last call. . .

so we're on our final week of the beard-a-thon and all the females in my family will be happy to know that my face will once again be free this sunday. altho i do plan on something new this year...something original and unique...i'm going to keep some long whiskers on the sides of my mouth for a couple days : i call it 'catfish'. then my face will be completely naked again a few days after that.

if you're on facebook, there's an 'event' that i posted for this sunday. you can find it here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=66768630665

we are almost at half a well in donations/pledges so far. thank you to all who donated and if you've pledged, go ahead and send a check to me when you get a chance. if you need my addr, email me here: greg@beardsfortears.com

i plan on posting one more time to tell how the grand finale went. someone from 'water wells for africa' is planning to be there so that will be fun to share the moment with them. and we plan on documenting the event in photos and video which we will likely link up to facebook and our website.

have a great week,... --greg

once a month

what started out as a weekly blog has slowly dwindled to a monthly blogging. so here are some updates:

-- week 25 pictures will be unlike any pictures we've posted yet!

-- i'm kinda ready to shave; beard is crazy long, thus eating is a challenge. but this is where i remind myself why i'm doing this.

-- i had someone say the other day, "why not just give directly to water wells for africa? why do we have to have the beard" and guess what? they're right. that's just it...we don't HAVE to have the beard; we GET to grow beards in hopes of making more people aware of a situation close to our hearts and hopefully having others join us in helping a village get a new water well! after all, i can't even count how many people ask daily/weekly, "why the beard??" good chance to share...

-- my post-beard shave will be a new one; one i don't think i've even ever seen on anybody; i call it 'catfish'.

-- we're at about 1/3 of our goal in terms of donations and pledges. alot of people use the 'tough economy' excuse as a reason not to give...even a little. only makes me think about the people in africa who have to get their disease infested, dirty, nasty, smelly water from a mud hole and/or corrupted stream; i bet they wish they could worry about a 'tough economy'.

-- i can't say thank you enough times so i'll say it again and again....thank you to all of you who have donated and/or pledged toward this beard-a-thon. week 31 will be here soon and hopefully we'll be able to add to the chunk of money we've collected so far; we hope to send a fat check to wwfa in mid April!

have a great week or month or whenever i get back here for more updates, random thoughts, or deep discussion...

-- greg

42

ok, so it's been a long time since i've written here...my apologies. let me catch you up on a few things:

- beards are at 21 weeks now (which equals 42 documented, weekly photos here: http://beardsfortears.com/beards.htm

- sake is now 7 months old and you can see his latest pic on facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Beards-for-Tears/23002251389

- jon just updated the b4t website to show all 21 weeks at the same time now, so you can scroll thru the pics from week 00(start) to week 21(current)

- we got some new buttons in; everyone who gives to the cause will get one for sure. you can also see a pic of one of these at the facebook site(seafoam green water drop w/ blue background as designed by jon sontag himself)

- the beard-o-meter has moved up! we're currently up to just over $2,000 in donations and pledges combined. help us get to that elusive $6k mark for a new water well for a needy village!

hope everyone who reads this is doing well and has the opportunity to contribute to this project. i think about water every day all day, since my job requires me to consume much of it in order to function on a daily basis(i walk about 10-12 miles/day reading meters). i hope you take time to thank God for the water he's blessed us with and that we all take for granted at some time or another.

be well,... -- greg

Livin' on a prayer...

ooooooh, we're halfway there; oooooo-oooh, livin on a prayer. . .

15.5 weeks down; 15.5 to go. it's been interesting noticing the looks on people's faces when they ask "how much longer". when they hear that the giant bush on my face will possibly double before our beard-a-thon is complete, the looks range from:

-- horror

-- shock

-- disbelief

-- amusement

-- astonishment

-- wonder

but it's true...we're gonna see this thing thru and we got til 4/6/09 to do it.

our next pic will be 'week 16' and jon and i have a very special christmas surprise for one and all.

a very, merry christmas to you and yers; may all your christmases be bright!

-- felice navidad,... -- greg

Ughhhh

I trimmed the stache... almost hit the three month mark. Oh well, I had a good run... check out my week 12 pic on our site (www.beardsfortears.com/beards.htm) to see it in full bloom. Good news is... the beard is still on the move, and with your help, we've raised over $1000! Just a few more to go and we'll have enough to build a well! Tell your friends to join in... let's make this thing happen!

Jon

Charitable charities freely giving charity

happy thanksgiving weekend!

a friend and neighbor of mine recently told me he was looking to give some money to a worthy cause...of course i quickly chirpped, "beards for tears!" he said, "oh ya...that's right".

i don't know for sure if he'll actually contribute to this cause, but it's always fun to throw it out there as an option. and anytime jon and i have an opportunity to draw awareness to waterwellsforafrica.com . . . we'll make the most of it.

and yesterday(thanksgiving) the first thing everyone at my parent's house noticed about me?: the beard. questions were asked..."why do you have that on your face??" . . ."when are you going to shave?" . . ."you know who you look like?" . . . "do you have to grow it for the whole 31 weeks or can you keep it trimmed and somewhat 'normal' looking?". . . "how much have you raised so far?" . . ."do you know how much older that beard makes you look?" . . . and finally, "is anyone else growing their beard for such a ridiculously, radical length of time???"

here are the answers i gave(in order of the questions above):

-> beard-a-thon to raise funds for a new water well for an african village in need...

-> in 19 more weeks...maybe :)

-> grizzly adams, lord stanley, some cough-drop guy, my cousin mark...

-> some trimming allowed(neck, 'stache, cheeks....as necessary) . . .see 'rules and regulations' on the 'beards' page at beardsfortears.com

-> we're up to about $500 in actual donations received(about 10%) with up to $1000 more in pledges(to be given soon) which comes to almost 25% raised in 12 weeks with 19 weeks to go!

-> beard adds about 10 yrs; baldness(for me) another 5-10 yrs. ...so 57 ?

-> yes.... jon and i are on the 'official' site; but many others have joined in as an act of solidarity for such a worthy cause(clean water to the people! ! !).


so i hope you had a great thanksgiving surrounded by friends, family, loved ones, etc.... and i wish you all a peaceful, joyful, and reflective december as we remember jesus' birth and what a crazy, cool time that must have been 2000 yrs ago.

may HIS peace be with you as HE is the only True Provider of HOPE, love and joy.

luvins, ... -- greg

buttons

'beards for tears' buttons coming soon! if you've already pledged or donated, you will get one for sure. if/when you decide to fill out a pledge card or pledge via email or just make an easy one-time donation toward our goal of getting a well built for a village in africa, one of these cool litte thank-u tokens will be yours!

week 10 pics are now up here. we've officially entered double digits in weeks of growth and are about a third of our way to our goal.

if you haven't already done so, please join the group on our facebook page. ...or our myspace page.

thank u...and thank u for thinking of others,.. -- greg