The Last Day of the QUIP Conference

The last day of QUIP was a fun time to hang out and say goodbye to our friends. I hope you all enjoyed our time together. I look forward to talking with you about promotions for Spirit Rising!

This is the upstairs in the house the young adults slept in. It was a great house and it worked really well for us.

Many of us had laptops there, many of whom I would like to thank for lending them to me, including Liz Yeats below, so I could post here to my blog.

Not exactly the pictures you would expect to see from the last day of the QUIP conference but six of us on the board thought it would be fun to go to Katrina's friend's farm for some play time with the baby goats. They were extremely friendly and we had a delightful time cuddling them! One in particular wanted to crawl into everyone's laps and another was particularly fond of my hair.

Sylvia, the General Secretary for Friends United Meeting, took John and I to her home in Indianapolis after lunch to hang out there before she brought me to the airport in the evening. I had the chance to spend some time with her at her office on Quaker Hill a few days before but it was great to spend even more time with her that afternoon. Thank you Sylvia! The lights of home. Well, almost. I live an hour away but they still count.

Saturday at QUIP Conference

Saturday morning we had our worship service led by Harriet who passed around white paper in the shape of doves. On our paper, she instructed us to write our dreams and hopes for the book then release them into the "sky". May the book have a life of its own just like the birds.

Lunch time!
Ice cream sundaes were fantastic!

Harriet and Evelyn
Wess during lunch.

Spirit Rising is now available and for sale!

John Epur Lomuria and Emma Condori Mamani

Open Mike Night

Two of our contributors who attended the release.
Eight of us young adults went out to Smiley's: Old English Pub after Open Mike Night. However, as much fun as we had, and we had lots of laughs, Harriet assures me it is a new English pub, not anything like an old one. (Harriet is from England so she would know.)

Spirit Rising: Book Release

Yesterday was a very full day. After breakfast, I led a workshop on Writing as Prayer. Personally, I love workshops that are more interactive and so I lead my own in that manner, a style the attendees appreciated. We had good discussion and good questions. I really enjoyed the time we got to spend together.

In the afternoon, Angelina, our project coordinator, presented her report to QUIP and then our editorial board left to do some of the hard work this book keeps us coming back to. We know we are asking the people who read the book some very hard questions but please know, we understand how hard these questions are to grapple with because we have asked them of ourselves and each other first. We are hoping our own work together can be a model for what others can do between themselves.

Quite frankly, we are weary. We have walked a long and difficult road to gather these writings and bring them together. We are thankful even as we struggle knowing this book is now no longer ours. It is everyone's book. Everyone's spirit is rising. We are looking forward to talking about the book and hearing back people's reactions to where the words come from. We are looking forward to watching the book take flight and live a life of its own apart from us. It's kind of like watching a child leave for their first day of school. We hope it goes well, we hope others like our "child" and that our child will grow and work in the world in ways we can only now imagine.

Those are the thoughts that were in my head as I listened to the editorial board and contributors read pieces from the book last night at the release party. I feel like Michaelangelo who has spent the last several years inches from the ceiling. Last night I got to step onto the floor and look up at what we've done and for just a few minutes, I could see where this book would go and all the voices that will now be heard. Tears fell from my eyes in knowing what we had just created, what God had spoken through us to do. Stephen read a verse this morning that the grain of wheat must die for the plant to grow. As our editorial board takes our leave and takes the book back to the places from which it grew, we are hoping that in our place grows a beautiful return for the work so many have done.

One thing I want you all to remember, though, is that the words are not enough. Words themselves have no power. The power lies in where the words come from. The power lies in the love in which they are spoken and the love in which they are lived out. May love be our highest goal.

Lucy Duncan
John Lomuria eating leaves.

Green soup, John wants to know if this is food. He doesn't think so.

The house where we all eat, meet, and the young adults sleep. They figured it was a good idea to keep us all together in one place. I agree. I've enjoyed it. We all sleep on the second floor.

The Friends United Meeting offices here on the grounds.

The Friends United Meeting offices here on the grounds of Quaker Hill.

Beauty Several of us took a hike yesterday afternoon out to a waterfall. It was nice to be outside.

Angelina giving her report to QUIP.

Our editorial board signing each other's books.

Spending time together working through the hard places.

C. Wess Daniels

Cool sweaters!

Our book release party.

Reading 1 Corinthians 12-13

The coolest cake EVER!!!

May love be our highest goal.