Memorial Day

Summer of Pictures

It is looking like it will be a summer of odd pictures.

Wearing Togas to class.
(I am too old... "But everyone is doing it!" Please don't make me do this again!

Biking around the Minneapolis Lakes

Playing in cement as we experiment making a bird bath

Listening to Nate and Lance at the French Press in St. Paul!

and I didn't take the camara everywhere!

Group Run

Look! Making friends at camp.
Early morning 3 mile run.

Canoe

Here are the rules.


Get in the van...



Get your picture...



Get in the canoes...



Decide how to go in a straight line...



Let the rain begin...



Do not take rain gear...



Be cold and wet for the next 3 hours.



Great Thursday!!!

hangin' around

ropes course Certification School


Wish you were here!

Hogwarts

Woke up for this mornings run at my new home. Well, my three-week home at Wartburg Seminary for the Youth Ministry Certification School. Styled after a German castle I do get the sense that Dumbledore may be right around the corner.

6th Place!

The Apple Blossom Run at Carpenter Nature Center.

The computer print out said 6th place!
I’m sure there were at least 100 people ahead of me. I didn’t even know I was racing.
Okay, closer look --- 6th place of men in my age bracket running the 5K.
Okay, their were only 12 of us in that category.

Beautiful morning!

Early May Morning!

–Moon –New Life –Sun

Finally a good early morning run. No rain!

"There are as many reasons for running as there are days in the year, years in my life. But mostly I run because I am an animal and a child, an artist and a saint. So, too, are you. Find your own play, your own self-renewing compulsion, and you will become the person you are meant to be." ~George Sheehan

GrinerGUY day

Day out...
Roller Blades
Coffee house
Ikea shopping
Mission Impossible Three
Magic Pan Crepes
Cemetery stop
Dad's Rhubarb Cake

Beyond the Ramp

2nd year at the ELCA Churchwide offices in Chicago to train teams who will go out to facilitate activities and discussions around issues of disabilities.

Creating the door! – Accessibility
• Are your facilities accessible?
• Do you choose transportation so that all can enjoy the relational group building experience of travel?
• Are camps, retreat centers and other activity centers chosen so all can participate?
• Do you advertise accessibility?
• Do participants need education to help understand and welcome people?

Opening the door! – Invitation
• Are people specifically invited?
• Do participants value a ministry that is open to all?

Being inside the door! – Participation
• Are participants welcoming?
• Do you choose events that include all?
• Do participants get to know and work towards genuine relationships?

Going out of the door! – Empowerment
• Valued for thoughts, opinions, and feelings?
• Included in decision-making?
• Trained in leadership and Peer Ministry skills?

Teacher's Passion

Gold Finch (Iowa's State Bird)

Red Wing Black Bird

It is what my teachers had passion for that I most remember.

Ms. Ford, my 5th grade teacher had passion for birds. There were other things too. In general she was a passionate person. I remember her sticking a record on the phonograph in the corner and making us all sing, “Peas, peas, peas, peas, eating goober peas, goodness how delicious, eating goober peas.” As 5th graders we knew this was corny (well---no not corn, when singing about peas – peanuts really – she would teach us about the song, but…) certainly not cool. But, for Ms. Ford we would do anything.

It was after school, the bird hikes, where we discovered her deep passion. She would only take 10 of us at a time. Equipped with binoculars, bird books, and check lists we followed our beloved leader for miles, quietly, very quietly, looking for birds. Actually I don’t know that any of us overly cared about the birds, but watching Ms. Ford’s pure delight at each new discovery, whispering the details, the history, the rarity at what we were seeing, that was worth all the after school extras. The birds were special, Ms. Ford’s enthusiam was special, but mostly, because we were her honored guests on these hikes we somehow new how special we were too.

I suppose, considering Ms. Ford, it is not so odd that where ever I am, even on runs, my awareness of the sounds, and an eagerness to see each bird makes sense. The passion of a teacher can be alluring. It is from passion that learning takes hold.