An Update on Hermie

Yeah, Yeah...it's been a while. Let's just be honest - it's been two months...exactly.

The biggest news from my neck of the woods deals with one of my participants, Herma. If you remember from an earlier post, she is my participant whose home we knocked down to make room for a newly refurbished mobile home.

We moved Hermie into her new home on December 11th, just in time to get settled for Christmas. She was so proud of her small Christmas tree given to her by one of our short-term volunteers. It would be her first Christmas ever where she didn't have to haul in coal from outside to put in her smoky coal stove. As I left Kentucky for Christmas vacation I felt like we had really accomplished something awesome for Hermie. Not only did she have a new home and new furnishings, but a new hair-cut and pair of glasses. She looked like a new woman getting ready to begin a whole new chapter in her life.

After a fun and busy two weeks at home I arrived back in Kentucky to learn that Hermie had gone to the emergency room at McDowell on Christmas Eve complaining with foot pain. They sent her to the University of Kentucky Hospital in Lexington where the doctors discovered she had a blood clot in her left leg. Rather than spending Christmas day in her new home, she spent it in a hospital bed. She spent four days there before they released her. Back at home she began experiencing an increased amount of pain, discomfort, and swelling in her left foot. It got to the point where she could not walk on it and had to use a wheelchair. The clot was too severe and the veins to damaged to perform a bypass, therefore she had to face the hard decision of having an amputation.

This morning, back in Lexington, Hermie bravely faced the amputation of her left leg from below her knee. I have talked with her family and she came through surgery just fine. She'll spend a few more days in the hospital before moving to a rehab facility in Lexington. Within a matter of weeks she'll be fitted for a prosthesis.

It's easy to get discouraged and disappointed that Hermie has faced so much hardship in the recent weeks and hasn't had the chance to enjoy her new home. However, I have to remind myself that she will at least have a warm, clean, and spacious home to return to. It's hard for me to imagine that Hermie would have been able to return to her old home after having her amputation. Mike, the crew leader that worked on refurbishing Hermie's trailer made sure to build a wheelchair ramp - just in case there should never be a need for it. We never knew how immediate that need would be.

I've attached some pictures of Hermie's new trailer. Pray with me that her recovery would go well and that she'd be back home soon.
Love and prayers....

A Barefoot Thanksgiving

I'm not using Barefoot to describe Thanksgiving in Appalachia. No, no. I got to celebrate Thanksgiving at home. It's great being back in Hallsboro, NC for the first time in over 3 months. I hope you all had wonderful Thanksgivings!


So what is a Barefoot Thanksgiving? My mom's side of the family are Barefoots. We spend every Thanksgiving with the Barefoots, and I don't just mean my mom's parents and brother. I mean close to 200 descendents of my great-great grandparents, Napoleon Bonaparte Barefoot (Poli) and Fredricka Augusta Blake (Freddie). A Barefoot Thanksgiving is truly a Barefoot Reunion and it's been happening for probably over 65 years.


Poli and Freddie had twelve children, three of which died during early childhood. Every year on Thanksgiving Poli and Freddie's sons and sons-in-laws would gather back at the homeplace to go bird hunting. After the men had made their kills, the women and young children (my papa and his cousins) would join the men in the woods and bring with them a black pot full of rice. There, gathered around a spring of water in the woods of Columbus County, they would have their Thanksgiving dinner: bird and rice.

As the family continued to grow, Thanksgiving moved out of the woods and to the grounds of the old Homeplace. After Freddie and Poli passed away, my great-grandparents, Bud and Myrtle Barefoot, kept the family farm and the tradition of Thanksgiving running. Every year family continued to gather in Hallsboro. Somewhere along the line, the bird and rice converted to chicken and rice - or chicken bog as we like to call it. However, one thing didn't change about it: it was still prepared outside in a big black washpot over a fire.

