Twenty-five Things in Twenty-five Years
I've been reflecting on changes that have occurred in the past 25 years. That's fudging just a bit, since I'm really targeting what has happened since 1990, a landmark year of sorts, for reasons which I will not elaborate on. I'm setting out to see if I can think of 25 things in 25 years. I will particularly focus on events that meet my slightly random unspoken criteria.
1. Reno County adopted floodplain management regulations (2009). This affects new construction and limits construction in certain areas.
2. Reno County is probably within a year or two of county-wide zoning, which would likely require a permitting process for new construction or perhaps new uses for existing structures. From 1990 to the present, no zoning has been in place.
3. The Beachy churches went from two to three congregations.
4. One new church building was constructed (near Arlington).
5. Pilgrim Grade School began.
6. From a fairly small population in 1990, homeschooling among our Beachy churches has grown to include about half of the children between grades 1 and 12--probably about 75 students in this category.
7. Student numbers at Pilgrim High School have roughly halved in this time period (not completely sure of the exact timing of the peak numbers).
8. Suggested monthly donation for school expenses per wage earner now stands at about $107.00 (going from memory here). I don't recall that a suggested donation was quantified in 1990, but I would guess that if it had been, the amount would have been close to $30.00. I did some sleuthing, but could not establish the exact difference between the purchasing value difference of a dollar between 1990 and now. Neither could I correlate it exactly with wage trends. I wish I knew this. My sense is that the majority of us are less well off than we were in 1990 (I know this is true of society generally). I also have the sense that a fairly small minority of us may be in a better financial position now than we were in 1990 (in general society, disparity has grown also).
9. Our country has been through a major recession, during which some of us lost jobs, and income declined for others.
10. Our area has been through a multi-year devastating drought during which some of us had very lean times.
11. Twenty-eight to thirty families and some single adults have gone to the foreign mission field. Some of them have returned, and others are still serving elsewhere.
12. One outreach settlement has been established.
13. At least 22 intact families have moved into the area from out of state during this time period.
14. At least 31 marriages have taken place in this time period with one of the spouses hailing from another state.
15. An addition was built at Center Church, partly to accommodate the grade school.
16. Per-student education now costs our state over $13,000. I'm guessing that 25 years ago it was closer to $3,000 in our state, although the national average was over $5500.
17. At least seven first-time ordinations have taken place.
18. Only two people born here in 1990 or later are married and living here. I find this amusing. We're a later-marrying bunch than is true of some communities.
19. About 21 additional people who had not started school by 1990 are now married. Many of them have one or more children.
20. In our three Beachy churches, we have 49 people age 80 and over. In 1990, these 80-year-olds were 56.
21. Two-hundred seventy-one babies were born since 1990.
22. In our household, in 1990 we had three sons between two and seven years old. Now those three sons have presented us with five grandchildren three and younger.
23. In 1990 I had this education resume: five years of teaching junior high students in a Christian school setting, a B.S. in elementary education, and several years of homeschooling. Now I have many additional years of homeschooling and 11 1/2 years of teaching in a Christian high school.
24. In 1990, no one in our churches publicly participated in partisan politics in any way. This has changed. See number 13. Yesterday, in one of my classes, when talk turned to the outcome of the midterm elections, fist pumps and exclamations of triumph erupted after the party affiliation of certain candidates was confirmed to be Republican. No further inquiry on their part needed. I'm not OK with the "no further inquiry needed" part.
25. With a stand-alone school facility on the horizon, utility costs for school, in 1990 and until now paid by church funds, will certainly rise, and the per month suggested school donation with it.
Many of the above numbers came from quick counts from our church directory. I can't vouch for their absolute accuracy, given the chances for error and the occasional puzzles of knowing exactly who to count where. If it matters to you, feel free to double-check the numbers and inform the rest of us about what you find.
What would you like to add to the above list? Better yet, create your own list and tell the rest of us how to access it.
