Troy and Sara Groves' Speaking Sessions
When Ivar gets super excited he inhales loudly and yells, "My Cited!"
Well, I just got super excited. Sara emailed me her write ups for the three sessions she and Troy will be teaching while at Mount Carmel Family Bible Camp this summer (July 16th-19th). Tell me how great these conversations will be?!!
This Creative Life (overall title)
Session One (Wednesday Morning) - The Art of Family - While we make intentional plans for work, building a house, or planning a vacation, we often don't think to apply this same intentionality to our family life. In this session we will explore how family rituals, traditions (however small) and a common faith roadmap can anchor the modern family.
Session Two (Thursday Morning) - Why it Matters - There is a creative heart in every family! Join us as we discuss how a healthy engagement with the arts can enhance your faith, your family and your own Kingdom imagination!
Session Three (Friday Morning) - Missional Marriage - What does it mean to be in mission together, and why is that important? Much music has been written about the joys and trials of the Groves' marriage. Troy and Sara share candidly about their less than perfect, but redemptive journey together in marriage, and helpful lessons learned along the way.
I wrote back immediately and said how excited I am for these teaching sessions, and even more excited for the conversations we as a camp will share casually at the beach or over dinner after hearing these lessons.
**It's not too late! You can come too! If you're interested in joining us in Alexandria, Minnesota this summer on glorious Lake Carlos, please do! Email Deb the camp registrar for more information: deb@mountcarmelministries.com or you can click on this link for the registration form with pricing.
My Cited!!!!
Pinterest Fail and Prevail
Two that I want to report:
Pinterest Success: Hard boiled eggs in the OVEN. Yup. No joke. Take those dozen eggs, put them in your muffin tin preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Bake the eggs for 28 minutes, take them out, let them cool and man alive they are perfect. Mine were easy to peel, the yoke was glorious yellow and perfectly medium hard. Life will never be the same.
Pinterest Fail: I made cookies that had a base of mashed bananas and apple sauce. Added some oats, peanut butter and cocoa powder and threw them in the oven. I was deceived by their name: Chunky Monkey Cookies. Based on ingredients they should be been tasty. Based on reality, we nicknamed them Little Poopers.
the city mice went to the country/ why we moved
At the same time,
we had good friends who had just made a bold move to California to purchase
their own land with dreams of one day planting an olive orchard and maybe
raising some animals. We happened to be in the area when they were looking for
their new place and the hunt sort of got into our blood. Rory came home and
began looking at topographical maps of Minnesota and taking road trips to scope
out parts of the state.
It was all a far
off dream though. Nothing that was going to happen very quickly in our minds.
Just before we had
Ivar we moved back into our home on a tenth of an acre in Minneapolis and Rory began to draw up plans for his first garden. He spent the winter
reading books, working and reworking the garden grid, planting a few seeds as
starts in the window sill.
That winter he
decided to take the month of May off as a sabbatical of sorts. He would check
his email in the morning, but decided not to do any programming or computer
related projects for the month. He was tired of technology and excited to start digging
in the dirt.
He built his
raised beds, mixed the soil, planted his seeds and began to unwind a bit.
Taking the time away from his all-consuming company was a really, really good
move.
That first harvest
of veggies and berries was pure joy. Turns out Rory could grow things. And
build things. And I started stretching my own self...finding new recipes for
eggplants, canning tomatoes and making our own spaghetti sauce. This little
pastime was becoming a really fun lifestyle. And we loved being outside so
much.
Winter came and
Rory began to modify his garden plans, staked out a third plot for more produce
and suddenly half of our backyard was gardens.
Something began to
shift in me during this first year of gardening. And it had to do with my
husband. As Ivar and I sat out on a blanket watching Daddo, I saw Rory grow
happier as he was fully engaged in something that was life giving and disconnected
from his laptop. When you work for yourself it is quite easy to work all the
time. And when you work from home it is nearly impossible to "leave the
office." But this garden was helping.
Rory was
transforming into his best version. I loved it. He was less worried. Less
anxious. And he looked really good with a tan. Really good.
We continued to
look at different parts of Minnesota for property. But we really didn't think
the move would happen any time soon. Mostly I liked the romantic notion of a
Sunday afternoon drive while we looked for properties. They were lovely mini roadtrips, with soulful
conversation, dreaming together, wondering what our future would hold. Rory
nearly got mauled by a farm dog on one vacant lot he was scoping out (clearly I would have been great help, able to document his mauling with my camera if need be).
I had a picture in
my head of what rural home might work for us though. It was a picture of my Grandma
Bredberg's farm with the yellow house. It had a big garden, a nice grove of
trees with a long lane. Whenever I pictured this move, I imagined us moving
there. I even inquired to my uncle about us moving there...but it was sold long
ago, and the woman living there isn't moving anytime soon.