Thanksgiving was held at the Homplace until 1988. By that time Nannie and Poppie had passed away, and my Papa and Aunt Iris (and their families) had taken on the duties of hosting. At that time, some of the "cousins" began to offer their hunting camps as a venue for the big event. For a couple of years we gathered at Cousin John Jay Burney's hunting camp. When it became apparent that our family had outgrown that site, we moved the party over to Cousin Billy Corbett's hunting camp on Long Creek in Pender County (the county where Freddie Augusta was originally from). We've been at Billy's camp for over 15 years now.

So yesterday we once again loaded up and headed down to Pender County. Upon arriving we added our contributions to the seven-table long line of food. Our end of the family can always be counted on (or expected to bring) Grandmama's ham biscuits, butterbeans and corn, deviled eggs, pecan pie, and pumpkin delight. We mix it up a little each year - but if Grandmama's ham and biscuits aren't on the table, someone's in trouble. After making myself a name tag I went and spoke to Uncle Bryant who was standing guard by the washpot of chicken and rice. He's been the man in charge of the most important dish of the day for years now. He now has several understudies who help him stir the pot with a large wooden paddle. They had been out preparing the chicken bog since 8 am. It seemed their friend Jack Daniels had been up that early as well. Next, I headed over to look at the family tree posted on the side of the house to see if any names had been added. Cousin John Jay called us together for the blessing around 1:00. We paused to remember all that we are thankful for and to especially remember the cousins who had passed away since the Thanksgiving before. Then, it was finally time to eat and to continue in the Barefoot Thanksgiving tradition.

My first love in history is the history of my family. Thanks for letting me share a bit of it with you.

Why I Never Write Blogs

Hey friends. I know, I know - it's been a while. To all of my devoted readers out there, thanks for being patient with me and for nudging me to write more. I won't try to give you any lame excuses, instead I'll explain what I have (and haven't) been doing instead of updating Heaven and Hollers on a more regular basis.

When I haven't been writing blogs I've been...

1. Reading. All of a sudden I'm excited to read! I always thought this idea of liking to read once you got out of school was a myth. But no, I have discovered it to be quite true. At least in my case. It's wonderful having the time and freedom to read what I want to read - and at whatever pace I want to read it! I'm making it through most of my books right now at a pretty slow pace. I suppose that's due to me reading 3 or 4 at a time. Here's what I'm flipping through now:
Bedtime Reading - Knowing God by J.I. Packer. Christianity Today said that this was one of the top five most significant works of Christian literature in recent years. I'm not sold on that quite yet, but it's still early.
Chapter a Week Reading - Irresistable Revolution by Shane Claiborne. This is the book I'm reading through with the house. The author discusses living an authentic faith and being obedient to what the Bible really says about loving and being with the poor. It is definitely making me think and challenging me to reconsider my love for the status quo!
Doctor's Offices and Exercise Bike Reading - The American Home Front 1941-1942 by Alistair Cooke. Those of you who know what my thesis was about will understand why I am LOVING this book. Alistair Cooke was a foreign correspondent for the BBC during WW2. His beat was life on the American Home Front - and he traveled through every region of the country noting how the war was affecting (or not affecting) the people. 60 years after he wrote up his travelogue, the long hidden manuscript was finally published. I bore you non-history majors with the details. But if you have any interest in American social history or WW2 -put down the blogging and pick it up!
Y'alls Blogs - Several of you already had or now have blogs of your own. By the time I get through reading all of the blogs I have bookmarked it's time to move on to something else!! ;-) Keep writing though! I'm enjoying them all!

2. Sleeping. I'm going to be honest. There were evenings last week that I could have made the time to blog, but I was simply too exhausted. My busy weekends over the past month finally caught up with me last week. Three weekends ago I hit Cumberland Falls, Corbin (birthplace of KFC) McKee, Berea, Louisville, Lexington, and Richmond, Kentucky in a span of 72 hours. Two weekends ago I made the 6 1/2 hour trip (each way) to Chapel Hill. Both weekends were fabulous - and totally worth it. But, needless to say, I was in bed by 9:30 or 10 every night last week. Sleep took priority over everything, including blogging!

