This week seemed much busier than most, but we enjoyed ourselves and were pretty social overall. It's nice to be getting to know people more...
Last Sunday, we went to the 11:15 service at church and out to lunch at a nice, family-owned Mexican place afterward. We relaxed the rest of the day with the "Sunday nap" and talking to Michiganders on the phone. It seems like the only time to call home is the weekend...
Monday, it is always hard to get out of bed in the morning. We wake up at 6:15-6:30, eat waffles or pancakes for breakfast, and head off to my bus-stop near Kayle's work. We do this every morning, but it seems particularly difficult on Mondays. Mondays are also my toughest day at work, since I run the after-school tutoring that day and the kids who come are both numerous and particularly troublesome. (It seems even middle-schoolers are anxious to get home on a Monday.) Usually, Kayle and I enjoy a quiet night at home to gear up for the rest of the week. However, tomorrow (also a Monday), we're planning to go on a nice date night to Outback Steakhouse. Yay!
On Tuesday, we had community group at night (with Milano cookies as the snack!). We talked about the sermon which was about taking "marriage Sabbaths", basically spending time out of our busy lives with each other whether it be on regular dates, short weekend getaways, or longer vacations. We talked about how to cater those nights to our husband's/wive's tastes to create good memories for both and really cherish each other. It was good for us to think about setting time aside for dates and maybe going somewhere for a weekend in the near future (maybe at a ski resort...). My "homework" is to plan a getaway for Kayle that he will particularly enjoy...so far, I'm pretty stumped...
On Wednesday, I went to Proxy youth group at night. We played dodge-roll. Yes, you read that correctly...dodge-ball with dinner rolls. It was pretty fun, and I rocked the first round with my team. Our team ("Team Jonah", after the smallest kid who was unanimously elected our mascot) unfortunately came in second for the dodge-roll tournament and is 2nd/4 teams for the overall "Turkey Olympics". Boy, youth groups are notorious for coming up with strange and slightly disgusting games... For the lesson, the middle schoolers went through the part of Mark 3 about the "unforgiveable sin." I did not envy Jonathan, who taught the lesson, one bit. But he did a good job explaining the Scripture and reading up on the topic beforehand, so it was a solid lesson. If you can't tell, the middle school group is going through the Gospel of Mark...there's some tough stuff in there to try to explain to 6th-7th graders!
On Thursday, I came home a bit early from work, and Kayle and I drove up to Cedar Valley Elementary for another Americorps group's literacy night. It was a pirate-themed event (Literacy Island) complete with a hired professional pirate who walked around all night and eyepatches/earrings for the volunteers to wear. The games were fishing, letter tic-tac-toe, and an entire room of crafts. Kayle and I worked at the storyteller station, reading picture books to groups of kids. With 350 parents and kids in attendence, plenty of food, and a big raffle at the end, I'd say the night was a huge success. The experience gave my group some ideas for our own school's literacy night, which will take place next semester. It was also nice for Kayle to be able to meet some of the people from my work. The next day, they said he was "very nice."
On Friday, I went to the training day at the Federal Building downtown. The topic was "rascism in education," and it was one of the more interesting trainings so far. After, we drew our "avatars," which our leader described as the divine god-version of ourselves (from Hinduism). That was kinda strange, but mostly people just drew superheroes. Mine was Geeky Girl. Kayle thinks it's funny that I periodically come home from work with elaborate pictures I've drawn during an official training. And I made fun earlier in the year of his perks at work!
On Saturday, we had our most social day yet in Seattle. We went to the Brinton's house in the morning for a work party. The wife has been in the hospital for quite some time trying to keep a very premature infant inside despite early labor. Meanwhile, there was a lot of stuff to be done around the house before the baby arrived. A bunch of other people from church decided to come over to help complete their long list of chores. Kayle and I helped hang new curtain rods and curtains in the living room and I played with their two little boys, Micah and Asher. The baby has since been born (Zephaniah Isaac- a mouthful!), and, at a little over 3 lbs, is remarkably healthy and should be home soon. Yay!
Next, we came home and made pasties (again). We bought all the ingredients last weekend but never got around to making them. This is probably the last time we'll have them for a while, since, with left-overs, it seems like I've eaten way too many pasties this season (and I thought that wasn't possible). But at least we'll have something yummy to bring for lunch at work this week. After a short rest and a big lunch, we headed to an engagement party/open house for a couple from our bible study, Brian and Vicki. They are getting married in the spring of next year. Their proposal story was so cute with a beautiful mountain hike during which Brian surprised Vicki with a picnic lunch, a rose, some hot chocolate, and (finally) a ring, all of which fit covertly inside the giant hiking backpack he usually carried for the additional weight as exercise. The open house was fun, because we got to meet Vicki's parents and some of her childhood friends as well as visit with some of the guys in our bible study.
After, we headed to yet another party, this one a fondue open house at the home of Sara and Gary Burns (a couple from our community group). We met several new people from church and got into an interesting discussion that lasted for 3 hours. Kayle and I didn't leave until close to 9:30. It was a long day, and we promptly fell asleep.
Finally, today, we had church in the morning. We were talking about making good memories in marriage and about recalling our first date (among other things). Kayle and I remember several of our dates, but we have no clue what our first official "date" was. Probably a dance or something...anyone have any idea? We went to the 9:00 service this week, because we had our membership interview schedule with Gary Burns after church. We met in a coffee house, and it was nice to have him get to know us a bit more before pronouncing us official members of Mars Hill Church. He's also going to help Kayle get involved in the production crew (lights, powerpoint, sound, video), since that's where Kayle is most interested in serving. In the afternoon, we went on a bike ride, called home, picked up some books from the library, and went grocery shopping. All in all, it was a good day!
My dad suggested that Kayle and I take some pictures of our friends here, our condo, and even the town of Redmond. On our bike ride today, the camera ran out of batteries, but I'll try to remember to post some photos of our life here soon. We're still a bit embarrassed by the emptiness of our front room, and it might take a while for us to get another clear day to see the mountains in the background.
Random other news: my friend from college, Karis, has had a rough time healthwise lately. Her body has been rejecting the organs implanted in her about 2 years ago, and she's having all kinds of side effects to the medications. She's had health problems off and on for a while now, and she's not doing too well. However, last I heard, her body had stopped rejecting the organs and her risk of infection is slowly going back down. Anyway, keep her in your prayers. I invited her and her sister (Valerie) to our wedding and went to ISI (youth group in college) with them both.
On a lighter note, I saw a bald eagle in the wild for the first time. I was riding on the bus to work and saw it perched on an art sculpture that is in Lake Washington. So cool!
We can't wait to see everyone at Christmas. Less than a month now! We're sad to be unable to spend Thanksgiving with family but happy to be invited over to a friend's home to share the meal with a big group of friends from CG and bible study. We both have Thursday and Friday off from work, and we're looking forward to the long weekend. I'm trying hard to get ahead on my hours for work too, so I'm not behind when I get home from Christmas break (I need to get 1700 hours of service by the end of 10.5 months, which works out to about 40 hours/week, not including time off for breaks).
Anyway, we miss and love all of you! See you soon!
Angie and Kayle
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