Photo Caption: Bruce Ward — creating smiles and touching lives

“From Berryville to Indianapolis, my Jesus is so fabulous!”  This is the tagline the youth from Berryville Baptist Church applied to their most recent mission trip.  On July 13, 17 youth and 7 adults travelled to Indianapolis for a 9-day mission trip, sharing God’s love with all ages.  This was the church’s 21^stannual mission trip, some of which have happened as far away as South Africa.  Joan Houck, who has led all 21 trips, commented that this was the best trip ever, incorporating more technology, and with participants doing the best they could do.  It’s truly incredible to see youth sharing their talents and reaching the hearts of others.

The team stayed in the Metro Baptist Center  and shared Vacation Bible Schools (VBS) — Sunday morning at the neighborhood community church and then every evening at a local trailer park reached by MBC.

In addition to VBS, the group held programs at the Men’s and Women’s Wheeler Homeless Shelters (getting a surprising request for encores!), helped with the Sunday School Programs at the Metro Center and at the Community Church, hosted an afternoon of Arts, Crafts and Music at a Women’s halfway house for those re-entering society after imprisonment, and held a special puppet show in the lobby of Riley’s Children Hospital for children, their families and other visitors.

The Metro Baptist Center is built around evangelism, teaching Biblical truth, fellowship and the desire to meet the needs of those around us.  Before leaving for Indianapolis, the mission team learned about some of the most basic needs of the people the Metro Baptist Center serves, and helped to provide some “bare necessities”, filling a suitcase with new underwear that they donated to the center.

Upon their return to Berryville, the Youth led the Sunday morning worship service, sharing some of the Bible stories, songs and puppet skits, along with testimonies of their trip.  Bradley Braithwaite, one of the puppeteers, recounted the story of one of their afternoons at the trailer park.  When the youth were sharing the story of Noah’s Ark, a storm was brewing in the distance.  That day, the youth were lucky and no rain came, but they had a beautiful rainbow – accentuating the story of Noah where God sends a rainbow as a promise to his children that He won’t flood the world again.  Another puppeteer, Bruce Ward, shared how he asked God, prior to the trip, to help him and the team touch lives.  The stories they brought back and the pictures of children’s smiling faces was proof that they did just that.

This summer, the mission trip was one in a series of mission outreach programs which started with Vacation Bible School held at Rose Hill Park in Berryville early in July and continued on July 28 with the Academy Street Fun Day, an event focused totally on fun and games for the community.

The Berryville Baptist Rascals is primarily a children’s ministry and travels with a full puppet ministry that they incorporate into every mission trip and Vacation Bible Schools, and also share at shelters and churches in the Berryville area throughout the year.   If interested in having the Rascals visit you, contact the church office at 540-955-1423.  For more information, visit the church website at www.berryvillebaptist.org or their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/berryvillebaptistchurch.  The church is located at 114 Academy Street, Berryville, Virginia.

Photo Caption: The Youth just after arriving in Indianapolis: left to right: Jeffrey Rosenberry, Bradly Braithwaite, Dane Duncan, Bruce Ward, Zach Bartasiewicz, Robert Rosenbrook, Garret Rosenbrook, Amanda Gordon, Sarah Cantrell, Ted Schulz, Alana Bartasiewicz. Back row right……….Anna Louthan, Kristina Bartasiewicz, Sam Whitacre, Kierstan Tinsman. Sitting: Lee Louthan, Caroline Louthan

Sharon Hart with Wing-Kun Tam

Sharon and Greg Hart, members of the Clarke County Lions Club,   recently returned from the Lions Club International Convention in Busan, Korea.   During the convention, Sharon Hart was installed as District Governor with responsibility for the 52 Lions, Lioness, and Leo Clubs in the area from Winchester to Lexington to Charlottesville.   Greg Hart will serve as Cabinet Secretary for the District.

Lions Clubs International is an association of 1.4 million members from around the world.  More than 60,000 of these Lions, including about 40,000 from China and Korea,  attended the Convention.  While at the Convention the Harts attended District Governor Elect and Partner-in-Service training with about 750 other District Governor’s Elect from around the world.  They had an opportunity to meet and speak with leaders in Lionism including Immediate Past President Wing-Kun Tam from China and the 2012-2013 President Wayne Madden from the United States.

