The Love Child of Dr. Seuss and Tim Burton

I have driven past this treasure many times since moving to the Twin Cities. Last weekend, when Michael and I were figuring out how to spend our Saturday, this seemed like the perfect place to go. I assumed there was few pieces of public art, but I was quickly mistaken.

One review described Franconia Sculpture Park as the love child of Dr. Seuss and Tim Burton. I completely agree. It is that mix of quirky and creative, intriguing and abstract. These ninety-five plus pieces of public art carry a mix of passion, modernity and uniqueness. If nothing else, it was a great excuse to pull my  camera out on a Saturday afternoon and work on my summer tan.

The Extra Pieces of Vacation

I had one of those vacations that I did not want to leave. It seemed silly that I had to come back to Minnesota, even though I am not sure I had the energy to go on any longer. 

I arrived home after a week at Bible Camp and Day Camp to help pull off a party to celebrate my Dad’s 65th birthday and retirement. The next day was spent at Citizen’s Bank Park with Kathleen and Kendall. Chris and Leslie arrived the next day. We worked on details for Chris’ upcoming wedding. We also had the chance to check-out Love Letters and some other great city sites. In-between I caught a night out with Natalie, and John stopped by for some water-ice and waffles following a campaign. And then Leslie, Chris and I were off to Boston. Sammie snuggled with me in the back site. We spent time getting ready for the wedding, including last minute crafts, manicure and pedicures, and getting Camp Lincoln ready. It was then wedding time! Chris and Mike showed up for the rehearsal as the sexton and the vicar. Many of the rest of us showed up sweaty. The next day they were married. Chris and Leslie’s ordination was held right outside of Boston the next day. A highlight was per-ordination fro-yo with Michelle and Keith. 

I get so excited when my days home are spent surrounded with family and friends, visits to Chickie and Pete’s, water ice and murals. I could go on and on about this trip home. I’m really excited that I will be home next year at the same time as my Delco BFF is getting married. I hope she is ready for this wedding planning pro.

A Love Letter between a Boy and a Girl

Many of you may be well aware that I have a love for street art. I actively support the work of City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program and their passion to see the transformative power of art throughout the city. It seems like it was forever ago that Mural Arts Program announced the conception of Steve Powers’ Love Letters.  I have followed this project of fifty murals ever since, and I have been waiting in anticipation to experience it first hand. A nasty bug at Christmas and a overactive nerve in April delayed this experience, but this past trip home finally allowed for me to see this display of fifty rooftop murals. 

I am still trying to find the write words to describe this project. What I must say is that anyone that is in, near, around, going thru Philadelphia must take the time to experience Love Letters. Thirty minutes will allow you to see almost all fifty murals via the elevated train, which is the recommended way to view the collection.

Although, I have read the blogs and seen the pictures, I had no idea what to expect. We even got off at the first platform thinking that was how best see Powers’ work. But after standing there in confusion, we found ourselves back on the train and soon mesmerized as mural after mural flew past us, but not fast enough to miss capturing a picture here and there. And like a child’s game of seek-n-find, we called out to each other, ‘Ooh! There’s one” or “Look at this one.” 

Love Letters is beautiful, filled with color and comes with an invitation to be part of a love letter between a boy and a girl.

A Sexton and a Vicar

My best friend, Chris, was a seminary student at Lutheran Theological Seminary of Philadelphia. We meet when we were forced to call Key West home for the summer. Chris, seeking ordination in the ELCA, was sent off to St. Paul Lutheran Church in Arlington, Massachusetts to fulfill her one year internship requirement for ordination. It was there that Chris became Vicar CJ. It was also there that she meet the sexton, Mike. You would think that would be it, but nope. The Vicar and sexton became friends and soon feel in love. Of course I left out some details, but I love telling the tale of the Vicar and the Sexton.

Here is my Maid of Honor Speech from their wedding:

There are a lot of beautiful things in this world, like late night strolls down Duval or carving pumpkins with a new friend. We find beauty in picnics on the church lawn and dog walks on the beach in the chill of a winter day. There is beauty in car rides across the country and sparklers on a summer night. It can be as simple as a post-it note memo or waking up to coffee made by your first love. Beauty is realizing you share a favorite color with someone close and the very moment you realized you found your partner. There is beauty in heart to hearts in Home Depot and dancing in the kitchen together while cooking supper. There is beauty in the honesty of conversation and in the care of relationships.

