Montreat Church Retreat

When you hear the word "retreat," what comes to mind? Rejuvination? Inspiration? Relaxation? Perhaps - unless you are going to the retreat as the assistant in charge of all of the elementary-aged children!

Two weeks ago, my boss at First Presbyterian asked if I would be willing to go to the all-church retreat in the mountains with her. With 75 K-5th graders attending the retreat this year, she needed an extra person-in-charge to help with crowd control. So, on Friday afternoon, we packed up and drove two hours west to Black Mountain near Montreat, NC.


Montreat Conference Center is an ideal mountain retreat setting, with a beautiful lake right outside the old stone Assembly Inn. I went for a run Saturday afternoon to enjoy the scenery even more (but only lasted 30 minutes due to the whole mountain issue - I'm happy to be a flat-lander, no doubt!)

There were four different adult worship/keynote speaker sessions that focused on hearing God's calling throughout the weekend. During each of those times, Jami and I (along with the assistance of six random girls from the local college) were in charge of everyone's kids. We did three lessons from their upcoming Children's Church curriculum that focuses on the life of David. There were skits, crafts, small group games, and great songs. "Davey, Davey" (to the tune of Louie, Louie) was probably my favorite: Ah, Ooh, Ah, Ooh, I want a heart that beats for you!

The building that we were in was great for entertaining elementary aged kids. There were ping pong, pool, and foosball tables on the loft-like second floor, and small tables and couches on the first floor for snack times. Miraculously, no one got hurt during the structured chaos that involved a lot of free-for-all running around. I did have to use my "teacher voice" a few times throughout the weekend, but at least the kids here are quite well-mannered when they get in trouble.

"Do you really think that you should be trying to climb out the window right now?" (Safety note: it opened right on to the ground level')

"No, ma'am."

"I didn't think so. Let's try to make some better decisions here this weekend."

Saturday morning I took 49 of them "creek hopping," which was definitely the highlight of the weekend for most of the kids! Amazingly, that was when they were the best behaved by far. They were enthralled by all of the living creatures and completely engrossed in building "bridges" with piles of rocks from the bottom of the creek - even cooperatively working together without any arguments whatsoever! It was a beautiful thing! I, personally, had a rock-star moment when I lifted this ginormous rock out of the water and onto the bank for a group of boys' "stone sculpture workshop." It was great!

I was also reintroduced to the concept of Southern girls going by two names. You might think Bobbie Sue or Barbara Ann or whatever, but this is a whole different generation. Some names of the girls included:

• Anne Hayden
• Sarah Gray
• Meta Kate (pronounced "meet-a")
• Sara Holland

The parents loved all of the "free time" from their kids - especially since the amount of sugar consumed was probably record-setting (thanks to the "hospitality table" in the lobby that was continuously stocked with cookies, chocolates, chips, and every other junk food imaginable) ....Oi!
As an adult, I'm sure that the weekend was refreshing. As an adult taking care of 75 children...not so much. It was quite possibly one of the most exhausting weekends I've ever had, but it really was great to see those kids loving God and know that I had an impact on their lives.

Apple Festival

Two posts to catch up on this weekend...

Perfect weather on Saturday for the annual Apple Festival at Historic Bethabara Park (which I just learned is pronounced be-THAB-ara; not beth-a-BAR-a like I've been saying this whole time...)

For some reason, I'm a sucker for these colonial historical reenactments. I think it's because it evokes this calming, nurturing feeling of a simpler time in a simpler place - and I am fully aware that this warm fuzzy emotion would quickly be swallowed by the realities of life in that day and age - but there's just something about it...

This location holds the oldest house in Forsyth County which was built in 1792 (I think...) and the oldest German colonial church with living quarters still standing as well - including the original floors and everything!

We checked out the potter, the weaver, and the yarn-maker (who probably has another name, but that's all I can come up with right now...) That was by far the most interesting though. It was really amazing watching this handful of wool get turned into string. If it broke, you could just spread out the end, hold it in the pile of wool in your hand, and it would just pick up again like it was nothing. The woman who was doing it told us to keep our eyes open because the wheels were selling at yard sales like hot cakes. She kept encouraging me that I could do it myself - and the idea was tempting for a second - but as I'm not exactly the Martha Stewart type, I realized just about the only thing I could do with a hunk of yarn would be to make a lot of (or a really big) Cats-in-the-Cradle string games. Which would be cool...but maybe not quite worth the effort.