Sharon and Greg Hart in the International Parade of Countries

They also participated in the Lions Clubs International Parade of Countries.  Dressed in traditional colonial costumes, they were immediately recognized as George and Martha Washington.  Arriving at the parade line-up, they were surrounded by Lions from around the world who called out to “George Washington” by name and wanted to be photographed with George and Martha.  The Harts said that they had thousands of pictures taken during the parade line-up before finally stepping off on the parade route.  While on the parade route, parents brought their children into the street for pictures with George and Martha.  The Harts handed a miniature  American Flag to each child who had their photo taken.

While all meetings were conducted in English,  real-time translation was provided in eleven different languages.   However, a smile and the sharing of Lions friendship pins often occurred without a common language.   The Harts said that the Lions who attended the Convention shared a common bond of service to others,  friendship, fellowship, and camaraderie in spite of the many different cultures and languages .

Greg and Sharon Hart with Wayne and Linda Madden

Advent means coming or arrival. It is a time when Christians await the arrival of the birth of Jesus the Christ and is traditionally celebrated during the four weeks that proceed Christmas.

When raising my girls, the four weeks before Christmas would feel like a lifetime to them. So I delighted in having a “little bit of Christmas” each week.

It helped the waiting time.

On each of the four Sundays prior to Christmas, as we lit our traditional Advent candle, I would give my girls a small gift.  Usually they were holiday related gifts; Christmas socks, Christmas earrings, Christmas shirts, etc.

It helped the waiting time.

We also tried to plan ahead to have an event to do each week.  Our church was full of events; special Christmas concerts, practicing for the Christmas Eve pageant, gathering and filling food baskets for the needy, shopping for the angel tree. This was a time when the girls could shop, purchase and wrap a gift for a complete stranger, driving around town looking at the vast array of Christmas lights; deciding which Nutcracker Suite to watch.

It helped the waiting time.

Today I pulled out a book – all it was in the beginning, was a black and white composition book purchased at a local grocery store.  Today that book is full of memories of Christmas past, twenty six to be exact.  Now it is decorated with Christmas fabric and lace and overflowing with memories.  Actually like the Christmas Season now it has morphed into memories of Thanksgivings and New Years too.

This simple black and white composition book is now, in my mind, a treasured memory.  It reminds me whose house and family that we spent the holidays with, what foods we cooked, baked and ate.  It brings to mind special events we attended, gifts we gave and received.  The “received list” was important, as it was the list used to sit down and write thank you notes from.

Remember “Thank You notes”?  A lost art.  One we should bring back.

Writing thank you notes is also a time a reflection, like Advent.  Thank you notes help the receiver of the gift to pause and take the time to reflect upon the gift received, the giver of the gift and a time to be grateful that someone took the time to think of you.

Hmmm… Is there a parallel here somewhere?

It’s the simple things that make the best memories.  I hope that I can inspire you to stop by your local grocery store and pick up a simple black and while composition book.  Just start writing your thoughts of the season in it; what recipes you are cooking, where you are going, where you want to go, who you want to share the joy of the season with.  It’s the simple things that we remember.

It will help the waiting time.

A simply beautiful connection.

A moment of life is something that passes by without us realizing those moments are behind us. Lived in one second, gone in the next. Something that turns into a piece of history. They are memories; a reel of film playing in our minds. Of course not all moments have this magnificent impact upon us.  But there are some that truly move us and tug at our hearts, and then there are those that are quite humbling and remind us of how human we are.

It is in those moments that we should pause long enough to appreciate the value it has.

It could be a glance from a stranger; an honest connection made; yet one that we are afraid to embrace. Or, it could have been an inner voice speaking to you to do something, yet we turn away from it. Then we glimpse back wishing we could change the course of our own history.

Moments…

We live in them, and we will perish in them as well…

A child being born is one of the most profound moments in our lives. Their first cry entering this harsh world. We can close our eyes and the image is clear. Time can stand still in our memories, but when our eyes open, it ticks by without mercy.  When a loved one departs from this earth and they pass onto the next, it’s an overpowering realization that their moments have ceased.

