free!
Winter 2014
Sonny Randle:
Early NFL great retires, again ALSO Local parents teach children service outlook IN THIS Taming morning madness ISSUE Another “SPCA” Christmas www.valleyliving.org
When you you put put When money in our our kettle, When you put money in kettle, expect change. money in our kettle, expect change. expect change.
In Harrisonburg & Rockingham County, thanks to your In generosity, Harrisonburg & are Rockingham County, to your lives being changed. Forthanks the better. generosity, lives are being changed. For the better. Thank you for your continued giving at salvationarmy.org. In Harrisonburg Rockingham County, thanks to your Thank you for your&continued giving at salvationarmy.org. generosity, lives are being changed. For the better. Thank you for your continued giving at salvationarmy.org.
Doing the most good™ Doing the most good™ Doing the most good™
Ken Copeland Family Dentistry welcomes
Dr. Jessica Todd to our practice!
Sales Representative Needed Do you like to build relationships? Do you value setting your own schedule? In addition to flexibility, we offer a career where the better you are at your job, the more you will get paid.
New hours:
Monday and Friday: 8:30 am to 5 pm Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday: 7 am to 7 pm
Accepting new patients 590 Neff Avenue • Suite 100 • Harrisonburg 540-437-4090 2 living • Winter 2014
Media for Living, publisher of Valley Living magazine, seeks to hire a sales representative. As part of the sales team, you will sell print and online advertising and be responsible for developing advertising leads. Must be self-motivated with a desire to meet or exceed sales goals. Experience in publishing and sales a plus. Flexible schedule – set your own hours. For more information, visit valleyliving.org. Submit cover letter and resume to mediaforliving@gmail.com.
Media for Living
1251 Virginia Ave., Harrisonburg, VA 22802 (540) 433-5351 • mediaforliving@gmail.com www.valleyliving.org
Contents 4 Editorial 5 Community Connections 6 Virginia’s Sonny Randle 10 Local parents show children the value of service 13 Warm German Potato Salad 14 The key to contentment, no matter what 16
Another “SPCA” Christmas
18 Taming morning madness 20 The gift of touch
10
21 “I found Jesus!” 22
Accidental holiday
24 My last Santa Claus Christmas 26 Engaging kids in charitable giving
18
28 What a child can learn playing cards 30 Love, honor and trust him? 32 The best Christmas present ever 35
Word Search
30
In Every Issue
Community Connections pg. 5
Cooking Corner pg. 13
Money Matters pg. 14
Family Forum pg. 20
Living can be found at these locations, and more, throughout the Valley: Harrisonburg Christian Light Bookstore DQ Grill & Chill, Carlton St. DQ Grill Harmony Square Friendly City Food Co-op Fox’s Pizza Den Gift and Thrift Golden Corral
Hardesty Higgins Harrisonburg Farmer’s Market Kate’s Natural Products Massanutten Regional Library Mercy House Mr. J’s Harmony Square Red Front Supermarket RMH & RMH Health Clinic Rt. 11 North Exxon Salvation Army Store
Sharp Shopper Shenandoah Heritage Farmers Market Styles Unlimited
Crider’s Store Mac’s Superette Mayland Grocery Turner Ham
Bridgewater/Dayton Dayton Farmer’s Market Bridgewater Foods Supermarket
Elkton/Shenandoah Countryside Market/Exxon 340 Market & Deli/Liberty Elkton Grocery Mamma Mia Restaurant Rte. 340 Flea Market & Antiques
Broadway/Timberville Broadway Supermarket
Mt. Crawford Joy Foodmart Exxon
Penn Laird 7-Eleven On The Run
Mt. Solon/Augusta Co. Zach’s Country Store North River Country Store
Singer’s Glen Grandle’s Glenview Market
New Market Randy’s Hardware 7-Eleven
Weyers Cave Weyers Cave Super Save
On the cover: Dozens of readers responded to our Facebook poll of which cover to use on this issue of Living and the winner by far was the cover showing Sonny Randle with his red 88 jersey, even though many (women especially) loved the one showing Sonny with his wife Gail at the entrance to their home. Like our Facebook page, “Valley Living for the Whole Family” so you’ll stay up with all the things going on behind the scenes at Valley Living. PHOTO BY PINWHEEL COLLECTIVE, PINWHEELCOLLECTIVE.COM
Winter 2014 • living 3
Interconnected
Finding balance as a player or a fan
Our cover story for this issue is a nod to a sport I have come to love, even though I am not in love with all that is professional football: the money; the behind-the-scenes hijinks; the domestic abuse masquerading as machismo; the high school locker room initiation rites that have spiraled to hazing, and much more. But many of the same issues affecting football also affect other professionals, whether pastors, teachers, doctors, psychiatrists, CEOs, governors, heads of state. There are scoundrels and scandals in every line of work, every country of the world, every family. In my own family, two of our daughters are more rabid football fans than their father at this stage in life. They were cast under its magic spell sometime between Dad’s frequent Sunday afternoon jubilant “go-go-go-goTOUCHDOWN!” enthusiasm—and when they themselves became players on the field. Daughters on the football field? Sure, musical players in marching band: great experiences that formed their lives from adolescence and right on through college (one in marching band at college level). Regarding the actual game, today two of them understand it far better than I: the positions, the strategies, the players, the statistics, the subtleties—and “manage” their own fantasy football teams. An additional downside for TV fans of the game is that many family quarrels unfortunately take place during this most special time of year: great feasts at Thanksgiving and Christmas that too often must be hurried because some in the family don’t want to miss opening kickoff. I have enjoyed watching a finely tuned football player’s graceful movements, which have been compared to that of a ballet dancer. Indeed some players study ballet to strengthen and perfect their flexibility, balance, body control and timing. If you have ever watched a great receiver leap into the air, twisting his body to cradle an impossible catch, perhaps adding a smooth somersault on the landing, you know what I mean. Often there comes a crunch and a crack, which our cover star, Sonny Randle, a valley resident, had his share of—a price he is paying now. He does not regret his 10 years playing the professional game, and it must be said, in a much earlier era. As a sports broadcaster/commentator for many years, his voice may be more familiar than his face. I have had the opportunity to see him almost weekly when he comes to our office to record his “Sports Minute” at Alive Recording Studios in the same building. He plans to retire from that enterprise at the end of this year. I hope you enjoy sitting down with him to find out more about his family and his life. Like anything else, we need to keep sports in perspective and not let it take over family life, whether as spectator or participant. Taking part in team sports offers exercise, teamwork, camaraderie, and of course learning about winning and losing. If we have two or more children, involvement in even just one sport per season with practices and games, can be a huge challenge to balance school work, family and church life. Being a fan or parent gives us opportunity to practice good sportsmanship, patience and perspective. I always recall what one guy told me about following a college or professional team: “It is fun to care deeply about something that ultimately matters so little in terms of my own daily life.” In this special holiday season, football games on TV are very much a part of family life, but don’t let good natured rivalries and kidding become putdowns, ugliness or hurt feelings. After too many hours of sitting in front of a screen, don’t forget the beauty of getting out and moving your own muscles in a friendly game of pick up soccer, basketball, tennis, racquetball, tag football or a brisk walk.
Melodie Davis, editor
4 living • Winter 2014
Volume 23 No. 4
Valley Living inspires hope, encourages faith and builds positive relationships in the home, workplace and community. Media for Living, Publisher Melodie Davis, Editor Paul A Yoder, Sales Representative Raymond Ressler, Sales Representative Mary Jo Veurink, Layout & Design Lindsey Shantz, Production & Finance Manager
Advertising
To reserve space in future editions (540) 433-5351 or mediaforliving@gmail.com
Media for Living Board of Directors Trisha Blosser, President David Rohrer, Vice President William J. “Bill” Troyer, Treasurer Tracey Veney, Secretary Jonas Borntrager Ben Roth Shank Steven C. “Dusty” Rhodes Ramona Sanders Jessica Hostetler David Slykhuis Opinions expressed in Valley Living are not necessarily those of Media for Living. Published cooperatively with Media for Living, a non-profit corporation, 1251 Virginia Ave., Harrisonburg, VA 22802 (540) 433-5351 • mediaforliving@gmail.com www.valleyliving.org Printed in the USA by Engle Printing, Mount Joy, Pa. © 2014 by Media for Living
Community Connections
“
Letters, local events, news
”
Good stories, love the photo of my great niece on the cover! – Patricia Wichael, Mt. Solon “In response to the article, ‘Grandma’s Calendar,’ I felt that the greatest gift you can give is yourself. You will never regret the time you spend with someone. Don’t be too busy or wrapped up in things of this world that you can’t visit your kin or any lonely person. You never know when they’ll be gone and you could make a big difference in their life.” – Janice Jones, Shenandoah
“Thank you for your word search ‘refresher course’ on the skeleton. As a registered nurse for almost a half century (now retired) it was fun to find the bones in the puzzle. Unfortunately, I had forgotten several of them until now. I do so enjoy Valley Living.” – Norma Bowman, Harrisonburg
Book published about John Keener
Book signing and Santa
“Rocktown Food” is a new coffee table book about all things food in Downtown Harrisonburg, “Virginia’s First Culinary District,” with stories, photos, recipes and more, published by Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance. A book signing will be at the Hardesty Higgins House Dec. 12 from 6-8 p.m., where photos with Santa and hot chocolate will also be available.
Museum features quilts made by men
The Virginia Quilt Museum continues its “Men Who Quilt” exhibit through December 20 at the Warren-Sipe house, 301 S. Main Street, Harrisonburg. The exhibit includes contemporary and antique quilts made by Civil War era soldiers and young men today, and has several entries by locals. A 12-year-old from Blacksburg, Caleb Battaglia, is the youngest exhibitor in the collection. Visitors can also see a retrospective of quilts by Anne Oliver
who chose designs for quilts from everyday life, and “Quilts for Presidents,” a collection of quilts made for past presidents of the state’s quilt guild. For further information call (540) 433-3818 or see www. vaquiltmuseum.org. Twelve-yearold Caleb Battaglia, Blacksburg, made a quilt for the “Men Who Quilt” exhibit. PHOTO PROVIDED
Winner of “Mennonite Girls Can Cook Celebrations” cookbook
Amy Ours’ name of Broadway was chosen as the lucky winner of the “Mennonite Girls Can Cook Celebrations” cookbook from last issue of Valley Living. (Requirements were to print the word search puzzle from the www.valleyliving.org website, complete, and send it in.) Valley Living’s business manager, Lindsey Shantz’ children, Clay and Hope, drew the lucky winner when they were in the office recently for a school holiday. Congratulations!
Dorothy Ann Keener, Weyers Cave, a frequent Living puzzle participant, reported that a book has been written about her son John Keener, including his involvement in the special worship services organized by Dave Gullman, pastor for Pleasant View, Inc., the local organization supporting people with disabilities. Gullman was featured in a Living article a few years ago. Titled “Life with John,” the book was written by Dorothy’s sister Doris Shenk, who died this past January 2014. “Doris was John’s aunt and second mother,” says Dorothy. “She adored him, and conReaders sent in 243 completed puzzles with tributed so much to his development.” votes for their favorite articles from the Fall 2014 The book was published just before issue of Valley Living. The top five articles included Christmas 2013. “The doctor said “Grandma’s Calendar” – 72; “The Child Who she ‘put off’ dying until she knew Changed My Teaching Career” – 58; “Simple Life” her book was done,” added Dorothy. – 45; “My Daughter the Policewoman” – 39 “My “Life with John” can be found at the Life In Four Seasons” – 23. Next in line was “How store on Main St. at Virginia Mento Help When Your Spouse Has Breast Cancer,” – nonite Retirement Community and at 21, with several women who noted they are breast Country Corner in the Shenandoah cancer survivors. Heritage Market.
Word Search Notes
Responses from readers
Slykhuis receives research grant Dr. David Slykhuis, associate professor of science education at James Madison University and a member of the Media for Living Board, has been granted a 2014 Emeriti Association Legacy Grant for research focusing on the intersection of technology and students in teaching at the middle and high school level.
Winter 2014 • living 5
Virginia’s Sonny Randle:
Early NFL great retires, again by MELODIE DAVIS
“Hiiiii, I’m Sonny Randle!” is the trademark opening radio line Sonny says in his sing- songy rural Virginia twang. He goes up high on the “I’m” that is easy to recognize, hard to imitate. A lot of NFL professional football players in the 1960s would have loved to imitate his ability as a wide receiver to fly down the field to catch yet another touchdown pass. What was his secret?
