weeks gone by

Orientation week here at Summit a couple weeks ago with all our staff was a whirlwind of laughing, learning, lingering, playing and sharing...uh, and working. We spent a few days here at Base getting a feel for each other and Summit life, pulling gear and food, calling on the presence of the Divine to be among us and preparing for a few day up in the Balls-our course area, about an hour's drive up the mountain. We then spent the next 3 days, climbing, rappelling and adventuring whilst continuing to work through what it means to be a community and to love each other in the summer Summit environment. We were using Jean Vanier's book From Brokenness to Community to frame our discussions for the week and catch a vision for our summer. There were some really sweet times getting to know one another in our brokenness that wouldn't necessarily have otherwise happened. It's a good way to approach living in community.
The adventure race this year was over night! We started out at about 7pm for a night of orienteering, rappelling, bushwacking, river crossing and moon/star gazing in the meadows. It was a beautiful night, despite the mosquitos, and we finished in close second. At the finish was a blazing fire, ready to make bagel melts and plenty of time to sleep...as we waited for the third group who didn't roll in until 6am after an unfortunate wrong turn on an unmarked road. It was a really fun experience and just beautiful to be out in the wilds of night with such a great group of folks and amidst such beautiful scenery. I most loved the silence, lying on the granite after a harrowing night rappel, waiting for my teammates at the bottom, admiring the silhouettes of trees and the glowing midnight blue and stars. We finished the week with a commissioning service. Fulltime staff, base staff and instructor staff spent time coming up with a statement to speak/pray over one other group. Ours, that the full time staff came up with, included the scriptures about love....it is patient, kind, does not envy or keep account of wrong. This struck me deeply as it is something I hope to pursue sincerely in my day to day life here...

Since orientation it has been a roller coaster of courses getting organized, planned, going out and coming in. Base filling up and emptying. Busy slow, quiet, chaos. I've enjoyed the momentum, but I'm reaching my end... at least for a couple days. There have been a lot of mouths to feed. Probably my favorite moments have been learning a beautiful new method of cooking stir fry and my shared birthday party (Bryce's was last week too). The cakes and treats at the party were a decadent display of love and chocolate. It was lovely and fun. (Thanks, everyone!) The stir fry... I realized I am in the habit of always using onions, cooking them first and cooking the rest of the veggies way too long. The peanut sauce we used was unbelievable too. One of the best meals I've had/helped make in a long time. (Thanks, Graham!)

Also, since orientation, I've been jumping in the lake or creek every day or night. It's been an amazing refreshing beautiful way to get a little time alone and time in the water. I love it...it was one of few regrets, that I didn't do it more often last summer...The full moon swim was one of the best.