Jr High Mission Trip Journal: Learning Lessons

June 24, 2010

7:06 am: in bunk: This is my last day at camp. I head down the mtn tonight so that I can catch a VERY early flight in the morn. The last two nights I’ve sung the girls to sleep with Hung the Moon. Pretty sweet. Tonight all the firefighter guys we’ve been working with are coming to dinner and worship. That’ll be a hoot.

Time for coffee.

June 25, 2010

11:16am: sitting on floor in Denver airport: Yesterday was CRAZY! Just busy. Very good. Worship was AWESOME!!! We were outside again, and I was singing Hung the Moon… when the lyric ‘rest and dream tho I don’t slumber’ came, THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BREEZE blew by and shimmied all the sliver dollars. It was AMAZING. If you just closed your eyes you would have SWORN that God was blowing gently on your forehead. SO SO great!

And I had to leave the mountain last night for early flight this morning – up at 5:30 - that was canceled… I was shuttled 2 hours to the Denver airport, where I now sit, and see that my flight has been delayed. AND I left my entire makeup bag at camp. So I look great, and have breath to match!

It was a great trip. I think the best part for me, as a girl, was hanging out with some really great moms – Lee Ann, Becky, Lori and Lucy – that was awesome. Incidentally, they all tried Breathe Right (anti snoring nose prop-er-uper things) I’m just going to say, it wasn’t 100% successful. But that’s ALL I’m going to say.

Can I say OMGoodness about the youth staff – they say the fish stinks from the head back… Well, sort of trade that ‘stink’ for something gorgeous, put the fish head on Tova and BAM. ROCK AND ROLL

And the kids were/are precious. OH MY GOSH I just would not ever be in Jr High again. That was the biggest lesson I learned… don’t need a do-over there. But the friendships that have begun to form are very sweet.

A GREAT GREAT GREAT group of kids.

I also remembered that it is an honor, joy and privilege to be the mom of my radical kids. My own little mission field (swaps out with minefield every now and again) and I wouldn’t trade my spot for all the tea in China!

I am sore and bone weary.

I am PUMPED about the Munger Place Plant Boot Camp this weekend!!

Alright – I’m gonna go find a soda pop. Thanks for following along. I hope you’ve been able to catch a glimpse of something-or-other.

All joy- kate

Jr High Mission Trip Journal: Learning Lessons

June 23, 2010

6:54 am: in bunk: People have risen from the dead. Good news. But even BETTER news is that our Mr Potty up at the worksite gets replaced with a fresh and new one. Now THAT’s happy day – I’m going to have TWO cups of coffee this morning!!!

7:57 pm: just finished worship: Tonight we sat outside in a little amphitheater with multitudinous Aspen and Pine encircling us. We sang Indescribable, Beautiful One, No Rock, and a couple of others, and I thought of my BFF.

Karen is always moved by nature. She is a sunset chaser, a cloud gazer, a tree wonderer and a sky marvel-or. For as long as I’ve known her she has been this way. She works some aspect of nature into nearly every prayer and can often find the answer to life’s little idiot riddles by stopping to look up or out.

As I was pounding out Indescribable I saw what Karen sees.

I was looking around at the forest of Aspens, whose leaves were shimmering like silver dollars. It was very clear they were applauding the last breath of daylight and coming of sunset. And I wondered what bit of God were we getting a peek into as we sat in His sanctuary.

I am so grateful for what God has shared with me.

I’m going to go back up to that spot to touch the Aspen in my reach until the sun dips under the horizon.

I’m going to listen for God – and He is going to hear me say ‘thank you’.

Goodnight Mudda

Jr High Mission Trip Journal: Learning Lessons

June 22, 2010

7:55 am: in bunk: People are dropping like flies. And they are primarily in MY bunk area. I’m getting dressed and OUTTA HERE!

3:52 pm: in common area: One of the guys helping/in charge at our reforestation site is Jeff. He is a fascinating guy! He’s worked in film and tv – and not like other people when they say that – you’d actually know his work… think along the lines of Spielberg and Madonna and you’ve named 2 of MANY. He’s done a bunch of other stuff too, but definitely the most fascinating were the rumors of him being a ‘ghost hunter’. NATURALLY that peaked my curiosity. And fortunately he was on the chipping team today so I got to hear it all. I was NOT disappointed. OH! He was ALSO a physics major and is heading into the world of quantum physics as it relates to nature and spirituality. An aside: he can tell you EVERYTHING about the Ute Indians that used to inhabit the land. He can tell you everything about the minerals found in the ground where we are standing, and the fossil site down the hill that dates back 1.3 million years. FASINATING.

So, after hearing a couple of his ‘ghost’ stories I said, “Jeff, aren’t you more of a spirit see-er than a ghost hunter?’ His response, ‘Yeah – I mean, how do you kill a ghost anyway?’ True dat homes!

With him being so tuned in to the spirit world I asked him how he felt about cutting down trees – if only for overcrowding or disease (an alive tree). He told me that he lays his hands on every tree that he is to fell, and he prays and also speaks to them as to why they are being felled.

I loved everything about what he was saying… And it speaks to what I was thinking yesterday about taking care of God’s artistry. PLUS a tree is a living being, you know? It’s not a rock (which the bible says will ‘cry out’ if WE don’t praise Him – so maybe we need to rethink the inanimate too!! GOD USES IT ALL TO PRAISE HIM)

So my point is, who is ready to say they’ve got the spirit world figured out?? Do YOU know if a tree aches when it’s limbs are being torn from it or when it’s upward beauty is being ripped apart from it’s deep beautiful earthy embedded roots? Do you know what kind of humor God invoked when he created little bugs? Which deer, elk, dove, rabbit, and all other hunted for game animals, brought the biggest smile to His face when He dreamed it up?

