Two weeks left........

     In two weeks I will be down the mountain......in some respects, I'm a little homesick, in others, it's so easy to be here.   Some good friends left this week and it (as always) was hard to say good bye.   There are more people coming into the village that I knew from last year and it's fun to see them!   I have a feeling there are certain times that "regulars" come to Holden and I will see more familiar faces!.

     Tonight, I was asked to do the prayer for the staff meeting.  Just a little scary!  People are so smart and talented here.  I didn't want to sound dumb!   I may have talked a little fast but I think it was ok!  The kids are sweet and people are amazingly kind!  How do we help others in our lives be more accepting and how do I continue to do things for the right reasons.   It is always best to work with a sense of joy and giving.  Unfortunately, that can slip away and make us feel bad about how we're doing and create negativity!   Simply stated, keep at it and keep growing personally and spiritually!  It can be done!

      Life at Holden is busy and tiring!  I have been fortunate enough to get the Holden Crud again and it's put me in a bit of a bad mood!  I hope it goes away fast!  Colds are not in my plans this week!  The children are so cute and amazing!  Behavior issues are minimal and it's fun to play, make friendship bracelets, read to them, and simply get to know them!  Play and creative imaginations are abundant here and of course the ever present Holden Hilarity......makes everyone smile.... a lot!

      If your reading this...peace.I hope you are staying cool!  It is in the low 60's or so in the evening with no humidity.  Day times get hot!  There have been two fires put out in the past two days, which is a huge danger.   Holden's remote location and the very dry environment make this area a high danger zone for  forest fires.   Hopefully, that was just a freak thing!   Take care!

Karen

Ice Cream Shop at Holden

Look who came for a Holden Scoop!

Great concentration for the order!

Big Event at Holden....the ice cream shop opened after being remodeled.  The lines were incredible and people dressed as chess pieces for the great event.   After a wonderful evening of ice cream and much hard work by the ice cream scoopers, Holden Village went to sleep happy and full of ice cream.   Photos to come shortly.

Wednesday Vespers-

Last night Narnia put on Vespers.  So, on Monday, Ruth, the Narnia head and I sat down to work on a plan.  Ruth got distracted talking to a friend and I got lucky in finding some great little resources to use for the younger kids and had the older kids do some of their own.  It was amazing how easy it was to do this and how cute the kids were!  The picture above is from our very last practice before Vespers.  The kids were great!

The Holden Crud

      I finally played clarinet for  Vespers last night.  Unfortunately, I started getting the crud that's going around here on Sat pm.   On Sunday morning, I went to the medic office to see if they had anything, the only thing available was chloraseptic throat lozenges.....everything else was gone!  Bookstore was closed, so...not a fun day!  I played ok but it would have been easier if I were feeling better!   Today, I didn't work at Narnia, I simply thought that giving 50 kids the crud wouldn't be a very nice thing to do!  Especially since I had a tiny fever!  I am feeling better and found some stuff in the Village store to help!  Now that I've had the "opportunity" to have the cold thats going around, I must be more ingrained in the life of the village~    :)    Here's to a swift moving cold....be gone!  Peace.

July 5-9, 2010

     I have finished an entire week at Holden Village and continue to learn, love, and smile here.  Learning to accept change is so difficult and it has been a completely different experience so far.   I was not expecting such a big difference and have had to adjust my frame of mind!  Last year, I got to play clarinet or flute at Vespers almost every evening.  This year, I'll accompany the choir on Sunday pm and that will be the first time I have the opportunity to play.  There are many wonderful musicians here and no one seems to know who does what and so I'm learning patience and acceptance.   I think there are a group of people that come to Holden on the week of the 4th and are faithful as a group.  The village musician doesn't utilize others in the same way they did last year and it will change in a week.......such excellent practice for me!  I have practiced several times!  YAY!

      Narnia is evolving.   Ruth is trying to figure out her role and I think things are settling down just a bit.  The first few days are all about figuring out how my strengths will fit in to the program and how I can compensate for my weaknesses.   My knees have not adjusted well and I'm hoping it is a short problem because it makes getting up and down hills very frustrating.   The kids are seriously adorable!  A little girl named Savannah has become my buddy and has helped me collect ice cream $$ the past two nights.  (she's 3)  Most likely because I fixed her boo-boo.   I am being used as a floater right now and while I help plan things, I also am not "in charge" of the full day.  This is great for me!  Some of our activities this week have been:
Holden Charades
Holden Idol
Water Day
Music at Vespers

It's been fun and these kids seriously make me smile-even if I have to remind them to do the right thing!  Here's a couple pictures!

I'll have to add more later-pictures simply don't want to upload right now!

Peace,

Karen

On the way to Holden Village.....the Olympic Peninsula!

      Yesterday, Beth and I did some awesome sightseeing.   The Olympic Peninsula is truly a wonder and is a reminder of how precious these wilderness areas are.    It began with a Ferry Ride from Edmonds to Kingston.  Every town has a different personality and all the people we met were very nice.   Our first stop was at a tiny little coffee shop/plant store.   They had some beautiful gardening exhibits which included the pond:

Beth on the Ferry ride

Bird Seed Garden

    As you get into the rainy part of the Peninsula,  Lilacs are everywhere.   In 2 weeks there is a Lilac Festival.   We ate lunch at this adorable mom & pop farm.  Beth had Lilac Tea and you could buy Lilac anything.   They are a family company and grow many other herbs as well.  The flower garden was incredible!  The was a great little coffee shop there as well.

Lilacs

A view from the high way

Renalto Beach

Guess Where!

             

Sat July 3rd

      Saturday and nothing scheduled for me!   I can live with that.   Reading, practicing and relaxing are on the docket.   Yesterday was the first day of working at Narnia and it was quite different this time!  I'm with older kids and they are more hands off than the younger ones as well as independent!  The first day is always difficult because of trying to find your place in the group.    Llamas came through yesterday and I got to pet one.  Their fur is much softer than I anticipated.  The weather is very cool and it's surprising how chilled I've gotten!  Tomorrow is the Holden 4th of July celebration and it will be fun to see how it is done Holden Style!  Yesterday, a man gave matins and talked about being a middle school teacher and working with young adolescents.  It was great to hear such a relevant talk the first day!