3. Spending time with my Housemates. So I pretty much love my house. They're really fun and I don't like missing out on the fun. I've had to remind myself that I do need to take time for myself now and again. We don't really have a coffee house to hang out at within an 80 mile radius, so on Monday night us girls made Bob Evans our coffee house. We took some playing cards, knitting needles (not me), and books to Bobby's for some coffee (sweet tea in my case, of course) and pie. We're probably going to make it a ritual. I hope so!!

4. Working on Grad School Applications. I'm applying to Wake Forest's and Carolina's MAT in Social Studies (master of arts in teaching) programs. I really feel like this is where the Lord is leading me. I have a sincere excitement for history/social studies and a sincere excitement for serving and encouraging people. Teaching allows me to use both of those passions. It's been in the back of my mind for so long now. If I don't try it, I'll always wonder what if?. Lord willing I'll find out sometime early spring and start one of the programs in June. I'm leaving my options open. As I said, I'm really feel like I'm being led to this - but I'm giving myself and the Lord wiggle room. It's something I'm going to continue praying about through the year.

5. Taking time to pray/think/reflect. I haven't had an active prayer life for a good chunk of 2007. I love being in scripture. But when it comes to prayer I've lost almost all enthusiasm for it. And that's pretty dumb. I mean why am I choosing to miss out on something that is so freely given and what can be so simple yet life enhancing? Hopefully, I'm on my way out of the rut. I'm encouraged daily by my participants, co-workers, or housemates about how prayer works. Anyways, I'm beginning to journal my prayers again. It helps me focus and will also be good to look back on to see where and how God has moved. Along with that, I've been thinking deeply about issues relating to Christian living. Just a few things I've been chewing on:
Proper Stewardship - of my time, money, and talents.
Alcohol
Why I experience God in different ways than some other Christians around me
Relying on the Lord to provide
Baptism
Which is worse? The sinful thought or sinful action?
Perhaps I'll get around to writing a blog about these issues. If I don't get around to it - just ask me for my thoughts on the issue at a later date.


When I haven't been writing blogs I HAVE NOT been...

1. Building tee-pees. The weekend I was in Chapel Hill my housemates built a MASSIVE tee-pee behind our house using duct tape, vinyl sheets, slender trees, and rope. They built a fire in it and camped out in it and everything. Folks - this is the kind of innovation and creativity that comes from having nothing better to do in eastern Kentucky on a Saturday afternoon.

2. Training for a half-marathon. Jenny and I have retired from training until the spring. We were originally going to run one in Virginia this past Sunday, but a little over a month ago decided it would be fun to go somewhere like Memphis to run one. The Memphis half is on December 1st. That would of course have given us more time to train. But what that actually looked like was us slacking off. Then we were out of town for 3 weekends straight, then I was exhausted, then it rained, then it got cold, then it started getting dark at 5, then we realized that the drive to Memphis was really long, and then we said we'd run one in the spring! ;-)

3. Learning how to play the guitar. My grandmother graciously purchased a guitar for me recently. I have played it some - after all, I've learned 3 chords. But recently it has been sitting in the corner staring at me. I've always wanted to learn to play the guitar - and I'm going to, it just isn't a priority right now. Don't worry grandmama - I'll get back to it!

4. Learning how to knit. This is another one grandmama may be a bit disappointed with. Three or four of my housemates are constantly knitting or crocheting. I know I ought to take advantage of the opportunity to learn a new skill. I can crochet a bit, but have never finished anything. I imagine that as we continue to settle into the colder months that keep us inside I'll eventually pick up some needles and get in on the fun.

