The Cross at Camp Lebanon, Click for more pictures of camp.

Lebanon, NJ - Baptist Camp Lebanon, where Michelle and I worked for the summer. Michelle held the position of Program Coordinator while I played at being Staff Advisor. Over the past four years, Michelle and I have been volunteer directors for Senior High week. This year, we knew we had a challenge before us: last through seven weeks instead of just one, create a community for the staff that was loving and affirming, and make positive relationships with the campers.
     Michelle was nervous coming into this new place that, historically, had been Michael's (he went to camp here as a child and worked on staff for many years). However, she did an amazing job as program coordinator, making the camp run much smoother than it has over the past few years. Before camp started Michelle was the "transportation Goddess" for the Word and World school in Philadelphia, and a part of the local organizing committee (the G.O. team). As she puts it, she was "in the zone" to do the logistics that was needed at camp. In fact, upon her arrival at camp, she helped Don (the director) create a schedule for the staff orientation. She also helped Michael plan and run staff trips. The staff went to a Somerset Patriots baseball game (where Michael led the crowd in Bugaloo, a camp song), to the observatory, multiple trips to WalMart and the mall, the movies, South Street in Philadelphia and, the Christian Coffeehouse in Collingswood. She also planned a staff campfire. One of her favorite jobs was a default position that she took on when she learned that we hadn't hired enough people for the waterfront crew. Every day, faithfully, she oversaw the multicolored (welcoming and affirming) "buddy board" which let the lifeguards know at a glance who was in or out of the pool. She was best known for the phrase, "If you feel sick or have to go to the bathroom... GET OUT OF THE POOL!" Which was effective... most of the time.
     Michael's main job was to take care of the staff. He planned bible studies for each day (a few of them he even thought were good), with a staff meeting on Fridays. The favorite part of his day was getting to do the ropes (challenge) course. Before the camp season began, Lebanon paid to have him certified to do the different elements and games. During the training, he learned he had many connections with the instructor (for instance she was best friends with the teacher he interned with in Philly) and had a good time. The ropes course teaches team building and positive problem solving, which is something that the campers, hopefully, will take with them through the rest of their lives.
     There were times, more than he'd like to admit, that he did the old "foot in mouth" tango. One time, after a talent show during Junior High, Michael went up to close the evening, pray and dismiss the campers back to the villages. He started out thanking people for organizing and participating in the talent show. After the applause and working them up, Michael put on his "soothing voice" and started talking into the mic, saying, "There are a few other people I'd like to spank." Although he meant to say, "thank", the room lit up again in laughter. Michael doesn't blush often...
     There were hard times throughout the summer, but we were able to pull through and lift each other up. We missed our community and found it tough to forge a new one here. There were many staffers that we built great relationships with and got to know real well. So many people did such an amazing job, it's hard to know how to write about it. We were thankful of the new friendships formed, and old friendships rekindled. It was an amazing summer, a true testament to the Spirit, a place to see (though sometimes clouded) the Reign of God.

North Brunswick, NJ, home of the Brix parents- We came here after camp was over to reorganize and head down to Williamsburg, VA for the Brix family vacation. We were on the road for 5 minutes and the transmission went into eternal neutral. Bummer. So we had to get it rebuilt, which drained a fairly huge chunk of change from our bank account. This job is not a one-day task, so Williamsburg had to wait. Fortunately, Dad Brix had left his car at the house, so we decided we could take it to VA and come back to pick up the RV. UN-fortunately, he had taken the key with him. So he overnight mailed the key to us and we took off for a seven-hour drive for a now 2-day vacation.

Williamsburg, VA - The vacation was fun, though we didn't get to take the RV and we drove almost as long as we stayed. My sister and brother-in-law were there and we hadn't seen them in a while, so we caught up and had fun together. The two of them have a friend who was working at Busch Gardens, so Trish, Liz, Darren, Michelle and I went to the park for virtually nothing. We walked around all day (thank goodness for the camp training!) going from big roller coaster to big roller coaster. In the "weird experiences" department: we ran into our cousins, aunt and uncle (on the Brix side) while we were at the park. They were also on vacation (from Connecticut). It was good to get some home cooking though; Mom made a delicious vegetarian sauce for the spaghetti.

View of the sunset off the back porch

Outer Banks (OBX), NC - The simple way annual retreat. Our good friends, the Morgans, let us use their beautiful house in Avon as the setting for a wonderful week. It was great, after being away for three months, to reconnect with our community. It is such a blessing that we have their support and love for the undertaking of this journey. That sentiment was just revisited time and time again as the community held decision-making and personal check-in meetings. We had a special time with brooke and Shane for our "partner" gathering. During times that we weren't meeting (significantly more free time than past retreats) we went to the beach, hung out, ate good food, swam (or walked) in the sound, or just caught up on our rest and reading. Amber and Roseabell also came along as they are deciding wether or not to journey deeper into community. Jamie made friends with a Canadian couple that was vacationing with their family across the sound from us. We had them over for dinner and talking one night. Michelle and I made spaghetti and a veggie sauce (like mother, like son!) and we had some good talks over "a bottle of red, a bottle of white". They were very interested in environmental justice and had read about us in Adbusters, so it was cool to get to know them.
      Even our discussions went relatively well. We are growing up as a community and as individuals, so there is much to talk about as we grow and change. On the horizon this year, there are many exciting projects and ways to facilitate relationship-building in the neighborhood. For us, we are excited about connecting with other people in our journey, and letting them know about what the community is doing and learning from their journeys as well.
      Betsy Morgan told brooke that we had to spend one night watching the sun go down over the sound, drinking a glass of wine. Unfortunately, every evening had enough clouds to obscure the sunset. On our last day, Shane, brooke, Jamie and the others had already left, leaving us alone to hang out and finish cleaning. Before we pulled out, we noticed that the sun was starting to go down, and the sky was clear! Together, we watched the sun dip down into the water and slip out of sight. It was a beautiful end to our vacation.

Salisbury, MD- Salisbury was a town Michael and I expected merely to drive through on our way back to Philadelphia, but Providence had other ideas. The transmission, which had been acting a little sketchy during the trip, flopped again in this quaint college town. We got towed to a little trans shop called Vernon's and met a great guy named Sean who was appointed to fix the trans, again. (Thankfully, we had gone to a place in NJ that had a national warranty, so we were set...sorta. I mean, we couldn't go anywhere but at least we didn't have to pay for anything!) Sean was a busy dude, and had trouble figuring out what had gone wrong with our little house on wheels, so it was looking like we were going to have to spend the night in the RV in the shop. At closing time, Sean invited us to his place (he only lived a few blocks from the shop) to hang out and have dinner with him and his little family-- his girlfriend Jessica, brother Brandon, friends Tara and Hillary, big puppy Verbal Kent and lots of fish. We had a great time with them, and the next morning Sean rode his bike to the shop so that Michael could use it and we could ride bikes around town and not have to sit there all day watching the single-car train that came by every 3 hours, That evening we headed back to Philadelphia, somewhat limping, only to return to the shop in New Jersey all over again.