There were all sorts of colonial games to play. Who wouldn't be entertained by hoop-and-a-stick, or walking on tin cans with ropes like mini-stilts? There was some sort of bowling like game that seemed interesting, but I never quite caught on to the rules. And there were horse drawn wagon rides, music, and dancing ... and of course, APPLES!

How many kinds of apples can you name? I think I'm up to about 10 now. Some new ones we tried: Mutsu, Spartan, and Staymen. I also had to finally try one of those apple dumlings - homemade, baked fresh on the spot. MMMMmmmmm! Yum! There were also cider slushies, apple streudels, fried apple pies (OH! - side note: I passed on the FRIED BOLOGNA being sold at Rock the Block Friday! Seriously? How do you serve that?) We bought $5 worth of apples, which will probably last us for at least a month. I'm planning on making a chicken/spiced apple concoction this evening, and some cranberry applesauce eventually, but if you have any great recipes/uses for apples, feel free to send them along! I'm usually up for trying anything once - except for fried bologna...

Rock the Block

6 hours + 5 stages of live music + 40,000 of our closest friends = Rock the Block 2008. Just to give you an idea of the streets, I took a couple pictures of the crowds - and honestly, this was early on in the evening (so a few more strollers, but less people than later).




It just so happens that the block that was getting rocked was right outside our building. I couldn't help but laugh at the photo opportunity capturing the funnel cake trailer right outside our door. (And laughing about another infamous "funnel-cake trailer" (the one that almost moved us to NC) that the Miles family no longer owns - right Jane?)


From 6 until midnight on Friday, downtown was insane! Each of the stages had a genre focus, with three or four different acts playing throughout the evening. You had your choices of rock, r & b, americana, country/contemporary christian, and beach music - which is apparently a very Southern thing (and it's more than the "put a lime in your coconut" song). Luckily, I got out of having to learn how to "shag" to the music, which is a particular kind of dance to go with the tunes.


I was bummed Chris had to miss out on Old Stone Revue - big fan of their song, "Home." I met up with a bunch of the residents and their friends, and Chris finally got to join us about 9:30 or so. We hung out at the beach stage for awhile, but honestly, I needed a break from the crowds (plus drinks and snacks were cheaper in our room), so about 20 or so of us went up to our apartment.


There was another stage right outside our window, so we weren't missing out on music. After the group went for pizza, we had fun dancing in our living room and shouting out encouragements to the band from our window (well, Chris did that part, of course).

Overall, it was quite the extravaganza - in addition to the music, there was a Crafter's Row, a mechanical bull, a BMX show, and more... Have we mentioned how much we love this city?

Triathlon for Two

Chris and I competed in the Angels Triathlon today at Tanglewood Park in Clemmons, NC (just outside of W-S). It was an official sprint distance, so we swam 300m, biked 20k (12.4 miles) and ran 5k (3.1 miles). Our start times were 8:33 and 9:07 - and Chris had to be back on Wake's campus at 11am! Nothing like a little extra motivation to get movin! (We made it there at 11:05 - just in time to tell a soccer player she couldn't play in the game because she might have a fractured rib...she was not pleased).



The race was started a few years back by some families who had lost children to untimely deaths. The idea is to write an angel's name on your arm and compete with the spirit of that angel throughout the race. Chris wrote GP4, in honor of his four grandparents who have passed away; I had them write Heidi, in honor of Heidi White, our music teacher who died just after childbirth (an obvious catalyst of my issue with pregnancy).

I felt the swim went slightly better (still not great though). I hit the feet of the person in front of me like four different times (which in pool triathlons means you should pass them at the wall) but that happened with like a quarter length to go, so I had to do this awkward breaststroke/head-above-water freestyle waiting up - and then by the time we got to the end, I didn't have the energy or the flow to actually pass the person... Anyway, I didn't swallow so much water that I thought I was going to puke this time - a huge improvement in my book!

We decided that road bikes are a necessity if we are going to continue this sport. We have these fatty hybrid mountain bikes, and boy does it show as these road cyclists with their clipped in shoes go flying by you with apparent effortlessness. That would be a major expense, so someday....someday...

