Mietzke's POST Holden Adventure

We received the gift of a village this Christmas. People joined together in a little mountain community Celebrating hope as the snow falls around us. One of the first readings of the advent season began “Oh that you would tear open the heavens and come down.” This reflection of longing has played itself out in my life time after time as an irrepressible desire which comes into play wherever I am, and in whatever I am doing.
As I was standing on the porch this evening listening to the Christmas chimes ringing throughout the snowy village. I began to think about each of the people in this village and what they have offered to me and to my family in this last year of our lives, and I realized that God has torn open the heavens and is alive here right now in each of us.
This living love is given through delicious meals thoughtfully prepared, through electricity, and fresh water. Through heaters installed and repaired, beautiful programs made and letters of invitation sent out.
Love is present in conversations had and ears open to listening. Love is in music sung and played, and in poetry read. It is in candles lighted and vehicles fixed. It lives through people who respond to emergencies, and fire drills.
Love has been given to us this year through people who stop what they are doing to hold a baby or play a game with my children. It is shown through the driving of buses and the loading and unloading of vehicles. There are sermons preached and lessons read. There are walls painted and doors hung. There are books shelved and a beautiful store lovingly run. There are people to help me with the computers and printer whenever I have a problem, which is actually quite often. Love is shown when furniture is purchased and quilts are made. It shines when the weekly schedule is printed! It is shown when you stop and give someone a moment of your time. It is shown when the napkins are placed on the tables and when the soap dispensers are filled and most especially shown when toilets are scrubbed and plunged.
There are people who care for the gardens, who churn compost and chop wood, who sort garbage, move beds and when people make sure there are rooms cleaned and prepared for guests. Love is in caring for the winter safety board and checking to make sure everyone who went for a hike got back safely. It is programming, facilitating, and planning. Love shows in the ice cream scoopers, and bread makers, dish washers and people who spend all night looking for a leak in our water system.
Love is shown through fund raising and staffing decisions made. There are sacristans and book keepers and people who are our advocates both in the village and the outside world. There are walls and stairs built and pipes fixed. There are writers and painters and weavers, and mobile makers. There are crews that spend time clearing trails and people who provide entertainment. There are clean sheets and linens. Love is shown when the mail is sent out and put away in the boxes, and when there are paths stomped through the snow. Love is shown when reservations are made and when boilers are stoked to provide warmth in the winter. Love is shown in the answering of the radios and shoveled snow. When there are roads cleared and instruments played. It is shown by the people who run staff meetings and welcome in new community members. It is present when there are outlets fixed and lights replaced. There is coffee made and open doors inviting people in. There are some who are always willing to give a hug and go out of their way to remember things about me, like my favorite color or what I like best to eat. Love is shown through the teachers that come in many different packages, and there are hands ready to reach out to me when I am in sorrow or pain. Love is given in the sharing of activities and the creation of celebrations and festivity. Love is shown through the joyous laughter of village children, and the mayor's welcome at the bus!
If this daily experience is what is meant by Christ lived out in the world, then I have been gifted with Christ, and love has become the fibers that connect us all. Thank you all for being my teachers, for having patience with my short comings, for reaching out to me, for being silly with me and making me laugh. Thank you also for the gift of tears and the safety to express them. This is a beautiful community! You are doing good work in the world!
This year has been a year of receiving and learning for me. It has been a year of kindness, grace, compassion and forgiveness. I learn daily from this village about the love of God reflected in hearts and helping hands. You are all the gifts I have received this Christmas. Gifts of living love.
In the Spirit of Love,
Angela

Holden is sparkling goodness right now with fresh powdery snow and cold temperatures everything glitters and sparkles no matter where you are standing.
This morning the sky was so beautiful. I awoke early and headed down to the dining hall and the snow was falling from patchy pink clouds and blue sky. It looked like cotton candy all lit up and happy. The mountains had a rosy glow that made you feel like this was going to be one great day. It was a good day! I spent it with my friend Rachel making a wreath and putting up the Christmas tree in Koinonia. Several families that are up for the holidays came to decorate the seventeen foot tree and it is beautiful! The wreath turned out beautifully! Bill, Melissa and I made the first Fire side wrath and we had to re-due it because it got dry and crumbly. Now it has a white and gold ribbon that loops around it and golden pinecones adorn it. The decorating has been a lot of fun this year! I keep feeling like I have more and more ideas. I think we finally finished the décor in the fireside room and the dining hall today, but I keep thinking of little touches that could bring it all together. I think I am decoration obsessed.
Our living room at home is so pretty right now we have colored lights on the tree and it is full of ornaments that have been given to us over the years. Our stockings are hung next to the fireplace with one of Auntie Tam’s advent quilts. It just feels so homey and nice with the fire going and the yellow curtains. It is nice to have a home.
The girls are finishing up school before starting their Christmas break and I can feel the build up happening, although it is much subtler up here because none of us have to deal with the media hype.
Last night Jordyn Tried skiing for the first time on the candle lit ski trail in celebration of the solstice. She went out with Dave onto the trail and he said she did a great job. Nyrie and I spent the evening making Christmas gifts and hanging out in the craft cave. It was so nice to be together.
Now that winter is really here I want to snuggle up for a long winter’s nap. We are missing you all and wish we could see your faces and hear your voices as the holidays get closer. Blessings on your evening and on your holiday’s.

