Photo credit: Becca Cruz
Party at Hope Heals Camp
One of the most fun—and utterly nerve-wracking—parts of Hope Heals Camp this year was writing and performing a song with Penny for the Talent Show. She’s been up on that…
The Truest Truth: What Hope Heals Camp Reveals About the Real World
I always return from Hope Heals Camp and struggle to convey our experience in words. I walk away with all sorts of stories, and I will share some of those in the…
photo by Bryan Johnson
Where Joy and Discomfort Meet
I know many of you are already back to school, or close to it. Here in Connecticut, we still have a few weeks of summertime. Our kids are playing Monopoly…
Photos by Bryan Johnson
How Love Disrupts the Hierarchy
You may have noticed that I didn’t write a Substack last week. I took the week off because I was at Hope Heals Camp in Nauvoo, Alabama, with our family.…
Universal Design Matters to All of Us
The cool thing about universal design is that you don’t even notice it. I’ve been attending Hope Heals Camp at Camp McDowell in Nauvoo, Alabama for four summers now.1 I’ve heard people say that it…
The Wonder of Kindness and Joy on Planet Earth
Last year, after we returned from a week at Hope Heals Camp, I wrote that camp “is not a place where we lay out a message of salvation, but rather…
2023 Photo by Ashley Monogue
Penny in Her Own Words: Why Go to Hope Heals Camp?
After spending eight hours in the Philadelphia airport (a long, boring story), we landed in Birmingham and are now at one of our favorite places—Hope Heals Camp. Before we left…
The Good Life Belongs to the Ones who are Unimportant and Overlooked
A few years ago, I was seated next to a businessman from New York City at a fundraising dinner. I asked him about his summer plans, and he told me…
Prioritize Relationships
I gave our daughter Penny two choices for her senior year spring break—the Bahamas (where she has always wanted to go) or Atlanta. She chose Atlanta because going to Atlanta…
COMMENT MAGAZINE | The Blurring Is Part of the Beauty
Every summer our family of five travels to Nauvoo, Alabama, for one week. It’s an unusual decision—we leave the relatively cool nights and sunshiny days of July in Connecticut for…