5. Becoming a UK Basketball fan. UNC vs. UK basketball tickets went on-sale to the public today. They play December 1st in Rupp Arena. They were sold out before I had a chance to get any :-(. This makes me SUPER SAD! However, the fact that UK lost to Gardner-Webb makes me chuckle a bit.



Well, that's all for now.

Y'all come back now, ya hear?

A Home for Hermie

(The following are excerpts from letters I have written to a member of my church back home - Whiteville United Methodist Church. They are hoping to help one of my participants get into her new home. I really want to share about this ongoing project with you all too. Forgive my lazy cutting an pasting. But I think you'll still get a good picture of what I've been up to the past couple of weeks.)

10-11-07 Letter

Thank you so much for your letter! It is wonderful to know I have the support of my home church while I am here in Kentucky. Fall is finally upon us here in Kentucky, and after 85 and 90 degree temperatures in the first weeks of October, I am ready for it. The leaves are changing colors, but due to the drought, not quite as vibrantly as I would expect.

Visiting my participants keeps me busy but I have also joined the CAP Wellness Team. We met for the first time yesterday and are working towards improving the health (spiritual, physical, emotional) of CAP employees and volunteers. I’m excited to be involved in a project like this.

Life in the Johnson Volunteer House is as entertaining as ever! Last weekend we all went to the Paintsville Apple Festival and enjoyed fried apple pie, riding rides, and talking to local Kentucky artisans. Crystal Gayle (Loretta Lynn’s sister) gave a free performance the last night of the festival. I’m kicking myself for not going because at the end of her show Loretta Lynn joined her on stage. I’m so disappointed I missed that! All of the volunteers are going on a retreat this weekend to a camp owned by CAP. It will be nice to get away for a few days. I am co-teaching the middle school Sunday school class at my church with one of the other girls in my house. The same girl and I are training to run a half-marathon together. I have not been as faithful with updating my blog lately, but I think now I have brought you up to date.

It is so encouraging that people in the church, particularly the exercise group are interested in supporting my work here. There are several different ways that you all can contribute or get involved, but I want to share with you what I think is the most pressing need among my participants.

Ms. Hermie may be my sweetest and most social participant. When I take her to town or to the doctor’s office, she speaks to everyone whether she knows them or not. At the age of seventy-seven, she is the mother of seven children and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Hermie has not had an easy life, but because of her cheerful disposition, you would never know that from talking to her. Since I have known her, I do not think I’ve heard her complain the slightest bit. However, seeing her home tells the stories of her difficulties. Inside is very dark and dirty. Only a small lamp and the light from one window lights Hermie’s living room which she also uses as her bedroom. The walls, ceiling, and floors are caked with dust and soot from the broken coal stove. This in the only room in Hermie’s home I have seen. She keeps the other two or three rooms closed off (with sheets, not doors) while I am there visiting. Her youngest son still lives with her and is not able to work. But, something very exciting is about to happen for Hermie and her son.

CAP’s Housing Program has been working towards doing something about Hermie’s living conditions. There is simply too much to be done in terms of repairs or improving upon her current house. Therefore, CAP has found Hermie a trailer that we are refurbishing. We are in the process of helping Hermie pack up her few items and getting them into storage. In order to make room for the trailer on her property we are going to have to tear down her home. We have a group coming in the week of October 22^nd to do that. Hopefully we’ll have Hermie and her son settled in their new home by mid-November.

Some members of my home church are chipping in and are sending a gift card for Hermie to use to go shopping for her new home! My response...

10-29-07 Letter
Thank you so much for your response and for sharing about CAP and Hermie with others at home. I'll update you on the progress that is being made with Hermie's new house. Last week a mission team from Christ Community Church in St. Charles, Illinois (just outside Chicago) came down to our part of Appalachia. The church is quite large and is able to send work teams of 15-30 to CAP (among other places around the world) two to three times a year. About 12 ladies and men were assigned to demolishing Hermie's home. I happily joined in on the demolition one day last week. My co-volunteers who work in housing were amused at my eagerness to get my "overhauls" dirty. In two days the volunteers had the house completely down and piled up to burn. Due to the drought there has been a burn ban in this area - but thankfully the Lord sent rain and so burning the remnants of Hermie's house was not a problem.

