Ned Erickson: UPDATE Week of October 26

Horsing Around

To know Bailey is to know she loves horses

Turns out, horses love her, too!

This is Eddie. Our names rhyme.

She's Back!

Emily had to spend her birthday in quarantine because of a COVID exposure. What a bummer. But, in true Emily fashion, she made the most of it and after a week of isolation, she returned to the land of the living after a negative test result. Praise the Lord!

Round Table

We had a pre-Thanksgiving feast for Round Table this week thanks to the Howard family!

The highlight of the night was Hayes debuting a new song he wrote based on Psalm 27.

ZOOM!

Ned got to get his Zoom on multiple times this week. His office doesn't get the best reception so he typically goes to the classroom.

He has been doing invocation this month at Rotary. He likes to keep them brief and to the point, which is the main reason he thinks people keep asking him to do them!

CHRISTMAS FOR THE CITY

On the way to a Christmas for the City Meeting

AJ and Jon Allen keep the discussion going after the meeting ends.

I love what Jon (the Producer) said about this year's Christmas for the City. "We can't do what we've done in the past, but if there was ever a year when our city needs hope - it's this year."

Come on!

VOTE!

Early voting is quick and easy

LEADER LUNCH

Jay Helvey is one of our annual speakers for our weekly Leader Lunches. He lives his life rightly oriented. It wasn't always that way. But it sure is now. It is an inspiration and honor to know him as a friend. And we are lucky to have such a great leader in our city.

Thanks Jay for spending time with us!

FARM SERVE

We got our hands dirty with some friends as we prepped the farm for the long winter.

Things are still blooming!

FRISBEE SERVE

We are winding down our daylight hours for Frisbee. It has been such a rich blessing to get to know these kids. They have come such a long way.

We are thinking about creative ways to keep the momentum through the winter months. Any ideas?

Night frisbee I guess is an option.

GROWING COMMUNITY

We had some new friends over to the house for some Polish Poker. The guy on the right is one of our Frisbee Friends. The guy on the left is from one of our Fellows work.

This is Bailey and her host family sister.

I always tell folks: Healthy Community breeds Healthy Community.

Even in a pandemic - especially in a pandemic, we need to find ways to grow.

Look who Nancy Keshian and I saw on our morning walk!

Another way I love to watch community grow is between Fellows classes.

Brianne and Bryn have become fast friends.

Bryn poses among the pillars at the Artivity Park

Owen loves his job

Sam reads AJ bedtime stories

Look who Nancy and I saw on our walk Thursday morning.

LAST CLASS with DAVIDF

David Speakman is an awesome teacher. He ended his class on Friday by reading us a bedtime story as well. One of my favorites: The Runaway Bunny.

FIELD TRIP

Our second class was outdoors.

Kevin Frack taught us how to harvest sweet potatoes.

He also taught us about Jesus

He also taught us about life

He also also modeled what being an awesome granddaddy is like

Emily won the strangest sweet potato award!

Getting our hands dirty

FRIDAY FUN

Drive-In Avett Brothers Concert

A classy time at Medaloni Cellars

Truly high class as you can see

Enjoying the amazing fall weather

LAST YEARS FELLOWS

We got the gang back together for a Saturday night dinner

Jessica like usually made us all laugh

Ned pulled off a selfie. It was on a timer because he didn't know how to turn off the function.

Meanwhile, Fellows were at Fiddlin Fish playing some Settlers of Catan

SUNDAY WORSHIP

Sam is volunteering on the Audio Visual team

I sat behind Emily and Lynn.

Emily and Lynn played some double duty and went to Outdoor Vespers in the mist. This is Lynn with her Host Mom Deanne Trollinger

In between church services, I had the opportunity to shop for school supplies for a family through the Bright Beginnings program.

I'll be honest - it's a little stressful shopping for a third grade girl!

ENJOYING NATURE

The family got away for a short trip to the mountains

We visited the cave where we hide our time capsule.

Each year we write down wishes and prayers for each other.

Here are the new ones, put back safe and sound.

We also saw a bear! Two actually. We had seen evidence of them for years, but this was the first time we had actually seen them. They were big, too! One jumped over a fence!

GIVE