Friday, June 25, 2010

Latest ETA Update

Just heard from Rob. They were in Effingham at 3:15, so probably 7-ish? Will post additional updates when I get them...Debbie

Updated at 5:00 - Will arrive in Lombard around 7:30.

Updated ETA for Saturday

Tomorrow's itinerary has changed a bit...anticipated return to church is tomorow at 5 or 5:30 PM. Rob will call me tomorrow when they are a couple of hours out, and I will update here, as well as on my voicemail in the office. Everyone is exhausted but had a great week--I'm sure they will appreciate the a/c at home! ...Debbie

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Wednesday, June 23












After the Global Village... stall mucking, sheep and goat herding, all sorts of farm/ranch duties, and the ever present task of building a community of faith.

Tomorrow, pictures from the high adventure courses and camel and goat kissing and all sorts of other things you might or might not expect.

We adult types feel lucky that you let your young people hang with us... they are amazing!

Global Village










Here's how it works... about 100 people, most of them students, camping out with minimal provisions for most of a day and overnight. Some live in "Thailand" in elevated huts with people sleeping upstairs and livestock beneath. Some live in "Guatemala," some in "Appalachia," some in urban slums, still others in "Zambia" and Tibet, and there are homeless refugees, with a tarp covered space near a goat pen to lay their heads. The adults are there pretty much to make sure the kids don't go completely "Lord of the Flies" on the experience (though, honestly, there is a little of that). And at the end there are all sorts of life lessons about food distribution and social and cultural diversity, and the power of using power and resources wisely.

Monday, June 21, 2010

more monday pictures



Monday pictures





Monday, June 21st

Work started in earnest today. Our groups were introduced once again to the whole concept of Heifer Project (go to http://www.heifer.org/ to learn more), and then were off to classes and work. Some mucked barns, others worked on repairing fences, working a S.A.L.T. (Sloping Agriculture Landscape Technology) garden, still others worked with animals, on fence-rails, and clearing some unwanted growth in the forest.

It is beastly hot today... high will be between 103 and 105. Everyone's been good about drinking their water, using their sunscreen, and paying attention to their tolerance for heat. A couple of headaches, and a couple of really tired kids, but they are managing well.

The way the ranch is laid out and programmed produces a unique challenge for our community; about 1/4 of us are living in a separate building from the other 3/4 of us, and that presents an interesting opportunity for our group to deal with a little adversity as they work hard at building and rebuilding community (isn't that always the process? You don't only build a community, but you are also also constantly rebuilding it!) It's interesting and very hope-producing to watch them work on this. They are, when they want to be, very, very good at this.

We are still having problems getting pictures up on the blog...it has to do with the protections Heifer has on their network. We're still determined to get some up here in the next little bit.

We may not get to the blog tomorrow afternoon/evening, since that is the beginning of our Global Village experience. If we don't get something out here tomorrow, we'll get it posted at breakfast Wednesday morning.

Sunday, June 20th

LONG bus ride. Several times an alarm went off, making us wonder if we were going to make it, but we got here on time and in one piece! Our bus driver, Fred is a great guy, and we're glad he's our driver for the trip to Memphis, and then home.

Heifer is great, though the Internet is down, so this first post is sans pictures because I am literally phoning this in. I'll do better tomorrow.

The kids are great; they are past masters at this stuff, and are prepared to get to work bright and early (breakfast at 7 AM!) They were troopers today,each one of them. Pictures tomorrow!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

We leave Sunday, June 20th.

Meet at First Church at 3:45 AM, hop on the bus, and hit the road by 4:15