days 30-37

today i head over to the greenbelt festival!

i have been super excited about this part of the trip-

i'm excited to simply attend a festival (i've never been to one),

to see my friends that travel from all over europe and the US,

to hear interesting people speak,

hear some new music,

and, of course, to see wellspring's book!

i was sad to leave orkney though.

i think scotland has a little piece of my heart now...

that place is breathtakingly beautiful.

i'm trying to keep up with my pictures uploading though i've fallen behind.

you can see most of them here on my flickr .

in continued fashion, i think i would choose 

RHYTHM 

for orkney's word...as many others have done before me.

my friend mark berry can tell you much more eloquently why that word sticks out for orkney-

the island is surrounded by the tide which has its own daily rhythm,

but then the people there do too.

the island is small and people do things their way...

they even have a fabled 'sing-song' way of speaking that few foreigners get to hear.

and of course the jones' have their own rhythm...

with 7 people living in a 3 bedroom house

(excluding guests like myself)

you learn quickly how to survive and how to be a part of such a fun, boisterous group.

i loved it there, and i loved them.

they have 5 great kids-

sam is the only son and is the oldest.

he's finishing up with his high school levels and is contemplating what step to take next.

he wants to work with theatre, and believe me, the kid is good.

then there are the two oldest daughters-elizabeth and abigail.

they are both in their early-mid teens and are great girls.

i enjoyed sitting around talking with them and being shown the city through their eyes.

and then there are the two little girls-

hannah and tamar.

hannah works on her own rhythm-every once in awhile she'll steal away from the family and spend time throughout the town...

the family has a history of contracting head lice because hannah makes friends with everybody.

and i love her for that.

(i was lucky enough to get away without the lice)

and then that leaves tamar:

she has recently turned 6 and makes sure everyone knows it.

i think i like her best because she asks the 'why' questions that i so often do and get teased about.

i loved sitting with her and entertaining all the questions she had...

and of course, everyday there was a new 'what is your favorite ____?' question.

i loved those  questions: 

what is your favorite color?

thing to do?

book?

movie?

it was great fun being with all of them.

i also enjoyed their mum, debbie.

she has recently begun a new family venture called the sorting room.

she is a great potter and does lovely work.

i loved just watching her throw a pot of clay or hearing her talk about just how alike we are to 'pots of clay' as the bible describes.

she said that each piece of clay is different from the others and you really have to be aware of that when working with it. the move of each hand seemed both graceful and in careful mastery over the clay and i can see just how poetic it all is on such a grander scale.

i also got to spend time with the  tallskinnykiwi!

i had given up thinking about 'emergent' and 'emerging' before i headed out on this journey.

i was ready to be done with all that, but andrew jones relit a fire and introduced me to some great thinkers.

i had a good time just sitting around with him in their kitchen as day turned to dusk as we talked about life and spirituality.

there was also another american girl there named jenna.

she also has short hair and is on her own journey.

she's just turned 20 and is trying to figure out just what she wants to do with herself.

i enjoyed sharing a room with her and was stretched by the presence of another young american traveling a similar journey.

funny how we can work things out in ourselves with just the smallest of encounters.

i do think, however, that i need to add another word to orkney, and it is:

PILGRIMAGE.

that place took me three days to get there the first time and a full 24 hours of arduous journey to get back down to london.

it will always be one of the hardest trips i ever embarked upon,

but also one of the most worthwhile.

i know i will continue to process as i've done with each group and i will continue to realize more and more about what i learned, but that is just a taste of what life was like with the amazing jones family.

right now i'm working on finishing some projects for shannon before we head out to greenbelt,

and i will try diligently to blog while i'm there!

tonight is the feig feast...

tonight is the night before the festival actually starts so everyone that is coming to set-up, or speak, or is doing something new in church life is welcome to join.

we're going to have a big dinner in an old cathedral

and my favorite line on their email was:

'what to bring: if you can stretch to it, a bottle of wine to keep stocks at the levels our Lord would expect'

i think that's hilarious and i am super excited to be a fly on the wall around all these great people! wish me luck!