Hi Everyone. Leanna's DJ just posted a bunch of pictures online of the reception. Since there's quite a few with us and other ND folk, I made a separate album on Picasa for you to see. The pictures are quite small, and I couldn't figure out how to save them any bigger off of the shutterfly site. Enjoy!
http://picasaweb.google.com/Angie.Hinkle/LeannaAndPaulSReception#
You can also look through all the DJ's pictures here (bigger and better quality):
http://cmsmile.shutterfly.com/mcdonaldreception
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
Eastside Academy
It's been 2 weeks or so since I posted last, so I'll try to catch you all up on the details of our lives out here.
The biggest news is that I started volunteering as a tutor at a small Christian school called Eastside Academy. It's an alternative high school with about 40 students and a wonderful staff. I've been going to school about 20 hours/week for the last two weeks and absolutely love getting to know the kids and helping out. Many of the students come from tough life situations which require some counseling alongside the smaller class sizes the school offers. Many of the teens are working hard to turn their lives around and are comfortable talking with the staff because it's obvious that the teachers really care for them. Though most of the students are not Christians, all of the staff are devoted followers of Jesus and encourage their volunteers to be open about their faith as well. The school is also very well-run in terms of discipline and structure, so I enjoy a more calm and focused environment than at my previous school.
Yesterday, the whole school packed up to go to a camp as a retreat. I was invited to go along, since I've gotten to know the kids pretty well and will probably be spending significant time there for a while. I had a blast hanging out with the students, tipping over in a canoe (by accident), horseback riding, rock-climbing, and getting into an intense frisbee golf faceoff. We also played team badminton and, despite playing with family as a kid, I was by far the worst player on my team in terms of missing the birdie and losing points. Oops! We still won one game and tied the other, and what I lacked in skill, I made up for with enthusiasm. Even the students most determined to NOT have fun ended up enjoying themselves immensely.
Unfortunately, we had to pack up and leave the camp early, because one of the teachers who missed the retreat due to being sick went to the hospital and was diagnosed with swine flu. He had not been around the school for two days, but we were all considered exposed and had to cancel the evening and next day's activities. I am a little bummed that we had to end the retreat early, mostly because some of those kids really needed a good retreat from their lives. Camp is such a great place to try new things and push yourself to succeed at something out of your normal comfort zone. At least it was a fun time while it lasted!
In other news, I got to hang out with some friends last Friday night. I went over to Kat's house (she lives with Brenda and 3 other girls I know from church) and we made molten lava cakes and homemade whipped cream. I'm excited to know how to make them now, and they turned out all right. They were a little salty, and we found out that Kat added salted butter instead of unsalted and forgot to tell me! I sat around and talked for several hours and enjoyed my time with the girls. Meanwhile, Kayle sat at home and read a book. He's been reading Harry Potter and C.S. Lewis' space trilogy lately. I just got Harry Potter books 5-7 from the library so he could finish off the series.
In other news, our church just started a new series going through the book of Luke. We'll be studying Luke for the next 3 years. This summer, Pastor Mark went to Israel with a film crew and shot awesome footage of all the places described including very rare views of Golgotha (which is apparently now all but blocked by a mosque and bank- he and the crew got exclusive access to the roof of the Muslim bank!). After hearing the introduction to the series last Sunday, I am VERY EXCITED for what is to come! Pastor Mark had an archeologist serve as his tour guide and the first sermon shared a detail that he learned about the crucifixion that I will never forget. Here is the clip: http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/luke/eyewitness-to-jesus (the part I'm talking about starts at 1:08, toward the end of the sermon, though the whole thing was good). Another cool thing going on at church is that Pastor Mark will be on Nightline news soon. Nightline is featuring a series of debates about each of the 10 Commandments and Pastor Mark will debating in the one about idolatry. It hasn't aired yet, so check the listings if you want to watch it.
This weekend, Kayle is gone on a men's retreat for church. He left today (Friday) after work and will come back on Sunday afternoon. Tomorrow, I'm going to a training for Science Adventures for club instructors. I'm not sure how much I'll be working with that, but I volunteered to be trained so I could at least sub in the after-school program. I'm also super excited for the Casting Crowns concert tomorrow night. A church in Redmond is hosting the band and, since Kayle is gone on the retreat, I'm going instead with a high schooler from youth group (who will sing along with me the whole time- yay!).
Well, that's about all for this week. I'll try to post soon to let you know how Kayle's retreat went. We miss you and can't wait to see you all for Christmas. Our plane tickets are for December 21st-January 2nd. My sister, Dani, is also coming for a few days to Seattle after her finals to visit and fly back to Michigan with us. We can hardly wait to see everybody!
Much love,
Angie and Kayle
The biggest news is that I started volunteering as a tutor at a small Christian school called Eastside Academy. It's an alternative high school with about 40 students and a wonderful staff. I've been going to school about 20 hours/week for the last two weeks and absolutely love getting to know the kids and helping out. Many of the students come from tough life situations which require some counseling alongside the smaller class sizes the school offers. Many of the teens are working hard to turn their lives around and are comfortable talking with the staff because it's obvious that the teachers really care for them. Though most of the students are not Christians, all of the staff are devoted followers of Jesus and encourage their volunteers to be open about their faith as well. The school is also very well-run in terms of discipline and structure, so I enjoy a more calm and focused environment than at my previous school.
Yesterday, the whole school packed up to go to a camp as a retreat. I was invited to go along, since I've gotten to know the kids pretty well and will probably be spending significant time there for a while. I had a blast hanging out with the students, tipping over in a canoe (by accident), horseback riding, rock-climbing, and getting into an intense frisbee golf faceoff. We also played team badminton and, despite playing with family as a kid, I was by far the worst player on my team in terms of missing the birdie and losing points. Oops! We still won one game and tied the other, and what I lacked in skill, I made up for with enthusiasm. Even the students most determined to NOT have fun ended up enjoying themselves immensely.
