Memphis Democrat November 29, 2000

We had a very helpful visit from ATO fraternity from Truman State . They came for and tour and then helped us chop firewood and install Kalen's ceiling. We hope they'll come back again soon.

Members of our Board of Directors of our nonprofit converged on Dancing Rabbit for the day long annual meeting. They met to approve our decisions of the last year and give us guidance for next year. Directors include Dave Hauri of Des Moines, IA who originally conceived of the idea for Dancing Rabbit, former intern Stephanie, who is finishing up her last year at Truman State, former member Debra, who currently lives in Kirksville, Sandhill member Lindsey and our own Jacob.

We held our second signing dinner. Instead of speaking, we communicated using American Sign Language. Many people are just learning the language so we practiced asking each other our names, talking about our food and going over the colors.

Alline and Kurt had a little house warming party to warm up their very cold house. Sandhill came over and joined us for some cheer, gifts and good wishes for Alline and Kurt. We hope their house stays warm.

Tony, Susan and Jess are working to keep the rest of us warm, too. They've been running to the pallet mill to pick up wood scraps for us to use for firewood this winter and delivering them to our houses. When you get firewood the Dancing Rabbit way, it heats you twice: once when hauling it and once when you burn it.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner at Sandhill Farm. We invited friends from as far away as Columbia and Kansas City to join us for delicious food that was raised by all of us. I didn't know that we could seat 26 in Sandhill's living room, but we managed and didn't mind being cozy. After dinner, we went out for a walk to see the snapping turtles under the ice in the swimming pond of other features of Sandhill's property.

This week was sad for us, as many people we loved left. Interns Tim and Minna both left to return to their respective families. Timothy came to visit from Detroit and picked up Jacob. We had months of notice that Jacob would be leaving to join Timothy in Detroit and plenty of time to wrap things up, but its still very sad to see such a well-loved member leave. We can only hope that they and their child-to-be will decide to visit often and move back someday.