The run was a lot hillier than the Ramblin Rose course, and my quads totally cramped up with about a mile to go. I actually had to walk a few paces and try to get rid of the grapefruit sized knots just above both of my knees. (But I still finished in under 26 minutes, so apparently I made good use of the downhill portions...)

Our times are as follows (again not that y'all really care, just for the sake of data keeping for the future):
Dawn
Swim - 7:39, T1 - 2:01, Bike - 42:47, T2 - 1:15, Run 25:45 --- Overall time: 1 hour, 19 minutes, and 25 seconds. It appears that I repeated my performance as 5th in my age group, but I moved up to #40 overall in the women's division. Woo hoo!

Chris
Swim - 6:40, T1 - 2:00, Bike - 43:18, T2 - 1:08, Run 23:46 --- Overall time: 1 hour, 16 minutes, and 50 seconds.

Triathlons really are great fun! For those of you who say you get bored with working out, this definitely mixes it up for you - and provides quite the challenge! We can't wait to scope out the Illinois options for summer 2009!

Bookmarks Festival

A sad day as we awoke this morning and I realized that this was the first post-race pumpkin pancake breakfast at the good ole Morton Pumpkin Festival I have missed in five years. We honored the tradition of making our own pumpkin pancakes, but it just wasn't quite the same with some of that Rocke sausage (and not having run 6.2 miles first). But alas, we found the strength to carry on with our day...

I went to Bookmarks, this phenomenal outdoor book festival in Historic Bethabara Park here in Winston-Salem. From 9:30 in the morning until 4:30 or so in the afternoon, there were nearly 50 presentations by authors/illustrators and other important literary figures on 9 different stages. Some of the tents focused on mystery, humor, nonfiction, cooking, heroes & icons, teen/young adult, and childrens.

I started the morning in the "Food for Thought" tent with Tanya Steel and Tracy Seaman talking about their book Real Food for Healthy Kids. Tanya is the editor of epicurious and Tracy is the test kitchen coordinator for Rachel Ray's magazine. I was most intrigued with the televisions showing the overhead view of their cooking demonstrations.

Then, I went to the main stage to see Rue McClanahan, aka Blanche, from the Golden Girls. She is moving slowly (just had knee surgery apparently), but she is hilarious. She read excerpts from her book My First Five Husbands. It was interesting to learn that she originally (and begrudgingly) read at the casting call for the character of Rose - but knew that she was perfect for Blanche. The directors saw that as well, made the switch, and the rest is history.

After that, I saw Nikki Giovanni -famous Black poet, professor at Virginia Tech, recently branching into children't lit. The book she read from was Lincoln and Douglass - and no, that's not a typo...it is Douglass with two s's because it is about the friendship between Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass (Black abolitionist, publisher of The North Star newspaper). She was hilarious - mostly because she was not accustomed to presentations geared toward children, making adult references and even using a cuss word once.











I also saw Doreen Croning and Betsy Lewin, the author/illustrator team who has done Click, Clack, Moo, Duck for President, Diary of a Worm, and many other hilarious picture books. Their new one, Thump, Quack, Moo is great for fall and involves the creation of a corn maze.

While they were entertaining the younger ones by creating a new story with the crowd, I snuck over to hear Chris Crutcher in the teen tent. Many of his books are banned from school libraries because of the mature material, but he is a great storyteller. His years of working as a therapist definitely come out in his characters, and he often times has a sports themed backdrop for his stories to connect with many reluctant readers. He was a perfect featured author because Winston Salem is doing The Big Read (similar to Peoria Reads) with Fahrenheit 451 and featuring movies of famously banned books throughout the month.

[Oh, and Kate, I totally thought of you, but the session overlapped with Nikki Giovanni's, so I couldn't go --- Janet Lembke (I don't know if that name is familiar or not) presented her book, Because the Cat Purrs: How We Relate to Other Species and Why It Matters. I wanted to drop in her tent and say, "My sister-in-law wrote this great book about a year with her dog...it'll be published in the spring...and she's got this great blog where all of these people talk in the persona of their pet..." But I didn't...]