6 living • Winter 2014
Sonny keeps it simple, quipping, “I ran real fast, and if guys were chasing me, I ran even faster.” For a number of years, playing for the Chicago/St. Louis Cardinals (1959-1966), the four-time Pro-Bowl player held the NFL record for most touch down passes in a season. That record was eventually broken by Jerry Rice, who is now considered the greatest wide receiver of all time. In Sonny’s second year with St. Louis, he hauled down 62 passes, gaining 895 yards and scoring 15 touchdowns. As a college athlete at the University of Virginia, Randle competed in football, basketball and track. He attended Fork Union Military Academy for all of his elementary and high school years, at one point clocking a 9.6 second 100-yard dash. Now living between Verona and Staunton, Sonny (real name, Ulmo Shannon) is set to retire at the end of December from his also noteworthy broadcasting career. He began broadcasting in the 1960s while playing for the Cardinals, the first such player/radio broadcaster in the NFL. In fact, his wife Gail adds, “On air he reported his own departure from St. Louis to go to San Francisco.” After playing for the 49ers two years, he played a final year for the Dallas Cowboys with Tom Landry coaching, a savored opportunity. “He was just a great coach,” Sonny summarizes. After Dallas he was traded to the Washington Redskins but was injured in a preseason game and retired after that year on injured reserve. Every weekday morning Sonny still gets up at 5 to prepare his daily live radio “Sports Update” at 7:55 a.m. for WKDWAM (900) Staunton and WCYK-FM (99.7) Charlottesville on “anything and everything in the world of sports,” according to Sonny. Once a week, he also records his “Sports Minute” radio broadcasts at Robby Meadows’ Alive Recording Studio in Harrisonburg, sent to about 25 stations. After playing in the NFL for ten years, Sonny also coached for 13, including stints at UVA, East Carolina, Marshall and two years at Massanutten Military Academy. By far the worst and most poignant memory was the day he coached his East Carolina team as they beat the visiting Marshall “Thundering Herd” from West Virginia. In traditional fashion, his team shook the hands of the visitors as they departed, and then were stunned, along with the nation, when 37 members of the team, eight coaching staff, 25 boosters and five flight crew perished in the plane crash on the way home. Sonny was offered a cameo appearance in the movie made from the tragedy, “We Are Marshall,” but he turned it down feeling the memories of the trauma would be too emotional. Sonny grew up on a horse farm with one brother near Culpepper where his father was much involved with all that is horses. As Sonny began his academic life at Fork Union, he lived with a guardian family, who became his substitute parents, who were loyal followers as he played through college
and the pro years. Sonny’s wife of five years, Gail, who recently retired from a cardiology office in Charlottesville as a nurse, notes that in all his years around a football field, Sonny never once sat in the stands as a regular fan, either college or pro. He was either playing or doing color commentary in the press box. What was life like in pro football? He and first wife had four children, two sons and two daughters. Sonny recalled the traveling in private planes to games, and arriving back home where “his daughters would come out and hug him and his boys would throw rocks,” Sonny said, jesting. He also recalled one year in St. Louis when they had a terrible record at home,
“I ran real fast, and if guys were chasing me, I ran even faster.” and wins on the road. “We joked that we needed to go up and fly around St. Louis several times [like we were going somewhere] before a game, so maybe we’d win.” On a personal level, Sonny felt “really happy after a game if I played well, and when I played poorly, I wasn’t happy. You carry it with you.” Sonny’s work in football and sports broadcasting was recognized in 1991 as he was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. Not only was he a well rounded athlete in football, basketball and track, he coached baseball players in sprinting to steal bases, perhaps most notably St. Louis Cardinal base-stealing pro Lou Brock. But out of his remarkable career, Sonny most savors the years spent playing football, even though as with most pro football players, he’s paying the price in his body. While he played varsity basketball beginning with 9th grade, Continued on next page.
(At left) In the “hall of fame” entranceway to the Randle home, Sonny points out a photo he cherishes of himself with several legendary football players: (left to right) Johnny Unitas, Sam Huff, (Sonny Randle), and Bobbie Mitchell. (At right) The Randles pose in their dining room with an oil painting of Sonny as St. Louis’ #88, which hung at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. ©PINWHEEL COLLECTIVE
Winter 2014 • living 7
Continued from previous page.
and competed in track at Fork Union, his guardian and athletic director there wouldn’t let Sonny play football until his senior year because they were afraid he’d get hurt. Which of course he did, breaking his collar bone. But eventually he earned an athletic grant-in-aid as a walk on at UVA. Sonny became more of a threat in his junior year as they changed their offense to include more passing as they saw Sonny’s prowess in receiving. Still, there was a price to pay for the fun and glory. “Ten, 20 years down the road, you will have repercussions in your body,” he says without spite. So many hard driving passes smashing into his hands and arms gave him scar tissue, according to Sonny’s doctors. He has severe stenosis of the spine and arthritic knees. At one point he went to a neurosurgeon who had only seen a MRI of his back. The neurosurgeon said he fully expected his patient would be in a wheelchair. Sonny has had surgery for carpal tunnel and has neuropathy from his elbow to his hand, wearing special gloves to help the pain. But Sonny said his NFL insurance has been very adequate since he played for them for more than five years.
Sonny and his wife credit regular exercise with keeping him mobile at 78; he walks and sometimes jogs the track at nearby Robert E. Lee High School. No 9.6 second dash of course, and some days he’s doing well to take three passes around the track with feet that appear to “barely lift off the ground,” according to one reporter in the Staunton News Leader. Sonny counts himself lucky to be as healthy as he is, crediting an overall healthy lifestyle. “I don’t drink and I never smoked a cigarette,” he notes. He lives near a golf course and enjoys putting there—and around town. If he happens to speak to a random customer in a convenience store, they frequently recognize his distinctive voice. So sometime around the end of the year, Sonny will sign off with his well worn radio line, “Until our next visit ... this is ... Sonny Randle sayin’ — [long pause] — sooo long ev-ry buddy.” MELODIE DAVIS, national editor of Living, is the mother of three young adult daughters, and lives with her husband near Harrisonburg, VA. She also blogs at www.FindingHarmonyBlog.com.
Family Christmas Getaway, Church Retreat, Men’s/Women’s Groups, Youth Retreat Highland provides welcoming facilities, outdoor settings, and engaging experiences designed to revitalize the spirit and strengthen bonds of Christian community.
Now is a great time to schedule a meaningful winter or spring retreat for your group.
Red Oak Lodge
for groups of 18-60 people • Two wings of bunk style lodging and a suite for special guests • Two spacious meeting rooms with equipped kitchens and a separate game room
Mountain View Retreat Center
for 2-60 people • 14 motel style rooms with a queen, bunk, and private bath • A large and small meeting room each with an equipped kitchen
For more information and availability visit www.highlandretreat.org or contact us at 540-705-0554.
Toll Free 800-366-3846
8 living • Winter 2014
Give books for Christmas. Storybooks for all ages. Financing Country Living Since 1916
Visit our bookstore near the corner of Chicago Avenue and Mt. Clinton Pike. Open from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM Monday–Friday.
The Experts in Rural Finance Homes • Land • Construction • Livestock Barns • Outbuildings • Equipment
Call 540-434-0768 for a free catalog.
Christian Light Publications
1064 Chicago Avenue, Harrisonburg, VA
540-434-0768
You are warmly invited to...
Grace Mennonite Fellowship
NMLS# 456965
800-919-FARM FarmCreditofVirginias.com
ADVENTURES IN TRAVEL
Pastors Richard K. Early & Mark L. Landis Youth Pastor Brad Kolb gracemennonite@comcast.net • www.gracemennonite.net February 21 - March 3, 2015
Two Worship Services Each Sunday: Service 1 @ 8:30 a.m. Sunday School @ 10 a.m. Service 2 @ 11 a.m.
Christmas Eve Service Wed., Dec. 24
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8 209 Lacey Spring Road Harrisonburg, VA 22802
(540) 442-6235
“Ethiopia - Exploring the Biblical and Cultural Places”
Addis Ababa, Bahir Dar, Gondar, Axum, Lalibela, Great Rift Valley, Meserete Kristos Church & College
March 3-8,Optional Kenya Safari Nairobi, Maasai Mara Game Reserve, Maasai Village, Lake Nakuru, Rosalyn Academy
April 27 - May 8, 2015
“Anabaptist Heritage Tour”
with Myron & Esther Augsburger
The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, Anabaptist Cave, Zurich, Strasbourg, Bern, and much more
May 18-21, 2015
“Changing Tides”
Tour Retreat out of Williamsburg Christian Retreat Center “Spirit of Norfolk” Lunch Cruise, Norfolk Botanical Garden, Maritime Museum, Crab Shack, Shirley Plantation, Richmond
October 7-24, 2015
“Imperial China” with Myrrl Byler,
Director of Mennonite Partners in China Beijing, Great Wall, Forbidden City, Xian, Sichuan Province, Chengdu, Yangtze River Cruise, Three Gorges Dam, Shanghai
For More Information contact Ed & Edie Bontrager 540-438-8304 ~ Harrisonburg, VA www.travelventuretours.com ~ eebontrager@comcast.net Winter 2014 • living 9
Local parents show children the value of service by LAUREE STROUD PURCELL
T
o complement another article in this issue encouraging parents to engage children in charitable giving, this is a story about two local families who reach out to others on a daily basis and involve their children every step of the way. DeAnne Chenoweth and Joe Hinshaw are raising two daughters, now in 4th and 6th grades. Pete and Liz DeSmits’ children are in graduate school, but they have many happy memories of working with their kids in community activities.
