Family news: Luke is the Systems Administrator for Georgetown U. Security, and hopes to finish his master’s degree there in May.  He seems ready to move on from DC and get to it (it being AI). He and a friend toured Istanbul over spring break (pics here).

Lucy graduated from Wake Forest in May and moved back into her bedroom in Fletcher. She continues her interest in English nobility, having experienced Sir Paul and Sir Elton in separate venues. Job offers welcome!

Conrad, oh my Conrad, is a highly-focused and determined young man – just not on his schoolwork (♫ you can see she’s a beautiful girl, she’s a beautiful girl… ♫).  Ever since the Winter Olympics he has been keen on Appalachian State University and its proximity to the slopes – AND he has just been accepted!

Leslie continues her work as assistant in the library at our high school. She underwent cervical fusion surgery in November that made her a truly stiff-necked person – alas.

I am in my fifth year serving First United Methodist Church of Rutherfordton, NC. Commuting has taken a toll on my marriage, and my new love, Bonnie, came to live with me in July. She is a beautiful red Suzuki TU-250; Leslie just doesn’t understand us.  In September I donated one of my kidneys (and who knows what else) to Leslie’s cousin Mark. He is doing surprisingly well.

Baracki Hussein (‘Racki), our golden retriever mix, is entertaining as ever (he is also dangerous: 86,000 people a year in hospital due to their pets). We lost Captain Jack Sparrow, Lucy’s cute teddy bear hamster, this year: RIP, our little friend.

May 2011 be the year blind eyes are opened, the suffering are healed, and the poor receive good news. Let us all BE the change we want to see in the world.

Ed, for House Hillman

Strength and peace to all of you! We hope you are in good health and spirits, and that the holidays were a time of renewal for you. We began 2010 with the obligatory blast of the shofar, and went skiing the rest of the afternoon. Since I am unable to walk today, it seems good to write our reflections.

Luke (23) is in Washington, DC working for his alma mater, Georgetown University. He will begin a Masters program (Communication, Culture and Technology) there later this month unless he gets a better offer from a company in Afghanistan. Luke is “in a relationship” with Pam (a very smart Claire Danes lookalike), and would like for us all to consider not eating animals in 2010. [Editor's note: I assume Dad used the phrase "in a relationship" in quotes because it's facebook-speak. I left facebook early last year due to privacy concerns. -Luke]

Ms. Girl (Lucy) is a senior theatre major at Wake Forest University: to graduate or not to graduate, this is not a question. Her mother and I are thrilled that Lucy is putting her considerable dramatic gifts to good use. She directed the play, ‘dentity Crisis, this fall (I-dentity, you-dentity, he she or it-dentities), a comedic romp that sent several into therapy. As far as the future is concerned, Lucy is keeping her options open at this point. Employment is one of many possibilities.

Conrad (16, going on whatever) is into true head-banging metal now. He is a high school junior, plays soccer in the fall / tennis in the spring, is on the Student Event Clean-up Staff, and is a real player (young men are now full participants in drama-crisis circles, breaking the lock teenage girls have had on these for years). Conrad got a new iPod for Christmas, because “one does not simply rock into Mordor.”

Leslie is aging like fine wine – that special vintage in the poetry of Julia Ward Howe. Eschewing all artificial dyes and sweeteners, her natural beauty and disposition freely shine forth nowadays. Still enjoying her work in the media center of North Henderson HS, she nonetheless dreams of veterinary medicine, mucking out stalls and more time to herself. Paradoxically, we dread the empty nest.

I am in my fourth year at First UMC, Rutherfordton, NC, working with an excellent staff and active laity. The highlight of 2009 for me came in September when we hosted one of my personal heroes, Tony Campolo, for a three day preaching mission. It was, in a word, awesome!

‘Racki (short for Baracki Hussein) is a demon dog, but highly entertaining at times. The backyard bunnies drive him absolutely nuts! Captain Jack the Hamster lives as an illegal on the Wake Forest campus. Cousin Mark Prak flew to California with Batman and Robin in July. Batman (the Dark Kitty) now resides with Leslie’s twin, Lorraine, and Robin Prak returned to NC with her husband.

We felt very fortunate, though with mixed emotions, to have sold our mountain house last summer. Shedding such a possession makes us feel lighter, though less grounded – one more divestment in that inexorable march. Nekkid, we came forth…

One hopes that 2010 will be the Great Turnaround Year from the previous decade. If it is true that we learn from our mistakes, the human race is poised to exhibit unbelievable wisdom. And having been warned not to preach, I leave you with our love and best wishes for this brave New Year!

Ed, for Leslie, Luke, Lucy, Conrad, Racki, Jack, Batman, and lots and lots of bunnies!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to friends and loved ones far and near.  We hope these greetings find you in good health and determined spirit.  News of the House:

Our fifteen year old Conrad is a Guitar Hero off on World Tour.  He gets an “A” for Attitude (not a high mark), but he is doing relatively well in the classroom.  He went to Costa Rica last summer with a youth mission, and will be taking Spanish 3 next semester in Escuela de Calor.  He will get his driver’s license this summer, and a brand new BMW for his 16th birthday (just kidding, Conrad).

