GLACIER A quick blog entry to catch up on the night before we leave for France. It's likely we won't have much internet connection for the week long stay at Taizé, France (July 15-22) so I'm doing my best to catch-up. We've been putting lots of miles on the van the last few days. On Sunday (July 8) at the conclusion of our week of reunion with seminary friends we caravanned with the hosts of the event (Pr. Liv and her son Arlo) from the Oregon coast back to ...

COMMUNITY A few years ago the modern choral music composer Eric Whitacre created a virtual choir online. He recorded himself conducting a piece he composed called 'Lux Aurumque' (Light and Gold) and then uploaded it. Thousands of people recorded themselves singing their various parts (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) and uploaded the videos. Then they were assembled in one beautiful, virtual community of a video which was finally uploaded to YouTube. You can wa...

SEATTLE & BACH FESTIVAL This part of the sabbatical continues to be more family oriented as we spend a few days as tourists in Seattle, Washington and then take in parts of the Oregon Bach Festival in Eugene, Oregon. Before Elisabeth and I were married from August 2001 until August 2002, Elisabeth lived in Seattle as part of the Lutheran Volunteer Corps (where she worked at Seattle Habitat for Humanity) while I lived for a year at Holden Village. We were...

YELLOWSTONE & WEST The drive out to the Pacific Northwest started on Thursday afternoon. We took Hwy 16 through the Big Horns and stayed that night just east of Yellowstone (not far from Wapiti, Wyoming). The next morning, Elijah said he felt a little sick, but after a quick throw-up he was good to go! Thus commenced a long full day through Yellowstone National Park. We visited Old Faithful first, arriving just minutes before it erupted (the timing cou...

TRANSITION TIME - PART TWO OF SABBATICAL Our family has had about 48 hours at home in Custer to unpack, wash clothes and repack the van before we are off to our next adventure. We caught up with a couple friends… of course, not as many as we would've liked. The next three weeks will mostly be around the Pacific Northwest - especially in Spokane & Seattle, Washington as well as Eugene, Portland & Tillamook, Washington. We'll be taking in some of th...