Zach DeSmit paints the walls of Bridgewater’s Harrison Park bathroom as part of a full refurbishment project to earn his Eagle Scout Badge. Harrison Park is home to the fire department’s lawn party each July. PHOTO BY PETE DESMIT
DeAnne Chenoweth, who teaches in the history and political studies department at Eastern Mennonite University, remembers how often her own parents took care of others while sacrificing some of their money and time. DeAnne served as PTA President at Keister Elementary several years ago and volunteered many hours each week helping the teachers there. But she prefers to involve the whole family rather than making it “mom’s volunteer work.” Her husband Joe Hinshaw, who is professor of media arts and design at James Madison University, supports her efforts 10 living • Winter 2014
and helps out when he can. Now that their daughters Bethany and Carolyn are 11 and 9, DeAnne and Joe include them in most of their service work. They want their girls to see how good it feels to help others. Trinity Presbyterian Church, where they are active members, provides the structure for much of their community outreach work. Members of Trinity include their children in mission projects and other aspects of their church life. The congregation divides into house churches with each small group choosing a mission focus. Since DeAnne and Joe’s house church is focusing on food needs, it is feeding twenty low-income children each weekend through the Keister Elementary School backpack lunch program. Members of the house church also gather in Trinity’s kitchen to occasionally prepare a large meal for the Harrisonburg Free Clinic, the Open Doors Homeless Shelter and the Presbyterian campus ministry. Keister’s backpack lunch program supplies weekend food for low-income children who often have to fend for themselves food wise on weekends. Their parents have trouble making money stretch for housing, medical and food needs. These children need healthy foods they can eat without much preparation. All the food must fit into the backpacks and be light enough for the children to carry. DeAnne and her daughters collect the backpacks from Keister and return them full of food each Friday morning so the kids can take them home. Other members of Trinity take turns buying food, sorting it and packing the backpacks. Children easily help by following charts that show how many of each type item goes in the bag. Carolyn likes being involved in helping her fellow students. She has learned to practice discretion to keep the identity of the children confidential. Preparing a casserole might be easier for an adult to just do it at home, but DeAnne and Joe’s house church prefers to meet at Trinity’s kitchen to help their children prepare the big meals. It gives the children time to cooperate on a project, and allows the adults, mostly moms, to enjoy being together, too. The kids had fun in recent months making enchiladas with Spanish rice for one meal and turkey tetrazzini for another. After a recent funeral at Trinity, both Carolyn and Bethany served punch and helped clean up. DeAnne tries to keep a balance between meeting her family’s needs, getting all her work done for her part-time teaching jobs, taking care of herself and letting Christ use her family for service work. She knows Joe must make his work his first priority
to support everything else they do. Both Bethany and Carolyn are involved in travel soccer, and Bethany runs cross-country. Despite the hectic schedule, DeAnne and Joe want their kids to remember they already “won the lottery” by being born in a country where their needs can be met more easily. Many children grow up being far less fortunate. “It is our privilege to help those who haven’t had as many chances in life as we have. I want to give out of thanksgiving for the abundance in our lives,” says DeAnne. Joe’s main volunteer focus is being in charge of the audiovisual equipment and systems at church. Joe set up a computer lab for Trinity so technology can be used for religious education efforts, especially with the children. DeAnne uses that lab when teaching Sunday school. In the fellowship hall, Joe voluntarily installed speakers, sound system, television, media cart and all the connections. On special occasions when Trinity’s sanctuary overflows, Joe’s video hook-up now makes it possible for more people to enjoy the service from the fellowship hall. He also installed a television in the Sanctuary for use during all events held there. Joe trained Carolyn and Bethany to use the equipment so they can also help out in this way at church. This past May, Trinity’s former pastor, Reverend Dr. Ann Reed Held retired from her 36 year career in ministry. At the end of a service to honor Ann, 3rd grader Carolyn scooted out of the room before the others to start a slide show so that everyone in attendance could watch it. She turned on the television, inserted her pen drive containing the pictures and used the menus to start the photos. Peter Alan DeSmit, who now works full-time in information technology at JMU, was part of a family of 11 while growing up in a three-bedroom home. He didn’t always have enough to eat and had to wear hand-me-down clothes that didn’t fit right. In high school, he would go without the free lunches at school to avoid feeling ashamed. Due to that early experience, Pete empathizes with those who have very little and does whatever he can to help them. He and his wife Liz feel strongly they should never waste the valuable blessings of time, talent and treasure, so they have tried to model their life to show their children the kind of people they hope they’ll become. “Don’t tell me what’s important to you. Show me where you spend your time and treasure,” says Pete. From the time Megan and Zach were very little, Pete and Liz involved their children in the many community outreach projects that fill their “free time.” Megan, now 23, is working on a master of nurse leader-
DeAnne Chenoweth guides her daughters, Carolyn and Bethany, in filling backpacks with food for the Keister Backpack Lunch Program which feeds low-income children on the weekends. PHOTO BY LAUREE PURCELL
ship degree at University of Virginia. Zach, 22, is at Virginia Tech starting a PhD in industrial and systems engineering. Pete has many memories of working with his kids to help others. From the age of 2, Zach wore a yellow smock while selling Tootsie Rolls to help raise money for the Knights of Columbus, a fraternal organization for the Catholic Church. That organization supports Camp Still Meadows Enrichment Center near Linville, as well as the Harrisonburg Pregnancy Center. He and Megan rang the Salvation Army bell for their Christmas kettle fund drive, and served dinner on Wednesday nights at the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church soup kitchen. Pete taught them as small children to eat and converse with the people they were serving. With Pete’s guidance, both children assisted in building a Habitat for Humanity house in 2000. When the children became competitive swimmers, Pete helped their teams organize food drives. Megan continued that tradition with her swim team at Mary Washington University. Zach went with Pete on mission trips to Wise County, Va., to help with the rural poverty there. As a result, Zach has led several alternative spring breaks to Continued on next page.
Christine’s
The intricate scroll designs in this fine sterling silver collection are a tribute to the skilled blacksmiths who wrought beauty from the iron in their forges.
The intricate scroll designs in this fine sterling silver collection are a tribute to the skilled blacksmiths who wrought beauty from the iron in their forges.
The Hardware Store For Women
The intricate scroll designs in this fine sterling silver collection are a tribute to the skilled blacksmiths who wrought beauty from the iron in their forges.
48 South Carlton St Harrisonburg, VA 22801 540-432-6841 www.christinejewels.com
20% off in stock
Southern Gates with this ad Winter 2014 • living 11
Continued from previous page.
Take a News Break 90.7FM WMRA App · wmra.org
Enjoy Classical 24
WEMC 91.7FM
WEMC App · wemcradio.org
build porches, wheelchair ramps, and other needed projects through the Newman Community at Virginia Tech. While Zach was active in Boy Scouts, Pete often spoke to the boys about service and coordinated an annual barbecue to raise funds. He also managed a program called Scouting for Food where Scouts collect food from area residents, sort it, and deliver it to area food banks. When Zach wanted to become an Eagle Scout, Pete helped him earn his badge as they refurbished the bathrooms of Harrison Park in Bridgewater, Va. Harrison Park is home to the Bridgewater Fire Department’s lawn party during the third week in July each summer. With Pete’s help, Zach fixed the bathrooms’ roof, pressure washed the building, painted it inside and out and repaired all the wooden structures. Pete showed his children how to “glean” from area businesses that have excess food. Many gladly donate the excess if someone will simply transport it to area soup kitchens. The Volunteer Farm in Woodstock has been of particular interest to Pete over the years, and he involved his children in many days of working the 35 acres there to help provide fresh food for the Shenandoah Valley’s needy. They also worked with him regularly in Blessed Sacrament’s food pantry and shared their family time with children matched to Pete and Liz through the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program. Liz, who works full-time in sales for Jenzabar, has always been active in religious education at Blessed Sacrament. She currently teaches third grade Sunday school. Pete appreciates how supportive and helpful she has been of his volunteer efforts. Together, they try not to waste any of their spiritual, emotional and physical energy. Pete says, “You can’t out-give God, but you can have fun trying.” LAUREE STROUD PURCELL serves as an editorial consultant for Living. She and her husband Steve have two daughters.
Quality Vehicles
Reasonable Prices
Swope Auto Sales, L.C. 3986 Linville Edom Road Linville, VA 22834 Edwin Swope 540-833-5212
On Route 721 1/2 mile East of Rt. 42
RYAN J. ROBERTS REALTOR Everyone needs a professional they can trust! Experienced • Trustworthy • Dependable
Working for your best interests! Specializing in first-time homebuying.
(540) 434-2400 office • (540) 908-8208 cell ryan@FunkhouserGroup.com • RyanRobertsworks4U.com
12 living • Winter 2014
Cooking Corner
Recipes and tips for cooking at home ©THY HAND HATH PROVIDED
Warm German Potato Salad When most people think of potato salad, they think of summer picnics and I do, too. But right on the heels of picnic memories is my grandmother’s (and mother’s) warm German potato salad—studded with bacon and laced with vinegar (no mayonnaise in this one). It’s served as a comforting side dish providing yet another tasty way to serve potatoes to your family. My mouth starts to water just thinking about it! The recipe is from my mother and serves four. 1. Wash potatoes and place them, covered in water, in a cooking pot and bring to a boil. Simmer until tender. Drain and set aside. 2. Once cool enough to handle, peel and slice the potatoes to 1/4-inch thick slices and set aside. 3. Fry bacon slices slowly. Once cooked, lift them from the pan and drain them on a paper towel, leaving the bacon fat in the pan. Crumble once cooled. 4. Sauté the onion in the bacon fat until golden brown. 5. In a small bowl, combine the water and vinegar and set aside. 6. In another small bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, pepper and celery seeds. Sprinkle the flour mixture over the onions and pour the vinegar mixture into the pan as well. 7. Cook, stirring, until smooth and bubbly. Bring it to a boil, and boil 1 minute or until thick. Carefully stir in crumbled bacon and potatoes. Heat through for 5 minutes and serve.
6 medium potatoes 6 slices of bacon 3/4 cup onion, chopped 3 tbsp. flour 2 tbsp. sugar 1 1/2 tsp. salt 1 tsp. celery seeds 1/4 tsp. pepper 1 cup water 3/4 cup vinegar From the blog Thy Hand Hath Provided, written by “Jane”. This recipe and many others can be found in Jane’s cookbook by the same name. Find ordering information on her website at www. thyhandhathprovided.com/p/the-cookbook.html.
Shenandoah Paint & Decorating Center
I
f you’re interested in knowing your next home better before you purchase it, then having a pre-purchase home inspection is what you want. From the top to the bottom and inside and out Shenandoah Home Inspection Service will help make your next home purchase a more knowledgeable experience. Each client will receive a combination checklist and written inspection report on the condition of each home when it was inspected. Water Testing and Septic Inspections also available. —Insured—
Shenandoah Home Inspection Service 1911 Smithland Road, Harrisonburg, VA 22802 (540) 433-9844 • 1-888-594-6555
Benjamin Moore Paints • Devoe Coatings Davis Roof Paints • Cabot Stains Hunter Douglas Window Treatments 282 Neff Avenue, Harrisonburg, VA 22801
540-434-5457
Ask about the current rebates offered by Hunter Douglas on select window treatments. Winter 2014 • living 13
Money Matters
Guidance on family finances
The key to contentment, no matter what by KEN GONYER
14 living • Winter 2014
©THINKSTOCK
A
few summers ago, our family stayed for several days at the posh and elegant Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center on the National Harbor near Washington, DC. We were guests there because it was the location of that year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee, in which our son was a contestant. The place dazzled us. The resort has 2000 luxurious rooms, a 19-story glass atrium overlooking the Potomac River, a junior-Olympic indoor pool and lush indoor gardens. The atrium even has a “performing” water fountain that synchronizes lights, music and 50-foot jets of water to create a memorable show each night. As thrilled as our family was to be there, I felt uncomfortable and out of place as soon as we arrived. As we pulled our old minivan under the vast, arched concrete canopy at the hotel’s entrance, I realized that every other vehicle in sight was shiny, new and expensive. Suddenly, I didn’t want the smartly dressed valets, bellhops and doormen to approach my dusty and slightly-dented family van. I was so intent on avoiding them that I dropped off the family, drove out to a satellite parking lot and carried our bags across the property myself. I looked like a pack mule. Karen didn’t understand my actions, and I couldn’t explain myself right away. It took me a few minutes to figure out what had made me feel so unwelcome. It certainly wasn’t the hotel staff or the other Spelling Bee Comparing ourselves to others can be a sure route to dissatisfaction. attendees. They were warm and friendly. What made me flee the hotel entry was a feeling of shame that washed over me as I compared my vehicle to everyone else’s. Theodore Roosevelt is credited with saying that “comparison is the thief of joy.” That saying held true for me at the Gaylord. For years, we’d happily driven older cars with higher mileage, preferring to wear vehicles out rather than have a car payment. I’d felt good about my financial choices and had no qualms about what I drove. On that day at the National Harbor, however, my contentment disappeared. In comparison to the other Spelling Bee families, we looked like impoverished bumpkins. I thought of this situation recently when a friend wanted to tour the new house we have under construction. We’ve had fun stopping in every few days to watch the building progress, but I felt a sense of dread as I awaited our friend’s visit. Our visitor had built a very nice home not long before, and I feared what he would say when he saw our future home. In comparison to his place, ours will be small and simple, with few extra amenities.
with that of others, and that’s gratitude. To avoid the depressing emptiness of feeling “less than,” we can stop and think about all that we have and are. There is so much for which we can be thankful—from health and relationships to food and a warm place to sleep. Gratitude leads to contentment. I agree with Christian speaker and teacher Joyce Meyer, who says that “there is no happier person than a truly thankful, content person.” By the way—about that friend who visited our half-built house…my fears were unfounded. Every comment he shared was a compliment, to which we replied with a hearty “thank you!” I was grateful for his encouragement and felt even more content with the place we’ll soon call home. No matter what our circumstances, we’ll be more content and experience more joy if we stop comparing ourselves and our stuff with other people and their stuff. Instead, we’ll try to cultivate a grateful attitude that keeps our family’s focus on the blessings we enjoy. From our family to yours—have a happy, joyful, thankful and contented new year! KEN GONYER is Director of Member Care at Park View Federal Credit Union (www.pvfcu.org) in Harrisonburg, Va. KAREN GONYER is a real estate agent with KlineMay Realty in Harrisonburg, Va. Email questions to ken.gonyer@pvfcu.org.
turner pavilion, south liberty street
www.harrisonburgfarmersmarket.com
Holiday Market Hours
First 3 Sat. in Dec. - 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Winter Market Hours
Every Sat. Jan. - Mar. - 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. EBT & credit/debit cards welcome!