I listened to some great live acoustic/folk music while deciding whether I should stick (literally) it out and stay for the last three presentations I had circled on my schedule, but decided that three hours of 93 degree heat was probably good enough for the day.

I met up with Chris at Wake, where he was saving athletes' lives left and right, covering the field hockey, volleyball, and rugby matches of the day. After driving out to Tanglewood to pick up our race packets for the triathlon tomorrow, he had to go immediately back to campus to put stitches in somebody. And, he'll have to be back at Wake for some event (I forget which sport) at 11 am tomorrow morning. (It's a little crazier than usual because Suzi is covering the Irish Women's National Soccer team on their tour here in the US. They play at Soldier Field sometime this week in case any one is interested.) Our start times are 8:33 and 9:07 so we'll really have to push it to swim 300 m, bike 20k, and run 5k, get everything loaded back up in the truck, and be back to campus by 11. Nothing like a little extra motivation to push us along I guess. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow...

Home Opener Excitement!

This Saturday was the home opener for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons against Ole Miss. I was supposed to work on the Habitat house, but Hurricane Hanna prevented that from happening. (We got some rain overnight Friday and early Saturday morning, but honestly, it was nothing like what we were expecting. We did buy rain gear in preparation, but by Saturday mid-day, it was sunny and 85).

Since I had originally thought that I was going to be arriving at the stadium right at game time after Habitat, I hadn't made any plans with anyone else regarding tailgaiting. Chris suggested I just take some food and drink, sit by my car, and read a book or something, but I told him that seemed weird. However, when he called me at 1:30 and told me it was getting crazy there, I thought maybe I should go just to be sure I got a parking spot. So... as difficult as this is to admit - and as pricelessly pathetic as it really is ... I solo pseudo-tailgated. My version of this involves an apple, a string cheese, a bag of almonds, and a couple of strawberry Smirnoff Ices - and lots of wandering around the parking lots so it looked like I was just on my way to meet some people somewhere else.

While meandering through the lots, I tried to take pictures to give Chris and y'all an idea of the craziness outside the stadium pre-game. Let me just say, the longer I walked, the funnier things seemed and the bolder I got with the picture-taking. At first I was just trying to nonchalantly snap a few pics as I walked by, but by the end, I was just walking right up to the tables to get some good shots.

I'm sure I got a few funny looks - which could also have had something to do with the fact that I was wearing a red and white striped tank top and blue jean shorts. I had had a dressing dilemma - it was entirely too hot to wear anything black (which is all I had in ways of Wake wear), and the only piece of yellow I own happened to be in the dirty clothes. So - I figured I'd be a rebel and just dress like one (Ole Miss' colors are red, white, and blue). I am holding firm to my refusal to follow the apparent Southern style and wear a dress and heels to the game - yes, at least 50% of the women there were wearing dresses...at a football game! I just don't get it. I dress for comfort - not fashion!

I did get to use my outfit choice to my advantage at one point during the game though - I caught a shirt when the Deacon mascot began shooting them out of the T-shirt gun! I've never caught one before! The guys around me were giving this grumpy, older, tobacco-spitting man who was sitting right in front of me a hard time because it was right above him. I tried to convince them to give me a break - I obviously needed some Wake Forest gear... Unless I can find somewhere to trade it in, I won't be wearing the XL. But I figured Chris would love it - at least the slogan. Last year's slogan was "Paint It Black" and this year it's, naturally, "Back in Black" - which just so happened to be the same slogan his senior year at Metamora. Go birds...

The Winston-Salem air show was also going on this weekend, so one of the special guests at the game were the Geico dot-matrix fly team who can spell anything you want in the sky apparently. And I have to admit that seeing Go Deacons like that was pretty cool...

The other special guest - the selected honoree who gets to "open the gate" at the beginning of the game - was 2008 Olympian (and Wake Forest basketball standout) Chris Paul. It was pretty awesome as he held up the gold medal for all to see.

And finally, to the game - holy cow! E-X-C-I-T-I-N-G! I won't even try to recap it all - I'll save that for the experts: ESPN. But in a nutshell, Wake marched down the field with 1:01 to go and kicked a field goal with 8 seconds remaining to win the game. It was unbelievable! And, there was lots of refereeing drama that didn't make the ESPN highlights that added to the atmosphere as well! Nothing like starting the season off with a bang!