briannakocka

Alright, alright a lot is going down. Where do I start? How much do I say? I mean, anyone on the internet can read this if they want to. Will that come back and bite me in the butt after the fact? Hm. Here’s an update on my life (since I haven’t had much else to post about).

I leave for my adventure to Canada on August 28th where the first leg of my journey will take me to Indiana. I will drive there in one day and stay with my Aunt and Uncle for a day or two. They have a lot of land and live right on the boarder of Kentucky. There is something lovely about the home they live in. It’s grazing land, but there are woods. It’s open and free, yet it is completely private. My favorite memory from their home is from a few years ago when I sat on their enormous porch, playing guitar in the heat and enjoying the beauty of that state. It’s one of my favorite places.

The next part of my trip will take about 10 hour’s max where I will arrive in Virginia and stay with my Aunt (my mom’s sister) for a day or two. She also lives on a lot of land. She raises her own chickens, has a few horses, and plants and cares for oriental grasses which she then sells to people who do landscaping. I am very excited to visit her and take a day to hang in the foot hills. I also plan on riding my mountain bike somewhere between Indiana and Virginia.

From Virginia my trip get’s a little hazy. It takes about 6 or so hours to get from my Aunts up to Baltimore, Maryland where I have more east coast family… but the drive from Baltimore to St. Stephens, NB, CA is a bit of a haul. I may try and make it up to Boston after Virginia and either squat somewhere for the night or grab a hotel. However I want to get some more mountain biking in around there. I plan on getting to St. Stephens by September 2 so I can get moved in and drive around the province to get my bearings (and do some riding). I do have to say, I am pretty excited about this move out east. It’s a once in a life time type of thing.

I have received four of my five books for my first semester of class in the mail yesterday. The director of ICEWS; Dan Wilt, recommends reading through them and taking down some questions I have about the content in them to bring me and anyone else in the program up to speed on what we will be studying. It’s exciting to feel like I am already starting to study—and it’s only summer! The first two books I am starting with are; For All God’s Worth by N.T. Wright and Emerging Churches by Ryan K. Bolger and Eddie Gibbs. Thus far I like both of them. The latter is a bit of a tougher read because there is a lot of data and meat (it’s almost like a case study over 5 years of the different post-modern-emerging churches) but it is if anything full of wonderfully educational content. The first, by N.T. Wright so far comes across as blunt, real and straight to the point. The writer is being honest about the world, the church and our part in both. I like it.

So, only 63 days until I leave on my adventure to ICEWS