NEAR or FAR
we’re happy to serve you! ers live in mb
me
Once again, comparison was the thief of joy and the enemy of contentment. I’d been excited about our house until I compared it with his! As I realized what I was feeling, I also recognized the impulse that was rising up within me: to spend more money on stuff that would impress people. I could think of several other times I’d felt that impulse. On a recent visit to the Congressional offices in Washington, D.C., I’d worn business attire that was clean, neat, pressed and coordinated. I was feeling fine about myself until I looked around at the others walking the halls with me. In comparison to the lobbyists, legislators and aides, I felt almost sloppy. No doubt about it—I needed to buy a new suit! What’s behind the intense desire to spend money on something we don’t need in order to impress people we don’t even know? It’s insidious, irrational and very, very powerful. And it all seems to begin with comparing ourselves with others. A family friend with many children told me that his kids used to be happy at Christmas to get one carefully selected book, one high-quality toy and one nice item of clothing. With their big family, that arrangement was the best way to stretch their gift budget. Unfortunately, the contentment faded after they compared notes with other children in the neighborhood. The words of one neighbor boy were particularly discouraging. “Man,” he said, “you’re Christmas stunk, didn’t it? You should see what I got this year…” It was a stark comparison that left our friend’s kids feeling embarrassed. The gifts that they’d found so pleasing no longer felt like “enough.” I can only think of one antidote to the poison that often sickens our hearts when we compare ourselves and our situations
46 30 states
countries
540.434.6444 | www.pvfcu.org
Winter 2014 • living 15
Another “SPCA” Christmas by NANCY HOAG
M
y husband’s work had frequently relocated us from one state to another, which meant we’d spent many holidays alone, and this one would be no exception. We couldn’t afford the two round-trip flights to be with family, and the hundreds of miles between us meant we wouldn’t be driving. So, just as we had in years past, Scotty and I decided to ask around about other couples, families and even singles who might enjoy Christmas in our home. We began by inviting a man we’d met in our square dancing class. Recently divorced, he not only lived alone but battled alcohol addiction. Next, we invited a couple with an infant and toddler who recently relocated to the Southwest from Alaska, and within minutes they were telling us they had been, for some time, seriously homesick. Then Scotty mentioned a colleague, his wife, and five children would be spending Christmas separated from extended family; retired neighbors would be alone; and a financially-strapped and discouraged couple with two small boys. Meanwhile, I’d been introduced to a widow who was planning to eat her dinner alone in a Chinese cafe—so two days before Christmas; we discovered 30 of us would be celebrating together. ©THINKSTOCK
Eleven of those thirty would be children. “We’ll empty the back bedroom and set it up for the kids,” I said. “Then I’ll invite the mothers to bring the new toys, because in that one room with everything removed, we’ll have plenty of space.” Meanwhile, with my husband’s help, I decorated our tree with Lifesavers®, animal crackers and lollipops in every color of Christmas. I also invited each guest to bring a favorite dish and within a matter of hours they’d all called to say they’d be sharing their “back home” traditions. This was shaping up to be even more than the Very Merry Christmas we’d anticipated. That is, until our teenager flew through the door shrieking, “I’m so sick of people!” And then—before we could tell Lisa about our wonderful plans—she dropped her coat, spotted the platters and hooted, “Don’t tell me we’re having another ‘SPCA’ Christmas!” I wouldn’t have put it that way but yes, we’d invited several friends and a couple of strangers. “But no one should be alone,” I said, ignoring my daughter’s eye roll. “And remember ‘Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it’— Hebrews 13:2?” Lisa offered her shrug. “Okay,” I said, “what about ‘Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling’?” “So?” “So maybe you could gather chairs, and we’ll need two small tables.” I’d turned to smile for my daughter when I heard her bedroom door slam. Okay, so she wasn’t into it yet, and she’d no doubt had a bad day at work, so we would talk about all of that later. Meanwhile, though, Scotty was making phone calls and offering to drag the picnic benches from our backyard, and then he’d dig out a card table from under the house. Festive cloths, candles, paper plates and matching napkins would pull everything together—and I would pretend I hadn’t heard Lisa’s, “I do not believe this!” The following day, our guests arrived with their children, new toys, old toys and favorite foods. Within minutes, the cleared bedroom became the setting for Lego® towers, dolls, buggies and books. Most knew no one but us, but it didn’t take long for each one to make a friend; several even exchanged telephone numbers; one woman shared her recipe for Baked Alaska; Lisa eventually volunteered to entertain the youngest children and, later, to assist with the after-midnight cleanup. And one who struggled with alcoholism asked Scotty, “Where do you go to church?” So it hadn’t been “the worst Christmas ever”—although I didn’t figure that out until after my youngest married and invited us for Christmas in her home. We’d traveled cross-country, so I felt bone-weary. NevertheA daughter turns surprising tables on her mother as she opens her home to a motley mix of new friends.
16 living • Winter 2014
less, I wanted to help set what would be a gorgeous table, and I had so much to share with my daughter. Except, as we peeled yams, I noticed Lisa was preparing not just for us but also for an additional nine. “We’re only six,” I said, as Lisa began to fold her prettiest napkins. “So who else—?” I’d begun when Lisa called back, “I’ve invited a couple of friends.” I’d hoped for a family dinner, but we’d be sharing it with our daughter’s friends? “I just hope they get along,” she added, sorting plates and forks. “You hope who gets along? If they’re friends—” “The people who don’t know anyone but me,” Lisa said, turning to toss her “Duh!” look.
Two days before Christmas, we discovered 30 of us would be celebrating together. Eleven of those thirty would be children. “But they’re all coming and … ?” She prided herself on keeping her dinners elegant, simple, for family or colleagues only. “Lisa,” I said, “these guests will be—?” “A neighbor,” she said without looking at me. “Moved out here after her divorce, she’s really lonely.” “And—?” “A couple with their first baby. Her mother refuses to spend
Saturdays: All-You-Can-Eat Lunch Buffet Fresh Angus Beef Burgers, Pulled Pork BBQ, Fresh Salads, Homemade Soups, Fresh-Baked Pies, Locally-Roasted Coffee Made-From-Scratch Ice Cream
540-437-1901
Rent To Own available!
(540) 833-BARN
(Lakeside)
90 Days Same as Cash 30 miles free delivery (buildings only)
Outdoor Lawn Furniture Available! www.helmuthbuilders.com
Christmas with them, and she doesn’t get along all that well with her dad.” My daughter paused to rearrange a bouquet of something red. “Oh, my … ” How could grandparents not want to spend Christmas with their first grandchild? Lisa shrugged. “Plus a teller from the bank, a couple with two boys … just moved here from California, but they haven’t found work, and a woman whose husband isn’t well, and it’s really hard … ” My breathless daughter grabbed a silver dish for nuts and candies. “So—” “So,” I said, “we’ll be having … ?” I couldn’t say it. I began to smile instead. “Yes, Mom, an SPCA Christmas.” Lisa returned the grin. “Okay?” “Okay,” I said, counting glasses and keeping my laughter inside. She was never going to admit it, but my youngest—her arms filled with baskets that would hold her dozens of cookies and bread—did understand about sharing our homes. “So maybe you would choose the music?” she asked. “I’d like that,” I said, turning to look at this “child” who’d been a gift from birth. “And, Honey?” “Hmmm?” “Merry Christmas.” “Merry Christmas, Mom,” Lisa sang, donning her contagious smile. “A very merry,” I whispered … because my daughter got it. NANCY HOAG is a freelance writer from Montana.
www.GrandmasPantryVA.com
(540) 434-8876
• Homemade Cheese Spreads • Cheeses • Homemade Fudge • Soup Mixes • Specialty Grains & Flours • Spices • Snack Mixes • Nuts • Dried Fruits • Candy (Sugar-Free too) • Local Homemade Crafts
540-438-8344
We carry hundreds of different products ranging from cookware sets to aprons to all the little gadgets and timesavers you need for your kitchen
We carry h cookware tim
Open Monday–Friday 10 am - 6 pm Saturday 9 am - 6 pm www.shenandoahmarket.com 540-438-8344
We carry hundreds of different products ranging from cookware sets to aprons to all the little gadgets and need for your kitchen• 540.433.3929 121 Carpenter Ln., Harrisonburg, VA • Rt. 11timesavers South you of Harrisonburg
We carry h cookware tim
Winter 2014 • living 17
©THINKSTOCK
Taming morning madness by HEATHER LEE LEAP
“W
here are your shoes? We need to be in the car NOW!” Frustrated and frazzled, I frequently screamed at my three young children on mornings when I had to herd them into the minivan. But, seeing the sadness in my children’s eyes, and feeling the tension I was creating in my own body, I knew there had to be a better way. The mad rush to get everyone up, dressed, fed and out of the house on time can aggravate the mellowest parent. Mornings can involve elevated blood pressure, cajoling, whining, and perhaps even yelling and tears. At the very least, you arrive at your destination frazzled and unhappy. And in the end, the emotional drama does not get you to school or work any sooner. There is hope for a more peaceful and efficient start to your day. With a little planning and the following suggestions you can organize your schedule and create new routines so you can honestly say, “Good morning!” If packing lunch boxes are slowing you down, shift lunchpacking duties to the evening. When storing leftovers after dinner, quickly determine what can be packed in tomorrow’s lunch. Leftover beans, steamed vegetables and grain or pasta salads hold up well and taste good cold. As you put food away, divide portions directly into single serving containers, one for each child. You’ll rely less on convenience items, waste less food and save a step in the packing process. Designate one shelf in the refrigerator for lunch items. In the morning, grab items from the shelf and pop them into lunch boxes. If your kids act sluggish in the morning and have trouble waking, put them to bed earlier. The mad rush for the bus stop is inevitable if your kids routinely sleep in. According to the
Having a good morning routine is not always achievable, but doing what you can the night before gets the next day off to a better start.
National Sleep Foundation, preschoolers need between 11 and 13 hours of sleep, and school age children ages 6 to 12 still require a whopping 10 to 11 hours of sleep each night. Chronic fatigue will make children groggy and uncooperative in the morning. If your children are not getting enough shut-eye, begin inching their bedtime earlier by 15 minutes. If getting dressed is a challenge, choose tomorrow’s clothing the night before. Morning brain-fog can be too thick for the decision-making process, so shift the choice to a time when your child is more alert. Lay clothes on a chair or shelf, or hang them on a special hanger. Some families pick a weekend day to choose outfits for the entire week. Planning the next day’s outfit is a perfect time to check in about your child’s schedule. Is there physical education tomorrow, or band practice? Use this time to set any special items by the door, ready to be picked up on the way out of the house. If your children wander back to their rooms to get dressed and you find them still in their pajamas straddling their latest Lego creation 20 minutes later, require them to get dressed before they come to breakfast. No lolling around in pajamas. Aim to have them completely dressed before they can eat. No one should have to run back upstairs for socks once you an-
Journey of a Lifetime Celebrating 60 Years! 540-298-1271 • 800-522-1271
www.myersford.com
18 living • Winter 2014
Pilgrimage to Israel and Jordan, March 14–26, 2015 Steve & Barb Wingfield, Tour Hosts Reserve your spot today! Call Terry @ (800) 729-2239.
nounce it is time to go. Limit other potential distractions by putting tempting projects away in the evening. If your kids can never find their homework and other papers, store anything that routinely travels between home and school in their backpack or book bag. Finished with that book from the school library? Toss it right in the pack. Permission slip signed? Tuck it in the bag before it disappears from the kitchen counter. If your child doesn’t already use a binder to keep track of paperwork, keep a pocket folder in your child’s pack to store homework pages and permission slips. Make the backpack the designated home for these items and no one will be scurrying to find them at the last minute. Finally, if you are still running late, redefine on time. Most schools have a first and second bell and students are expected
to be in their seats and ready to learn before that second bell rings. Being on time means arriving at school before the first bell so kids have time to get inside and get settled. To assure you arrive before the first bell, plan a five to 10 minute buffer into your schedule. Putting out the call of “all aboard” earlier will get you out of the house and at your destination with time to spare. Just don’t let that buffer lull you into a false sense of security. If you have five more minutes, use them to get everyone in the car, not to throw another load of laundry in the wash. HEATHER LEE LEAP is a freelance writer and mom from the Pacific Northwest. She says she is guilty of occasionally yelling at her children in the mornings.
