happenings and updates

The past few weeks have been very eventful! Things are starting to move and happen and change, so this adventure of ours is beginning to seem real.

August 17 was my last day of work at the Children's Library. As I mentioned earlier, I was sad to leave my job, even though I'm really excited about our adventure. Amy and Jenny (amazing and talented ladies) made me this incredible scrapbook as a going-away present, and now I have pictures of the kids and the staff and notes of encouragement and contact information, so I can keep in touch with people in Scranton!

Yesterday my parents were gracious enough to host a going-away party for us for people in Center Moreland. It was great to see everyone and to be able to spend a little extra time with them. The Center Moreland UMC has a covenant relationship with one of the churches in the Red Bird Missionary Conference (of which Henderson Settlement is a part), so our choice of Henderson has something to do with that history, and it'll mean more to the church, too, that we're in a place that they're already familiar with.

One last thing: our departure date has changed slightly. Dejuana from Henderson called this morning and said that there was a group of volunteers that had requested use of the Zoochi House a year ago, and she asked if we could push our arrival date back to September 29 (a difference of only three days). Actually, this will probably be even better--we won't be arriving there in the middle of a week, and we'll probably have a day or two to rest before we dive into working!

Free Stuff

We have a lot of stuff, the apartment we are going to at Henderson is furnished so we are stashing what we want to keep and giving alot away. It is fortunate that my brother just started a new job and has a four bedroom house to fill up so we are glad to help him. Here is some more stuff that we would like to find a home for. I had rescued the plants from imminent death, I hoped to find a loving home for them. Let us know if you are interested in anything and when we can bring it to you.

wicker shelves

stereo with cassette, radio and phono

CD tower

Norfolk Island pine

unidentified houseplant

running on empty

Because we seem to have been perpetual motion machines lately, I am really looking forward to our time in Kentucky.

Since December of 2005, we have put almost 45,000 miles on our Corolla. If you figure an average of 60 miles per hour for all of those 45,000 miles, that means we've spent about 750 hours driving in the past nineteen months. 750 HOURS. And that's just one car.

I'm not saying that it's bad to be on the go--most busy people I know accomplish amazing things. I'm just not one of those people. I like to stay home. I like to read. I like to walk around outside with no specific destination or purpose. I like to sit and do nothing on occasion.

So I am looking forward to having a year when we're not driving all over creation and when we don't have to be out each night of the week. I am excited about being a one-car family for a while. I am happy thinking that we'll get to really know the people in our church. Hopefully I'll manage to make good on my resolution to write more letters. And maybe I'll get to wipe the recurring panic from my brain.

point of clarification

Ok. I guess I need to clarify something.

In my last post, I mentioned that Eric and I would be staying in the upstairs of the Zoochi House. This apparently left at least one person wondering, after looking at the picture of the house, "How can they possibly stay in the upstairs of a one-story building?"

Don't worry--we won't be living in a crawl space!

The building does, in fact, have two stories. The top floor is shown in the picture--that's where we'll be living. The lower level is built into the hill. It's not very clear, but at the far right of the picture, you can see a railing for the outside steps that lead down to the lower level. There's also a set of steps inside, so if there are people living downstairs that we really like, it'll be easy to visit them!

So that's that. Sorry for the confusion!

living quarters

Well, it's official: we're going to be living in the upstairs of the Zoochi House.



The apartment is fully furnished, right down to the dishes, meaning that we don't have to bring any of that stuff with us. This is EXCELLENT. More car space for my clothes! No, just kidding. I will probably be leaving a good chunk of my clothes up north, too. One of the things I'm really looking forward to is the fact that we'll be able shed a lot of our belongings--even if it is only temporary.



Another excellent thing will be our view. The Zoochi House is right at the top of the hill that overlooks the valley where the cows are pastured and where some of the settlement buildings are. We saw it only once, when it was snowy-ish, but I am imagining that it is also beautiful in the spring, summer, and fall!


The only disappointing thing is that we can't take Amelie with us--Henderson Settlement doesn't allow pets in the volunteer housing. I don't blame them at all, but it would've been nice to be able to have our cat back! We'll just have to look extra hard for cat-friendly housing when we return. Or....is anyone out there looking for a feline friend?

what am I gonna do?

Since Eric has already let y'all know what he's going to be doing at Henderson Settlement, I figured I'd better catch up!

I will be working in the Outreach Department. If you take a look at that link, you'll see that there are a whole bunch of programs in this department, and I am excited about that! When we went to visit, they mentioned to me specifically about the after-school program and the mothers and infants program, so my guess is that I'll be spending a pretty good amount of time with those programs. (I'm not so sure how much help I'll be in giving advice about infants, but we shall see!) They also mentioned that I might be substituting at the day care center on days that they might be short-staffed, so that should be good, too.

I think it's good that I'll be working with children again. I've found that sometimes when I go to work and I'm really cranky, it's when I hang out with the kids that I feel better.

And the library. Awesome. There's already a librarian down there who's a permanent (I think) volunteer, so I won't be heading it up, but I'm excited to help her with anything she needs or substitute if she takes some time off.

I have to say, though, that one thing that I'm really excited about is the variety of things that I could potentially be doing in this department. I could be working in the second-hand clothing store, the food pantry, and/or the adult literacy program. Or maybe I'll be working with the community newsletter or the women's group or the exercise classes (hahahahahaha!). I'm looking forward to trying a little of anything they want me to do!

Done

I have completed my requirements for my Masters of Social Work degree. No more classes, No more papers, No more internship (I will still be there this summer I will just get a paycheck now).

I see what we will be doing as social work, even if I will be working on a farm. As of now I will be working in the farming department at Henderson. They have a herd of charlais beef cattle, several pigs, as well as greenhouses and an apple orchard. With the cattle and swine they have a program where individuals who want to support the people near Henderson will pay the cost of feed and caretaking for the animals and when it comes time for butchering low income families will apply to purchase the animals at a reduced cost to provide food for the long term.

The economy of the area has been traditionally based on coal and timber. As these resources have been depleted is has become part of Henderson's mission to educate local individuals on different opportunities for land use. This along with providing a minimal income are the goals of the greenhouses and orchard.

I will be glad to be returning to farm work, I have some experience with cattle and greenhouses but the pigs will be a new adventure.