Today is my birthday! Don’t mind if I toot my own horn for a minute do you?

Wishing you Peace and Blessings.

Sorry for the long pause here on the blog. I have been slammed with a surprise event that is taking all my “extra” time. The surprise is a trip to Canada for an amazing opportunity and a huge honor for our hockey team. As you may already know, I have a huge passion in my life other than teaching straw bale construction (I know it’s hard to believe anything could be more exciting than straw bale construction). My other passion is coaching the kids on the 12 and under hockey team here in Medford, Oregon. This last week, our team traveled to San Jose, California to take part in the Pacific Regional Championship for the International Silver Stick Hockey Tournament. Our kids did an amazing job and won the whole tournament for their age level. There were over 1400 kids at this tournament so winning was a big deal. We have now been invited to the international finals in Ontario, Canada! This is as good as it gets for youth hockey. It is truly the Stanley Cup of youth hockey!

We have created a website to track the progress of our team on our quest to the cup! There is a lot to do and much preparation to make before we go. Of course a big part has to do with raising money. Sorry to throw the plug in here, but we need a lot of help. We are a small town team with no corporate sponsorship in place. The parents pay the way for the whole team. The website has lots of information about the team and the kids. In fact, in the coming days we will be adding individual pages for each kid so that their fans can get information on their stats (goals, assists, save percentage, etc.). There is also a great little video about our team and what a long road it has been to this point.

Check out our website:
www.SouthernOregonsMiracle.com
Be sure to watch the video with the audio up!

My fund raising “strategy” is to find as many $100 donors as possible to help us get to Canada. We’ve set up a “$100 Club” donor list for anyone that donates $100 on the website. Donors’ names are placed in the club on our website, or donations can be made anonymously. If you can swing donating $100, we would LOVE to have you donate that amount. And, of course, any amount helps, so if that’s too much, anything you can donate is truly appreciated. We’ve set up a donate now button on our site which makes it as easy as possible for people to sponsor these amazing kids. The only other detail is that we need to raise money fast being that the tournament starts on January 7th, so if you plan on donating, please do it soon as we have a lot of up front costs that need to be taken care of. All donations are tax deductible if that matters to you.

Again, getting to this tournament is a dream come true for the 14 kids on our team. Please help us make that dream come true for them.

The Sweet Taste of Victory!

Have a safe and fun Halloween. Of course, I hope that at least one of you plans to go as the Straw Man!

I won’t get political here by suggesting who to vote for, just that you vote. Simple and sincere: use your right to vote. In Oregon, and other states, you can cast your vote today via mail in ballots and early voting. I filled out my card last night and will drop it off today. Please do it now if you can so that you don’t miss the opportunity.

Photo from: www.marathonthreadscanada.com

I just wanted to let you know that I am on a short vacation in Victoria, British Columbia and so will not likely get out a post about how to be your own contractor this week. I planned to write one before I left, but did not find the time between packing and finishing up my seven day intensive straw bale workshop. I will write early next week, if not before. Sorry for the delay!

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone. My wife sent me the following link just now and I am sitting in tears here in my office. I hope you all feel as wonderful and special as you are. If you want to feel loved, right now, view this wonderful video: http://hasanyonetoldyou.com/. It is truly beautiful and speaks to that place in us that opens to the power of love. Please send your friends to the site to feel loved as well. We all could use a little love.

I am interested to hear from you and what your experience has been building with bales. Write a comment on this blog so we can all hear about your success and / or failure. I am always curious as to what other people’s experience is. Many are excited to get started and then quickly tire of the work while others thrive and have fun for days on end. Let’s open a space to share our stories.
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I send thoughts of happiness and peace to all this day. Whatever you celebrate this time of year, I hope you are well and surrounded by friends and family.

I just wanted to send a quick note out to everyone to say Happy Thanksgiving. There is so much I am thankful for in my life and I hope you all find the gifts in your life today and every day.

Yahoo for me. Today is my birthday and I might actually take the day off! Okay that’s not true, but I will take part of the day off and spend the night having fun with my friends and family.

Wishing my mom a happy birthday! I know it must be a fun one because my sister just had a baby last week.
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