Black’s Paint & Floor Covering
625 W. Market St. • Harrisonburg, VA 22801 ht (540) 433-9207 Foresig Ab
be y Carpet
In g lo F orin
CUSTOM FLOOR COVERINGS CERAMIC & HARDWOOD FLOORS WINDOW TREATMENTS • SIKKENS WOOD FINISHES MURALO AND PRATT & LAMBERT PAINTS
Restaurant & Catering
Silver Lake Welding Service, Inc. Structural Steel Fabrication and Erection • Industrial Maintenance Custom Steel Manufacturing • Crane Services • Incorporated since 1974 2433 Silver Lake Road Dayton, VA 22812
www.slwsinc.com
540-879-2591 Phone 540-879-2344 Fax
DAN’S BODY SERVICE, INC. 2591 Harpine Hwy. Harrisonburg, VA 22802 Phone (540) 434-8889
Rt. 340, Shenandoah
(540) 652-6062
dansbodyservice.com
Family Life Resource Center 273 Newman Avenue, Harrisonburg, VA 22801 434-8450 e-mail: services@flrc.org
TRANSPARENTING educates parents and family members in how they can help their children adjust and handle changes in their family structure. This four-hour workshop is required by the Virginia court system for separating and divorcing couples and is offered twice each month. Contact services@flrc.org or 434-8450. Ad sponsored by: Layman, Diener & Borntrager Insurance Agency
McMULLEN FUNERAL HOME, INC. Serving Rockingham County for over 100 years • Family owned & operated since 1897 • Cremation services available • Pre-need planning • We invite comparison
Directors - William L. McMullen, Mgr., Andrea McMullen Strawderman www.mcmullenfh.com
833-2891
mcmullenfh@comcast.net Winter 2014 • living 19
Family Forum ©THINKSTOCK
Strengthening family relationships shoulder or, in closer relationships, a reassuring hug. Jesus often touched people. He took children in his arms and blessed them, laid his hand on people who were sick or handicapped and offered them healing. And he wasn’t afraid to challenge some social taboos in the process, like reaching out to touch lepers and other socially untouchable people, even touching the dead body of a young man already prepared for burial, something forbidden by religious law, because his heart went out to his widowed mother. Jesus also once washed his disciples’ feet, and he allowed others to touch him as well, anointing and washing his Appropriate touch can be a healing gesture feet with ointment and with tears. and bring comforting Many faith traditions are blessed reassurance. by rituals involving touch. Examples in my faith are baptism, the was at a retreat some time ago in which someone was laying on of hands, the joining of hands in a wedding ceremopouring out her heart over the grief she was experiencing. ny, the receiving of holy communion, the practice of anointing Her husband has recently left her for a younger woman one’s head with oil for healing, and the frequent encourageafter her children had grown and left home, and she described ment to believers to greet each other with a “holy kiss,” someher loss as like “being cut in two with a saw.” times translated as simply “Greet each other warmly,” or “with What made it harder for her, she said, was her feeling of isoa warm embrace.” lation and loneliness. “My phone doesn’t ring much anymore,” All of us would do well to reach out to folks in our family she said, “and my friends don’t seem to know what to say or and friendship circles who feel touch deprived, who need a do to help. And I want to say to them, ‘Just listen to me, talk healthy, nurturing sign we care for them and love them, never to me, touch me.’ Hardly anyone touches me anymore. I begin in secret, but always in socially appropriate and publicly acto think my body isn’t okay, that I’ve become somehow unlovcountable ways, of course. able and untouchable.” Think of it as a special kind of Christmas gift. She helped me realize how important our sense of touch is HARVEY YODER is a family counselor and when we’re needing comfort and reassurance. Touch is probateaches parenting and marriage classes at the bly the first of the senses we’re aware of when we’re born and Family Life Resource Center. Questions relating the last one we lose awareness of when we die. True, someto family concerns can be addressed to FLRC, times the gift of touch is misused, even abused, in relation273 Newman Ave., Harrisonburg, VA 22801 or ships, but that doesn’t change the fact we have an innate need to Harvey@flrc.org. His blog can be followed at for people to offer us a simple hand clasp, a warm hand on our harvyoder.blogspot.com.
The gift of touch
I
Christmas MennoMedia / Herald Press Publishing
G r e at C H r i s t M a s G i f t s
Chad B. Nesselrodt 540-434-1792 800-289-2445 Cell 540-476-4342 bigltireco@aol.com
4040 Early Road Harrisonburg, VA 22801 bigltireco.com bigltireco@aol.com
ALSO Gay & Liberty St.
for the readers on your list www.MennoMedia.org • 1-800-245-7894
And check us out at www.facebook.com/MennoMedia
20 living • Winter 2014
TRUCK AND AUTO SERVICE CENTER
Harrisonburg • Elkton • Warsaw • Kilmarnock • Charlottesville
FIRESTONE • CARLISLE MICHELIN RETREADS
“I found Jesus! “ by STEVE CARPENTER
The thing that made the service so memorable was not the decorations, the stained glass, the organ playing or the traditional singing of “Silent Night” while holding a lighted candle. It was the participation of children. older children participated in the service. One enthusiastically read the story of Jesus’ birth from a children’s Bible. Another sang a lovely solo, while yet another played the clarinet. But, the highlight for me occurred when all of the children joined the co-pastor upfront for a children’s story. She engaged them deeply by seeking their help to recreate the manger scene. One by one she invited each child to select a loosely wrapped item from her bag and place it on the table up front. After the donkeys, camels, wise men, shepherds and others were in place she asked the youngest children to mimic the Magi of old and search for the baby Jesus. When they found him they were to place the baby in the manger. Little Henry, who was just shy of his third birthday, had been fidgeting all evening and jostling with his older brother and sister. Yet, when directed by the pastor, he searched diligently for the baby Jesus. It wasn’t long before Henry came back jumping and shouting, “I found Jesus! I found Jesus!” The congregation laughed at his exuberance. Some reflected on the wisdom coming from the mouth of this babe. Many remembered the delight of their own experience of “finding Jesus”—especially with a new found relationship with God, the joy of sins forgiven.
© T H I N K S TO C K
E
arly on the morning of Christmas Eve day, my wife Chris and I began our journey from the Shenandoah Valley north by car. We left before breakfast in order to reach our destination, in the piney woods of Chepachet, R.I., in time for an early dinner with my brother, his partner Emily and my 90-year-old mother. We planned to attend a candlelight service later that evening. Traveling on Interstate 95, we rolled along smoothly, and crossed the problematic bottleneck at the George Washington Bridge north of Manhattan without delay. After a lovely dinner we loaded Mom and her walker into the car and arrived 15 minutes before the service was to begin. The church, located in a quaint New England town, was festooned with holiday decorations. But the thing that made the service so memorable was not the decorations, the stained glass, the organ playing or the traditional singing of “Silent Night” while holding a lighted candle. It was the presence and participation of children. Many of the youngsters were so excited about the fast approaching holiday they could hardly stay in their seats. Several
A child’s exuberant excitement at a church Christmas Eve service expresses the spot on meaning of the season.
Christmas is a time we celebrate the gift of God’s own son, Jesus Christ, who came to make us holy and give us life, abundant and eternal. Some have remarkable testimonies of God’s transforming power. Puerto Rican gang leader Nicky Cruz, in his 1968 book, “Run Baby Run,” famously recalled his change from being a thug, leading The Mau-Maus on the streets of New York City, to becoming a preacher. Similarly, President George W. Bush recounts renouncing alcohol after experiencing a spiritual conversion he attributes to the faith and influence of his wife Laura and the gospel messages he heard preached at their United Methodist Church. Nicky Cruz and George W. Bush each experienced an “I found Jesus” moment that transformed their lives. Each of us who attended the candlelight service felt the warmth of the season and experienced the joy of watching children grow in faith. The next day, on Christmas morning, we woke to the beautiful sight of a gentle dusting of snow covering the ground and hanging from branches. The fallen snow had covered the dirt and transformed the landscape, just as God’s grace changes lives and makes us holy. STEVE CARPENTER is a development director and freelance writer from Harrisonburg, Va.
A Ministry of Peoples Baptist Church
Offering Preschool & Daycare ages 2 1/2 - 4
Route 33 East Across from 7-11
Phone: (540) 434-6088 Winter 2014 • living 21
©THINKSTOCK
Accidental holiday by SUSAN WRITER
M
odern life can be very busy, so many of us learn to enjoy the “gift” of a snow day—even when it causes hiccups in our plans. Thanks to some significant wintery weather last February, our little clan had an unexpected day off. My husband, on a brief between-jobs hiatus, was home the Monday morning of a freak slush event; and our high school senior was enjoying yet another snow day. Only our oldest daughter, a preschool teacher, and her home-based business-owning mom had to work. While our lone commuter got ready to head out, the two guys, both members of the local volunteer fire company, responded to a car accident call right outside town.
An hour later, four-fifths of our family unit were in an emergency room cubicle, waiting x-ray results. Not 20 minutes later, moments after she left the driveway, our daughter’s cell number popped up on my caller ID. She had slid into a roadside ditch not a mile away—within sight of the two-car wreck at which her dad and brother were assisting. I quickly threw on warmer clothes, cleaned off the old manual transmission Saturn—a driver’s best friend in dicey conditions—and took off to check on our stranded motorist. After making sure our daughter was okay, and saying many prayers of thanks, I got back into my car parked on the shoulder, and, flashers on, settled in to watch for the tow truck. We weren’t sitting long when she called to say her head, side, and back were beginning to hurt—a lot. A quick EMT I have planted … but God gave the increase. 1 Cor. 3:6
When winter brings an accidental holiday, this family is reminded of the values they treasure.
evaluation led to an ambulance ride to the nearest hospital. An hour later, four-fifths of our family unit were in an emergency room cubicle, awaiting x-ray results. Fortunately it was only soft tissue damage and some bruising—painful, but not dangerous. The favorable prognosis still involved a long interval before release. The emergency room nurse had quipped when we arrived they’d been running a special on off-road incidents. The
Relationships Built to Last At First Bank & Trust Company, it’s about more than being your banker. We’re your partner.
• Poinsettias - Several sizes and colors • Cyclamen • Also mulches for winterizing roses and perennials Taking orders now for churches & businesses (540) 828-2434
22 living • Winter 2014
First Bank & Trust Company The Bank That Puts You First
www.firstbank.com
257 West to Montezuma, 1 ½ miles left on Thomas Spring Road
Member FDIC
Harrisonburg • 120 University Blvd. • 540-434-0671 Bridgewater • 610 B North Main St. • 540-828-2020
physician assistant confirmed the trend, saying this was the sixth or seventh he’d treated since starting his shift, and that was just his caseload. While the discharge paperwork and prescriptions for pain and inflammation were being prepared, I looked around the tiny curtain-fronted room at my husband and our kids and felt a surge of true happiness. Beyond enormous gratitude for our daughter’s safety, I realized we were in the midst of a special occasion. It was one of those rare instances when life demands you put everything else on hold so you can live in the moment, sharply focused on the people and circumstances that really matter in both the long- and short-run. The day bore no resemblance to the one I’d expected or planned out in my head as I lay between the covers that morning, savoring the
misconception I have anything like control over even my own little world. Rather, it was a day that brought four busy souls together, and reminded us what lasts and what doesn’t. It was a good day, this accidental holiday—a very good day. SUSAN WRITER lives, works and writes in Maryland.
We hope you will patronize our advertisers and thank them for helping to publish this free, positive publication for your enjoyment!
Commercial & Residential Site Work Slip Form Curb & Gutter Machine Exterior Concrete Work • Blasting
Call (540) 432-0584
Wendell Maust, owner 140 A LeRay Circle, Harrisonburg, VA 22801 Class A Contractor License #2705-028041A
MultiQuip, Stone Construction, Diamond Products and Bil-Jax Scaffolding
RENTALS • SALES • SERVICE 540-434-8338 • 800-296-8338
Fax: 540-432-9298 600 N. Main Street • Harrisonburg, VA 22802
New Beginnings Church 101 Pike Church Road Harrisonburg, VA
Worship Services Sundays at 8:30 & 10:30 a.m.
"Care The Same Day… The Old-Fashioned Way"
Dr. A. Blay, M.D.
M-F 8am-4pm, Sat 9-12 • 433-3889 • 2323 Grace Chapel Rd., Harrisonburg
Office Visit $50. Same day appointment/Walk-ins welcome.
King’s Kids Children’s Church, 8:30 & 10:30 a.m. — Dynamic, and exciting Bible teaching, using music, puppets, skits, videos, humor, games, & more. Adult, Youth and Children’s Sunday School Classes — meet at 9:50 a.m. Care Groups meet throughout the area during the week. King’s Kids Friday Night — 6:00 p.m. first Friday of the month for ages 4 through 5th grade. Supper, Bible lessons, crafts, games, skits, music, etc. Website: www.newbeginchurch.org • Call 434-1555 for more information
Conference/Party Room • Breakfast Buffet Now Open, 7-10 am 625 Mt. Clinton Pike • Dine in | DELIVERY | Carryout Hours: Monday – Saturday, 6 a.m. – 10 p.m.
