Ragpicker update…
Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2026 10:48 am
Probably most of you won’t recognize my name, but for the few who will, here’s a little update on my life.
1. Remember how on the old website, my location used to be set to “My heart is in the Ozarks”? We now live in the Ozarks, 75 miles from where I grew up. It’s so good to be home.
2. I’m no longer Mennonite, and I probably never will be again. The Amish and Mennonites are my people, I love them, I ain’t mad at them, and I like being around them. But I can’t be one anymore. I have come to believe that my personality and values are incompatible with the Mennonite systems. Plus my wife asked me to never try to get her to be part of a Mennonite church again. So we walked away, permanently.
3. Over Labor Day weekend in 2024 I pulled off one of the craziest things I’ve ever attempted. I organized a “frolic” to build our home. I called it the “Barn Raising in the Ozarks; A return to our roots”. I announced it on Facebook, and over 100 people, counting women and children, showed up. In two days, my friend built our 2,800 square-foot home. It has 10 foot side walls, and then a 14 x 32 porch with the roof tied in. There was a slab when people arrived, and on Saturday night it was built. All the interior framing was done, all the roof and siding was done. It only lacked a few few hours of trim work on the outside. And of course, all the interior mechanicals, electrical, and finish out. Which is not done yet.
It was a wild experience, and I have named our house “The House That Love Built”. We had Amish, Mennonites, ex-Amish, ex-Mennonite, Baptists, Pentecostals, and probably a heathen or two there, and it was a glorious time.
On Sunday morning we gathered in our freshly built garage and sang hymns. It was a precious time, and it made me so happy that the first use of our house was to gather community to worship our King. I still cry at the memory, 18 months later.
4. Our son fell in love with a sweet girl, and got married. In the process, we all walked through hell, due to the behaviors of a third-party, and his flying monkeys. But we are all healing, and they are doing well. They have given us a granddaughter, who is truly the joy of our life. She’s a bit over two years old, and she is definitely my little buddy. She helps me with projects, asks me about my tools, and likes to take walks through my shop, scanning the shelves, then picking an item to have me explain what it is to her. I explain it as if she were 15 years old, and she just beams at me happily, and then walks around, looking for the next item to have me explain. I’m telling you, it’s the best thing ever. I have her hooked on Topo Chico, Buc-ee’s, Fur Fish Game magazine, knives, and tools.
Anyway, like I alluded to in the beginning, this will be meaningless to many of you. Just ignore it and move on. But for those of you, who are my friends and remember me from the old website, here you go…
1. Remember how on the old website, my location used to be set to “My heart is in the Ozarks”? We now live in the Ozarks, 75 miles from where I grew up. It’s so good to be home.
2. I’m no longer Mennonite, and I probably never will be again. The Amish and Mennonites are my people, I love them, I ain’t mad at them, and I like being around them. But I can’t be one anymore. I have come to believe that my personality and values are incompatible with the Mennonite systems. Plus my wife asked me to never try to get her to be part of a Mennonite church again. So we walked away, permanently.
3. Over Labor Day weekend in 2024 I pulled off one of the craziest things I’ve ever attempted. I organized a “frolic” to build our home. I called it the “Barn Raising in the Ozarks; A return to our roots”. I announced it on Facebook, and over 100 people, counting women and children, showed up. In two days, my friend built our 2,800 square-foot home. It has 10 foot side walls, and then a 14 x 32 porch with the roof tied in. There was a slab when people arrived, and on Saturday night it was built. All the interior framing was done, all the roof and siding was done. It only lacked a few few hours of trim work on the outside. And of course, all the interior mechanicals, electrical, and finish out. Which is not done yet.
It was a wild experience, and I have named our house “The House That Love Built”. We had Amish, Mennonites, ex-Amish, ex-Mennonite, Baptists, Pentecostals, and probably a heathen or two there, and it was a glorious time.
On Sunday morning we gathered in our freshly built garage and sang hymns. It was a precious time, and it made me so happy that the first use of our house was to gather community to worship our King. I still cry at the memory, 18 months later.
4. Our son fell in love with a sweet girl, and got married. In the process, we all walked through hell, due to the behaviors of a third-party, and his flying monkeys. But we are all healing, and they are doing well. They have given us a granddaughter, who is truly the joy of our life. She’s a bit over two years old, and she is definitely my little buddy. She helps me with projects, asks me about my tools, and likes to take walks through my shop, scanning the shelves, then picking an item to have me explain what it is to her. I explain it as if she were 15 years old, and she just beams at me happily, and then walks around, looking for the next item to have me explain. I’m telling you, it’s the best thing ever. I have her hooked on Topo Chico, Buc-ee’s, Fur Fish Game magazine, knives, and tools.
Anyway, like I alluded to in the beginning, this will be meaningless to many of you. Just ignore it and move on. But for those of you, who are my friends and remember me from the old website, here you go…
