'Tis the Season

Christmas is one of my favorite seasons. I love the parties, the celebrations, the decorations, the desserts, the time spent with loved ones, the lights, etc. The list could go on and on. As cliche as it sometimes feels to admit to loving this time of year, there is a lot to celebrate. I have often felt that the holidays provide a good time for me to reflect on how much I have to be grateful for.
I feel very blessed this year to be spending this time of celebration and reflection in Elgin. A year ago I never could have imagined that I would be here for this Christmas season, but I am extremely thankful that I am. It has been a busy time for our house. We've attended a variety of holiday celebrations with church and work friends, and while I thoroughly enjoyed the time spent at these parties, upon reflection I realized that some of the most memorable times these past few weeks have come from some of the seemingly mundane things that have happened.
It's a good reminder that sometimes it's the little things that mean the most. I'd like to share some of these moments that have stood out to me and helped me remember all that I am grateful for:

Decorating:
A few weeks ago, Kristen, Ben and I decorated our house for Christmas. Our house has collected an odd assortment of decorations and lights over the years, and we joyfully put them all up. My personal favorite are the LED lights, pictured around the frame of the doorway leading into the living room in the photo below. I appreciate how they brighten up the room and add color to the sometimes dreary and dark winter days. During decorating it was also fun to discover the various ornaments that have been collected over time. I am grateful to those who have left decorations behind that we have been able to use to make our tree much less bare!

Baking
Saturday night Ben and I made cheesecake and cookies. Baking is one of my favorite holiday hobbies and I usually make dessert for my family's Christmas celebrations. It was fun to be able to bake in Elgin and to learn new recipes! We also ate too much chocolate and both fell into a food coma.








Spending time together:
Our work schedules often send us out on the road, but, for the most part we have been lucky enough to all be around for the holiday season. It's been great having all of us at the house for an extended period of time, and it has allowed us the chance to better get to know each other and build deeper friendships. The other week Krsiten and Theresa taught us how to play the game Euchre. We have also had times of story- sharing, listening to music, and reading in the living room together. We've been blessed to share so much laughter and memories these past few weeks.

Laura and I depart tomorrow to go home for the holidays, Kristen and Theresa leave on Friday and Ben will be gone at the beginning of next week. As we head our separate ways, we are excited for time spent with family and for new stories that we will be able to share with each other when we return.

Happy Holidays!
Love,
Hannah

Greetings and Christmas wishes for you all from the BVS house!

We are certainly in the festive mood here, after having many Christmas gatherings to enjoy, spreading decorations all over the house, and listening to Christmas music at work, in the van, and even some piano now and then in the house. 

Last Saturday was the beginning of a festive series of events. Saturday morning Ben and I traversed to Tuba Christmas, Naperville-style. We have host families with the Highland Avenue Church of the Brethren, and we happen to be in the same extended family. Ben, Nevin, and Duly brought tubas to join in the 75-person tuba ensemble. Tuba Christmas performances, for those who are interested, happen in various cities throughout the U.S. featuring tuba-lovers and players from all stages of life who come together for a rehearsal and performance. This particular ensemble played outdoors for their first set and in the lobby of the nearby mall for their other performance of the day. We made it a family affair, and it was fun to be with several family members who were able to come out and watch, then shop for the afternoon. Click here to catch a snippet of the music and TV feature with our Channel 17-famous Ben and Nevin.

Ben and I left shortly after the second performance so that we could make it to bell-practice rehearsal. Ben is tackling the responsibility of directing the church bell choir, and it is going very well. The congregation really has enjoyed our first performance and I think Ben is pleased as well. :) He does a super job in leading us all, especially as we are a group of mixed expertise.

To round out Saturday, the house met the rest of our Sunday School class in our instructor's home. Jim and Peg were wonderful hosts and we had a lovely potluck, with everyone providing their specialties. Jim, of course, made a crowd favorite of Apple Cider, and there was homemade bread, two casseroles, and many other tasty items. Good stories, laughter, and movie-watching were enjoyed by all who were present.   

