New York Renovator

Just a little reminder: if you have an abundance of food or income, please donate to your church or local food bank community. My local news story had an article today that said more people are needing food, but food donations and food supplies are very low. Higher gasoline, electric rates, and utilities are putting the squeeze on working families. And workers are not seeing their wages rise at all to cover the higher costs. So if you have been blessed with abundance, please donate food or stuff.

You can check with your local church, as they usually are the hubs of such organizations. The United Methodist Church has a long history of giving to the needy, and you can donate money online now. There’s also a listing of churches in your phone book yellow pages. Here are some handy links you can use to find the nearest food bank:

The Salvation Army
The Community Food Bank
The Rescue Mission
America’s Second Harvest
The Hunger Site

Giving doesn’t always mean giving money. Food and household supplies are very important. We’ve received those things when we were pretty low, and they were a God-send. Also, some places allow you to give furniture, clothing, and vehicles. You can also give your time, by visiting a lonely elderly person or visiting someone in prison who wants the Bible read to him. Kids can write letters or donate toys.

Please remember that some folks are really suffering. And we always have good intentions to help don’t we? Well, don’t procrastinate today– give something today! And God bless you.

Thank you! Thank you! No applause really!!! (just cash).

The Queen of Pith– Her Royal Majesty of the Pithical Kingdom– has given my blog the highest honor of her kingdom (so far). Move over, Victoria Cross, move over, Knighthood! It’s the Brilliante Weblog Award!

*little girls in white dresses throw red flowers petals as Mrs. Mecomber walks by*

*Mrs. Mecomber taps microphone*

Thank you! Thank you! I have the honor of passing this award to seven other bloggers. The choices are very difficult to make, as there are so many who deserve this award. So, I’m going to pull the winning blogs out of a hat! Here are the winners!

Foodie & Travel Bug!

On the Bricks!

My Interesting Files!

Carole’s Thoughtful Spot!

Brazocowgirl!

Alexander Hamilton, Patriot!

A Postcard a Day!

Here are the rules for passing on the award:

1. Put the logo on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3. Nominate at least seven other blogs.
4. Add links to those blogs on your blog.
5. Leave a message for your nominee on their blog.

Winners, I deem that you are under no obligation to do a post in this award, by all means, should you choose not to. Just know that you are loved. Enjoi!

P.S. Did you know that spell check still says that “weblog” is a misspelled word? Funny!

I live in Central New York. It is one of the most economically depressed areas in the nation, but amazingly, it is one of the most charitable areas in the nation, and probably the most charitable region in New York State. We have a lot of “walks” to help others: the Heart Run & Walk, Relay For Life, and the Alzheimer’s Memory Walk sponsored by the Masonic Home Community. It’s a GREAT walk and nothing builds a community than banding together for a good cause– to help the needy amongst us.

The Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk is one of the nation’s largest charitable walks. It raises money to help support and care for patients with the dreaded disease, and it also provides funds for more research into what causes Alzheimer’s, and how to treat it. Any person of any age can help– what a terrific community-building event this can be! The walks are not burdensome– they are usually 2-3 miles and they are held in autumn, when the blistering heat of the summer has passed.

Please consider participating in this year’s walk or supporting someone who will participate. Go to this website and search for an Alzheimer’s Memory Walk in your area– search by zip code, it’s easy!

Some kids make big pirate castles or monster mansions with their Legos. What do my kids create?

Operation: Auca.

It’s a recreation of the Auca Indian village of Ecuador and the five missionaries (including Jim Elliot and Nate Saint) who reached out to them (and were killed). Later, the wives of two of the men (Elisabeth Elliot and Rachel Saint, with Elisabeth’s young daughter) moved into the village to translate the Bible into the Auca language. The Aucas were so stunned by such forgiveness and love that they all became Christians. My kids recently saw the movie “Beyond the Gates of Splendor.”

P.S. Guess who wrote this in his book:

In a voyager to forget these things is base ingratitude; for should he chance to be at the point of shipwreck on some unknown coast, he will most devoutly pray that the lesson of the missionary may have extended thus far.