Hermie, who is staying at her daughter's house just down the road, came and sat out at the work site everyday. She enjoyed getting to know the workers, and it didn't bother her a bit to see her home of 57 years be torn apart piece by piece. At the end of the week I took Hermie up to the camp where the volunteers had been staying for dinner and fellowship. It was a perfect way to end a week of work. Both the volunteers and Hermie were so blessed by each other's company. After a dinner of BBQ sandwiches and sweet potato casserole we sang hymns together. I had a hard time pulling Hermie away from the group when it came time to leave. She must have hugged everyone in the room at least twice if not three times! As we were leaving camp Hermie told me she knew that was the best time she had had in a "right long while".

Seeing the group from Christ Community Church so invested in caring for Hermie was such a blessing. I'm so grateful for what they did for Hermie and what you all are going to be able to do for her!

The trailer is being moved on to Hermie's property this Wednesday! As soon as the crew leader can get it underpinned and get the electricity and water hooked up Hermie and James can move back in. That may be as early as this Friday or next Monday!! The housing crew will continue to make improvements to the trailer once Hermie and James are settled.

Please pray the this process will continue to go smoothly. Also, Hermie has a check-up from her cataract surgery on Thursday. Pray that all is well with that despite how active Hermie has been since the surgery (which I understand is a somewhat of a no-no after cataract surgery).


Thanks so much!

Love and prayers,
Jennie

Jason Ray

Jason Ray was a friend of mine through Intervarsity. His life came to a sudden end this past spring when he wast struck by a car while in New Jersey the afternoon that he was to be performing as Rameses (carolina's mascot) at the NCAA sweet sixteen game.

But because Jason died and had decided a few years earlier to be an organ donor, four people received a new chance at life. ESPN has put together a wonderful piece on Jason's story and the stories of the people who carry Jason on with them. Please check this out and if you can tune in to ESPN tomorrow night at 7pm. It will bless you.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=rayofhope

Playing Catch-Up

Not only does the "other" Jenny keep me accountable for my spiritual growth and 1/2 marathon training (at times ;-)), but she is also keeping me accountable for blogging! She left me a facebook message saying she was disappointed that I had only one entry for the month of October. Not only that, but Andy from over in the Jackson House has put a link to my blog in his blog. So I guess I better get back on top of things.

But where oh where to start?! Is October really already half over? Have I really almost been here almost two months? I'm gonna do my best to bring y'all up to speed in the next few days on what I've been up to - but hang in there.

Tuesday Nights:
Ever since I was a little girl Tuesday evenings have been special. For years, my dance lessons at Mrs. Wanda's fell on Tuesday afternoons. For all of my Columbus County readers, y'all know where you could always find the Biser family on Tuesday nights. Yup - Pizza Village for buffet night - the best pizza, salad "cart", sweet tea, and super bubble gum in town! When I got to high school Tuesday nights meant winning tennis matches and marching band practice with breaks to the Etna for a sun-drop in my friends' cars.

Then Carolina came and with that Craigers for Life. Craigers for Life was the name of my Intervarsity women's small group that I was involved with for all four years. This was my first experience in being in a Bible study or having a group of women to talk openly with about and grow with in my faith. My Craigers blessed me so much. I know I wouldn't be where I am in my walk with the Lord without them. Seeing as how three of my best friends are Craigers, my time at Carolina would have looked ENTIRELY different without these women. We met on Tuesday nights.

So not only did graduating from Carolina mean I was leaving Chapel Hill, but it also meant I was leaving my Craigers - my community of believers, my girls to pray with, ask questions with, confess to, study God's word with and eat lots and lots and lots and lots of pokey sticks with. What would I do without them? Where would I find my community? What would I do on Tuesday nights?!?!