Sunday was an eventful church time as our housemate, Laura, helped lead us in worship and we heard a powerful sermon of race and conversation, followed by an impromptu time with a couple of co-workers to check out some puppies. The fur therapy was perfect (ha, purrfect) and I just about came home with my new best friend, Olivia, the darndest gray-haired cat ever. She and I would have been inseparable, I just know it.

We returned home for a bit, then the women of the house made it out to our Spirited Sisters meeting for a fun caroling adventure with others from church. I was invited to help lead some carols by playing piano. Having this much spirit and love in one place really helped me to get in the mood of Christmas and start the Advent season for me. 

Monday we had the night in, which was certainly a blessing to enjoy and relax in each other's company. It felt like being back in Indiana for me: we taught, learned, and played Euchre for the first time as a house! On Tuesday we had a secret santa gift exchange and party at Kelley's, the Brethren Historical Library Association (BHLA) intern. 

Wednesday we watched White Christmas with Emily, who works in the BVS office. All of us enjoyed the cheese and fellowship with each other. Thursday, Laura and I went to a staff dinner, as this was the time of the year at work that we get together as a group for a couple of days for staff meetings.

Friday we had a night in.

Wow, it has been quite the week in the BVS house. I am continually learning new information at work, new things about housemates, and things even about myself. While I am looking forward to my time at home on vacation during Christmas, I can't help but think back to all of the fun things we've been able to experience and grow from.

We are have so much to be thankful for. Maybe it sounds weird to have that here, but I remind myself of this daily. I am thankful for experiences, even if they are not ideal and uncomfortable. It has been a busy week and I am learning to take time out to step away from people and the sense of hyper-responsibility I know I feel. Living in community can be tough for many reasons, and there are none that are the same for everyone. I found this week especially has been challenging in working and spending free time in celebration with company. Celebrating is awesome and I wish that I could be up for parties all the time. However, I am realizing that my capacity for spending time with those I see often stretches me even more. There are weeks when we find ourselves doing our own thing and weeks when getting a moment, 30 minutes here or there for rest, is a great feat and extremely satisfying.

Both of these scenarios are real... and hard to admit sometimes, even to myself. We all go through our own difficulties and frustrations. Some weeks go by easier than others, some difficulties are easier to move through than others seem to be.

It is good to remember that in this anticipation of Christmas and the celebration of the birth of Jesus, taking time out to reflect and focus on the good times we've shared with one another and all of the things we are grateful for could quite possibly be what we need in this time of busy-ness and preparation. It certainly is a journey and we all are figuring it out - together.

Thanks to all of you for joining us in the journey and we are grateful to be included in yours as well.

Peace and love to you and your loved ones as we are surrounded by the Spirit this Advent season.

~Kristen

Divisions of the Elgin House

I can remember being on Youth Peace Travel Team a few years back and needing to come up with an interesting way to introduce ourselves to a new camp each week. We came up with something we called "The Divisions of Peace Team." We would take turns announcing an identifier among us then stepping forward to reveal who fit that category. We would go with some basics such as the guys, the girls, the blondes, the brunettes, etc. Then we would move on to some of the trickier ones such as who shaved their legs (one guy and one girl), who could knit or crochet (three of us), or number of piercings (because we all had at least one by the end of the summer).

The Divisions of the Elgin House similarly run surface level and much deeper. As we've been adjusting to living with each other and going through some of the honeymoon phase these first few months, we've slowly moved beyond the obvious similarities and uniquities and are beginning to find unknown common ground where we may not have expected it. Just today, Theresa found out that I know how to spot when spinning across the kitchen. I don't actually know how or where I learned it, but it's something we have in common. Laura and I both had our tonsils out when we were 18 (note to readers: 18 is pretty late in the game - cut those puppies out sooner if at all possible!). Hannah and I were the chief Christmas-light-putter-uppers when we were growing up. It feels like I find out something new Kristen and I have in common every 24 hours.

