I realize it has been a while since I last updated you faithful readers on what's going on around here. I usually find updating a difficult task because of my muddly memory. Recalling events from the recent past has never been one of my spiritual gifts. When I worked on Dave Charles's farm, sometimes I'd get home and my mom would ask what I did that day and I'd respond, "Um, I fed the cows?" drawing a blank on 90 percent of the days activities. Of course if the calves got out and I had to chase them around for half an hour because ever time I almost got them back to their huts, the dog came and chased them away again, I'd remember that. But for the most part, none of the calves around HDC have gotten out. Things have been going steadily, but surely; no one big event stands out. So allow me to fly by the seat of my pants and see what I can think of as I go:

I returned to HDC Friday evening after being at home for a tad over a week. Much to my relief, nothing bad had happened. It has seemed that whenever I go home, something bad happens here at HDC (One of the YES participants breaking his toe, a van window getting bashed in, and the Carraige House flooding were all events that happened on weekends/days that I was home). The next moring was a Community Cleanup event which drew a huge crowd. We were split into groups of about 12 and sent to cover different streets. Trash bags in hand, we went after all the litter and garbage that is so common on the streets of Harrisburg. I haven't heard a number of how many bags we picked up all together, but it's quite an enormous number, I'm sure.

Last night I reminded myself how bad I sometimes am at decision making. I was in the side yard throwing a football around with a bunch of kids, and it happened. I don't even remember how or why I did it. All I remember is that all of a sudden, I was holding a kid by his arms and swinging him in circles. Fun for me, fun for the kid, how can you go wrong? I've found that swinging kids is like growing bacteria. One becomes two, which becomes four, which becomes eight, which becomes sixteen. Before long, I was surround by about 10 kids all saying that I had said they were next. In no time at all, I was dizzy and out of breathe. Yeah, I took breaks, but the problem with breaks is that they are like dying bacteria. Each break only has about half of the stomach settling, diaphram relaxing effect as the last one did. But needless to say, this is one area that I'm sure my decision making won't improve, nor do I want it to. There are plenty things I can't do, but I can swing kids in circles (all joking comments aside, I do think my dizziness tolerance/stability is above average) so, hey, why not?

I was reminded to be grateful for modern technology while I was home. Especially for digital photography. My family went to one of my favorite local hiking spots (tae quan glen-that spelling is not "Ben-guarenteed") and I took 87 pictures. Yup, 87. I think 4 or 5 are duplicates. If I would have had to worry about the cost and effort of changing rolls of film, my afternoon would have been much less enjoyable. So thank you, technology. In many ways, you've made civilization less civil and your labor saving schemes have just created work that's harder to understand, but never the less, you sometimes do work wonders.

Even as I write, I can see the clouds rolling in on the "calm" that we've had here for the past few months. Monday-Wednesday, we will be at the main EMM offices in Salunga all day for Action Week. We'll basically be parts of discussion teams on different aspects of EMM/YES. Thursday-Saturday, we'll be going to a camp ground near Jacki's house for Staff retreat. The morning after we return, we'll be heading to Indiana until Wednesday or Thursday (not entirely sure when we come back). The week after that, we'll be busy getting ready for a re-entry of 17 people, as well as do chapel at Christopher Dock on May 4. So there's a lot on the schedule coming up.