Lucy is twenty years old now and a junior at Wake Forest University — a true demon deaconess majoring in Theatre.  She remains in close touch with her peeps from high school (Facebook & txting), and is a fierce culture warrior exposing the ignorant and callous with her profound wisdom.  All this we hope will lead to self-sustaining employment.

After months of homelessness and unemployment in our nation’s capital, son Luke (23) now works as a “desk jockey” for Georgetown University, from which he graduated last May.  We think it may be just a short hop from Georgetown Security to Homeland Security.  At least this keeps him close to the action as he seeks a more suitable path to power.  Luke is a skinny vegetarian now, and had a melanoma removed from his arm last fall (prayers, please).

Leslie is also skinny again through counting points and great self-discipline (her heart goes out to Oprah).  She is our inside ma’am at North Henderson High School (in the library), and continues to read voraciously.  She soon plans to let go of her natural hair color:  no one should plan to visit.

We bade farewell to Sierra the Golden Retriever at the end of the summer.  She was a calm and peaceful presence and will be sorely missed.

The week before Sierra died a black cat came to stay with us — just jumped into Leslie’s lap as she read on the front porch: Batman, the Dark Kitty.

Captain Jack Sparrow, the dwarf hamster at our house, sleeps during the day and runs all night long.  It is an alternative lifestyle that I do not understand, so I leave him alone.

The Sunday before the election someone dropped a flea-bitten pupster off in front of the church who found my car and sat by it.  Baracki Hussein looks like an apartment-sized golden retriever (see picture), ‘cept he ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog! ‘Racki (pronounced “Rocky”) is a booger, though he has settled somewhat during the holidays.  The vet thinks he’s six to nine months old; he will be lucky to make a year.

I am now in year three of my current assignment at First United Methodist Church of Rutherfordton, NC.  It is a very tolerant congregation, which, of course, is the only way someone like me survives in the ministry.  I live there during the week, and see Leslie and Conrad on the weekends in Fletcher where a house owns us.

We face great challenges in 2009, staying within ours means and current clothing.  We were thrilled by the election of Barack Obama (especially with his victories in NC and Colorado).  If America can lose weight and get its economic house in order, I might (I say, just might) embrace American exceptionalism as a good thing.  While I am hopeful about this (faith), I am not optimistic (encouraged by any observable data).  I’ll let you know how my New Year’s resolutions go.

Let us keep the faith.

Ed, for House Hillman

(Cross-posted here)

Conrad “Guitar Hero” Hillman is a freshman in high school, playing soccer (indoor and out) and doing well academically. Most of the time he plays with his Wii (snicker) as a first person shooter, rocker or fantasy soccer player. When wrenched away from the tube, he has a hand-held device to keep his edge. He rocks!

Lucy in the Sky is a sophomore (sophos/moros) at Wake Forest University majoring in Who-Knows-What, a degree that will put her in a solid position for thinking about What to Do in Life. It is thought that her prince will come; though her experience of family and friends thus far makes that seem unlikely. Fostering little ones out of wedlock is all the rage these days, so Lucy has Jack, a cute little longhaired hamster.

Master of the World Luke is on the edge of adulthood as he graduates from Georgetown University in May. He has majored in “Government,” believing bureaucrats and politicians will make excellent associates in the next phase of his life. His desire is to rule, though he has a strong secondary interest in the latest technological gadgetry (he has one of those new phones that even defecates in three colors). He is the Station Manager for GUTV, and has interned on the Hill (the true Hill-man) learning the fine art of manipulation and misdirection.

Pentagenarian Leslie continues as a redhead in all her flaming glory, widely discussed by the male students she serves in her work in the Media Center at our high school (not really). She manages the headquarters of House Hillman in Fletcher, NC, a job which often brings “the look” to those not up to snuff at the facility. Leslie works, reads, exercises (still), cleans house, chauffeurs the One Left Behind, and watches Desperate Housewives – activities that make her life “happy” or “satisfactory.”

I am in my twenty-fifth year of ministry in the United Methodist Church, the last year and one half at First UMC in Rutherfordton (pronounced RUF-tun), NC in an area devastated by the loss of textile manufacturing jobs. The county is clawing its way back as retirees from the North and refugees from Florida move into our lovely foothills of the Smokies. I live in a parsonage in Rutherfordton part of the week and at our headquarters in Fletcher the other part – an arrangement which, to my surprise, is not all that unusual in our arcane system of deploying clergy by episcopal fiat.

Dragon, the Green Iguana, passed away over a year ago. She was with us for ten years, and is remembered with great affection. Sierra, our 13+ years Golden Retriever, has been passing away for some time now. She is full of tumors and has a bad disease smell about her, but she still functions and maintains her winsome personality. Sweet old dog!

That’s the news, gentle reader. House Hillman continues a long-standing tradition of “education rich/cash poor,” and the search for the true Jesus in this wacky Bible Belt. For further commentary/observations, see individual blogs at HouseHillman.com.