After the first week in our new home, alternating meals with a single spoon, we went back up North to collect our spattering of possessions with the help of some eager guys...



The move down went smoothly thanks to a last second Matt King rescue of a flapping blanket that was surreptitiously inching its way to freedom. After moving in (which took all of five minutes), we headed to the Athens Beach - I'm not sure what the story is behind the beach in the middle of thousands of acres of national forest, but it was a perfect setting for us to play one of our time-tested favorites - a group "hacking" game. This particular one involved catching and throwing a frisbee to each other in mid-air. We set a goal of five hacks, meaning that each person around the circle had to catch/throw the frisbee five times without anyone dropping it - this took a good four or five hours, but it was ever so satisfying when we reached it!

One of the things that attracted Joo and me to Athens was the community feel - here is a chart that's displayed in one of the local cafes, showing an example of sustainability through buying a decent portion of goods locally and then balancing them with a handful of regional, national, and international foods/drinks.

But the boys were more interested in having fun during their weekend visit. We played a card-throwing accuracy game, with the loser agreeing to any punishment set forth by the winners. Dustin's aim was off which cost him a trip through Krogers in some attire provided by JooYeon...

Having explored his feminine side a bit too much, Dustin led the boys onto more "manly" tasks like a group push-up.

After all the action, and a rough night in Wayne National Forest, the group crashed readily on our floor.

They revived the next day and all gave me their opinions on different possibilities of how to handle the remodeling of the house. Being so clueless myself and feeling overwelmed with all the different projects, it was extremely encouraging to hear. It was also fun in general just to have a weekend of "practice" for our intentional community (this summer we plan to have Joo's brother out, as well as John - both living with us - and perhaps other guests coming and going).

I think they inspired Joo too, because after they left, she was busy working on lots of the nesting details.
All in all, it has gotten progressively more optimistic as we mold it into our new home!