540-432-FOXS (3697) • 540-432-NUTS (6887) Winter 2014 • living 23
My last
Santa Claus Christmas T by MARCIA DAHLINGHAUS
he year, 1952. The place, our family farm in a small unincorporated German Catholic farming community in mid-western Ohio. The day, Christmas Eve. Santa Claus is coming tonight! So. Tonight no one goes to the house until all the milking and feeding is done and then, only if Santa has turned on the Christmas lights. All six of us have chores. I am the youngest and 7 years old. I feed the rabbits, clean their hutches and hold the nipple bucket for the small calves as they drink their milk. After we finish, my brother Dave and I sit in a pile of loosened straw bales close to the warm breath of the cows in their stan-
I look around and see my brothers and sisters excited about their gifts but looking at me. Betty gives me a knowing look and glances toward Mom and Dad.
down, forming a misty curtain. My breath slows as I watch the snow falling. I wonder. The Christmas story says Jesus was born in a stable. Did he have snow on his birthday? Did the animals keep Jesus warm, too? Jesus got gifts from the wise men. Will I get my gifts from Santa? The barn seems to breathe a response to my questions with the sounds of the calves rustling the straw, the rabbits thumping their hind legs, the lowing of the cows and the suction sounds of the Surge milkers automatically milking the cows. All the ordinary sounds I hear every day become charged with a sense of peace drifting down with the snow. The Christmas lights come on. Their colors are hazy through the falling snow. Dave comes up behind me. “Hey, the lights are on! Four more cows to milk. Won’t be long now.” “Isn’t everything beautiful, Dave? The snow, the lights, the barn?” He’s walking back to our straw nest and doesn’t hear me. “Beautiful,” I murmur. * * * Anticipation mounts as we wait for Mom to open the living room door. The Christmas tree with its soft lights and simple ornaments bathe the room and the homemade Nativity scene where Joseph, Mary, baby Jesus, the cow, the ox, sheep, shep-
24 living • Winter 2014
©THINKSTOCK
chions while we wait for Jim and Betty to finish milking. As I watch Jim throw straw bales from the loft into the cow stable, I see the date when the barn was built: 1894, sawed into the wood siding under the roof joint. Dave and I talk about our hopes for the gifts we want. I recite again my tale of Dad loading Betty’s old doll crib bed and buggy into the back seat of our 1950 Ford sedan. Dad told me he would take them to Santa and ask him to have the elves paint them in my favorite color, blue. Mom adds Santa should also tell the elves to make new bedding and pads and maybe some new clothes for my doll, if he thought I had been good enough this year. Dave just smiles and wonders whether the Christmas lights are on yet. “I’ll go and see,” I say. I run to the corner of the barn and crack open the small door. No Christmas lights yet. A 40-watt bulb hanging above the door sheds a weak light into the fall- Discovering secrets behind the true magic of Christmas can beautifully invite children into a deeper level of ing snow. The flakes drift gently holiday enjoyment and relationships.
herds and angels stand in a spattering of fresh straw from our barn. “All the gifts are on the table across the room,” Mom says. “Your gifts are over here, Marcy, next to Baby Jesus.” And there they are. The doll crib bed painted a light blue with violets trimming the headboard and footboard. The doll buggy painted navy blue with white trim and new wheels. The new sheets in a floral design I recognize from the sack material our flour comes in. Matching pillowcases finished off with a crocheted edging similar to the edging Mom puts on all her embroidered pillowcases. And in the corner of the crib bed, my doll with a new nightgown made of the same flannel as mine. Plus a new dress and cap made of the same material as my school dress. I look around and see my brothers and sisters excited about their gifts but looking at me. Betty comes and admires my gifts. She says the elves did a good job with the bed and buggy and that all the doll clothes match mine. She gives me a knowing look and glances toward Mom and Dad. Understanding
Means Helping her
Be Healthy
1685 Garbers Church Rd Harrisonburg (Off Rt. 42) South of Garbers Crossing
10 OFF %
(540) 433-9174
MARCIA DAHLINGHAUS is a freelance writer from Arizona.
Loving Your Pet
(540) 433-9174
dawns. Mom and Dad made the gifts? Not Santa? Puzzled, I put my doll under the covers in her new bed. I look at Mom and Dad sitting on the couch, watching my reaction with eyebrows raised and tentative tender smiles. Dad comes over and rests his hand on my shoulder. “Do you like the gifts we made for you, Marcy?” So it’s true. The gifts are from them. I nod. “I like it that her clothes are like mine.” I feel that peace again that I felt drifting down with the snow. What also drifts into my heart says love. Love in the warm grins and nods from my brothers and sisters that their baby sister “got it.” Love radiating from Dad’s hand on my shoulder and Mom’s misty smile. The love I see in the buggy, the doll clothes, in each gift Mom and Dad made so this last “Santa” Christmas would be special for me.
your first visit invoice! www.ashbyanimalclinic.com
Valid thru 02/28/2015 on veterinary examination services only. Excludes purchases.
GIFT & THRIFT Large Variety of Men’s, Women’s & Children’s Clothing● Household items ● Books ●Crafts ● Linens ● Electronics ● Furniture ● and More!
Celebrating 30 years of Serving the Local & Global Community Flexsteel Chicago Reclining Collection Available with or without power 2265 South Main St. Harrisonburg, VA 22801 (in Duke’s Plaza)
(540) 432-1383 houseofoak.com 37,000 Sq. Ft. Showroom
Mon-Fri 10 AM - 7 PM Saturday 10 AM - 6 PM Sunday 1 PM - 5 PM
731 Mt. Clinton Pike Harrisonburg, VA 540.433.8844 www.giftandthrift.org
SHOP DONATE VOLUNTEER Winter 2014 • living 25
©THINKSTOCK
Once children start helping others by volunteering in the community, they frequently come up with their own ideas about how to go a second mile.
Engaging kids in charitable giving by LAURA REAGAN-PORRAS
V
olunteering or donating items is often part of this season of giving. If you are fortunate enough to have budget for a winter vacation or winter camp, why not use the opportunity to show children what impactful giving is all about by taking some, or all, of that budget to help others? Sally was 9 years old and her sister Emily was 7 when they began volunteering at their local food bank with their family. Volunteering included sorting boxes and cans of food into different
If you always do What you’ve always done, You’ll always be Where you’ve always been...
97 Railside Drive, Weyers Cave, VA 24486 (540) 234-9246 or Toll Free @ 1-866-224-9246
26 living • Winter 2014
groups and then packing family boxes for the low-income families the food bank serves. The first time Sally and Emily volunteered, they asked lots of questions and enjoyed the can conveyer belt tremendously. The food bank volunteer manager had things well organized so the kids were engaged the entire time. In order to make the experience purposeful, their mom pointed out the families waiting in the lobby who were to receive the boxes of food. As they were leaving the food bank, the volunteer manager heard Sally say, “This was one of the best days of my life!” Her sister Emily decided to give the money she earned doing extra chores around the house to the food bank. Mom and Dad donated the equivalent of the family winter vacation money to the food bank also. Service learning can be a parenting and teaching strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection. Service learning also builds character and teaches civic responsibility as youth participate in service projects in education, public welfare, health, public safety or the environment. Families can volunteer together and reap all the benefits of service learning while making a memory. Teaching the importance of service is most effective when children give something meaningful to them. An example of an age appropriate, meaningful service project for first and second graders is a teddy bear drive for abused children of domestic violence in shelters or hospitals. Children can be encouraged to give a stuffed animal of their own that is in good shape or earn the money by doing household chores to make a purchase themselves. Children can also travel to the shelter to drop off the stuffed animals so the “giving” is concrete. Children can develop their own ideas about service projects that have special meaning to them. Older children may work together to sell candy or crafts at a profit to purchase items for less fortunate families such as children’s coats. Your family can vote on which causes and non-profits you want to support. Service learning studies show that children who serve are more likely to grow to become charitable adults. Volunteering and giving can bless your winter and holiday sea-
son with special meaning. Here are a few suggestions. • Perhaps your children have had a grandparent die with cancer. It might be meaningful to plan a walk/run for cancer research or donate their winter vacation money to a local hospital that has a tie to your family. • Shovel snow in an elderly neighbor’s yard. Organize a kids pool of snow shoveling volunteers for elders in multiple neighborhoods. • Organize and conduct a canned food drive at your child’s school together. (This may involve several pieces, announcing the food drive at various classrooms, making posters, decorating the collection boxes and finally taking the cans to the food pantry or food bank.) • Walk dogs at the local humane society shelter. Conduct a penny drive to buy needed dog food and supplies. • Collect new or like-new books for the children’s wing of the hospital and delivering the books to the hospital auxiliary to distribute. • Buy school supplies for the second semester for children who cannot afford them. Often times children’s charities are given school supplies, clothes and shoes at the beginning of the year but children grow and have needs year-round. • Take a family mission trip with your church, using some of the money you would have otherwise spent on gifts. Working together as a family for others not only strengthens communities by helping the cause of your choice, but it also models good character and strengthens family bonds that may cast a beautiful, long winter’s shadow over a child’s charitable future. LAURA REAGAN PORRAS is a social issues freelance writer and sociologist from Texas. She is the mother of two volunteering daughters.
Handmade and Fair Trade Gifts from around the world
20 % OFF One Item *Some restrictions apply. Expires 12/31/2014
821 Mt. Clinton Pike ~ 22802
(540) 433-4880
www.facebook.com/ArtisansHope
Winter 2014 • living 27
What a child can learn playing cards by CAROL J. ALEXANDER
28 living • Winter 2014
©THINKSTOCK
A
deck of cards makes a small, inexpensive stocking stuffer for any kid. Since December 28 is National Card Playing Day, pop one into your child’s stocking and learn a few new games. It’s a great way for a family with young children to have fun and keep up academic skills during the holiday break from school. When my son struggled to add long columns of numbers, I taught him to play Rummy 500 and had him keep score. He enjoyed it so much we played Rummy every evening for an entire summer. I’ve been using card games for learning ever since. Card games can teach or reinforce great skills from matching to complex logical thinking. Let me share with you a few games we enjoy. Rummy—(for two or more players, singly or in partnership) Rummy comes in so many variations consult a card game book for the one that suits you best. I taught this game to my middle-schooler to help him add long columns of numbers and my 7-year-old to teach him to count by fives. In Rummy, you play cards in runs of three or more. This reinforces counting, sequencing and matching. Or you play the cards in kinds of three or more, which requires matching of numbers. Children learn most by calculating their own scores. If a player goes out and is left with points in his hand, those points must be subtracted from those he played. Sometimes this results in a negative score. The child learns to add and subtract columns up to three digits, including negatives. Also, deciding which card to play when and remembering which cards your opponents pick up requires a certain degree of logical thinking. Pig—(for any number of players) Prepare your deck to have only four-of-a-kind for each player. If you have five players, you will only play with twenty cards—four 2s, four 3s, etc. Shuffle well and deal each player four cards. To play, everyone simultaneously passes one card to the player on the left. Play continues in this fashion until someone gets four-of-a-kind. When a player gets four-of-a-kind, he quietly puts a finger on his nose. As each player notices, they put a finger on their nose. The last player to put his finger on his nose is the pig. Playing Pig taught my 4-year-old number recognition, matching and how to lose gracefully. Concentration—(for any number of players) I prepare the deck for this game as well. For my younger children, I use fewer cards and make sure I only have two-of-a-kind (two 2s, two 4s, etc.). As they get older, I add more to the deck. All cards are dealt face down on the table in uniform rows.
Put away the electronics? Your children or grandchildren may be surprised how much they enjoy one or more of these familiar (or new) card games when played together.