For me, I have found beauty in listening to my best friend explode with emotion over the butterflies in her stomach from Michael, the very man who won her over with a combination white board, bulletin board at the start of internship. The very man she would meet in the sanctuary at eleven on every Thursday for a kiss. The very man that rescued Chris, the vicar, a damsel in distress, from a desert box disaster on Christmas Eve. The very man that has also invited me, and all of us, to be part of their something beautiful.

Michael, thank you for giving my best friend glimpses of beauty in everyday. Thank you for allowing her to see how we all see her, as one of the most beautiful people in the world.

Chris, thank you for the beauty you bring with you wherever you go. It is contagious and welcoming, sincere and never-ending.

Mike and Chris, may you continue to find the beauty in the simple things like making coffee for one another and long walks with Robi. May this beauty continue to be transparent in all that you do. And may we all get glimpses of this beauty through the community you two continue to foster.

Oh, I Can't Sit Down...

“Oh, I can’t sit down. Oh, I can’t sit down. Because all I want to do is Splash! around.”

These lyrics may explain out week of Day Camp better than anything else. Why sit down when you can visit with new friends, explore the importance of water in our everyday lives and wonder what we mean when we say living water.

For the past two years, the South Minneapolis Day Camp collaborative has been doing it ourselves. What this means is that we do not hire a camp to come in to provide staffing, curriculum and support. We rely on our faith communities to provide the leadership and support we need. It seems crazy when we first realize the number of volunteers that are needed, but we had over fifty people provide some sort of contact for Day Camp. It may have been teaching about Lydia or creating a spreadsheet of our registrations. We had a parent provide us with Monarch butterflies that were just about to enter the world and a kitchen crew that made me laugh while preparing lunch each day. We had a crew of thirteen come from Wisconsin to serve as Shepherds and others who taught games and science. 

Like I said, why would you want to sit down when you can Splash! around.

Fostering the Community

I owe so much gratitude to a wonderful crew of individuals who volunteered to be pen-pals for our kids who attended camp this summer. 

I often fear that a lot of what we do in the church become isolated events, especially experiences for our young people. Of course, I want our young people to have the experiences of short term mission trips, youth gatherings and camp, but I did no want these experiences to be isolated events. This summer I set a priority of inviting other memebers of the congregations to be part of our camper’s experience. No, they were not coming along to camp with them, but in a way they were. 

Each camper received a camp pen-pal. This pen-pal was to write a letter, small note, card, joke to their camper each day. Pen-pals received a list of daily themes and scriptures before sitting down to write their letters. (I collected all mail prior to leaving for camp.) They also received a camper profile of their camper. Pen-Pal’s also had a profile to fill out and send a long with their first note. Anyone could be a camper pen-pal. We even had a godmother-goddaughter match.

I was curious if all I did was create more work for myself, and others, but I’m confident that that was not the case. Before even arriving at Luther Crest I had young people begging me for their letters. I also had some campers who had no idea that each day they were guarenteed at least one piece of mail. One of our most shy campers came up to me and said, ‘Guess What?’ ‘What?’ ‘I received a letter from my sunday school teacher.’

Of, course, camp, in many ways, still stands as an isolated event in the lives of young people. But I believe there is more there. What if that feeling of community we experience at camp becomes the new normal? What if that feeling of creativity, exploration and curostisty were part of our every day lives? I want this world. In some ways I live in this world and it is not become I am playing pretend.

We did not find a solution or a positive response to my questions, but we fostering that community. And one of the places that begins is through the love and care of our camp pen-pals. One more person has come alongside our campers this summer. Another person thinking, praying and dreaming with our campers. And this relationship does not end when camp is over because these are people our campers see on Sunday mornings, interact with on Wednesday Night and live down the street from. I like to think of our camp pen-pals as community builders, friends and some of the coolest people I know.