I am ready to tell you, I HAVE NO IDEA what God is ready to for me to kill. And I am deciding right now to err on the side of caution when destroying, killing, poisoning and other bigbottomed I-am-human-hear-me-roar-rape-pillage-and-plunder, ideas.

WHO AM I ANYWAY??

Taking a gander at Job 38-41 helps me in my personal caution parade…

10:15 pm: In bed: Worship was great – these kids totally rock! I, on the other hand, am POOPED.

Goodnight Mudda

Jr High Mission Trip Journal: Learning Lessons

June 21, 2010

6:05 am: In bunk – asleep: It can NOT be time to get up. I had weird WEIRD dreams – the bunkhouse blew up because the pink and white balloons I brought, caught on fire from the heater. Everyone got out safely and we watched the walls collapse – only they weren’t the bunkhouse walls it was something like the Roman Coliseum. But then I ended up in a penthouse somewhere, so it was ok.

Do you think there’s coffee somewhere?

4:11 pm: in bunk- dead: but I’ll tell you whut! That 2012-S Storm Chipper will slurp a 14” in diameter pine tree like it’s melted ice cream! Unreal.

Do you remember the Haymen Burn, 2002 – CO? That’s where we are reforesting. And you know what the coolest thing is – without human intervention it would take the forest 8,000 years to get back to where it was. Because of human intervention it should only take 300-400 years.

Here’s what rocks: there are people in the world that aren’t looking to be known, seen, applauded, mentioned – even thanked: it is as simple as : there is a need, and I’ve got me : the whole ‘ask not’ approach.

I am not one of them, but I would like to try. I really would. I would like to be way way way more active in taking care of this planet and it creatures. But GOD FORBID I get caught caring about a whale, or protest the use of foreign oil or 1,000 other things. I need to not care, and just do it.

What are three things I can do to begin to effect a change in my mindset, my kid’s mindset? How do I start living with set on the intention of protecting God’s artistry?

I’m so tired – I have no idea what I’m saying – but I hear my heart, and my eyes have seen!

I want to be a better human.

8:46 pm: in bunk- sleep soon: Tova was so good tonight. And I find it frightening and amazing that she can be speaking to the Jr Highers, and I’m on the edge of my seat hoping she’ll cure me too! The long and the short of it is that she encouraged everyone to look in a mirror and face yourself. Who are you. What are your gifts. What are the lies you are buying into from friends/loves/parents/society that are keeping you from being you : YOU, the fearfully and wonderfully made beauty!

The whole thing fits in with my New Human stategy.

I’m going to eat a fist full of milk duds & read Grisham by flashlight.

I have wood chips coming out my tear ducts… just, by the way.

Goodnight Mudda –

Jr High Mission Trip Journal: Learning Lessons

June 20, 2010

7:52 am: DFW airport, flight 1361: So far I have learned that everyone else packed their bedding and clothes on a truck that is headed to CO. I was told:

#1 one small duffle

#2 pack bedding.

I have, for a week, a pair of underwear and a Barbie pillow.

3:00 pm: Sitting in my bunk: Ahh… Jr High – it’s like riding a bike… I’ve learned: I’m still awkward, unsure and unpopular.

10:49 pm: Back in my bunk: Stephen spoke on strength; how much strength is required to be silently strong – appearing weak to the onlooker – typically the one we want to act/be the most bad-bottom in front of. It reminded me of the saying ‘walk softly with a big stick’. It also reminded me of the Karate Kid. It reminded me that I’m not really very good at this. Oh, I can walk softly, and I’m quite cute with the stick – I twirl it like yester-years rodeo princess baton queen – and the minute I need to make a point I wield it like Jackie Chan on red bull – 10 people dead, singlehandedly, but it was a very righteous beating, as I offered several chances for the meeting of my sanctified approval.

So, now I’ll have a nightmare.

Great.

Worship was awesome! These kids could teach their parents a thing or two – WHACK – where’s my red bull??

Stinking early call – reforestation – I feel so noble and green and eco-y.

Goodnight Mudda –

kate

monohomo

6.10.2010

I’m having fun playing out again- outside ‘the church’.

There’s something about connecting with people in that way, that is very satisfying.

While I play, people drink, laugh, listen close - connecting to the lyrics, and hoping to score resolve if it’s offered, maybe even a gust into an answer to a question they’ve been asking too.

The listener and me walking up to the line hoping - expectant for some sort of exchange, dare I say deliverance?

I’m not promoting Kate as Oracle here… I’m just ok with asking questions and looking stupid. (that I’ve chosen to do that out loud and onstage is a topic for another time)

They take the ride with me.

Captured, weightless and silly – caught unawares.

They are willing.

I am willing.

We are willing participants in something that is nearly unidentifiable and entirely intangible.

And that is what I most miss about ‘the church’.

A lack of willing.

Anemic will.

The lack of desire to grope for will.

A want for will.

monohomo

And it’s not every one that comes to church, or any one denomination.

It’s just what I see sometimes.

God is It

Thursday, June 3, 2010

TODAY I:
made up with my sister.

met young girl with gobs of artistic potential.

smelled pot on my son’s breath.

stared at the cover of the book I’m to be reading for the book club.

thought about a young boy who took his life 7 days ago.

daydreamed about a love and its future.

watered the plants.

considered Fair Trade living.

contemplated what it means to my budget to give up Wal Mart.

wished for a great little bungalow in East Dallas.

God was in it all.

all was in God.

it was God.

God was it.