One division of the house that has come to light (literally) lately has been Christmas decorations and music. How early in the fall can you begin with Christmas? The sooner the better? Not until after Thanksgiving? Sometime in early December? This guy would prefer to fall more into the final category there but has been working with handbell music for a few weeks now and had to subject myself to it sooner than I normally would. Christmas lights went up outside the house a few weeks ago because the weather was amicable. However, they didn't get switched on regularly until after Thanksgiving. This week saw the box of Decorations from the Decades unpacked and spread throughout the house. Whoever left us the LED multi-colored lights, we love you to the moon and back!

We will surely find more divisions among ourselves in the months to come - some to strengthen our bond as a house, others to drive us up-the-wall and into our rooms. Regardless, these are the divisions that teach us to appreciate that which makes us different, endowed with a wide array of gifts we may never fully see for ourselves. Hopefully we'll have the fortitude to call them out for each other as we see them.

Thanks to Big Daddy D for the Christmas music playlist while I wrote this.

Hanging out with some cool Sr. High kids

Hi all,

The cold, wintery weather has officially set in. This is the first blog of many that I’ll be writing this year while there’s snow on the ground.

The past two weekends I had the opportunity to hang out with COB youth for weekend retreats and conferences. Last weekend Hannah and I served as female youth advisors for the district fall retreat at Highland Ave. It was nice to get to know some of the youth from our new church and the rest of the district, even if they thought we were also youth all weekend. :) We volunteered at the Northern Illinois Food Bank, played lots of games, ate pizza, and hung out together.

Group photo from our time at Northern Illinois Food Bank!

This weekend Ben, Kristen, Hannah, and I traveled to Camp Mack for Powerhouse/Regional Youth Conference. There were lots of shameless plugs for BVS, workcamps, and CCS.  I was the female advisor from Highland Ave. for the weekend and loved hanging out with the youth and other advisors- playing games and worshipping. I also learned how to play the card game Eucher, which I thoroughly enjoyed! It was wonderful to be able to visit a Brethren camp that I hadn’t been to yet.

One of the slides from the workcamp presentation Hannah and I made at Camp Mack! 

And now, I’m back home in Elgin. But, not for long!

Blessings,

Theresa

My New Elgin Home

Hey everyone! 

This night I'm curled up in a blanket as I type, listening to the giggles of other housemates as they hang up (and get some shocks!) from Christmas lights, full from a wonderful dinner of gluten-free pasta, and legs slightly sore from a earlier 'Just Dance' workout that Kristen and I hilariously danced through. And I am content. I feel at home. 

I'm just about a month in to living at the BVS house. And I can't believe that is the case! Time just seems to be flying by. Even though some days, when I feel sad and miss my loved ones and my beautiful Pennsylvania, it seems like I'll never be there again. But, I know that isn't true. I know that this year is going to fly by so very fast. 

So, I'm trying to enjoy every single moment! 

The little things like decorating Kristen's office while she was out for a couple of days with discounted Halloween decorations, movie and junk food nights, laughing together at supper, and just all around general silliness. 

Hannah and Laura helping to decorate Kristen's office! 

Living in community isn't always easy - sometimes you can get frustrated. But, it is an amazing and wonderful learning process, as you work to grow, have fun, and live with such awesome people! 

I'm excited to see where the rest of this year takes me and this wonderful community!

Love, 

Laura 

Fall at the BVS House!

Hello all! It's fall at the BVS House! 

As we've been back in Elgin, we are learning how to settle in and adjust to new living arrangements as a house again. Our first transition as a house was the welcoming of our newest house-member, Laura! Welcome! However, in that same space we also transitioned in saying farewell to Chelsea, who left to go home before a new journey awaits her halfway across the world! We remember her and wish her well on her next big adventure! 

A group of us last weekend decided to have a day out.  Can you guess where we went?!

A Day in the City: CHICAGO!

We met a couple of co-workers from the office at the train to go into the city. The Metra makes a nice and inexpensive way to travel for each of us, as a ticket costs $7 and is good for the entire weekend! 

It was a beautiful day, probably the nicest day all year... We walked downtown and saw the sights - including indulging in Chicago pizza, soaking in the sun, and visiting Millennium Park, of course making room to stop at the Bean. 

 The Bean!

Cat and Don, who are past members of the BVS house and are now co-workers at the offices with us, as well as another co-worker, Kelley, and her boyfriend Brandon, came out to hang out with us. We made it back late in the afternoon, just enough time to freshen up before we made a collaborative taco supper. Everyone was included in helping to prepare and enjoy the meal. 

To round out the day, we procured seven pumpkins and between the nine of us, we carved them all! There were quite the array of animals and designs... I believe a panda and squirrel appeared, as well as creepy pumpkin smiles, a tree of life, peace and love, and the stars and a moon.

Here is a glimpse into our joyful pumpkin-carving extravaganza:

Life is feeling and becoming more routine here. We all head into work and come home to make supper, take an evening run, work in the garden, practice piano and guitar, and generally just take it easy. Nights do seem to go awfully quickly! We enjoy hanging out in the evenings catching fun episodes of our favorite shows and occasionally baking. The past few weeks a couple of us have enjoyed getting out to a series of weekly pottery classes that are instructed by a fellow Highland Avenue church member. 

Sometimes we like to go out and shop at thrift stores. This week it was a house run to search for the perfect costumes... for Halloween! Each year, the BVS house has tradition of dressing up and hanging out for Halloween. Many years, they even coordinate in a matching theme. We were up for the challenge! 

We decided on the theme: Decades!

From left to right: the 20s, 50s, 70s, 80s, and 90s.

We had a good time putting all the costumes together. Laura was our resident fashion-sense coordinator, Ben provided thriftiness, Hannah rocked the comfy pants, Theresa was hair stylist, and I was support staff.

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Lastly, I added my first sunrise installment. This photo was taken from my bedroom window. Sunrises and sunsets are something that I always look forward to seeing, wherever I am. They remind me of home especially when I can share in the experience with others. Thanks for coming along!

As a bonus-- Don't forget Election Day is in just a few days: on November 4th!


Have a great week!

Where the road may take you

It’s not always easy to picture your future. It’s especially difficult in times of transition to imagine where you might end up a few weeks or months down the road. For me, graduating from Juniata College was one of the most daunting things I’ve had to face. In the months leading up to the big day, I could only envision an empty road stretching out before me, and I had no idea what I wanted to do. As a religious studies and anthropology major, I had no clear job path and the only thing I knew for sure was that I needed a break from school before continuing my education.

When I heard of the opportunity to join BVS as one of the assistant workcamp coordinators, I jumped on board quickly. I was excited about the prospect of spending a year in a new city, spending the summer months traveling around the country and getting the chance to connect with youth in the denomination. After arriving in Elgin just about two months ago, I can safely say that I made the right decision to come here.

Although I miss the mountains of Pennsylvania and I am absolutely dreading the cold of Chicago winters, I am excited to be living in the house with so many wonderful people. I have really enjoyed getting to know Theresa, Ben, Kristen and Chelsea and am so happy to announce that one of my best friends from college, Laura, arrived safely today and will be joining us for the rest of the year!

Kristen, Chelsea, Laura, Ben and myself recently returned to the mid-west from orientation where Chelsea and Ben served as orientated leaders for unit 307. The past few weeks were filled with lots of laughter, good conversations about sometimes difficult topics and beautiful scenery. It was refreshing to be around so many like-minded people who also find value in service. I made many new friendships with some truly genuine and wonderful people that I hope will last throughout the year.

At the time of this new beginning, I am excited to see what the futures holds. Maybe you can’t always picture the future, maybe it’s okay not to have a plan, maybe you just need to trust that you’ll end up where you belong and make the most of where the road ends up taking you.

Love,

Hannah