A mini-retreat

pastoring a church, running our own business, & traveling with josh's music, as much as we love it all, can sometimes take a toll on our souls. so after too much traveling & not enough rest, some friends of ours sent us on a much-needed retreat to a bed & breakfast near cincinnati. we stayed here, in the 1850s cabin. it was a restful time together, of peace, birds, prayer, & conversation. on the way home we stopped at a kentucky state park, with its brightening leaves, & enjoyed a hike & a fitness workout! we unknowingly chose a trail that had a 20-station exercise routine, & josh & i ended up having a blast. it was good for our souls.

September: Seattle

in early september we flew out to the northwest to visit friends & family in the emerald city. josh played two shows--one in seattle at q café, and one in canada, near vancouver, hosted by our friend josh barkey. we also attended the wedding of our new but dear friends, trace & becca. our favorite memory was the family hike, with my brother jeff, sister-in-law cris, & nephew lucas, and josh’s sister gala, brother-in-law zack, & nephew ezra. we hiked in the cascades, up to heather lake, with a view of mt. pilchuck. the water was frigid, but the perfect reward after our climb. we took way too many pictures of our nephews (10 days apart & best friends) in the end of summer sun.

we enjoyed many delightful times with the bents, at their home & out-and-about, a labor day picnic with all our muncie friends at golden gardens, tea & meals with dear old friends, jeff & cris’s wonderful hospitality, three visits to than brothers’ pho (josh’s new favorite!), avocado bubble tea at alki beach… it was a spectacular visit, & every day was sunny.

August: California!

josh was invited out to los gatos, california, for a show, so we flew out a day early to enjoy the west-coast sites & delights of santa cruz & san francisco. our host, andrew, graciously lent us his car (identical to elluin, my elven chariot) for our touring freedom. we spiraled through redwood forest hills to the enchanted misty coast of santa cruz, where we sauntered around for a sunny morning, then drove up “the one” to chilly, foggy san francisco, with a dip in the ocean in between. we’d both visited san francisco before, & thought we could be self-guides from memory, instead ending up lost for a couple of hours. in the end, though, we spent a playful hour or so with the seagulls, taking their portraits near the golden gate at dusk, and ended up at one of the city’s best pizza spots for a perfect day’s ending with wine.

July: Cornerstone

we remember cornerstone most as a time of community, when many friends surrounded josh in music. mom & dad ramsdale were at cornerstone again with wycliffe, so we camped at the maloca tent with them, as did jay, mark, matt, joseph, & jason andre (from hatteras island!). the wycliffe folks graciously fed all of us! our friends from sacred intent also showed up, & the whole gang rescued josh from a speaking engagement when his voice was shot, just before his gallery stage performance. it was impromptu at its best, with "the brothers" from sacred intent (as josh says...), joseph on his african drums, jason on didjeridoo, jobee from psalters on djembe. scott knies joined josh later on the gallery stage, with guitar & dancing, along with the lions. i enjoyed meeting people through my merch girl duties, being on the m.k. panel, & hanging out with family. josh loved playing music with friends, getting a chance to speak (preach!) on songsmithing, late-night conversations in the coffee tent, & feeling closer to my folks.