But God is good!

Three weeks ago the women of the Johnson House began meeting together on TUESDAY evenings. We are reading and discussing Irresistable Revolution by Shane Claiborne. It's all about his journey to live a more authentic and biblical faith. For instance, when Jesus says give all you have to the poor - he actually does it. Anyways - we are a quite a diverse bunch: protestant, catholic, conservative, liberal, loud, quiet, northern, southern, catholic school backgrounds, public school backgrounds, secular universities, Christian universities. We have had such different upbringings and life experiences. I have felt challenged every night we've met- it's QUITE fabulous! Because even though we experience him and express our feelings for Him in slightly different ways, we all LOVE the Lord. We have a ton of questions about and for Him. We have questions for ourselves and what it means to follow Him. Heck - we even have questions for Shane Claiborne, who makes it seem too easy to do things like call up Mother Teresa and go spend the summer with her or say no to all the material temptations in the world.


I just feel so blessed that God has provided me with this community of women. It's made my transition out of Craigers for Life a bit more bearable. If you've never experienced a "small-group" type community - please find one! I know a lot of churches, including my home church don't have small-group ministries - and that's really unfortunate. But start one on your own. Read a book, read the Bible, just talk with some girls (or guys) over coffee. You could meet on Tuesdays...

Lost Keys

Yesterday was my first bad day at CAP. But there was definitely a lesson learned, thus making it blog-worthy, so here goes:

Yesterday morning got off to a great start! The local domestic violence shelter planted a tree at our house as a sign of appreciation to CAP. Before the tree-planting ceremony and reception our volunteer manager came over to the house and made pancakes for everyone! The morning's activities meant we didn't have to be at work until later and could sleep in a bit. Pancakes, trees, extra sleep. Sounds like the start to a good day, right? Well...

Somewhere in between moving my CAP van to make room for the tree-planting ceremony and coming back in my room to make a phone call I misplaced the keys to Whit Ventura. After retracing my steps and looking in every possible place in the house I looked at the clock. It was 9:35. I needed to have Hermie (45 min. away) in Hazard (additional 20-25 min) by 11. I had a problem. I told Harold, our volunteer manager who we lovingly refer to as Big Poppa, about my predicament. He rushed me down to Charlie, our head mechanic who reluctantly gave me the spare key.

The drive to Hindman had never seemed so long. When I finally made it to Hermie's it was 10:35. If she was right ready to leave, we could make it by 11, or at least close enough to it so she could keep her appointment. As I approached her house, I noticed the big door was closed behind the screen door...not a good sign. After knocking, calling her name several times, and finding the door locked tight, I realized she wasn't there. Deflated, I returned to Whit Ventura, unlocked her with my spare key instead of the usual keyless entry, and headed back to the office to spend the rest of the day doing paperwork. YAY! - or not. This all really bummed me out.

The search for the keys continued into the night. The longer I went without them, the more bummed out I got, dreading having to confess to Charlie that I had lost the key. My housemates helped me look and told me their own lost key stories. Christian even told me I could blame it on her - and that she was actually going to flat out tell them it was her fault if I didn't. My catholic roommates offered to pray to Saint Anthony, Patron of Lost Things, for me. Nothing seemed to work. I didn't get it. I had used them that morning!!!

Last night at 11:30 I opened my underwear drawer to retrieve the types of things you go into underwear drawers for and there peeking out under some of the drawers contents was nothing other than the keys to Whit Ventura.

I couldn't help to laugh about it. Not just finding my keys in my underwear drawer (as obvious as it may seem) but thinking about how I had my panties in a wad* over something so small. God definitely has a sense of humor. I think I'll lighten up.


*"Panties in a Wad" - being upset, uptight, bothered about something. Not an Appalachian phrase, but a Hallsboro phrase.