Last weekend I loaded up Tadej into our new all terrain stroller and we headed down the hill to Wright Hall were our dining services are. Saturday was a volunteer painting party and we were joining in the fun! First, breakfast. I also wanted to gift Ana with extra sleeping on Saturday time and Tadej is a social kind of guy.

We left our house and down our driveway. We had to pause at the end of the driveway to eat some blackberries of course per request of the toddler.

Then we passed the first group encounter of the morning. An empowerment group was meeting in this cool area that has amazing benches to pray. These campers come from all over the US and represent different churches from the African American Church tradition. I told Tadej that as we hear their prayers, we can join in prayer. He clapped when he heard them clapping. Tadej is the first to join in clapping along.

We smiled and waved and continued down the hill. When we almost arrived to our breakfast location, we passed Ballard and heard the Swedish kids camp singing out in Swedish as they rehearsed for their final presentation on their final day. We listened for a moment before heading into breakfast. When we peered around the terrace to make sure there were no bunnies near by (or as Tadej calls them “buddies” and is always on the look out for them), we say kiddos from the Eritrean church group running and rolling down the hill.

We went into breakfast to greet the gathering volunteer group for Menucha and the newly arriving Oregon State Seed Plot group with many participants from Hawaii. Tadej had a blast saying hello to everyone, eating yummy food, and then running around Wright Hall. He picked out his much needed coffee mug (apparently much needed and insisted upon) and grabbed his own paintbrush to go painting. He went home pretty soon after the painting started (he isn’t much help yet with volunteer manual labor).

On Monday my father in law and mother in law arrived. They will be with us for close to a whole month. They are most excited about their one and only grandkiddo but they dote on Ana and myself too. We are all excited to have them! So on Tuesday I gave them part of a walking tour and had a moment of true gratitude as I heard Native American flute floating over the property from one of the Tribal Climate Camp campers.

What a wonderfully diverse set of groups to be surrounded by! What a gift to offer space and hospitality to do sacred work for all of them. What a joy to hear all of this around me and know that I am part of every bit of it in a small way here and there. And how cool that I get to show my kiddo this kind of world.