Charles Darwin.

Here’s the section:
There are many who attack [the missionaries]. They expect the missionaries to effect that which the Apostles themselves failed to do. Inasmuch as the condition of the people falls short of this high standard, blame is attached to the missionary, instead of credit for that which he has effected. They forget, or will not remember, that human sacrifices, and the power of an idolatrous priesthood— a system of profligacy unparalleled in any other part of the world—infanticide a consequence of that system—bloody wars, where the conquerors spared neither women nor children— that all these have been abolished; and that dishonesty, intemperance, and licentiousness have been greatly reduced by the introduction of Christianity. In a voyager to forget these things is base ingratitude; for should he chance to be at the point of shipwreck on some unknown coast, he will most devoutly pray that the lesson of the missionary may have extended thus far. ~Charles Darwin

An interesting story in Britain: it is 80 years ago, after World War II. A man from Somerset runs a scrap-metal business, making barely enough money to feed his family and build his house. (No extravagant massage therapy schools for this family!). He comes across an odd-looking bronze cup. Deeming it too beautiful for scrap, he saves the cup in a box with other oddities, for his grandchildren to play with when they visit. The old man dies, leaving the box of old toys and oddities for one of the grandsons.

Fast-forward to 2008. The grandson is now a grandfather himself, and is going through his old storage boxes. He discovers that old bronze cup he used to play with as a child. Curious, he sends the old cup to the British Museum for examination. The tests results: the cup is 22-carat gold, not bronze, and dates back to the Achaemenid Persian Empire period– three decades before the birth of Christ.

Wow! How I wish I could find something like that in my backyard! Read more of the story here. The cup recently sold for half a million pounds in an auction.

Hat tip Lofty Matters for the story.

I’ve been pondering if we Westerners put too much time, effort, and money into our homes and yards. I have been reading the latest This Old House magazine, and this month’s stories are celebrating the hundreds of thousands of dollars average homeowners have been dumping into their homes. Don’t get me wrong– the houses are beautiful. But it cost these folks a ton of money to do it all. A few of the showcased homes are in Wisconsin and Indiana. And you know what? Some of those houses are probably underwater now, after the torrential rainfall and flooding that has afflicted that part of the country. And you know what else? If these homeowners didn’t have flood insurance (and many who don’t live in flood plains don’t), then these homeowners lost everything. EVERYTHING. And to top it all off, they are probably in debt to  the hundreds of thousands. Yikes.

The American Indian tribes built temporary homes. The Indians realized how fickle and uncontrollable North American weather patterns can be. Even the Iroquois of New York and Canada, whose homes were of solid tree-limb framing and sided with tree bark, could strip everything down and move quickly. They actually did move very frequently, every twenty years or so.

Now please don’t take this wrong– I’m not saying we should return to bark-sided houses and cook mice over open campfires! And I like my CAT6 Internet wiring just as much as anyone! But there comes a point when we no longer own our home, but our home owns us. This is true for many other things, these fleeting material things in this world.

I’ve blogged about the Amish before, written how I admire their simple ways. The reason they avoid most “technology” is because they realize that these things complicate our lives and threaten the family and community units. I think they have been correct about this. And yet the Amish are usually the first ones to show up after we “Gentiles” experience a natural disaster. The Amish came out in droves to help New Yorkers whose homes had been ravaged by floods in 2006. The Amish may have rejected modern ways, but they have not abandoned the timeless rule of loving one’s neighbor as oneself.

I am not Amish, but I share a good deal of their values and admire their way of life. Some of you might even consider us as somewhat Amish- we still have no electricity for half the house, the heating system is defunct for the upstairs, and we have no television, dishwasher, or Wii! The difference is that I would love to have electricity and a dishwasher (I’ll skip the tv and Wii, thanks). But stepping back is good. I don’t ever want this house to own ME. I’d like to fix it up, make it work, and be comfortable, but Lord please keep this thing from becoming an idol in my heart. In a fleeting moment, it’ll all be gone.

flooding photo from AssociatedPress.