Bonding Experience

Wow! How is anyone supposed to follow that? Oh well we will see how it goes.

This is Carol now.

Coming to Elgin was not a far trip by any means, I have lived in Northern Illinois for the last nine years, so coming up to Elgin was less than two hours from my house. I grew up in the Church of the Brethren and often times I feel like I live, eat, sleep, and breathe Brethren. When I was thinking about what I wanted to do after college it almost became an internal battle about what the next steps should be. I thought about using my degree, but then I got an email about working with the youth and the young adults of the denomination and I got to travel, that was the selling point and I filled out the application. After accepting the job, I knew that BVS had just fallen into my lap and that was where I needed to be for the next year. So while many of my friends were preparing for Graduation with no idea what came next my mind was at ease, because I already had a job.

Our First House Party  

       There is a tradition that goes back many years that around halloween each year the BVSers host a party. Even though they did not have a party last year we decided that we wanted to try and bring this tradition back. The part that I did not mention was the fact that our attic stays decorated for Halloween year round. What other house has its own guillotine, spider webs, table, chairs, skulls, and candles up year round? This year we decided that we wanted to jazz up the decorations a little. So we got a hold of our friend Patrick, who loves Halloween, for a few extra additions. These included a witch with a light-up magic ball, a person being hung, chopped off heads, and a few other things. So really all we needed to do was decorate a little more some other parts of the house, send out invitations, cook some food, and get all dressed up. As Clara mentioned we already had our costumes, the rest came together rather easily. Then the evening of our party we had several people from work and church that came to our party and I think that everyone had a good time.

A Bonding Moment

Every week as already discussed we have a house devotional. We take turns leading this so this week it was Don's turn to lead us. After reading some scripture he raised the question, "How would you describe the life of a BVSer and what advice would you give them?" Here is what we said:

 Carol - Life is like a boat. Much like the story of Jesus and Peter out on a boat. Jesus then gets out of the boat to walk on the water. Peter gets out of the boat and follows Jesus. Also walking on the water, until he begins to question what is happening. It is then that he begins to sink. We need to remember to stay a float, not questioning the awesomeness of our year. And most importantly for me, don't question the decisions that you have made.

Clara - A BVSer is like the Odyssey. A series of stories with the challenges but as you get over and through them, the next one doesn't seem as bad. Advice - be prepared for anything.
Don - A BVSer is like a person that has been dropped off on a foreign planet. Remember to get out of the ship and discover your surroundings. Don't race back to the ship when you hit a crater.

Doing things a little backwards

So after our celebration, some people at the office all decided that we had not had the full fall experience, we never made it to an apple orchard, did not go to the pumpkin patch, and we did not make it to a corn maze. Major Bummer. So we decided that we need to fix this. However, when we went to make this plan all of these things either had limited hours or were already closed. So what are a group of young adults going to do on an evening in which this is what they have planned and none of it will work out?...Well here is what you do, you go to a grocery store (or two) looking for pumpkins, that are now on sale thanks to Halloween being over and then you take them and carve them. So we had eight people carving 5 pumpkins. It worked out fairly well. In the end we created a Church of the Brethren Pumpkin, a BVS pumkin, a coffee mug with steam pumpkin, and your typical jackolantern. Why you may ask, just so we could eat the delicious seeds. 

Going our seperate ways

We are now reaching the point in which we all have our own things to do. Clara is already at home for her cousins wedding. Don and I leave later tonight for a conference. Sunday Don leaves for another conference and Clara comes back. It will be interesting to go back down to only two in the house next week, with the other always there in spirit. Safe Travels!

Blessings, CAROL