Lessons From the Clover

All you former 4-Hers out there ought to remember a little something we call the 4-H pledge:

I pledge my Head to clearer thinking,
my Heart to greater loyalty,
my Hands to larger service and
my Health to better living,
for my club, my community,
my country, and my world.

I remember reciting this pledge, complete with hand motions, at the beginning of every meeting back in the sickly green lighting of the Blue Ridge Elementary gymnasium. It didn’t mean much to me as a kid, but looking back as an adult I can see the need to start focusing on the four H’s.

My head’s not always in the right spot. Often I let myself get overwhelmed, distracted, disenchanted, you name it. When my head reels with thoughts, clearer thinking would be a welcome change.

My heart sometimes gets ignored by my over-thinking head. I cannot think of a time where following my heart has led me astray, yet I can think of many where my head took me on a rollercoaster of a ride. I need to be more loyal to myself, which will allow me to be more loyal to the ones I love.

My hands could be doing more for others, not just myself. My head and my heart tend to focus on just me and my own well being, but get so preoccupied with selfishness that my hands are pretty much rendered incapable of doing any good elsewhere. It’s about time I spend more effort focusing on how I can help others.

My health has always been something I’m mindful of, but not always actively doing something about. From eating healthier to working out more regularly, there are so many simple things I can do, and need to do, to improve my wellness. This must become a bigger priority in my life.

So, there you have it: the four H’s behind 4-H, and darn good principles to implement in our adult lives.

Oh, How I Love My Car



My car is totally awesome. More awesome than
this picture because mine has an
Eat Beef license plate.



Often, while driving to work I catch myself thinking how awesome my car is. Why? Because it’s paid for. It makes me want to shout it to the world with a giant bumper sticker or personalized license plate that reads something like PAIDFOR or DEBTFRE. Dave Ramsey would be proud. I don’t care that my 2001 Nissan Xterra has 109,000 miles on it or that it was manufactured when I was a sophomore in college. It’s 100% paid for. Hallelujah!

Not only is it paid for, but we finally got over ourselves and chose to make some significant and difficult lifestyle changes in the last year to make this happen. So, it is really a personal victory, not just a financial one. We sold our 2008 Jeep Wrangler and our 2008 GMC Sierra, both of which we absolutely adored and had a hard time parting with.

We went from having two vehicles purchased brand new (giant mistakes #1 and #2) to having two used vehicles (best decision ever). I drive my Xterra and for Cody, we bought my dad’s 1996 Chevy Silverado, which I drove to Minnesota in 2003 for one of my internships. I can still remember jamming out somewhere on I-35 in rural Iowa to a then-new Pat Green CD as I passed mile after mile of corn fields and swine operations.

Making the difficult but smart decision to downgrade vehicles (and downgrade significantly) with the intention of eliminating car payments completely has been totally worth it. We now have two payments left on the truck and after March 15, we are debt-free as far as cars go. How amazing is that?

Like many Americans, we had bought into the idea that we would always have a car payment, that it was just a fact of life. It doesn’t have to be that way. I find that I enjoy my 10-year-old SUV far more than I ever enjoyed our brand new vehicles, even with the new car smell, cool gadgets, shiny new paint, soft leather, etc. Funny how not having a car payment can make you love your car more than you could possibly imagine. Yep, being completely car-payment-free is going to be pretty awesome. Now, on to eliminating that house payment.