We will no longer see their eyes shine with laughter, or hear the echo of their voice once more. Their moments in life have passed, and we only have the memories; the reel of film to play out in our minds. We have all met this fate.  We will all meet this fate as well.

When my Grandfather passed there was a moment that was miraculous. A moment in which I pause and attempt to understand. He died in July; a hot summer day; like the one when we rode on a tractor together. I was sitting on the back porch coming to terms with his death; he had died an hour before. The sun was so bright that day that its glare caused me to squint. My Grandmother was inside maintaining graceful composure.  I was an absolute mess.  I had tears streaming from my eyes, and I just couldn’t get them to cease.  I said to my Uncle, who was sitting not too far from me,” I miss him already.” I looked up wiping my tears.  It was within that moment that a monarch butterfly appeared directly behind my uncle. Its wings gracefully fluttering, its colors bold against the glare of the sun.

I watched it fly, engrossed in its beauty. It flew up to me, and circled around; then fluttered into my hair before finally departing from my sight.  That was just a moment in my life. A moment that I will never forget. One that brings pause to me.

Time holds no prisoners; it’s always fleeting.

Let us all pause for the moments that will be our history. Let us capture their priceless worth…

Michele Hayes writes and raises a family in Clarke County, Virginia

Again this year the plan is to use every inch of the oranges that I have ordered.

Waste not, want not - Photo Janice Coon

Hubby found a beautiful glass juicer at a yard sale.  How clever and resourceful were those who came before us.  I have been using this juicer over the past months to get the last drops of lemon juice out of my lemons.  Lemons have been my latest cooking friend.  I have put them in rice, soups and they are awesome in a chicken noodle casserole.  (Try it…you will like it).  Back to the juicer and my lemons. I tried all the tricks, put them in the micro, be sure to ‘roll them’ to loosen up the cells etc.  None of these work as well as this old-fashioned juicer.

I am now looking forward to making my own orange juice.  I have ordered a box of ‘juice oranges’ in addition to the all-time favorite navel oranges.  Now if all goes as planned…once I have ‘juiced’ my oranges.  The plan is to make an all time holiday favorite recipe of my father’s, Candied Orange Rinds.  It was a family tradition to “waste not, want not.” Many have turned their noses up at the thought of eating the rinds of oranges, lemons, and grapefruits.

The process is actually rather simple.  As you finish eating your citrus fruit, just take the peels and cut them in strips and put them in a zip lock bag in the freezer until you have ‘enough’.  I call enough four cups.  Then you toss them in a pan and cook and drain several times.  Then add some sugar and cook some more.  Once the sugar is cooked down you spread the strips on a cooling rack.  You can roll some in powered sugar and let them dry for a day or two (or three).  If you get tired of rolling them in powered sugar, just let the rest of them dry and you will be amazed the uses you can find for them…

The ones in powered sugar look nice on a cookie tray.  You can also take dip them in chocolate, yummm.  This year I hope to use some to make my own citrus for fruitcake.

Waste not, want not.

Thanks FFA…great idea.

FYI — if you did not ‘pre-order’  your citrus I understand starting at 8:30 am on Thursday December 8, 2011 you can pick-up fruit on a ‘first come, first serve’ basis at the Clarke County High School Agriculture Education Department.

Phone: 540.955.6138

Michelle Hayes lives and writes in Clarke County, Virginia - photo courtesy Michelle Hayes

Sure, somewhere along the line we may have faltered and created mountains of mistakes. What my Pap always told me, “Dust off your boots, and move on. Learn from it; take something from that mistake.”

Trouble just seemed to find me. Well, let me be honest, I found it from time to time. Lessons were had for certain in my neck of the woods. Without a doubt I was raised by two individuals that were sticklers for principal. Nonetheless, I always heard those infamous words “I love you with all my heart and soul.”

Sometimes it made me cry, other times it made me mad.

“How can you love me, then turn around and punish me for my mistake?” I would ask. I never understood it until I became a parent myself. My Grandmother would always say it with such affection that it broke my heart.

