Festival of Faith & Writing: Festival Fun

Some random documentation of my trip to the Festival of Faith & Writing begins with this evidence of my crossing the state line.Calvin College’s campus is colorful.Ran into my friend Stacy Morgan the very first thing. I registered, slipped my name tag on, set my bag down next to a chair, flipped through the packet, looked up and saw Stacy sitting on the couch next to me.Didn’t take a picture then, but made sure I got one later. Stacy is in the midst of a year-long project called “Never Enough Sundays.”After the first session, I spotted Ann Voskamp of Holy Experience. Slipped down the row where she was sitting and squealed a little when I hugged her. Until I ran into Eileen Button, I was meeting people while sporting that stylish slash of ink on my upper lip that you see in the above photo if you look close. Thankfully, Eileen alerted me to it and cleaned me up. We agreed, however, that if ever there was an event at which an inked face was acceptable, it was a writers’ festival.I didn’t get a shot of Eileen that time, so I’ll just sneak in the photo I took of her two years ago, so you know what she looks like (Eileen’s on the left; another festival friend, Nadyne Parr, is on the right):I ran into the bold and delightful Nadyne several times.Later, with windblown hair (but an ink-free lip), I met up with Jim Schmotzer, an HCB-network member who organized a get-together.Turns out only the two of us got together, but that was fun. He knows Eugene Peterson, so we walked to that session. One quote from Eugene that I scribbled down was what he said when talking about the state of the church (the American church in particular). He is convinced that flaws and all, sin and all, the church today is Christ’s Church, and apparently “the Holy Spirit doesn’t seem to mind being embarrassed.” He added that the American church is all pragmatic, asking questions like “How do we do church?” He thinks we should scrap that question and instead ask, “How can I enter into what God is doing here?” Instead of criticizing or being angry with people, we could ask, “How do I embrace the church God gave me?”After the session, Jim chatted with him.(My apologies to Jim for a less-than-flattering angle.)Jim and I met up with Anne Lang Bundy, also an HCB-network member (note the glimpse of Eugene Peterson in the background).I saw my friend Don Pape, who was kind enough to pose for a quick snapshot.In the evening, my friends from Calvin, Bill and Judy Vriesema, took me out to eat at a fabulous Lebanese restaurant. Dinner: hummus for an appetizer with a sweet potato and quinoa burger as the main course.Yum.Wally Lamb spoke in the evening. No photos. I just listened.After Wally’s session, I slipped over to see Stacy at her table. While we were chatting, someone turned around to join our discussion. Her name is Tracey Bianchi. I didn’t snap her photo, but you can see her at her website, which has a blog. She’s a new author whose book Green Mama: The Guilt-Free Guide to Helping You and Your Kids Save the Planet was just released in March. Tracey looked at my name tag. “‘Ann Kroeker.’ Are you the author of The Contemplative Mom?” “Yes, I am!”“I have that book–someone gave it to me when I had my first child!”What a delightful surprise, to be recognized and appreciated for the work produced all those years ago! And she kindly handed me a copy of Green Mama, so I was pleased to hand her a copy of Not So Fast.That was Thursday.Friday’s update will come later…