Players take turns flipping over two cards. If they do not match, they are turned back in the same place. When someone turns over a matched set, they keep those cards. When all the cards are matched, the player with the most sets wins. Everyone enjoys Concentration (or Memory). While the younger ones learn number recognition and matching, the older ones sharpen their memory. We also like to add variations to the rules, like requiring the player to multiply the cards before keeping the matched set. Use your imagination. Through the Window—(three or more players) Play this game with a deck of alphabet flash cards. Deal four cards to each person. The dealer begins by saying, “I looked through the window and saw…” He then turns up one of his cards for all to see. Each player then tries to complete the sentence with a word
Card games can teach or reinforce great skills from matching to complex logical thinking. beginning with the same letter of the alphabet as the card turned up. The first player to call out a correct word takes the card. Play continues to the left until all the cards are taken. The player who takes the most cards wins. To make this game more challenging, add cards that have blends. Or play that the word ends with the sound. Through the Window supports any phonics program, covering the alphabet, letter sounds, spelling and pre-composition skills.
Klondike Solitaire—(for one player) I won’t go into the rules of this game because most folks have it on their computer and already know how to play. But don’t be tempted to have your child play this on the computer. He will not learn to deal, nor will he have the tactile stimulation from handling the cards himself. The basic play of Klondike, building the cards from king down, alternating red and black, teaches the child to count backward and strengthens patterning skills. Building the cards up on the aces reviews forward counting. In addition to counting and patterning, Klondike trains the child to look at all options for a solution by looking at every possible card for a move. Make Your Own—The typical playing card measures two and a half by three and a half inches. Using card stock and a paper cutter, a family can manufacture its own cards. Have each child make up his own game. Use the computer or your artistic abilities to print your cards. A corner rounder, used in scrap booking, will give them a professional finish. CAROL J. ALEXANDER, of New Market, Va., has used card playing and other unconventional methods of teaching her six children at home.
Overhead Door Company of Shenandoah Valley 433-3903 • Toll Free 877-359-3667
www.overheaddoorsv.com • 1573 C F Pours Drive, Harrisonburg, VA 22802 • Prompt & Courteous Service • Free Estimates • 24 Hour Emergency Repair • Doors & Operators in Stock • Residential • Commercial • Industrial
Winter 2014 • living 29
Love, honor AND trust him?
by NANCY SCOTT
M
The things we do for love: skiing may or may not be your first love but anything your spouse enjoys and wants you to try is worth checking out.
30 living • Winter 2014
©THINKSTOCK
arried just over 24 hours, my bridegroom and I began the first day of our honeymoon in a snow-covered mountain lodge. It was a morning filled with expectation because, on the downhill side of mid-life, I’d discovered love. On the other hand, I’d married a skier while I knew absolutely nothing about the sport. Furthermore, I’d spent most of my life indoors—except this middle-aged bachelor had wrapped me in his arms, told me how good life was going to be and whispered, “Trust me.” The agreement (before we married) was that I’d never have to ski. “But I’ll want to see you once in a while, and it’s obvious that for five months a year, you’ll be skiing!” I told him. “It won’t be that bad,” my True Love said. “But, Babe, it’s up to you.” Up to me? Oh, sure. I’d caught the twinkle in his eye every time he mentioned deep powder. It took several weeks of wrestling, but I’d waited too long for a
man like mine. I wasn’t about to lose him to some Suzy Chaffee or fear. “I’m going to ski,” I announced, trying to sound more confident than I felt. Now, however, as I opened the drapes and faced the mountain, I despaired. Equipped with the best gear (a wedding gift from my groom) and outfitted with the latest ski wear, too, I would enroll in the local ski school along with children barely three feet tall— while my spouse teamed up with patroller buddies to defy every steep gulch on the hill. My husband is kind and patient. So when I slammed drawers and refused breakfast, he just wrapped his lanky arms around me and said, “Babe, you’ll do great,” I donned the bulky clothing, shoved my hair up into a scratchy hat and adjusted my clunky goggles. Outside our room, where wind-whipped snow bit into my face, I squeezed enormous boots into what seemed more like traps and mentally measured the distance to the ski school shack. “I can’t do it!”’ I wailed. “Yes, you can.” Scotty grinned. “I’ll get you down that hill. Just trust me.” We may be husband and wife, I thought, but he most definitely had some things to learn about me. Trust him? I don’t think I can. As if he’d read my thoughts, Scotty chuckled, pointed to the class gathering below our room, and emphasized how short the distance would seem once I’d actually dealt with that “slight” slope. “Okay,” I said. “I’ll try.” The plan was to literally join forces. Standing behind Scotty, I was to inch my skis between his. I would also press my face to his jacket, wrap my arms around his middle and close my eyes. “Close my eyes?” I screeched. Again Scotty smiled as he touched my cheek and positioned my arms. Then, patting my insulated hands, he shouted, “Yahoo!”—and pushed off. At first, it wasn’t that bad. Actually, I discovered I enjoyed skimming the snow and relying on someone else. “This is kind of fun,” I mumbled against my husband’s broad back. “What’d I tell you?” Scotty laughed. We did occasionally encounter bumps. “What was that?” I asked once, noting how crusted the snow felt beneath my boots. Scotty threw his head back, but I couldn’t hear him for the crackling ice sprays echoing across the hill. Another time, he patted my hands and said something about “not to worry” and “just hang on.” To my surprise and his, I’d been doing exactly as instructed— until, nearing the bottom of the grade; we began to pick up speed. Scotty had explained we’d accelerate “a bit”—but hearing him tell it and experiencing this sensation suddenly seemed like two entirely different events. I knew I’d been given his promise we wouldn’t fall, but my skis were starting to part some, and now my old nature had begun to battle with my faith.
“How much farther?” I barely uttered, afraid to make a sound. “We’re doing great,” my fearless leader assured. “Just relax, Babe.” About this time, however, my husband’s word began to mean absolutely nothing, as my fears and my evaluation of our chances became all the proof I needed. That we would crash and break every bone in my body seemed inevitable. And though I detected no tension in my mate’s down-padded trunk, my own stiffened so completely I soon became even less flexible than the fiberglass skis supporting my frozen feet. “Relax!” my mate shouted back over his shoulder. “I can’t!” I cried. “You’ve got to, Babe! We’re nearly there!” But Scotty’s assurance was suddenly no match for my doubt. Although he tried preventing it, within seconds I’d not only begun to tip sideways, but I had thrown my spouse off-balance, as well. Suddenly, four skis, three poles, one pair of goggles and two bodies were rolling, slipping, sliding and bouncing across an unrelenting, ice-covered knoll. Not three feet from our goal, all of Scotty’s hopes and my temporary pleasure had come to a halt. As quickly as a bruised man can, Scotty began to scoop snow
1910 South High Street Harrisonburg, Virginia 22801
Custom Kitchens & Baths
from his glasses, shook ice lumps from my hat, questioned me about anything broken and gathered my gloves. “Babe,” he said, inspecting, checking, brushing me off and also trying to keep the tears from freezing on my face. “Do you know what you did?” I could only nod and splutter. Both my body and my pride had suffered, and I was certain I’d had all the humiliation I could bear—until I heard the voices of my husband’s old friends. “Hey!” one ruddy-complexioned Norseman called as seven patrollers shot across the hill. “This must be the new bride!” “She learning to ski?” another whooped. “Yup,” Scotty laughed. “She sure is,” he laughed as he lifted me to my feet. And then, pressing his lips to my wounded ear, he whispered, “Learning to trust, too. Right?” NANCY SCOTT is a freelance writer and novelist in a Western state.
We offer you CHOICES for your home!
Serving Harrisonburg families for 30 years!
LAMINATE SOLID SURFACES GRANITE
540-434-4835
JOHN ROSEMOND
Leadership Parenting Coach is now available locally Call Don Kuhns 540-434-0246 donkuhns@aol.com Check us out at www.Rosemond.com
210 University Blvd. Harrisonburg, VA 22801 (540) 433-2642 Winter 2014 • living 31
The best Christmas present ever by GENO LAWRENZI JR.
F
©THINKSTOCK
irst, to understand this story in its entirety, you need to appreciate my mother’s love of dogs. We lived in a small Pennsylvania community with a population of about 950 people and just about as many dogs. Mom wasn’t crazy about big dogs. She preferred the small ones. Mexican Chihuahuas were her favorite, but she also liked a Rat Terrier-Chihuahua mix. And that was where Monkey came in. I don’t know who gave her that name. It was probably Mom. One of our friends in a nearby town gave the pup to us when Monkey was just a few weeks old. From the moment the black pup with a white chest and white stocking feet entered our house on the hill, she was Mom’s dog. No question about that. My mother loved to talk to dogs. In Monkey’s case, amazingly, the dog talked back. There was a communication between the two of them that had to be seen to be believed. We kept our hunting dog, Pal, outside the house in a doghouse. Monkey, on the other hand, enjoyed the best of treatment. She slept in Mom’s bed on the pillow next to her. Mom would even sing to Monkey at night, and the half Chihuahua-Terrier would dance for her, seeming to enjoy the songs. One morning Mom let Monkey out the door. She gave the dog complete freedom to roam around the yard. Monkey would sometimes dash across the dirt road into Ab Huss’s pasture where he kept half a dozen cows. Monkey loved to chase the cows, running nimbly between their legs. They would try to go after her, but Monkey was too fast and much too smart for them. This day something different happened. Around noon, when Monkey would normally return to the house to be fed, she didn’t show up. Mom went to our back porch and called her name over and over again. But she couldn’t find Monkey. She even walked over to Huss’s pasture and called Monkey’s name. Nothing. That night, Mom was fearful something bad had happened to her beloved pet. It was mid-November, and the weatherman was predicting snow. “I know she’s out there,” Mom said fearfully. “Sometimes I think I can even hear her calling back to me.” Indeed, when she shouted Monkey’s name, it seemed to me and my two younger brothers and my Dad there was a wailing reply—but it sounded so far away I thought it was just the wind. The days passed. Thanksgiving came. And 32 living • Winter 2014
Monkey never showed up. I tried to keep my mother’s hopes up by telling her Monkey would return, even though in my heart I wasn’t sure. Mom’s personality changed. She went to bed earlier, and I could hear her calling Monkey’s name through the back window, in vain. Four weeks passed. Dad had put up our Christmas tree and there were dozens of gifts beneath the tree as we prepared to celebrate the holiday. I knew Mom was in no mood to celebrate anything with her beloved dog missing. On a Saturday morning, two days before Christmas, there was a knock at the door. I opened it. Our next-door neighbor, a man my father worked with at the steel mill, was standing there. His house was less than 400 yards from ours up a slight incline. “You folks have a little dog, don’t you?” he began uncertainly. Mom was at my side immediately. Yes, she said. Her name is Monkey. She’s black and white and she has been missing for more than a month.
Mom was fearful that something bad had happened to her beloved pet. It was mid-November, and the weatherman was predicting snow. “Well,” said our neighbor, still not certain, “I dug a well for a cistern in my back yard. I haven’t worked on the cistern for the past couple of weeks. But I went out there this morning to check on a couple of things and found a dog in the bottom of the well. I can tell you this. The dog isn’t black. It’s almost pure white in color. But you’re welcome to come and take a look if you think it’s your dog. I’m about to get a ladder and rescue the poor thing.” My entire family, with Mom leading the way, hurried to our neighbor’s house. None of us even had realized there was a well on the property until we were told. As our neighbor brought a long ladder to the edge of the cistern, Mom peered over the edge of the well. “Monkey?” she said, her voice quavering. “Is that you?” A true story showing the incredibly strong connections and communication dogs and their “humans” sometimes share.
It was. The veterinarian would later tell us that the trauma of existing inside the cistern, where she had obviously tumbled while running, had stripped the pigment from her fur. The dog in the bottom of the pit was pitifully skinny and weak, having existed on rainwater and whatever weeds or trash was in the hole. But it was Monkey. When the dog heard my mother’s voice, it leaped pitifully up the side of the well, only to fall back again. After our neighbor retrieved Monkey from the well, Mom wrapped her carefully in a blanket—all of the dog’s toenails had been torn from her flesh in her desperate attempts to leap out of the hole in response to my mother’s voice calling her name—and Mom didn’t want to injure her more. The vet told Mom, “The only reason this dog is still alive is because she loved you too much to give up. Merry Christmas. Your dog will live.” Monkey’s color and her health returned over the next few weeks. Her toenails grew back. And it was the best Christmas my loving family ever had and one that will remain special to me for as long as I live. GENO LAWRENZI, JR. is an international journalist, magazine author, ghostwriter and novelist who lives in Missouri.