Now as a Mother I can appreciate the beauty of those words. I find myself preaching the same to my own kids. l remind them that one choice can alter your life.

One choice…

That’s it…

A simple choice holds an enormous amount of power. Try to make good choices. Through it all, my love will be there. Unfortunately, kids don’t see that we were in their boots long ago, and that we have a true understanding of what it’s like growing up.

The simplicity of our world back then does not exist now. So here we are like Joan of Arc and Superman attempting to mold our children into individuals that hopefully will make their mark on this world with grace, dignity and respect. Through their journey in this life, and the mistakes that they will surely make, I pray that they pause long enough to understand the profound meaning of “With all my heart and soul”.

By: Michelle Hayes

In a small town amidst the Allegheny Mountains is where my childhood took place. This is where lessons were learned and where my story begins… One hot summer day in July I was bored senseless. I had no friends that were home and absolutely nothing to do. I was lying on my bed in my hot pink bedroom listening to my walkman, watching the curtains dance from the breeze, while my foot tapped a steady rhythm to the beat of Bon Jovi.

The watermelon Hubba Bubba gum that I was chewing offered very little entertainment.   Once the last song drifted I went to search for a cure for my boredom. I walked out the back screen door and into the hot blazing sun. The sky was a sea blue, splashed with puffy clouds in shapes of animals.  I could see my Grandfather from afar working on the tractor. I named that tractor “Big Red” after my other favorite gum.

From a distance I saw him wipe the sweat from his brow with a red bandana and then stuffing it into his back jean pocket. It was so hot that summer day that you could fry an egg on a dirt road.  I stood there watching him in silence, listening to the tractor sputter. My Grandfather didn’t even look up at me, but I heard him say either to me or himself ”not quite right”, then continued to work on Big Red. Finally, once he had her fixed, he picked me right up off the ground and sat me on the tractor. I remember sitting there on that hot tractor seat looking down at my Grandfather.

A simple grin aligned his face and lit up his deep brown eyes.   He fixed the tractor that day.  I was so proud of him in that moment; almost overwhelmed with the feeling and wondering why. As if he could look into a 12 year old mind, knowing that I was without a friend that day, he got up right behind me and off we went. We were going on an adventure of sorts. The tractor roared across the field. The wheat danced with the slight breeze, looking like spun gold upon the ground.  My hands gripped the wheel tight while the sweat trickled from them, causing me to absently wipe them on my cut off shorts. I smiled up at my Grandfather then, feeling proud and honored to be riding with him on that tractor. We finished the field together and had worked up an appetite.

We headed to our small, but cozy kitchen, where he made us tomato and mayonnaise sandwiches with sweet tea to accompany it.  While we ate, he listened to me boast about my new found driving abilities.  He smiled at me nodding his head with approval. Then he looked up at me from across the table and said, “A little hard work is good for the soul.” Then continued. “You can always find something to do. You just have to go looking for it.” And he winked at me.

We worked that field together that day, and my boring summer day turned into one that is deeply imbedded into my heart and memory. There wasn’t much conversation, but the words that were unspoken was the best conversation I had with my Grandfather. To some young girls hanging with an old man, especially one who spoke very little would be an absolute bore, but not to me. I thought he was grand. I flocked to him like a bee to honey.

He taught me how to catch a ball, ride a tractor, work a field, and more importantly, he taught me what honor was. He instilled in me that the true measure of a man is within his very soul and not the coin that burdens his pockets.  That sweltering hot summer day I will carry with me forever. I am grown now, and the lessons I learned from him are still harboring within me. Years passed by, and we maintained a close relationship with one another. I called him almost every day, and saw him once or twice a month.  My children would visit as well, and they in turn got to hear his words of wisdom, and even ride good ole Big Red. One morning in July I awoke with the sun shining bright, and the sound of a bird’s song drifting through my bedroom window. It was that very moment I received the call that he was sick.

