A Rocha USA
Krista Vossler and Blake Mathews live in Austin, Texas. Last summer, they coordinated Wild Wonder with Blake as camp director and Krista as a group leader. The camp served twenty students, aged four to ten. Below is a conversation about their experience. What do you think were the students' …
[Read more...] about Wild Wonder In Action: A Conversation with Krista Vossler and Blake Mathews
Resolutions are silly. Resolutions are powerful. No matter which one of these statements is true for you, I think there is something about the cold, gray, maybe wet, maybe frozen days in January that makes me look to the future with (dare I say it?) resolve. Or at least some intention, if that …
Wild Wonder | A Rocha Creation Care Camp from A Rocha USA on Vimeo. In some parts of the country, the long, hot days of summer are still in full swing. In other parts, the nights are already cooler, and school is already back in. Across the country, families are starting to ease out of summer …
[Read more...] about Saying Goodbye to A Season of Wild Wonder
Recently, we had a brief few days of sun amidst what has been a record-breaking year for rainfall in the Pacific Northwest. While residents here tend to be intrepid when it comes to exploring nature in the rain and mud, I’m somewhat less so, and the sun provided a great reason to get outside. We …
Over the next few weeks, a few of us here at A Rocha will be posting a series of short meditations on waiting in God’s creation as we prepare for the celebration of Christmas. The other day, I found myself at a standstill in a nasty traffic jam that is becoming more and more common in my rapidly …
I’ve been thinking a lot this week about time, and the different ways it exists. First, there is the rather arbitrary way that we measure time, independent of the natural world: things happen on the first or last day of the month, or every two weeks, or the second Tuesday of November. These …
Earlier this month, we published a piece about Grace Spriggs, Children’s Pastor in Nashville and coordinator of the Creation Care Camp there. During our conversation about the camp, she shared with me a story that resonated deeply, and stuck with me long after we talked. She told me that this …
Creation Care Camp began in 2008 with A Rocha’s first chapter in Santa Barbara, California. It then moved up the coast to Santa Margarita, where it was piloted and further developed in partnership with the Santa Margarita Community Church. It is now being adopted by communities around the nation and …
[Read more...] about Taking Care of Our Places: Grace Spriggs and Creation Care Camp
I’ve been visiting some family in Canada this past week – in Manitoba, not too far from A Rocha Canada’s Pembina Valley Guesthouse. Sitting in the hot afternoon sun watching the poplars shimmer in the wind, we saw a large flock of blackbirds fly overhead. “That means fall is coming,” said my dad. …
“Faith-based communities and religious organizations could play a much larger role in helping children and adults know the world, and beyond, through nature.” – Richard Louv Last fall, Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods and founder of the Children and Nature Network, wrote a blog …
[Read more...] about Where Our Wonder Takes Us: Children, Nature, and Faith
