The Long Way Home

After four days of travel, we arrived home on Sunday night, which just so happened to be our 18th wedding anniversary. We spent the previous two nights at a cabin in Sandpoint, Idaho. It was a fun little trip down memory lane, as I stayed in those same cabins back in 1996 for a family reunion with my dad’s side of the family. We had no idea at that reunion that those days on the lake would be the last time we saw my grandfather, as he died a short time after that reunion. So it was a special opportunity to go back and stay there a couple nights on our way home.

As we were planning our route home, I realized we would be driving right past, so on a whim, and with very little expectation, I reached out to see if that happened to have any availability on the two nights that would work for us. But considering it was a Friday/Saturday in August, I thought there would be zero chance of any availability. Much to my delight, they had one cabin open for those two nights.

The cabins were nothing fancy, but they sure were better than a tent in the rain! And they are situated right on Lake Pend Oreille. The picture above is from the restaurant at the marina directly below our cabin. Friday night Leanne and I got a little dinner date on the dock, while Netflix babysat the kids in the cabin:), and then Saturday night we had some late night family time down there, as well. And earlier in the day on Saturday, we got to have a fun little adventure: we rented a Seadoo jet ski for a couple hours and had a blast taking the girls on rides around the lake. If you see Mabel or Estelle, ask them about the last ride, when we hit a sideways wave (going maybe too fast for the amount of weight we were carrying…) and we were all thrown from the jet ski into the lake. It was wild, and a big highlight for the three of us.

Prior, we had camped for a rainy night in Banff (wayyyyyyy overcrowded! – felt like the New York City of outdoorsy places) and a not-quite-as-rainy night near Mt Robson. In between those two places, we spent some time in Jasper, which is such a great town. It was really incredible to see the devastation from last’s years fires. On one side of the street you’d never know anything happened, and on the other side of the street, areas once filled with beautiful buildings were now blank, save for blue fencing surrounding the many now-blank lots. Those two days were pretty cloudy, so the sights weren’t quite as spectacular, but even so, we still got to see some beautiful things, and we had a great time. All in all, a great trip home. We are exceedingly grateful at all the beauty we got to see this summer.

Report Night – Wed, Aug 20 at 6:00

One week from today, on Wednesday, August 20, we are giving a formal report for anyone who would like to hear. I know you may think you already heard it all, since I’ve written quite a few updates over the summer, but there are certainly many things we haven’t had the chance to share that we would love to tell you about.

Please do consider coming! We would love to connect with you, and we would love to share more about the work the Lord did over the summer, as well as sharing more vision for the future. And not only is it a sharing night, but it’s also a good ol’ fashioned potluck! So come with some food to share and some empty bellies to eat. We will fill our plates first, so that even if our stories aren’t as compelling as we intend, you’ll at least have some food on your plate to enjoy:).

Date: Wednesday, August 20

Location: Evergreen Bible Church – 9600 E Mill Plain Blvd Vancouver, WA 98664

Time: 6:00-7:00ish

What to Bring: Food. No rules. You can bring steak, croutons, or anything in between.

Shifting Gears & Processing

There are two specific ways you can be praying for us. First, we are really feeling an internal jolt from such a sudden change of pace and direction. Camp life is a 100 mile per hour kind of life. It is quite consuming, and it’s tough to think about much outside of what is directly in front of you. On Monday I was feeling disoriented, because it felt like we had gone from 100 mph to 0. But that only lasted a day, and now we’re going at least 60 mph in the direction of Fall. School starts, soccer season starts for Mabel and Estelle (and I’m helping coach Estelle’s team), and Fall is a major ministry kickoff time for at least a handful of new initiatives at the church. And we’re trying to (FINALLY) finish our two year kitchen remodel by painting the cupboard doors in the next week or so, Leanne has some big events happening, and I’m preaching at EBC on the Fruit of the Spirit passage from Galatians 5 during the weekend of Aug 23-24. And we are hoping, too, to spend some time with family and friends, as we’ve missed everyone while we were gone. It’s all good stuff (except for the doggone cupboard doors), but the suddenness of the redirection is internally jarring for us.

The second prayer need is for our processing. There’s a whole lot to think through, pray through, talk about together and talk about with friends from this summer. Life has a way of pushing us toward moving on without really taking in the good and hard lessons, and without thinking deeply about the successes, failures, and areas for growth. We don’t want to miss that crucial step, even in the busyness of life.

Immigration Status: ?

Because I’m sure some wonder, what ever happened with my immigration issue? Well, I checked yesterday, and it’s still in process:). I feel bad for the person who finally has to do that work, now that it’s completely irrelevant.

Also, if you ever find yourself near the border in Yahk, BC, make sure to stop at Two Scoop Steve’s. You won’t regret it!

Gratitudes

• We are continually overwhelmed and grateful that so many of you pray for us. I was just talking to someone today, who said “when I pray for you, this is what I’ve been praying…”. We are so blessed to be loved, and blessed to have so many joining in with us. We are grateful for you.

Prayer Needs

• Pray for the big shift from the high speed life at Rock Nest to the high speed life at home and at Evergreen.
• Pray that we might process well through all our thoughts, feelings, and experiences from this summer.
• Pray about whether YOU are supposed to join us for some portion of the camp season in 2026!

Conclusion

Now that camp season is over, we will give your inboxes a rest and go back to sending out prayer updates just once a month. Thank you all for praying and for joining us on this journey. In the coming months I’ll share more about the Rock Nest roles I will fill from afar over the school year. And if you look below, you can see the dates for camp next summer. Sure would love to have some of you all join us there for some portion of time next summer. So maybe add that to your prayer list, too!

Ryan and Leanne Donovan

Rock Nest Summer Schedule 2026

• Summer Staff Arrival Date – June 24
• Summer Staff Orientation – June 25-28
• Teen Camp (13-15 years old) – June 29-July 5
• Junior Camp 1 (9-12 years old) – July 8-13
• Junior Camp 2 (9-12 years old) – July 16-21
• Family Camp – July 24-27
• UIM All Staff Conference in Nebraska – Aug 4-8 (Happens every 5 years)