Two hours later I walked into the hospital room with my heart racing, dreading the news I would hear.  As the priest read Psalm 23, I watched him leave this earth through tears and a wounded heart. I looked down at my Grandfather then, and held his hand that was once so strong but now so very frail. I closed my eyes, and for a moment I was that little girl again; riding that tractor with him. I’ll never forget the smile in his deep brown eyes, and the simple laughter harboring within them. Nor will I ever eat another tomato sandwich again without thinking of him.

Michelle Hayes lives in Clarke County, Virginia - photo courtesy Michelle Hayes

Tomato Sandwiches

Ingredients:

One ripe tomato

Bread

Mayonnaise

Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

Slice the tomato into generous slices. Place on one side of the bread, sprinkle with salt& pepper. Slather the other piece of bread with mayo, join the two, and enjoy with a cold glass of sweet tea and with someone you love J

Note: Especially delicious on hot summer days.

About Michelle Hayes: I was born in Cumberland, MD, and raised by my Grandparents. I moved to Virginia when I was a teenager, but my roots and heart will always remain in the Alleghany Mountains. I began dabbling with writing when I was younger. I mostly wrote poetry and songs, as I liked how you could turn words into something moving and compelling.  I became a young mother, and had a lot on my plate with two young boys and a daughter. Believe me, there was a lot to be said by me!

It wasn’t until later that I took writing a bit more seriously, and used it as a creative outlet. I started writing short stories, and started a novel.  The rest is history. I’m now a mother of four, with three teenagers and a six year old. Two of my teenagers attend Clarke High, and my 6 year old is in the first grade at Primary.  I love to write, read, and ride horses; and of course hang with my brood of four kids.

Balance is definitely a challenge sometimes, but what’s life without one!  I recently earned my Associates Degree in Education, and intend to pursue my Bachelors for Secondary Education in English.

Mrs. Mary E. Yowell of Boyce, Virginia has donated a WW II civilian air observers pin to the Clarke County Historical Association. CCHA asks if you have information on local aircraft observation volunteers?

I did not know, until this pin belonging to Mrs. Mary E. Yowell of Boyce was donated recently, that the same thing was instituted all over the US during World War II.

Does anyone have any information/stories/names/pictures of these local aircraft observation volunteers?  

Does anyone know where the observation shack was for Boyce, or anywhere else in Clarke?

They have been unsung far too long, and deserve some recognition.

Mary Morris,  Archivist
Clarke County Historical Association

I used to be a die-hard cat lover. Don’t get me wrong I still like cats but having a cat is like living with a teenager, a sullen teenager. Cats are fairly self-sufficient but ignore you most of the time unless they want something from you. With a cat, you can set out a large amount of food and water and take off for a few days and when you come back the cat will look at you like, “Oh, your back.” Or if it’s feeling particularly generous maybe rub against your leg. A dog is like a perpetual two-year-old. Try leaving a large amount of food for a dog and most would eat them selves into a coma the moment the door closed behind you. There’s also the need to be walked or at least let outside several times a day and being a pack animal they get lonely if left alone for long periods. Dogs, like children need rules, boundaries and limitations (thank you, Cesar Milan), and they also require constant vigilance. I have a friend that has a very large dog that will eat the butter off the counter if she turns her back on it for even a moment. Another friend has the invisible fence with the zap collar for his dog. The dog will stand at the point when the collar beeps and stay there until it kills the battery and then trot off to whereabouts unknown. I don’t allow my dogs on the furniture, mainly because they are not small dogs, yet every morning when I come down the stairs to make coffee I hear the unmistakable thump, thump of a dog getting down off of the couch and behold my old dog with a sheepish look on her face.

I know that my dogs are dependent on me for the necessities, i.e. food and shelter, but I in no way feel ‘above’ them just as I don’t feel ‘above’ children just because they are young. Animals and children have an innate wisdom and we would do well to remember this.

