CONTRIBUTORS

Carmen is an NC Cooperative Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences. Making quick, easy, healthy food that tastes great on a budget is a challenge. Carmen and her husband have two grown children, both of whom were involved in sports from grade school thru college. With busy careers and lots of time at sporting events, coming up with quick, healthy meals was a necessity. Carmen shares ideas and recipes to make this tough job a bit easier.

Joanna is the County Extension Director for NC Cooperative Extension in Surry County as well as the Commercial and Consumer Horticulture Agent with expertise in entomology, gardening, and pesticide education. Joanna began her career with NC Cooperative Extension in Stokes County in 1995 as a 4-H Agent, later switching to Field Crops and Pesticide Education in Surry County. She lives on a farm with her husband and two teenage daughters.

Sheri grew up in Mt. Airy, NC, and lives thereabouts with her husband. Together they run a couple of small businesses and plan their next vacation. A graduate of High Point University, her first job was as a writer at a marketing firm—and she’s been scribbling ever since. Sheri has several suspense novels in publication and Surry Living was proud to include sequential excerpts from one of her books in each issue from spring 2018 thru early 2021.

Rynn is a writer and designer based in the Yadkin Valley region of North Carolina. She loves to share her ideas for adding simple beauty into hectic lifestyles. More than mere recipes, her mission is to offer practical shortcuts for food preparation along with visual tips for presentation. Rynn began her career in Aiken, SC, as a newspaper reporter writing feature articles about food, living, and the arts. For more about Rynn, even more recipes, decorating tips, and much more, visit thehouseofelynryn.com

Sarah grew up at Crooked Oak in the Pine Ridge community of Surry County. Raised in the agriculture world, she went on to earn degrees in animal science and veterinary medicine from North Carolina State University. She and her husband, Adam, currently live in Statesville with Oliver the house rabbit, a few cats, Blossom the donkey, and a flock of Katahdin hair sheep.

Larry is the Executive Editor of Surry Living Magazine and Creative Director at Vivid Graphics in Galax, VA. He has 30+ years experience as a writer, graphic designer, and commercial photographer. Larry and wife, Trina, have four wonderful, grown children, one awesome grandson (so far!), and they reside on a small farm just off the Blue Ridge Parkway in Grayson County, VA.

ARE YOU A GOOD LISTENER?

My Dad used to get so mad at me. “You only hear what you want to hear,” he’d bark. As a young boy, I had to honestly ask myself if he was right. Why did it seem that I didn’t always hear his instructions, his rules, and his do’s and don’ts? Honestly, not hearing (and not acting upon) what he said to me was detrimental to my good health. He could give a pretty mean whooping if he thought you were ignoring him or being downright rebellious. My siblings and my mom never seemed to have that problem, only me. What is wrong with me? I’d ask myself on the heels of yet another of his blow-ups.

Well, as it turned out, I was diagnosed with a hearing deformity when I was about nine or ten. It’s surprising how long it took, but my mom finally noticed that I couldn’t hear her if she spoke to me while she was cleaning out my right ear with a Q-tip. Puzzled, she made an appointment and off to the doctor’s office I went. Ultimately, we ended up “in the big city” children’s hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was there that I underwent multiple tests and it was determined that I had an inner-ear birth defect – I could not hear at all out of my left ear even though the outer ear was intact; one the internal ear mechanisms on my left side was simply not there and nothing could be done. If there was any type of consistent or repetitive sound on my right side, that sound activated my hearing to the degree that I could not hear anything else. Period.

by Larry VanHoose

friends discussing that the reason they liked me was that I was a good listener. They mentioned that I would look at them and really give them my undivided attention when they spoke. Little did they know, I had to!

To make a long story shorter, let me just say that what was considered a handicap, turned out to have a positive effect on my life and relationships. While I couldn’t be a firefighter, join the military or police (you have to be able to hear and locate the sources of sound), I did find that relationally and professionally I had an advantage over most young men my age. I had learned to listen and it was appreciated by those I came in contact with. Which brings me to my point. If you really want to hear someone, to know what is important or concerning to them, even to empathize and show love and care for them, then you have to learn to be “all ears.” It’s not a given! I realize that there can be extenuating circumstances for our lack of hearing, but don’t let NOT TRYING be one of them. Even the deaf and mute Helen Keller learned to communicate when someone cared enough to make the effort and find a way to listen to her! Helen went on to become an incredible author, disability rights advocate, political activist, and lecturer.

Let me encourage you. Stop and listen… to your spouse, your children, your friends, your family, your neighbors, and most

Mind blown! I had no idea I was half-deaf. After all, I was just a kid. I wasn’t a jerk ignoring people like some (including my dad) thought. I didn't hear things like other people did. Stereo sound – no idea what that sounds like. That also explained why I couldn’t tell the direction of sound or voices without turning my head and using “volume location method.” It wasn’t that I was a bad listener after all, I was just a bad “hear-er.” There was good news though. Because of my hearing challenges, I learned to look at people when they spoke to me. If I wanted to hear everything they said, I had to turn and look at them and really be “all ears.” I even learned to read lips to some degree, although I have been known to read them incorrectly to my embarrassment. So, the good news? Believe it or not, I ultimately became known by my friends and family as a “good listener.” I even overheard (no pun intended) several conversations from importantly, to God. As the saying goes regarding our heavenly Father, “He is not silent; we are not listening.” Be intentional and show your love to those whom he sends your way. Who knows, you might change someone’s life with the encouragement that results from seeing that someone cares enough about you to just listen and listen carefully. If nothing else, you’ll have learned to really hear who and what needs to be heard which can change your life.

“If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.” (Mark 4:23 NIV)

“For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them. But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.”

(Matthew 13:15-16 NIV)

Have you heard? Surry Living Magazine is for sale!

It's true — Surry Living magazine is for sale! After five plus years of pouring their hearts into this fun and rewarding adventure, several significant changes have occurred in the current owners' other professional endeavors. Because of these new demands on that ever-so-limited supply called time, the owners of SLM have had to make the difficult, even heartbreaking decision to put their "labor of love" on the market.

If you have interest in magazine publishing or maybe just thought of having an outlet for your own creative juices, this might be just the opportunity you have been dreaming about! For more information, contact co-owner Larry VanHoose at larry@surryliving.com or message him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SurryLiving.

At SLM, we look forward to helping the new owners to grow and flourish while hopefully continuing to bring this fun and inspiring regional lifestyle publication to the Surry County area for years to come!

by Joanna Radford