It's like thanksgiving in September!

     I absolutely loath it when companies and society decides it’s ok to start holidays early. I mean, I LOVE Halloween, but the fact that stores already have decorations out for it, and have for a week or so now, kills me. And then there are those stores that put up thanksgiving and Christmas decoration the day after the previous holiday, or even worse, before the previous holiday is soundly in its bed to slumber for the next year until its’ time to shine once again. Despicable.  

Which is why it pains me to do this, but with my impending departure, I feel I must do it now. I need to have my thankfulness post now. I’ve come a long way in this journey, and many people have helped contribute to it and assist me on the way, both finically and more importantly spiritually, morally, and ethically. The following is in no particular order, and is instead just in the order that people leap to my mind who have helped me.

     Let’s start with the big one, God, without whom none of this would be possible (as I believe; you are free to believe differently and I respect your view. Adherence to my faith and beliefs is not required for this blog, or any type of faith or beliefs really. You do you and let me do me and I will respect you). After that comes my parents, Timothy Balch and Janice Bickham (who kept her last name after marriage because she’s a proud southern woman who is comfortable with her family name and my father is a loving caring northern gentleman who understood that he was lucky enough she was willing to marry a Yankee to begin with and so didn’t push the issue). Their love and care during my upbringing is one of the strongest factors that have influenced me and shaped me to be the person I am today. Next on my list would be my wonderful love, Alexis MacGregor. Throughout this process she has been loving and supportive, despite the fact that she would have to go a year without me (and the fact that the interview/discernment weekend happened to fall on the Valentine’s Day weekend). She was wonderful in understanding that this was something I felt called to and needed to do. She is the person that has ferried me to and from the airport for every time I had to fly for the program (a total of three times) and she will be the one to drop me off at the airport when I leave. She has listened to everything and helped be a sounding board while I was deciding to do this program as well as for thoughts and fears I have had since.

     In the program itself I need to thank a number or people. Elizabeth Boe and Grace Flint the two leaders of the program that we interact with the most and thus are the most relevant in the mind. Next is the Reverend David Copley, who, despite being a big shot in the church and the missionary branch of the church, made sure to be present at all of our discernment and training sessions. Then there is, of course, Yanick Fourcand, whom I have mentioned in previous posts. She was the one responsible for coordinating travel and logistics for all of the YASC participants and is a genius at it. Arranging for 40 young adults to arrive for discernment and then for close to 30 to arrive for training and orientation from all of the country and successfully getting them to survive New York, as well as getting them to their placements around the globe, is an amazing feat. She also has been wonderful and patient with me and my habit of getting paperwork in late and with all the other delays and hiccups I experienced, as well as being great about exchanging close to a billion (more like 10) phones calls on the day I was in New York applying for my actual visa. Her help in navigating the city and then helping deal with the issues at the visa office was a real life saver.

     A special ‘thank you’ is in order for the Brothers of the Holy Cross, who acted as the hosts for both the discernment and the training and orientation weeks. They welcomed us into their monastery with open arms and loving hearts. I know that many other participants sought them out for guidance and advice both during the discernment weekend as well as the training. They are all very wonderful people who loved sharing their time and lifestyle with us as well as praying for us and holding us in their thoughts as we undertake our individual journeys. [More about the order in general is at http://www.holycrossmonastery.com/OHC/OHC.htm, and the particular House we were in at http://www.holycrossmonastery.com/index.htm.] They were all spectacular people, whom I cannot wait to see again.

     Then there is of course all those people who helped sponsor me: the Reverend Raymond Hage, the Reverend Deborah Rankin, Sally Carey, Barbara Blackburn, Kathleen Bledsoe, Cora Teel, Faith Balshaw, Wayne Norman, Darlene Daneker, John and Susan Hash, Bill and Becky Cryus, Jack and Sally Bogers, Marjorie McKee, Tom and Linda Wilkinson, Nick and Mary Beth Reynolds, Abe and Shyla Abraham, Pat Pierce, Shyla and Abe Abraham, Kristen and Travis Austin, and Courtney Cross and Pat Hooten. All of these people, and then some, donated to my fundraising, and I appreciate them all. Some of them sponsored certain days and will also be recognized on those specific days.

I want to also thank the Reverend Lisa Graves, her husband the Reverend Chip Graves, and the Reverend Deborah Rankin. They are the priests at the local Episcopal Churches in Huntington and they have been the base of my support during this time. They offered me time to speak at their congregations and helped support me with donations of their own. St. Johns Huntington, my home parish, and St. Peters, another local parish, were wonderful hosts to me and both had general collections for me. I want to thank both congregations for being so generous and giving from their hearts to my cause.

     If I have missed anyone (and I know that I have), it is not out of maliciousness, but out of poor memory and limited space. I could take any one person or group here and expound on their influence and how they have helped me for another page or so, but unfortunately I do not have the space. I just hope that they (and you, dear reader) know how much they mean to me and how I appreciate all they have done and continue to do for me, even if they don’t know it. So thank you, and God Bless.