Albuquerque – Tillers & Travelers

Top of the Mountain

There is nothing like making it to the top of a crest! And, even better making it with a band of kinfolk. Personal accomplishments are rewarding and necessary. However, the shared accomplishment of a group effort makes for an even deeper human experience and the byproduct of that offers personal satisfaction that is incomparable.

Into the wild we strolled with our good friends in Albuquerque, The Burtons, our ECM family, specially Shirley, The Mulders, Holly and her family, The Potters and the rest of the Foothills crew. We hiked mountain tops, visited National Monuments, and saw cave dwellings. We shared wonderful meals, drinks and conversations, we played music, shared sacred space and we built stuff. We shared our joys and our woes, confessing our struggles, and marveling over the faithfulness of our God in bringing us all together again.

It is a joy to share in community with kinfolk, to carry one another’s burdens, lift each other up and encourage each other in our spiritual, emotional and physical well-being. Until next time ABQ!

The Bee Keepers

Every time we swing through Albuquerque, NM we stop in to lend a helping hand at ECM. These friends are committed to the day in day out harmony and restoration of their local neighborhood in Central ABQ. They are generous and innovative, always looking for ways to serve their community and invite the community into the experience. An urban farm is one of their many projects and bees are an important part of that process. So, over the course of five days, Craig and crew built Bee hives.

Fun facts about Honey Bees:

There are three types of bees in the hive – Queen, Worker and Drone.
The queen may lay 600-800 or even 1,500 eggs each day during her 3 or 4 year lifetime. She is constantly fed and groomed by attendant worker bees.
Honey bees fly at 15 miles per hour.
Honey bees’ wings stroke 11,400 times per minute, thus making their distinctive buzz.
Honeybees are the only insect that produce food for humans.
Honeybees will usually travel approximately 3 miles from their hive.
Honeybees are the only bees that die after they sting.
Honeybees are responsible for pollinating approx 80% of all fruit, vegetable and seed crops in the U.S.
Honeybees have five eyes, 3 small ones on top of the head and two big ones in front. They also have hair on their eyes!
Honeybees never sleep!
Bees communicate with each other by dancing and by using pheromones (scents).

Speaking of dancing and good vibes, we topped off our visit with ECM by sharing a meal and jam around the campfire.

Our favorite, 88-year-old Shirley was in great spirits. What a joy to see her one last time before she heads out east to be with her 90 yr old sister.

We always look forward to sharing in community with the kinfolk at Casa Shalom. Until next time friends!

The Hollands! Christmas Tour

The Hollands! Christmas Tour. We kick off this weekend in Tucson, AZ.

For details on times and cost visit www.thehollands.org

Looking forward to seeing all you kinfolk out on the open road!

ECM and Casa Shalom

In the center of the East Central neighborhoods of La Mesa and Trumbull there is a light that shine brightly. This highly transient, low-income neighborhood is vulnerable to devious activity but with a deep commitment to the ministry of reconciliation and a persevering spirit, East Central Ministries offers an alternate reality to one of Albuquerque’s most violent and poverty-stricken areas.

ECM was developed in the spring of 1999 by John Bulten as a inter-denominational missions ministry in Albuquerque. John spent the first two years walking the streets, talking to our neighbors and the relationships that he built during that time continues to be the foundation of the ministry today. In the summer of 2001, ECM moved into a boarded up building that was being used as a drug house. They renovated the property and opened with two community programs, “Wings of Eagles” youth leadership program and the Community Food Co-op.

Over the past years ECM has evolved in several directions and has become a vital part of the community. However, ECM primary focuses continues to be to build long-term lasting relationships with their neighbors. This is a unique approach in a “social service” organization because they actually encourage people to participate in their programs/community on a regular, long-term basis. They are committed to long-term development and economic projects within the community as well as providing community led classes and initiatives.

We met John when we arrived for our tour. His welcoming presence and enthusiasm for his work and neighborhood was apparent. We met Morgan who runs the Urban Farm, Becky and Katina who facilitates the community youth programs, Louise, Shirley and many others who live at the Housing cooperative, Casa Shalom. We also met Bob who manages Common Goods Thrift Store and the staff at the Community run health care clinic, One Hope, which is the primer work site for medical students at the University of New Mexico.

There was a lot going on at ECU! We observed vibrant life and a people with a commitment to continue to work out relationship struggles. That openness to seeing cracks, discord and seeking reconciliation was most encouraging to us. It’s one thing to care for the community around you, to have great programs but we believe to be a people willing to nurture and seek reconciliation in the most intimate relationships brings true life to the community around us. We know that commitment is what will sustain them through the years. We are blessed to have met these “Tillers” and look forward to more times of community with our new Albuquerque friends. We also encourage you to connect with them along your way. Visit http://www.eastcentralministries.org for more info. Give them a call, they are your global/local neighbor.

Neighbors in New Mexico

We have been in New Mexico for three weeks, one of our longer stop overs. We are parked in the cul de sac neighborhood of North Foothills. Our hosts, the Burtons, connected us with the Mulder’s, their next door neighbors and they allowed us to park in their “flat” driveway. The Burton’s have six children and the Mulder’s have four, they both home school and have been such gracious hosts.

We have a brief history with the Burtons via our time at a community in Chicago. There is something connective about living with others that binds us together with others who have also lived there, even if our connection at the time of living in community was limited. I suppose it’s what folks who have been in the military or a sorority/fraternity might feel when they meet someone along the way who was in the same one. It’s a familiar feeling, yes, it feels like being with family. While with the Burtons we celebrated birthdays, had dinner parties, went hiking and enjoyed everyday life. I had the opportunity to cook for the whole clan most nights, which was a real joy for me. We shared homeschool stories and duties, (Craig taught math to the kids, David taught Mountain Biking, Sofjia taught English, and I taught Art). Sofija writes a blog and interviewed us about our journey homeschooling on the road. You can read that at “Teach Where You Live”

While in town, we also connected with a few other kinfolk. My dear friend, Holly and her family moved to Albuquerque a few years back and we enjoyed renewed friendship and encouragement. We had fun working out at Hot Yoga, dining at a hibachi grill, and working on a project at her house, building a fence for her dogs. It was so good to see her. Also, we connected with another close family, the Grovers, who moved to Albuquerque about 9 months ago to care for aging parents. Brian Grover is a mate of Craig’s and used to play music with him back in the old Ballydowse days. We performed in Albuquerque and Brian joined us for that show on Bass.