Chris e-mailed us saying he had a whole assortment of things he'd be willing to offer us in trade for the coins, and sent us pictures, which we spent a good deal of time pouring over and evaluating. (We had an "antique roadshow" moment, as we "expertly" analyzed the potential popularity of each item) 
He generously offered to let us select from several tribal masks,
some speakers, and quite a bit of artwork, but we chose what we felt had the best story....
Which was this painting, titled "Friendship" - which was actually created by one of Chris' friends, a local artist.(We were kind of excited to be "promoting" local art) On the back, written on the wood canvas frame is a quote by Socrates;
"Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in, continue firm and constant"
The artist has also written comments about what the work represents - the smoke and webs that often obscure true friendship, but equally the ability of us all to see through those things to what and who really matter.
Chris lives in Kokomo so it took a few days for us to finally coordinate a time to meet, but finally, one freezing, rainy afternoon, we met at the new Paradise Restaurant and Bakery in Carmel - He came dashing in, informing us (enthusiastically) that he was really glad to meet us, but that he'd just found out that he had to drive another hour to perform a two minute repair on a jukebox before driving another hour back...all the while he stayed up-beat, smiling anyway... Thanks Chris, for your excitement, positive attitude, and your participation!!!!
So this is the next item up for trade...like always, we're looking forward to hearing your story and ideas for taking this project to it's next "evolution"...I looked through the "giving book" from last Christmas and got excited all over again about what will be possible this year, with all of our combined efforts...based on the responses so far I am expecting that we will be able to do BIG things for others this year!!!!