I have been thinking about the silvery drifts of snow
that pile high up here covering up the tailings,
the insides of the mountain that have been ripped up
That now lay exposed and contaminate the creek.
I think of the parts of me that have been ripped out,
to lay naked and exposed to the elements,
Those ugly truths that are my life
and the beauty of the small trees that take root in spite of the contamination.
Life that comes from nothing,
renewal over time,
and seasons that cover the imperfections,
making new the surface,
healing and eating away
at everything that once lay hidden within the mountain of my own suffering.

I sometimes forget that we all have those mountains
And the tailings
That we are all wounded and exposed
That if we could take the time to look closer we would see
the true Nature of love
alive in the pine seedling
that has taken root in the center of our own bareness
Is the rocky soil really the place where God wants to plant a seed?
How can that be?
There are some really nice compost piles around
where that precious life could grow much quicker,
but somehow that seed found itself here in me
and its roots have wound themselves through the rocks
establishing a strong hold
giving and taking from this rocky environment
that my soul provides
Every morning when I wake up to my own bareness
When I feel the desert
dry and foreboding
When I think that maybe nothing could flourish here
I feel the roots buried deep
And I see the healthy green
And I know the sap runs through this tree that has established itself in me.
I sometimes wonder…
What was God thinking?
And perhaps I shall never know.

For the last week and a half I have spent nearly all of my time decorating for Christmas and Mary and Dave’s wedding. The fireside room is magical with blues, candles, banners and lights that will be seen tomorrow for the first time at the wedding. It has been a lot of fun setting up! Dying fabric, creating an aspen grove background and hanging over a hundred paper stars from the ceiling, as well as the making of wreaths and swags, painting and hanging lights and come Monday we will put up the twenty foot tall tree in the fireside room. There have been so many amazing people helping me and it has been a busy blast! I love the subtle build up of advent into Christmas with all of the winter blues and the feeling of longing each time a new candle is lit and brings a bit more light into the room. The subtle feelings of the season are something we miss in the outside world when we jump from one holiday into another. I have been so excited to be a part of the creative process of moving us through advent into Christmas. The creativity gives way into reflection about the importance of the longing and the receptivity of grace, as well as the feelings and thoughts that come with the simple yet profound longing for light at this dark time of year when the village only gets an hour and a half of direct sunlight a day.
The temperatures have been really low this week and we have been blessed with snow! We are hoping for a foot or more tomorrow! Dave and Jordyn tried to work on Jordyn’s Tree house in sixteen degree weather and it took us a good amount of time to unfreeze them even with lots of bundling. Jordyn came in crying and we put her in a bath and rubbed her toes.
Nyrie has been working on making her first quilt and it is coming along beautifully! She spends two days a week, sewing with Dawn Coffey and loves it! Both girls are really making strides in school and love their teachers!
There is so much going on in the village this week with a wedding and Christmas following right after. We have a living advent calendar where people from the village have offered activities, songs, poems, and art as a way to bring in the season of celebration. Tonight we had a sung version of the twelve days of Christmas Holden Style With:
“Five meals by Paul
Four dish teams washing
Three Mavericks shoveling
Two garbo gloves
And a bear cub in a pine tree”

I am sure that is out of order, but it was a lot of fun!
Dave’s folks came up for a few days as well as some Tacoma friends, and we got a family fix on our week long trip to California which was nice! I have been struck with our good fortune this week, our luck in kind friendships and supportive families, and the ability to take a year and a half out of our lives to live in this unique and beautiful place set apart from some of the craziness out there. This has been such a great experience for our family!

Ten Mile falls
Cascading ice flowing
down in a pattern of Blue and green
Crystals falling
Formed like stars
Glistening in the dim light of a fading sun
Each land on my coat and hat
Covering with heavens decorum
Everything is glistening in silent splendor
Awaiting the light
Awaiting the light