H. LEE STOVER RANDALL STOVER (540) 828-6763 Fax (540) 828-4426 3889 Dry River Road Bridgewater, VA 22812 www.millcabinetshop.com Old World Craftmanship and Quality Materials
THE SHOPS at
On Route 42
South of Harrisonburg DAYTON Holiday Hours Tues-Sat 9-6 FARMERS MARKET
THE SHOPS at
Kitchenwares & More DAYTON Come in and see
Specialists in Automotive Paint & Reconditioning Supplies
The family that prays together stays together.
Home Office: 2860 S. Main St. Harrisonburg, VA 22801 (540) 433-2471 www.emautosupply.com
Branch Offices: Staunton, VA 24401 • (540) 885-1217 Waynesboro, VA 22980 • (540) 943-4574 Charlottesville, VA 22901 • (434) 979-6336
Affordable Style for Your Floors. Introducing a new concept in buying rugs.
No hassles. No haggling. Just a great selection of area rugs & accessories at everyday low prices. At Weaver’s Flooring America, you can find a beautiful rug to fit any budget. Stop in today and discover how easy it is to cover your floors with affordable style.
FARMERS MARKET
our great variety of unique and quality kitchen gadgets.
540-879-9893
Lone Pine Lighting
BRING THIS AD WITH YOU AND RECEIVE AN ADDITIONAL 10% OFF OUR ALREADY LOW PRICES!
Weaver’s
(Area Rugs only)
Light the Way This Holiday… Brass Lamps Fabric Shades Glass Shades Chimneys Ultra Pure Lamp Oil
3245 S. Main Street, Harrisonburg, Virginia • (540) 433-1517 2530 W. Main Street, Waynesboro, Virginia • (540) 943-3231
879-9899 Winter 2014 • living 33
Congratulations…
to those who successfully completed the word search from the Fall issue of Living. Eleanor Armentrout Rich & Pat Armstrong April Ashbrooks Dolores Barnett Norma Bowman Lois Burkholder Bridgewater Ruth Burkholder Opal Alt Anna Cline Edinburg Hensel Armentrout Mary Cline Faydene Dove Charlotte Fifer Alma Conley Donna Shafer Travis Fisher Clarence Davis Carolyn Freeman Wilma Davis Elkton Anna Keller Leon & Elizabeth Bailey Ethel Derrow Judy Maclam Jeanie Diehl Elizabeth Comer Janet Stepp Luke Drescher Linda Cooper Glen Thomas Joyce Foltz Betty Jane Davis Edwin Wade Wayne & Brenda Dean Eva Glanzer Margaret Ann Barbara Goins Jackie Deane Wheelbarger Jackie Golladay Julie Dearing Lorraine Good JoAnn Foltz Brightwood Dorothy Goshey Alison Galvanek Virginia Coppedge Florence Green Mikey Good Karen Lillard John & Linda Hamilton Linda Gooden Mildred Hensley Martha & Cooper Broadway Harold Huffman Gooden Helen Brunk Don Hunsberger Maxine Hines Brookelyn Collins Wilhelmina Johnson Vivian Hitt Jane Conley Lowell Kauffman Bernice Hutton Carolyn Cubbage Naomi Kniss Patricia Knight Charlotte Cullers Destin & Sienna Lam Tanner & Candace Dove Joyce Lam Charlotte Landes Robert & Nancy Hinkle Pam Lilly Glen Layman Buddy Merica Pearl Keister Judy Liskey Sandra Morris Juanita Lantz Gladys Longacre Eldon & Bettie Layman Joyce Sheets Virginia Martin Joeseph & Mary Lou Dessil May Lois Maust Shifflett Amy & Breanna Ours Randy & Teresa May Yvonne Tincher Aileen Pettit Bobby McDonaldson Idelma Winegard Savilla Shipe Delores Merrick Eleanor Showman Beverly Miller Fulks Run Evelyn Shultz Mildred Miller Margorie Carr Faye Siever Sara Miller Anna Dove Cathy Slifer Dena Moyers Becky Morris Ed Wade Erma Mummau Hope Ritchie Doris Phillips Marcella Turner Churchville Brenda Rhodes Ethel Ernst Warren Riddle Grottoes Frances Ritchie Marie Marston Criders Mary See Angel Moore Martha Brady Juanelle Simmons Joe & Linda Morris Carroll Coffman Margaret Sipe Teresa Thompson Bernice Keplinger Alice Souder Darlene Williamson Doug Propst Patricia Sponaugle June Wise Nancy Stultz Dayton Cindy Suter Harrisonburg Donna Hoover Phyllis Arbogast Libby Lambert Bergton Terry & Victoria Dove Dana Hartman Cathy Rodeheaver
Chuck Mathias Brenda Miller Norman Mongold Julia Rhodes Sue Ringgold Trevor & Ferne Wenger
Paul & Bertha Swarr Betty Troyer Phyllis Vandevander Anda Weaver Aldeen Wenger Billy Wright Shirley Young Hinton Vada Brooks Marion & Patsy Thompson Keezletown Lewis Omps Lacey Spring Sarah Miller Linville Greta Cooper Sheila Fitzwater Donnie Taylor Anita Whetzel Luray Katrina Buracker Margaret Comer McGaheysville Helen Breeden Walter Gerner Batrice Horst Angela Shifflett Mitchells Gene Seefeldt
Brittany Nunemaker Rhoda Olinger Ina Richards Donna Shafer Irene Silvious Connie Thornton Maxine Wine Nancy Zupo Port Republic Beulah Hartman Letha Knox Shirley Miller Connie Sue Scott Richmond Patti Banton Shenandoah Jean McAlister Mertie Blakemore Linda Breeden Bobby Comer Marie Comer Trudy Comer Catherine Good Janice Jones Mary Frances Nichols Annie Olaker Joyce Warren Singers Glen Betty Demastus Frank & Linda Mundy Holly Simmons
Mt. Crawford Nancy Diehl
Stanley Delmas & Doris Cubbage Mary Hunkley
Mt. Sidney Nellie Woods
Staunton Joyce Shultz
Mt. Solon Edna Hosaflook Joyce Lough Elizabeth Selkirk Elsie Shull Patricia Wichael
Timberville Blanche Collins Bonnie Collins Chastity Collins Pricilla Pence Linda Lou Riggleman Linda Roadcap Patsy Ryman Laura Simmons Kathryn Smith Marie Stroop Linda Wine
New Market Jo Ann Martin Shirley Moomaw Crystale Nunemaker
Virginia Beach Bessie Derrow Waynesboro Peter Grimm Weyers Cave Lucretia Carter Jay & Fran Hite Winchester Randie Parker Woodstock Joyce Hamrick Sanibel, FL Mary Fravel Fallston, MD Lynda Walker Harrisonville, MO Esther Hartzler Bullock, NC Bobby Edmonds Yorktown Hts., NY Hedwig Marti Gettysburg, PA Donna Riley Sayre, PA Sarah Horton Gaston, SC Judy Carper Baker, WV Janet Dove Bethany, WV Anita Weaver Franklin, WV Betty Smith Upper Tract, WV Karen Kimble Calgary, AB, Canada Elizabeth Wiebe
Yearly subscription to If you would like to receive this quarterly publication in your mailbox, it is available by subscription for $16 a year. To subscribe, return this form with your check or money order made payable to Valley Living, or go online to valleyliving.org. ❏ Payment of $16 is enclosed for 4 issues (or $32 for 8).
❏ I would like to make an additional donation of $ ___________.
Name: _________________________________________ Phone: _____________________________________________ (include in case we have questions. We will not use for any other purpose.) Address: ________________________________________ City: ___________________ State: _____ Zip: ______________ 34 living • Winter 2014
Most-loved comfort foods by JEANETTE BAER SHOWALTER
Comfort As the holidays approach,Most-‐Loved our thoughts turn to family, Foods friends and sharing meals around festive table. warm by aJeanette Baer AShowalter meal on a cold day can both satisfy hunger and soothe the soul. Certain foods have been labeled “comfort foods” for that very reason. Whether you live in the North, South, East or West, you will find these delicious meals, regional and national, in the puzzle below. They may be enjoyed forward, backward, horizontally, vertically and diagonally. ©THINKSTOCK
B
A
C
O
N
A
N
D
E
G
G
S
T
I
R
G
S
B
APPLE PIE
GRILLED CHEESE
S
D
C
I
U
S
N
W
O
R
B
H
S
A
H
E
E
I
BACON AND
GRITS
E
L
A
I
S
P
A
G
H
E
T
T
I
V
F
S
N
S
EGGS
HASH BROWNS
O
H
A
E
N
T
E
I
P
E
L
P
P
A
E
N
W
C
BISCUITS AND
LASAGNA
T
Q
C
E
R
N
E
I
U
N
H
G
Y
E
Z
E
E
U
GRAVY
MACARONI AND
A
U
M
I
M
B
A
A
V
B
G
T
H
F
D
K
T
I
BRUNSWICK
CHEESE
T
S
C
W
U
T
N
M
K
E
S
C
W
X
J
C
S
T
STEW
MASHED
CHICKEN
POTATOES
O
T
H
J
D
Q
A
R
O
A
D
R
I
B
S
I
K
S
NOODLE SOUP
MEATLOAF
P
U
O
S
E
L
D
O
O
N
N
E
K
C
I
H
C
A
CHILI
OATMEAL
D
F
W W
J
D
R
T
A
C
R
U
H
F
A
C
I
N
CHOWDER
PASTA
E
F
D
V
C
E
H
I
H
A
P
O
B
A
N
D
W
D
CINNAMON
PORK CHOPS
H
I
E
I
L
C
N
I
E
S
Q
A
L
O
G
E
S
G
ROLLS
POT PIE
S
N
R
B
N
O
L
I
K
S
N
U
S
L
A
I
N
R
COBBLER
POT ROAST
A
G
B
E
R
I
P
G
Y
E
K
R
U
T
S
R
U
A
COLLARDS
QUICHE
CORNBREAD
RIBS
M
O
R
A
X
T
S
A
O
R
T
O
P
A
A
F
R
V
FRENCH TOAST
SPAGHETTI
C
F
C
P
O
R
K
C
H
O
P
S
J
E
L
M
B
Y
FRIED CHICKEN STEAK
N
A
S
P
R
S
D
R
A
L
L
O
C
M
J
K
L
V
GREEN BEAN
STUFFING
M
B
E
S
E
E
H
C
D
E
L
L
I
R
G
T
L
N
CASSEROLE
TURKEY
Mail your completed puzzle and your name will be published in the next issue of Living. _________________________________________________
What stories did you find most interesting in this issue?
1. ______________________________________________
name/please print
_________________________________________________
2. ______________________________________________
address
_________________________________________________ city
state
zip
3. ______________________________________________ Share comments or suggestions on separate sheet. Please advise if you do not want this to be published.
Print off additional copies of this puzzle at valleyliving.org. Mail by January 28, 2015, to Living, 1251 Virginia Ave., Harrisonburg, VA 22802. Winter 2014 • living 35
May the simple joys of the Christmas season be yours.
Wishing you friendly smiles, holiday cheer, and lots of joy throughout the coming year as we recognize and celebrate God’s great blessings. The staff, board, advertisers and sponsors of Valley Living John & Mary Ann Heatwole
Dusty Rhodes Attorney
B&L Glass & Mirror 827 N. Main St. • Harrisonburg 540-434-8072
Bernard & Joan Martin
Compliments of a Friend
Greg & Karen Montgomery
Friends of Valley Living
Clark & Bradshaw
Byard & Betty Deputy
Park View Appliance Service, Inc.
Traditions Family Restaurant
Whitmer’s Tire & Service 611 North Main St. • Harrisonburg 540-434-4486
Dorothy Hartman Valley Engineering Surveying & Planning 3231 Peoples Dr. • 540-434-6365
36 living • Winter 2014
BotkinRose.com
92 N. Liberty St. • Harrisonburg 540-433-2601
Kenneth & Ruth Heatwole David Sacra Painting Interior/Exterior Licensed/Insured 540-820-3928
540-434-8179
625 Mt. Cinton Pike • Harrisonburg 540-438-0301
Glendon Blosser
205 Dry River Rd. • Bridgewater 540-810-3239
Suter Engineering
Living Board & Staff: Trisha Blosser David Rohrer William J. “Bill” Troyer Tracey Veney Jonas Borntrager Ben Roth Shank Steven C. “Dusty” Rhodes Ramona Sanders Jessica Hostetler David Slykhuis Melodie Davis Paul A Yoder Raymond Ressler Lindsey Shantz Mary Jo Veurink