One of the funniest moments to date happened tonight at dinner. Eren didn’t eat much dinner, and when he saw some of the kids getting ice cream, he wanted his ice cream. Mary kept telling him he had to eat more of his sweet potatoes, but he wouldn’t have any of it. Well, she then took his ice cream cone and scooped the sweet potatoes in it to see if he’d eat it that way. The look of shock and indignation on that two-year-old’s face was priceless! He snatched the cone from her and shook it upside down til it all came out, and then continued to grumble at her. We were laughing so hard we were crying! Then she brought him his ‘ice cream’ which is really whipped topping, he snatched it from her hand, held it over his cone, and looked expectantly at it, I guess thinking it just magically comes out. He finally let Mary help him. Hilarious!
The porch meeting was one of introspection. We each talked about something we will take with us from Montreat this year. William started us out with a hilarious “the towels from the room!” but then we got serious.
- Marsha – being around the kids and getting to know them better
- Shannon – friendship with the little old ladies from choir
- Hannah – new appreciation for how spiritual the complex pieces can be – more inspired now
- Will – all the sermons were extremely good, and he learned something from every one
- Libby – happiness
- Ashton – good friends
- Jackson – new friends, the sermons
- Noah – all the lessons from Tom (pastor) and Philip (choir director) about being happy in whatever you do and doing everything with as much meaning as you can
- Garrett – new friends, and all the memories that are courtesy of everyone in the group
- Thomas – activities, like rock hopping
- Deborah – learning different concepts in handbells, like time, space, energy, weight and balance
- Mary – the prayer our minister said every day when he preached – loved that he recognized there are more ways to worship than talking, and by listing them he gives credence and weight to the people who make it happen
- William – patience
- Elizabeth – conducting class focus was on the text of songs, and new ways to go about putting the text first
- Sharon – listening outside percussion this morning with the rain and the green grass and leaves made it seem like Juffare in Africa, from Roots, and that sense of community they had
- Jack – learned a new prayer – Love God, Love Neighbor
- Shelby – the preacher’s sermon finished with the words to the Dream Isaiah song, and thus made singing it more intense
- Bailey – that the 10 commandments can be summed up in two categories – sins against God and sins against neighbor
- Lindsey – learned to make cool things in art class
- Baker – everything in the service was wrapped around a theme, and there was a connection, both on the surface and on a deeper level, and the more you understand it, the more connections you see
- Alexia – the music teacher says “fake it til you make it,” which made her think of Mary’s “fake it til you feel it”
- Harrison – learning to make the weaving art projects
- Will – used to dislike singing hymns, but after the Hymn Festival he said he’ll never complain about them again
- Sarah Jane – spending time with all of the kids has made her a better leader, caretaker, and person – has grown a lot this week
- Garrett – the sermon about God being like us, vulnerable
- Mary – Jesus being dependant on human love was a new concept for us
- Shannon – the emotion of singing The Dream Isaiah Saw will stay with her for the rest of her life
- Thomas- learned a new diving technique at the pool from Garrett
- Noah – we should all circle our favorite songs in our worship book and get SPC to let us sing them in church services
A few more pictures from this afternoon:
