When you have zucchini, you eat zucchini.

Hey friends!

It has been an exhausting, exhilarating, extraordinary couple of weeks in Colorado for National Youth Conference. Sarah, Tim, Renee, Jenna, and I were all in Colorado for NYC and 4/5 of us are home! Jenna is still out on her workcamp adventures, but she has started her final workcamp and will come home Sunday. Ben is on the east coast—living the BVS orientation life as a BVS orientation assistant.

With all of our little family out and about for a couple weeks, we came home to an unruly garden! It was a joy to see our little baby plants full grown and producing peppers, okra, yellow beans, purple peas, corn, and ZUCCHINI. Oh my goodness-HUGE zucchinis!

When we came home we picked three HUGE zucchini’s from the garden and then found two more HUGE zukes in the fridge! I decided that we HAD to use up this zucchini in a meal this week. I decided to try making stuffed zucchini and instead of meat, we had some meatless protein donated from Renee’s family! That took 2 zukes. I also added in some zucchini yeast rolls-that are really just yummy yeast rolls…with little green specks of zucchini. They were delicious and took about one medium zuke to make.

The best part was that Tim decided to whip up his signature zucchini brownies! (Which took another half a HUGE zuke!) We have been blessed abundantly by our zucchini plants!

When I was looking for zucchini recipes, I was browsing Simply in Season. A cookbook created by the Mennonite Central Committee. They add little snippets from the contributors of the cookbook and beneath one of the zucchini recipes was a little story from a woman who had spent time in Guatemala. She was reflecting that her Guatemalan friends remarked that “When you have bananas, you eat bananas. When you have corn, you eat corn.” Their life was so dependent on their crops—if their gardens suffered their family directly suffered by not having enough to eat. So, having too much of one thing wasn’t something to roll their eyes about, instead they gave thanks for the abundance in their lives. The woman was reflecting on her abundance of zukes and having so many zukes left her feeling grumpy about having so many zukes she didn’t know what to do with them! Finally, she said she has learned to appreciate her abundances when they come and “when we have zucchini…we eat zucchini!” 

Not wanting to let our zucchini’s go to waste means we had a meal bursting with zucchini! I loved that! It’s a blessing to be away for two weeks and come home with a garden that is full to bursting with harvest to reap. It’s been a spiritual practice to spend time in the garden the past three months…planting, weeding, watering, transplanting. It’s a sacred thing to work in the garden and watch little plant babies pop up out of the ground. And now they’re producing fruit! I am one proud Garden Mama.

I don’t rely on our little BVS garden to survive from day to day for physical nourishment, like some communities around the world might. But it has helped to maintain my sanity and it’s so special to eat something that my little plant babies have grown. In small ways, our garden has kept me healthier and made me feel more alive these past three months.

So, when we have boocoos of zukes—you better believe we’re not letting one go to waste.

Peace & an abundance of zucchini to all, 

Katie

Do you have a garden? Do you have an abundance of anything? What’s your favorite zucchini recipe?

The Kitchen

I wrote and shared this poem at a Forum for Theological Exploration retreat that Sarah, Jenna, and I attended in at the end of April. The retreat was in Auburn, WA--outside of Seattle! It was a gorgeous place to be! Many of the attendees were also members of intentional communities made up of volunteers! It was a refreshing, unique space to be in! I shared this poem during the "coffeehouse" that they had on our last night! It's been quite a while since that happened and I wanted to share it with all of you! Also, a gratuitous picture of our family right before Easter!

Tim, Sarah, Chelsea, Ben, Jenna, & Katie

The Kitchen

In my house

When I want to be with

Someone

I come

To the kitchen

And I sit

At the kitchen table.

Organically people may

Emerge—

Stretching on the floor after a run,

Shuffling pots and pans for dinner,

Reading a book in the glorious sun.

It is the heartbeat of our home,

Thumping to daily rhythms.

In the midst of cooking,

The kitchen becomes—

A stage

Our impromptu dance parties

Filling the spaces between

Linguine and cheddar cheese

With a warm cup of tea

And a listening ear—

I’ve stepped into

A therapy session

The linoleum floor bouncing back

The sacred words of our hearts.

With a hefty bag of thrifted finds—

The fluorescent lights reflect

The dazzling uniqueness of

A fashion show that only cost

Ten dollars.

In the heart of our home—

The kitchen

Our dancing stage

Can easily deteriorate to

An arena.

With a warrior on either side

Poised

For a death match.

The vibrations of the floor

Reverberating

Angry words and weighty sighs—

Slammed doors and broken conversations.

The fluorescents illuminate

The cracking pieces—

Shining lights into the deepest,

Darkest,

Most selfish parts of

Ourselves.

And yet,

Those four walls

With open cabinets and an

Alphabetized spice rack—

Hold us—all.

As we come

To the kitchen table—

Angry with housemates.

Disappointed with work.

Fists clenched.

Jaw tightened.

Something—happens.

Our hands open,

Reaching across the table

To hold another.

Fingers unfurl—

White knuckles regain their color.

Jaws relax,

Exhaling prayers

And

Inhaling the love inside

Homecooked food.

Eating brown rice or white,

Coconut curries and

One-pot-wonders

We slowly find our way

Back

To each other

To self.

The kitchen holds us—

Maybe better than we hold

Each other

Because

The heartbeat of our home

The kitchen

Is that place that

Grace lives.

--

Love,
Katie

Texts From Your Average Work Week

Well, it certainly has been a while, but here I am again.  Since my last post I've traveled at least 6,000 miles - some by car, some by train, some by plane, and even a few on foot (carbon footprint, anyone?).  Rather than try to catch you up on all of the places I've been, I'll try to give you an idea of what the past week has been like.  To do that, I'm going to look through some of my texts from the past week and share them with you.

"Did your flight leave ok? There was a fire on a back runway when I drove back to work." - boss person

Actually, no, my flight didn't leave okay.  This was a week ago on Tuesday.  The entire plane boarded, taxied out on the tarmac, then proceeded to sit for more than two hours while we waited to see if we'd make it into the air.  When we started heading back to the gate to deplane, a few of the passengers found out the flight had been cancelled before the flight attendants.  Pleasant.

"The situation made the national news!" - director of camp (Mardela!) where I was heading

My flight wasn't the only one cancelled that day.  There were about 1,000 flights cancelled at O'Hare and another 125 at Midway (shared control tower).  You can imagine how much fun it was stepping back into the airport (with zero instructions for what to do next).  It looked like a cross between a refugee camp and an angry ants' nest.  I buddied up with a couple other people from the flight and we compared notes as we tried to find phone numbers for rebooking and where the next outgoing flight to Baltimore (or DCA) might be.

"No, I'll plan to stay here if the flight doesn't go. Still waiting..." - me

American Airlines automatically re-booked me for a flight the following morning at 9:20AM (thanks?).  Being that I was flying back Thursday morning, this would've cut my time at the camp pretty short so I tried my luck with stand-by - no luck on the 4:50PM flight.  Next up: 9:15PM.  They rolled over the stand-by list so I was #4 in line.  If I didn't make it on there, it would be late enough that I wasn't interested in getting picked up, driven home, sleeping a few hours, then waking up and having someone drive me back to the airport in rush hour traffic for the morning flight.  After all,

"I'm a BVSer, remember? ;-)" - me

This year of serving isn't going to be the cushiest experience of my life and I'm entirely fine with that.  It's good to be reminded of the luxuries we have in our lives such as constantly available food (albeit, over-priced at the airport), cell phones for instant communication gratification, and 21,794 back-up plans available.  It wasn't that long ago that this situation would've involved a call from a payphone saying, "Hey, the flight's been cancelled.  I'm on stand-by for the next flight but might not fly out until the morning.  I'll call you when I get to Baltimore."  Done.

"Just passed the Naval Academy exit. :-)" - me

One of my co-workers from back at the outdoor school in California where I used to work had texted me a couple of weeks ago to say she was heading past Nokesville (my hometown) and waved for me.  She used to work at a farm near Annapolis and had a few very good friends at the Naval Academy so she'd spent some time there.  It's always nice to have a reason to let someone know that you're thinking of them.

"It's snowing here. Ugh." - me

That one went to Mom.  Yes, it snowed on Friday.  We're not talking three or four flurries.  These were the big ol' fatty flakes that you can see from the other side of the warehouse.  Luckily, the temperatures stayed above freezing so nothing stuck, but it snowed for a good solid three or four hours before it tapered off.  Weather can be weird.

"Happy Birthday, Doc-a-saurus!" - me

This was to a couple of friends that I worked with back at the outdoor school who had gathered for a birthday celebration.  Doc got his name from having the initials PHD.  The dinosaur reference is because he's a Jurassic Park fan.  It's good to hear about friends' crazy weekends.

"We are going to do our best to make it in time to see y'all before you leave." - husband of one of my super cool Cincinnati housemates

This week we head out to Young Adult Conference in a big white van, collecting BVSers (including our cycling housemate) and a recent seminary grad along the way.  At about the time we leave, one of my housemates from Cincinnati will be arriving for a friend's wedding and staying in our house that night.  It'll be a tight squeeze, but we're hoping they get here before we need to leave so we can at least do a hug-n-run.

"Hey, a Ben Bear!!!!! Okay!!!" - my newest best friend I haven't met yet

She attends the Oak Grove Church of the Brethren in Roanoke, VA.  I'll be traveling in that neck of the woods after Young Adult Conference for about a week and she's been itching to meet me.  Admittedly, she makes me feel like a bit of a rock star.  I'm trying not to let it go to my head.

"Ha, you need more time to accomplish everything? And who doesn't dream of a longer work day. That just sounds fantastic, lol." - my friend who got to hear about my schedule

Yup, some of us have been going back to the offices after the evening slows down and on weekends so we can get a bit more work done.  We all love what we do here, but so often if seems that there are simply not enough hours in the day.  We've come to find that we're not the only ones who have this dilemma; it's not uncommon to find there are other staff here at midnight on a Monday.  Keeping that in mind, this blog is done - back to work!

Ben

Kendra Johnson becomes Kendra Harbeck

The BVS house took a road trip to Cedar Falls, Iowa to support our previous housemate, Kendra Johnson in her wedding to Josh Harbeck! We look so fancy!

From left to right: Katie Cummings, Tim Heishman, Jenna Stacy, Ben Bear, and Sarah Neher

Enjoy! - Jenna Stacy

Refined

One of the things I love about having a BVS placement at the General Offices is getting to worship with the staff every Wednesday at chapel. Someone new leads each week. A couple weeks ago I got the chance to lead chapel and I thought I would share the reflection I offered...

When I think about wood, many things come to mind. I think about trees. How majestic and deeply rooted they are. How wood is so critical to my daily life from the books I love to read to the BVS house where I live. I also think about how rare they are, well at least being from Kansas naturally that comes to mind. I think about how there are different colors, smells, and the purposes for wood. Like dark colored walnut that is strong and versatile to softer woods like pine that is quick growing and is often used in building things. I also think about my Grandpa Lyle.

My grandmother can often be found saying, “Your Grandfather is the best kind of man to marry. He can fix anything, create, and make whatever you would need around the house, as long as it is made out of wood.” As I have grown up I have witnessed how true this is. Whenever grandpa came to visit or I went to visit him, he was always working on some kind of project. And I was always welcomed to watch and even sometimes was able to help. I have memories of grandpa sitting all us grandchildren at the kitchen table and teaching us how to carve using ivory soup and butter knives, I made a penguin. I also think about him every time I walk into my office and see the Church of the Brethren Cross he made me as a graduation present.

This Christmas I found myself reflecting on my Grandpa’s craftiness while he helped me build the loom we are using to count NYC registrations.

My Grandpa working on the loom.

The loom in action.

 While we were in his workshop he showed me a dresser, which is this winter’s restoration project. It was a dresser that was my great grandmothers. It had been sitting in their garage for decades through harsh winters and hot summers. It was clear it need a lot of work. What really struck me was my Grandpa’s incredible knack for looking at the dresser and seeing what potential the piece had. He had already begun the slow process of transforming the furniture to reveal its true glory and restore the piece to its original purpose. I believe that God is like this as well.

So often people are battered, defaced, and neglected by life. Think layers of judgment and injustice are painted on.  The beautiful thing is how God can restore us. In Psalm 51 you hear David begging to be restored. “Create in me a clean heart, o god, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.” But the restoration process isn’t always a painless process. A person may long for it to happen but often shy away from the process. There is a song by Joy Miller, called “Refined” has great imagery for what it is like to be restored by God.

The phrase that I often find floating in my head after I listen to this song is, “Stripped me down to truth and bone till I’m beautiful and bare and refined.” It isn’t until we allow God to make changes within us are we stripped of all the bad things and able to begin the process of being restored to our original intention. This is similar to my grandpa stripping old paint and varnish off a piece he his refinishing before he makes the repairs. After we allow ourselves to be stripped of what blemishes us we can begin the process of putting our life back together. It is like adding a new coat of varnish or carving a new leg or foot. Once we are put back together we then become a useable dresser again rather than just a forgotten piece of furniture. I challenge you the next time you are feeling worn down to not shy away from the carpenter’s hands and allow God to strip you down to truth and bone and create in you a clean heart.

Blessings
-Sarah

It's Alive

To start of this week’s blog, a poem of end rhymes!

It’s Alive!

Six months ago I arrived, on a cool October day,

to my new community in Elgin, where I’d then stay.

I was so excited to be involved, in all the community events,

until I found out one thing, which led to my discontent.

That the library was the happening place, that everyone recommended,

which is cool to an extent, but to me that didn’t sound so splendid.

But it was true, all winter long, you’d see no one about.

Unless you went to the library to check that book out.

No one would be at the park, or on the Fox River Trail,

You’d only see people at the Library Borden de la Gail.

But, today that has changed! I’m excited to say!

No more waiting or sitting in dismay.

I saw people out, and the snow has finally melted away!

People walking downtown, kids biking in the streets,

Others just basking in the 58 degree heat.

I believe this is cause for a grand celebration,

Because, at last, the city is out of library hibernation!

The End

 

In other news!  Our house has been in a constant change of people the last few weeks. There have been times where everyone’s been out of town, and times where we’ve had 10 extra people staying with us!  (I personally enjoy the 10 extra people, and wouldn’t mind having that many people all the time! ) We’ve also had a string of birthdays to celebrate and many of us are figuring out what steps to take after this year in BVS.  Definitely some exciting times in the BVS house, with I’m sure more to come, since we won’t turn into icicles the moment we walk outside!

Until next time!

Chelsea

 

Living the simple life?

Being a volunteer through BVS can be a radically different experience from person to person.  Some of us live in single apartments, plopped down in a city or town hundreds or thousands of miles from "home" and hit the ground running with their project.  Others end up living in intentional communities where they are immediately connected to other volunteers and a hosting congregation with a well-established role for them.  The gamut covers just about everything in between, too.

In the six-ish weeks since I arrived in Elgin, I have struggled some with the concept of living a simple life.  As volunteers, we have agreed to live simply, within our means, and without (too much) excess.  Having heard stories from other volunteers and seen some of their sites, some of them take this challenge quite seriously.  For example, the New Community Project in Harrisonburg, VA has a homemade table at which they eat their communal, second-hand gathered meals.  The kicker: the table is made of warehouse pallets.  The table's creator ballparked the cost of the entire process of making the table at around $20.  Check it out:

On the flip side, my new role as the BVS assistant recruiter has me traveling all over the country in the coming year.  Last week I was in the great commonwealth of Virginia, mostly hanging out down in the Shenandoah Valley.  Fast forward seven days after returning and I'm already back on the road, now in Pennsylvania.  I'll be pretty impressed if I manage to put together an entire month back at Elgin between trips the rest of my time here.  Granted, I knew this would likely be the case when I agreed to come back into BVS.  Still, I sometimes struggle with how simply I'm actually living when I jet-set around the country so much and end up with rental cars that look like this:

And this:

Driving around in these well-maintained, relatively new, kinda sporty-looking vehicles is, admittedly, a bit fun.  It's nice to not feel constantly concerned that the [random car part] might break.  They do get pretty decent gas mileage, too.  Still, there remains an internal struggle of what it really looks like to live simply and to what degree I'm being successful in that endeavor.

In the end, I don't have an answer to the justification for the life I lead here or how to alter it for the better.  For a guy who really likes having answers, this might be one that is left for pondering.  To that end, here are a few quotes that seem to grasp at the concept of a simple existence:

"Live simply, so that others may simply live." ~ St. Elizabeth Seton

"It is impossible to detach from the love of material things unless it is replaced by love for things unseen." ~ St. Teresa of Avila

"Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated." ~ Confucius

May the road rise with you...

Ben