The Greenwalt family

Amber and Joshua Greenwalt have lived in Bend for ten years, are members of New Hope Church, and have two amazing children. Joshua works for Cessna and Amber has begun her own business as a massage therapist, At Your Service Mobile Massage, in addition to raising the kids. Their oldest, Emily, is 8 years old and she attends Eastmont school. Her favorite thing to do is tae-kwon-do, where she recently earned her yellow belt. The youngest Greenwalt is Sharai, who is 10 months old and has adorable blue eyes.

The Greenwalt�s are a great fit for Habitat for Humanity because they place a high value on serving others. They are active in service at their church, and have taken a missions trip to Africa. They have enthusiastically jumped at the chance to work with Habitat on the construction site, in our office, and at the ReStore. Amber told me, �For our family, our lives really aren�t about ourselves; they are about serving those around us and serving God. It is better and more enjoyable for us to do this as a team, so we can share memories and experiences together.�

Their ethic of service made the news that they were selected to purchase a Habitat home a unique experience for the Greenwalts. �When you have been the one giving help to others for so long, it is a little weird to accept that help for yourself. But as we go through this experience, we are learning that service to others is so much more meaningful than we realized. I used to just brush it off when people told me �thank you,� but now, seeing all these people helping me, I realize what an impact that help has on a person.�

Amber recalled a time when she was out at the construction site raising a wall, and one of the volunteers she was with mentioned that it was �only a wall.� She told me, �As I thought about it, I thought, no, to you it�s only a wall. To me, it�s my daughters� future. My one wish is that my daughters can grow up and know: this is my home: I was raised here, in this one place. Your work, your donations, are making that happen. There are not enough donuts and coffee in the whole world, not enough tears I could shed to let you know how much I appreciate every minute of your lives, and every dollar that you are putting into this. There is no word, picture, or feeling to describe the gratitude I feel for the volunteers, the staff, the donors, and the whole program.�

Amber with KC Caldwell from 98.3 The Twins at Race to the Roof.