stuff

Sarah and I had a conversation recently about materialism, consumerism and wealth, which is where this post comes from. I feel that part of what we are doing here and hope to do for the rest of our lives is to challenge the norm of wealth and materials. I say this with the admission that every time I walk into a record store I feel the need to buy something and want to buy everything. I want to challenge the norm of what it means to be wealthy and what really constitutes a need. We all need food and shelter and I would argue love and community, but we don't need cable and movies or even TV. I want to challenge the norm of buying a house and a car and a boat and another car (of which I have one).

We can easily appease ourselves with not buying as much or making our purchases from an alternate "green" consumerism or "Christian" consumerism. And I know that I have done so, saying that I am spending my money wisely or for a higher cause, but I still buy into an ad campaign and buy stuff.

We talked about this in reference of figuring out what we want to do after our year of volunteering is up, granted we have plenty of time. First things first we have a ton of student loans to pay off. That requires a real job at some point. Then, we like the idea of "retiring early" (like in our thirties) and volunteer for a living. Realistically we could do something similar to what we are doing now for a long time. We work and they give us an apartment and food, what more do you need? Oh yeah, health insurance. I have found the Christian Healthcare Ministries, we have asked for some information and don't know any details yet but it looks promising.

I do not want anyone to take this as a disapproval of the lifestyle that they are living. Everyone we are related to and are friends with are doing good things with their resources and no one has made it to the Paris Hilton level yet (I'll let you know when you get there).

So, what do you think.

oh happy day!

Here's a small film I made about Eric trimming his beard. Hurray!

that part doesn't break

This winter the grinder we use on the farm to grind our own feed broke. We called the New Holland parts place and they said that they did not have that part in stock because it did not break, I guess we proved them wrong. We made more calls and internet searches and found the part we needed for the low low price of $1,000, which we could not afford. When my father was down he saw the need that we were in. When he returned home he "reluctantly" went to the junk yard to see if he could find a used part. He did indeed find what we needed and he and my grandmother bought it at the bargain price of $350. It was loaded in my fathers truck and my parents and I both headed for Harrisonburg VA to exchange the part and Easter baskets. After having lunch at Cally's, I backed up the settlements van to his truck and the exchange was complete. All we need now is to get Ray to put it all back together as he was the one who tore it all apart.

It may be odd to dedicate machinery parts but it is appropriate that this was donated in memory of Bud Rabenstein who had passed away a week earlier. I remember growing up going to church with him and how huge and strong his hands were for being a small man, he was a faithful man and will be missed.

the beard

As many of you know or have seen, I had quit shaving since we got here. I figured that as I was working on the farm I did not have to try to impress anyone, plus I'm lazy. When I stopped shaving I wasn't sure how long it would last but I figured that six months would be a good even time and that would keep me warm in the winter. It is the longest that I have let the beard go, previously it was 3 or 4 months. The kids on the basketball team called me 'fro face and rubbed it for good luck. My wife and small children have been scared of it, except Seth who thought it was a toy and liked to pull on it.

Early in this journey I would look in the mirror and see my fathers reflection. When I was young he would grow a beard in the winter, granted he would trim his. But I guess as I am spending time as a farmer that makes sense. So to the delight of my wife I have trimmed the beard and its back to its normal manicured self...and my neck is cold.

preview of things to come

Since we have been away and having company, we have not posted in several days. We plan to catch up over the next few days, and here's what you can expect to learn about:

• our Easter weekend with Abby
• our visit from Christie and Tim
• our recent conversation about material things
• the six-month point
• and the most exciting of all.....ERIC TRIMMED HIS BEARD!!!

You had better stay tuned....this is good stuff.

support

Before we left the northeast and since we've been down here, we have received loads of support, emotionally and financially. We've got cards in the mail, emails, and, of course, comments on this blog. We've also received monetary support from individuals and groups, and we really appreciate that.