While in
California on our first Ivar-less vacation, we talked more about what we hoped
to get out of such a move. We started making dreams for our new life on a hobby
farm. And then we got practical and specific. We sat down and we each made a list of what exactly we were looking for in a future place. My list had to do with the house (an attached garage, a kitchen
that could fit a table, carpet in the living room, 3 bedrooms...) Rory's list
had to do with the property (how many acres, part wooded, part tillable...) I
added to my list that I would like neighbors close by and Rory tried once
again to explain to me what rural meant.
Eventually we
found the listing for this house. The pictures were few and left a lot out. But
the description nearly perfectly matched the lists we had just shared with
each other. Rory checked it
out and loved the property. But he didn't know what I'd think.
In absolutely no
hurry, he brought me to see the place five days later. And I kid you not, I was
sold before we even turned into the drive. The Oak Trees had me at Hello.
Theyhadmeathello.
I loved the town,
I loved that it was a dirt road with neighbors (neighbors!). I loved the
location to our families (we could have ended up a lot farther away) and I
loved the house: an old 1890's farm house that was kept in great
condition with lots of love and care. I loved everything about the
place.
As I saw each room
for the very first time I was already figuring out where to put our furniture,
deciding which room would be Ivar's, which room would be the nursery.
Forty eight hours
later, this house in the country was ours.
We moved out here
with no agenda. We're not going all organic. We're not going off-grid. We're
not building a bomb shelter. Our hope for this move was based around our kids wanting to raise our family with more room to run around. And we wanted a
bigger backyard to plant our garden.
It's a bigger back
yard, that's for sure.
So here we are. It has almost been six months and we continue to love our new life out here. And wait until you see Rory's sketches for his next garden. I believe we may have to get our hands on a tractor. I'll keep you posted.
MC Summer Staff
Rory and I lived at Mount Carmel from April to September in 2007 when I worked as the Summer Staff Coordinator. This is the staff I got to work with. They were awesome.
The most important part of a great summer camp is a phenomenal summer staff.
I have recruited, interviewed, hired and trained four different camp staffs. I have spent a lot of time talking to college age students (and sometimes post college) telling them all the reasons why working at camp for the summer will likely be one of the best decisions of their life. And I mean it. And a lot of people decide to apply.
When Rory heard my stories after weeks of recruiting in college student centers he would tell me I needed to go into sales. He said I was natural and could be very successful in this field.
I told him I am good at "selling" a summer of camp counseling because I believe in what I am selling with my whole heart. It's not hard to sell when you love your product. And I love summer camp. Every student has the same reasons why they shouldn't (need to make more money, a boyfriend at home, summer school classes to take) but in the end, I can't really think of one soul who would look back and regret having spent a summer working at camp.
If you know of someone looking for the best summer job in the whole wide world, encourage them to apply to work at Mount Carmel. They are looking to hire college age and older, men and women, in the following areas:
- nursery care
- preschool, elementary, middle and high school counselors
- maintenance
- a marketing assistant
- an office assistant
- hospitality and housekeeping
- audio visual
- lifeguards
- musicians (guitar players!)
The application process and application is online here. Print it out, send it to them with a personal note. Send them to my blog to see pictures and to get a better feel. They'll thank you at the end of the summer! Promise.
**and yes, that is me singing in the video (with a bunch of kids at Mount Carmel in 2007). I believe this version of Jesus Loves Me was written by some counselors at FLBC a few summers before I worked there. Ivar has been singing this version lately :)
Mount Carmel Summer Schedule
My dad called tonight and said to be sure I make it very clear that Mount Carmel is for all ages. And that some come by themselves for the week. Some people bring their grandkids (this is a great idea if the parents can't get away from work. What a special week together!) Dad's exact quote was, "it's different from a kids camp..be sure people know it is multigenerational."
So there you have it. All ages. Welcome. At Mount Carmel.
Summer Schedule:
Mount Carmel offers six weeks of Bible Camp during the summer, bookended by Elderversity weeks (Bible education geared toward retired men and women) Of the schedule below, I wish I could live at Mount Carmel the first four weeks.
Of special note, Wendy Berthelsen is one of the directors of Call Inc., a non-profit that helps men and women understand and live out God's call on their life. I have shared a few conversations with her and always walk away inspired and grateful for her work. A big part of me is hopeful to get to be there for part of this week...
Wendy also wrote the curriculum that all of the youth will be working through, centered on the unique and personal call that Christ has placed on each one of our lives.
June 22-28 “God’s Call in Scripture” (Fine Arts Week) with Rev. Steve Dornbusch
June 29-July 5 “Discover Your Call” with Rev. Wendy Berthelsen
July 6-12 “God’s Call to Faith Formation at Home and Church” with Tim Coltvet
July 13-19 Mini-Weeks for Families (Full week available also)
July 13-16 "Families Drawing Closer to God & Closer to Each other" with Peder Eide
July 16-19 "God’s Masterpiece In & Through You" with Sara Groves
July 20-26 “Genesis – Great Stories of Faith” with Steve Paulson and Chris Croghan
July 27- Aug 2 “God’s Call to Missions” speaker to be announced
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