Eric's Graduation

In May my brother, Eric, graduation from Penn State University with his PhD in Rural Sociology and Demography! His wife, Alisha, received her PhD in the same field in August 2009. We are so proud of them. My parents and Mike flew out for the festivities.

Eric and Alisha

Mom, Dad, and the Grad

Sibling Support

Eric and the Nittany Lion

Eric planned for us to eat dinner with an Amish family. We even stayed in their cabin. The father of the family is Jonas Yoder. For an Amish guy he is very business savvy. I have dubbed him the Donald Trump of the Amish. He hosts dinners in his home about three times a week. He has groups from 5 up to 45. When the group is small he will ask you a lot of questions. We talked about a variety of subjects including current events. We asked how the economic recession is affecting them. He said that many people should have lost their homes to foreclosed but the bank has let them keep their homes because nobody else wants to buy a house without electricity. On Sunday morning we talked about religion. We sang a few hymns in English and German. As you leave he gives you his business card. He is very personable and quite a character.

There is always a smorgasbord of food. I don't know how his wife cooks for so many people. They serve something called "chow, chow" it is kind of like Five Bean Salad. Breakfast was equipped with rhubarb juice and their homemade sausage.
We stayed in their hunting cabin. We were surprised that it had a fine shower but the toilet was an outhouse. There were bear rugs on the walls and a propane lantern chandelier. It was a memorable experience.



My dad loved it.


Propane Chandelier

Two Bears

Pastoral PA