Back at... The End of the Road

Hello All. I spent a week in Ohio visiting with family and friends. After dealing with my broken down car - she feels brand new- I arrived back at Wilderness Wind Tuesday at 1:30pm to a group of joyful and energetic friends from the Goshen, Indiana area. For the past 15 years, if not more, we have had a week of camp with folks from the Mennonite Disabilities Committee group homes in the Goshen area. This year due to many circumstances, MDC/Goldenrod were unable to organize the trip, but with the work of a few Wilderness Wind staff and board members we were able to provide a Lakeside retreat/camping experience for 6 former and current MDC/Goldenrod residents. We were joined by Charlie, Dirk, Jeff, John, Phil and Stephen . I have been able to form friendships with all of these men from previous years, except for Jeff.

I was gifted each and every day by these guys. Tuesday we spent the afternoon at the Wolf Center, learning about the wolf population in the United States and sharing stories from the day before. Wednesday we worked on a puzzle and told more stories and then spent the afternoon at the newly opened Bear Center. We watched a movie and viewed the two black bears that find their home at the Bear Center. This was a really good experience for many of us.
Thursday the group went canoeing and i spent the day at camp working on projects there but we all cooked our pita pizza dinner over the fire and roasted marsh mellows while the sun set and the birds sang.
Friday was a relaxing morning at the lakeside cabins. In the afternoon we took a field trip to our friend Pamalot's home to visit her and the goats (pygmy and kinder goats). They are beautiful and friendly and provide tasty milk that Pam uses to make yogurt for herself and soap to sell in Ely.
This morning was an early beginning, with breakfast at 4:30am so that the crew could head back to Indiana. I am very grateful for the light and joy that i and the rest of staff experienced while these guys were here. Many of us voiced last night in our staff meeting that we will miss them, and that we have much to reflect on - and learn -from our interactions with the gracious and patient, energetic and humorous, present and positive personalities that we were given the opportunity to live with these past days. Thank you!
More pictures will come! Enjoy and welcome back to camp and my journey. I will post pictures of my time at home once i figure out how to get pictures off of my cell phone.
Find the treasures in your day today... they are all around and within~