I’m going to share some of what I have learned from watching dogs…
When you enter the front door your dogs welcome you as if you’ve been gone for a week even if you just went to the mailbox and back.
Lesson 1~ Love joyfully.
Dogs will just stand outside with their eyes closed and their noses held high, sniffing the air with gusto.
Lesson 2~ Breathe deeply.
If I have just scolded my dog for eating a stink bug and then licking my arm they may slink away but there are no hard feelings, a minute later they are back by my leg for a pat on the head or a belly rub.
Lesson 3~ Forgive and forget.
Have you ever seen a dog nap during the day? They REALLY enjoy it, especially if they’re in a sunny spot.
Lesson 4~ Nap, because it feels good.
Every morning when I open the back door, my youngest dog always sprints the fifty yards to the back fence to catch the squirrel that ALWAYS springs out of reach at the last moment, but that doesn’t stop her from trying to get it again every single morning.
Lesson 5~ Just because you fail, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep trying.
Lastly is the dog belonging to friends of ours that was diagnosed with cancer a year ago. While she is given daily meds, you would never know that she was given six months to live. She runs like the wind, plays like a pup and just loves her life.
Lesson 6~ Live in the moment.

So, who would have thought that dogs could teach a person something about how to live a life to the fullest and be a better person?

In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn’t merely try to train him to be semi-human. The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog. ~Edward Hoagland

Several years ago Elva Buddenhagen, of Berryville, VA, the wife of Rev. Ralph Buddenhagen and pianist for Bluemont United Methodist Church (BUMC), had a dream.   Her dream was to create a music and worship event where people could come together, clap their hands, lift their arms up to the sky and sing praises to the Lord.   Elva was the instigator and catalyst of the first few hymn sings, before our Lord suddenly took her home.

Sunday night her dream continued.

Judy Anderson of BUMC has picked up where Elva left off.   With Judy’s guidance and meticulous attention to details, the bi-annual event (Spring and Fall) has grown into a multi-generation, multi-congregational, hand clapping, praise filled celebration of song and music.   What a joy it was to have all gather at the historic Bluemont United Methodist Church Sunday evening.   We sang, we clapped, we stood up, we sat down, we listened, we enjoyed, and we were filled with the Spirit.

It takes planning to assemble a successful event.   As the story goes, this how the planning started.   Judy was ‘just hanging around’ the new House of Light Christian Bookstore in downtown Berryville (there are no coincidences—mind you) and she just happened to meet Andrew Davis, the leader of the Audience of One, a praise band from Crum’s UMC church.   Curious, Judy went to hear them play at their weekly Saturday night worship service (every Saturday night @ 6 p.m.)   Judy wasted no time in extending an invitation for them to   come and be a part of the Spring Hymn sing.   They said YES!
One group booked.

Next she called upon Tammy Lanham of the Berryville Presbyterian Church.   She and her daughter Olivia had shared their talents with BUMC in the past, this time Tammy also brought along their Youth Bell Choir.

Now Judy had three.

From the Shenandoah Retreat, Judy invited back The Third Generation, The Largents:     Max, on guitar, Shelvy on electric guitar, and grandson Gavin, on banjo—maybe next time he will bring his dobro.   Locals like to remind him that he played on their stage before he became a Nashville star.   Tannis…you were missed.

That’s four.

Then from Pine Grove came Bluemont UMC, resident Lay Leader, musician and Christian song writer Mike Elsea.

Five!

The talent keeps coming—next on stage we have Robbie Thompson, the gifted musician who makes playing the organ looks so easy.   How well he multi-tasks on the organ, making beautiful music with focus on his feet, fingers, reading music and still managing to give the audience a smile.   What talent!         (I hear he gives piano lessons too).

Six.

And last but not least The Men for Christ, founded out of Bluemont UMC but now claims members from around the area including Berryville, Boyce, Bluemont, and   Pine Grove to name a few.   Not only to they perform in church hymn sings but they can be heard at the VA Hospital and at local nursing homes.
Seven.

The music? To list a few songs:   He Lives!; Leaning on the Everlasting Arms;   Victory in Jesus.     The Audience of One played “I’ll Fly Away” for the closing song.   Needless to say by then we were all on our feet, clapping our hands and joyously singing along with the band.
“I’ll fly away, oh glory, I’ll fly away/when I die, hallelujah, by and by, /I’ll fly away”
Booking complete, programs printed, spring evening cooperating, pack house, one woman’s dream carried on.

Thanks Elva.
Thanks Judy.