have been at this since mid-May and I am exhausted. Saying goodbye to the staff today was a really powerful moment. I grew a lot this summer, was empowered and humbled, and have a lot to reflect on. A good challenging job is a good thing though. Feeling growth and character development isn't always the best feeling in the world, but at least I know I'm living my life and definitely still in process. Here are some shots of our closing worship today.

Carol Joy's Quilt Auction

I just got home from 13 hours of Quilt Auction fun at Carol Joy (my camp). The day was magnificent...399 stunning quilts, over 800 friends of the camp present to bid and $95,000 raised for a camp whose purpose is to pass on the faith to the next generation.

There was a quilt that I had my eyes on since it was delivered for the auction. I was careful not to tell anyone I loved it, fearing they would up my bid just to get me to pay more. But I had a max that I couldn't bid over and when it came time, I couldn't keep up with the dollars being bid for this quilt.

But to my great surprise, the winning bidder was a fantastic giver to the camp and purchased the quilt for me, having found out it was the one I loved. This woman has a history of doing this for camp staff I later found out. So look at this beauty. This is a picture of me and her and her husband. I was overcome with emotion when she gave it to me. It has been a learning summer and there was something so sweet about this gift to celebrate my first summer at Carol Joy.

Sonna Talk

My neice, Sonna, has been feeling under the weather this week. A few days ago she told her dad, "My tummy has a bad, bad cold."

Here she is to sing you a special version of "Twinkle, Twinkle."



And to be fair to sister, Mara, and mostly for my mom's viewing pleasure, here is Mara singing "Lemon Drops and Gum Drops." Notice Sonna trying to be just like her big sister.

Presenting The Incredible Flying LISA!!!

I am beginning to play with all of my pictures from our Groves reunion in Estes Park and just came across this gem. This is my hard-core, graceful, who-cares-if-you-can't-do-a-cart-wheel-now, sister-in-law Lisa. She is diving from a platform that is 30-40 feet in the air and made it look easy. My jumps were not this photogenic.

Good perspective for the day

I love reading anything by Donald Miller. Most people know him for his book Blue Like Jazz, a candid testimony that I found startling and refreshing...similar to Anne LaMott's Traveling Mercies. I tend to drop by his blog frequently and he just posted another chapter from his next book. Like any good tease, I cannot wait for this book to come out. The chapter is super short and so worth your time. Bop on over to his blog. You'll be glad you did.

http://www.donmilleris.com/

I'm dropping out of facebook.

(Rory told me I should call this post, 'I kissed facebook goodbye.')

I have had a few different conversations this summer regarding facebook that have led me to think really hard about my relationship with this friend connector. And I've come up with two conclusions:

1. I'm just on it too much. I really want to be writing lately, but every time I sit down at my computer I think I'll just check facebook real quick, and suddenly I am lost in a sea of photo albums.

2. I use it as a companion when I am lonesome in Nebraska. And though this has been helpful at times, lately I've been wondering if it really is all that healthy to go to my computer when I am lonely. I think I probably just need to feel lonesome for a while. And then I need to go find actual breathing friends in my own community to build friendships with.

So this is goodbye to my 448 facebook friends. I'll miss your witty status updates and quiz results. Drop me a line at beccagroves(at)gmail(dot)com anytime. Or keep tabs on me here. I hope to be posting a bit more now that summer camp is almost over.

More on the facebook conversation...

I have had a couple different reactions of other people to my facebook departure:

1. Surprised and weirded out

2. Deeply confessional and guilt ridden

3. Understanding and curious

4. Article Sending http://www.newsweek.com/id/183180/page/1

Again, I only dropped out because of my personal goals of procrastinating less and writing more. I believe that most probably are using facebook for healthy amounts of time and I honestly wish I could have had more self control to fall into this category.

(This is my last screen shot from last night after deleting all my friends. When I went to send my friend Crystal one last message I tried to type a link and these were my security words to retype. If you've heard my eschatological seminary story, you might find this humorous that this was my word to retype. Eschatological: pertaining to the end of times.)

Groves Family Reunion

We spent a glorious week out in Estes Park with the Groves family last week. This year for the reunion we enjoyed our first annual GFR Talent Show. The entire day before the actual talent show Rory spent some good quality time with our nephew Jack as they created the following clips to be shown throughout the talent show. It was hysterical and more fun than the clips was watching Rory and Jack play so hard all day long. I kept catching glimpses of them at various moments laughing hard and talking excitedly about where their next scene should take place. Enjoy!