One cool thing is that our being here has generated some interest in Henderson Settlement from churches and people in the Wyoming Conference, and the northeast US is not a region from which the Settlement typically receives a whole lot of support. (Much of their support comes from Ohio, Indiana, etc....states that are closer.) There are at least two workteams coming from Wyoming Conference this summer, and I know of a few groups who have decided to help the Settlement financially.

One of those groups is doing something especially creative, and I wanted to share that with all of you. Several of our friends attend (and pastor) the Park Terrace Community UMC. During Lent, the members of the church have been asked to give something up and to take the money that they would usually spend on that thing (coffee, candy bars, whatever) and give it to one of the four charities that they picked this year. This year, Henderson Settlement is one of those charities--hooray! You can read more about the project by clicking here.

We really appreciate our friends supporting our work here and the work of Henderson Settlement as a whole. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

busy!

Wow. It's been a week since we posted...that's not good!

Things in the library have been very busy. Last Wednesday we had about 25 people in the library at once! It was a program with the Early Steps to School Success (ESSS) program--there were several families there, as well as the preschool class from the Frakes School. Linda (the family resource staffperson at the school) dressed up as the Cat in the Hat, and she read to the kids, and Kim read, too, and so did I. It was a lot of fun! Unfortunately (again), I didn't have my camera with me.

We've also had some people coming into the library more regularly, which is nice to see! Things that are always popular are mysteries and Christian fiction, and movies (most of the collection is on VHS!) have been going out a lot, too.

Yesterday afternoon I had six work campers helping in the library--high school and college kids--which was nice! I'm not used to having that many at once, but they did a good job and helped me move some furniture around and making it easier to walk around and get to the books.

Also, I've been working on revamping Henderson Settlement's website. I'm hoping to have it finished and ready to be "unveiled" sometime in April...we shall see!

Kevin, this is for you.

This Big K cola made us think of our dear friend Kevin.

Remember, dear friends and family, that we are often thinking of you! We love you and we miss you.

hiking

On Sunday, the temperatures were in the 60s, and it was sunny. Eric said, "We HAVE to do something outside," and he was right!

We decided to go to Pine Mountain State Park (which is only a 15- or 20-minute drive from Frakes) and hike their Honeymoon Falls trail. It was beautiful on the way up to the falls--all green with laurel and rhododendron and HUGE hemlock trees.

The waterfall was small but beautiful. It seemed to be a nice, cool place to be during the summer.

You can see in this picture how GREEN it is on this trail. It's not so green everywhere. Some places are still feeling effects from last year's drought, but we've had a bunch of precipitation lately, so we're hopeful that we'll be seeing some green grass soon!

The walk back down the hill was nice, but not as impressive as the green on the way up. We'll definitely have to go back again once the leaves are back on the trees!

It was the perfect way to spend such a nice, warm afternoon, especially considering that we might get a couple of inches of snow again this weekend!

visitors

I am belated in posting this but here it is. A few weeks ago My father, Becky, Shelby and My cousin Lizzie were able to come visit us for a few days, it was great to have them. Sunday was a rainy day but we made the most of it and gave them the tour of H.S. before going to Middlesboro. My father was (un)fortunate enough to be in the passenger seat as we drove over the mountain. I thought he was going to jump in my lap as we went around corners with no guardrails and he was looking fifty feet down. (I remember him being nervous when he rode with me driving the GMC as a teenager too, and those were just hills in Berkshire.) We went to the Cumberland Gap overlook and got to see a cloudy, rainy view of three states, but we had it to ourselves.



On Monday and Tuesday the girls worked at sizing and sorting the never ending pile of clothes at the thrift store. I was able to show my father around the farm that I am working on for once, and put him to work too. We fed and worked cattle, loaded and delivered wood, and got some long overdue trees cut down without injuring ourselves.



They came during the height of basketball season and were fortunate enough to see TWO basketball games. Monday night was Frakes School's homecoming and we played two scrimmage games and I got to be head coach for a little while. The other was a playoff game at the county high school, complete with announcers and lots of cheerleaders.


This picture is from our homecoming, coaching the alumni boys. My record as head coach is 0-2.