Much has happened since our last update, but the most monumental by far is the birth of Aaron and Halle's baby, Jack William, who weighed just under seven and a half pounds and joined the world outside of Halle around 2 p.m. on December 2nd. Prior to the birth, all six Rabbits had gathered at Aaron and Halle's Bloomington apartment to spend a little time together and possibly be there for the birth. However, the baby didn't come until after Tony and Rachel had headed off to the East Coast for family and holiday events. Cecil and Star stayed in Bloomington and got to witness the birth. They were glad to get to get to be part of such a momentous event for the Bennett/Corbin family.
Unfortunately, they didn't get to stay too long after as they were slated to go up north to pick up a 38 passenger "chool bus" donated by long time Rabbit supporter Chris Knight. After a day of dealing with reclassifying the bus as an RV so that it could be driven without commercial driver's licenses, and various other preposterous legal snaggles, Cecil, Star and a nearby construction worker did a little parking lot mechanics on a busted power steering hose and the bus ran beautifully all the way to Missouri. We think it will be useful in more ways than we can imagine, for hauling or as office space, storage, or a grain bin. A special thanks to Chris and his partner, Thora, for donating their old home to us and running all over town to get it legal.
Cecil and Star used their time in the Chicago area to their best advantage, spending time with the folks from Fiddler's Green. They met Dan, hung out, and had a feast at a local vegetarian restaurant. Cecil and Star agree with Rachel's earlier assessment of the Fiddlers: quality entertainment.
The first week of December, Tony and Star met up in Virginia for the FEC meetings. Tony was Skyhouse's official delegate and attended 3 days worth of meetings. Skyhouse is now officially a "Community in Dialogue" in the FEC (see "Skyhouse Joins FEC", page 6).
Speaking of becoming official, both Dancing Rabbit (the ecovillage) and Skyhouse (the subcommunity within DR) are now legally incorporated nonprofits within the state of Missouri. Yes Chris, and everyone else, donations are now tax deductible! We will be getting our bylaws consensed on and in the mail soon so that we will be able to file our taxes as a 501(d) for Skyhouse and a 501(c)3 for DR. And of course, we can't forget to mention our new status as members of the Fabius buying club here in Scotland county which allows us to purchase at wholesale prices from a natural foods distributor.
Much to our relief, we recently got the go-ahead on moving into a rental house 2 1/2 miles from Sandhill. It is near Rutledge and across the road from the 270 acres that we are currently most interested in purchasing. Rachel and Star in particular are eager to unpack their belongings, which have waited patiently in the trailer since late August. The house is made up of two mobile homes pushed together and under one roof, giving us four bedrooms and abundant common space. The rent is incredibly low and it will need some minor work, since the toilets run directly into the pig pen next door, but it is well insulated and in overall decent shape. We're hoping the current tenants take their pigs with them...
The rest of December looks to be a busy flurry of moving, holiday celebrations and holding down our income jobs, not to mention continuing to pitch in at Sandhill and the usual meetings. We have tentative plans for a New Year's/Housewarming party, so call for details if you will be in the area around that time. We look forward to February when we will all be together and hope to start focusing on visitors and construction. Stay tuned for many exciting milestones in 1997!
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