1. Reno County adopted floodplain management regulations (2009). This affects new construction and limits construction in certain areas.
2. Reno County is probably within a year or two of county-wide zoning, which would likely require a permitting process for new construction or perhaps new uses for existing structures. From 1990 to the present, no zoning has been in place.
3. The Beachy churches went from two to three congregations.
4. One new church building was constructed (near Arlington).
5. Pilgrim Grade School began.
6. From a fairly small population in 1990, homeschooling among our Beachy churches has grown to include about half of the children between grades 1 and 12--probably about 75 students in this category.
7. Student numbers at Pilgrim High School have roughly halved in this time period (not completely sure of the exact timing of the peak numbers).
8. Suggested monthly donation for school expenses per wage earner now stands at about $107.00 (going from memory here). I don't recall that a suggested donation was quantified in 1990, but I would guess that if it had been, the amount would have been close to $30.00. I did some sleuthing, but could not establish the exact difference between the purchasing value difference of a dollar between 1990 and now. Neither could I correlate it exactly with wage trends. I wish I knew this. My sense is that the majority of us are less well off than we were in 1990 (I know this is true of society generally). I also have the sense that a fairly small minority of us may be in a better financial position now than we were in 1990 (in general society, disparity has grown also).
9. Our country has been through a major recession, during which some of us lost jobs, and income declined for others.
10. Our area has been through a multi-year devastating drought during which some of us had very lean times.
11. Twenty-eight to thirty families and some single adults have gone to the foreign mission field. Some of them have returned, and others are still serving elsewhere.
12. One outreach settlement has been established.
13. At least 22 intact families have moved into the area from out of state during this time period.
14. At least 31 marriages have taken place in this time period with one of the spouses hailing from another state.
15. An addition was built at Center Church, partly to accommodate the grade school.
16. Per-student education now costs our state over $13,000. I'm guessing that 25 years ago it was closer to $3,000 in our state, although the national average was over $5500.
17. At least seven first-time ordinations have taken place.
18. Only two people born here in 1990 or later are married and living here. I find this amusing. We're a later-marrying bunch than is true of some communities.
19. About 21 additional people who had not started school by 1990 are now married. Many of them have one or more children.
20. In our three Beachy churches, we have 49 people age 80 and over. In 1990, these 80-year-olds were 56.
21. Two-hundred seventy-one babies were born since 1990.
22. In our household, in 1990 we had three sons between two and seven years old. Now those three sons have presented us with five grandchildren three and younger.
23. In 1990 I had this education resume: five years of teaching junior high students in a Christian school setting, a B.S. in elementary education, and several years of homeschooling. Now I have many additional years of homeschooling and 11 1/2 years of teaching in a Christian high school.
24. In 1990, no one in our churches publicly participated in partisan politics in any way. This has changed. See number 13. Yesterday, in one of my classes, when talk turned to the outcome of the midterm elections, fist pumps and exclamations of triumph erupted after the party affiliation of certain candidates was confirmed to be Republican. No further inquiry on their part needed. I'm not OK with the "no further inquiry needed" part.
25. With a stand-alone school facility on the horizon, utility costs for school, in 1990 and until now paid by church funds, will certainly rise, and the per month suggested school donation with it.
Many of the above numbers came from quick counts from our church directory. I can't vouch for their absolute accuracy, given the chances for error and the occasional puzzles of knowing exactly who to count where. If it matters to you, feel free to double-check the numbers and inform the rest of us about what you find.
What would you like to add to the above list? Better yet, create your own list and tell the rest of us how to access it.
posted by Mrs. I (Miriam Iwashige) at
7:07 AM
2 Comments:
Very interesting! I'm curious though --I count five grandchildren in your family, all in the three and under category. Am I missing something? :-)
By
Hannah, at 11/06/2014
Horrors. I changed three to five, Hannah. I think I was focused on getting the age of the oldest right since he just turned three. Call it a spacey brain.
By
Mrs. I (Miriam Iwashige), at 11/06/2014
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