Unfortunately, we had to pack up and leave the camp early, because one of the teachers who missed the retreat due to being sick went to the hospital and was diagnosed with swine flu. He had not been around the school for two days, but we were all considered exposed and had to cancel the evening and next day's activities. I am a little bummed that we had to end the retreat early, mostly because some of those kids really needed a good retreat from their lives. Camp is such a great place to try new things and push yourself to succeed at something out of your normal comfort zone. At least it was a fun time while it lasted!
In other news, I got to hang out with some friends last Friday night. I went over to Kat's house (she lives with Brenda and 3 other girls I know from church) and we made molten lava cakes and homemade whipped cream. I'm excited to know how to make them now, and they turned out all right. They were a little salty, and we found out that Kat added salted butter instead of unsalted and forgot to tell me! I sat around and talked for several hours and enjoyed my time with the girls. Meanwhile, Kayle sat at home and read a book. He's been reading Harry Potter and C.S. Lewis' space trilogy lately. I just got Harry Potter books 5-7 from the library so he could finish off the series.
In other news, our church just started a new series going through the book of Luke. We'll be studying Luke for the next 3 years. This summer, Pastor Mark went to Israel with a film crew and shot awesome footage of all the places described including very rare views of Golgotha (which is apparently now all but blocked by a mosque and bank- he and the crew got exclusive access to the roof of the Muslim bank!). After hearing the introduction to the series last Sunday, I am VERY EXCITED for what is to come! Pastor Mark had an archeologist serve as his tour guide and the first sermon shared a detail that he learned about the crucifixion that I will never forget. Here is the clip: http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/luke/eyewitness-to-jesus (the part I'm talking about starts at 1:08, toward the end of the sermon, though the whole thing was good). Another cool thing going on at church is that Pastor Mark will be on Nightline news soon. Nightline is featuring a series of debates about each of the 10 Commandments and Pastor Mark will debating in the one about idolatry. It hasn't aired yet, so check the listings if you want to watch it.
This weekend, Kayle is gone on a men's retreat for church. He left today (Friday) after work and will come back on Sunday afternoon. Tomorrow, I'm going to a training for Science Adventures for club instructors. I'm not sure how much I'll be working with that, but I volunteered to be trained so I could at least sub in the after-school program. I'm also super excited for the Casting Crowns concert tomorrow night. A church in Redmond is hosting the band and, since Kayle is gone on the retreat, I'm going instead with a high schooler from youth group (who will sing along with me the whole time- yay!).
Well, that's about all for this week. I'll try to post soon to let you know how Kayle's retreat went. We miss you and can't wait to see you all for Christmas. Our plane tickets are for December 21st-January 2nd. My sister, Dani, is also coming for a few days to Seattle after her finals to visit and fly back to Michigan with us. We can hardly wait to see everybody!
Much love,
Angie and Kayle
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Labor Day Weekend
Hmm...not too much is new in the Hinkle household. We've both been helping out at church the past few Sundays (with tech and children's ministry). I was in the PreK room again, once as a teacher and once as a helper. Our community group has been rather slow lately, with Kayle and I the only ones to show up last week and one of 3 couples yesterday. We're moving back inside next week, because it's getting dark by 8:30 and that dampens the fun you can have at the park. I'm really looking forward to our weekly potluck meals and sermon discussions again! Also for church, we had our "regional vision event" to hear from the new pastor how we will "be the church" in our spread-out communities. Since then, I decided to help get people serving in their neighborhoods by compiling a list of local social service agencies and what kind of volunteer help they need. A few people have already responded by signing up for an event or asking for help getting connected with an agency, so maybe it will be a useful several hours spent.
In football news, I couldn't be more excited about Notre Dame being ranked #18 and shutting out our first opponent (Nevada) 35-0. (Michigan did all right in their first game too...cough, cough.) Kayle and I are looking forward to the ND-Michigan game this weekend. Cheer for the Irish or the next post may be more sad in tone...
While we did enjoy having a long weekend for Labor Day, Kayle and I were a bit disappointed by the fact it rained the entire time. We were hoping to ride our bikes to dinner and maybe play some tennis, but alas! Instead, we broke out the "Ungame" and Scrabble and bonded over game night. I bought several $25 gift certificates on Restaurant.com for $2 each (super awesome deal!), so we should be eating at a few new places soon (including an Italian/Greek place- YUM!!). Yay for date night!
Also this weekend, I was pleased to be able to hang out with Kat (from church) and go to the Pro Club for dinner and back to her house to watch a movie. The Pro Club was a little fancy for my taste and they were very keen to get us to come on a tour (I think we were asked about 8 times by 4-5 different people). We ended up watching "17 Again" too, which was pretty full of awkwardness for a full 2 hours. Overall, we had a fun time laughing together and getting to know each other more...
Well, that's it for this week. We love and miss you all, as always!
Angie and Kayle
In football news, I couldn't be more excited about Notre Dame being ranked #18 and shutting out our first opponent (Nevada) 35-0. (Michigan did all right in their first game too...cough, cough.) Kayle and I are looking forward to the ND-Michigan game this weekend. Cheer for the Irish or the next post may be more sad in tone...
While we did enjoy having a long weekend for Labor Day, Kayle and I were a bit disappointed by the fact it rained the entire time. We were hoping to ride our bikes to dinner and maybe play some tennis, but alas! Instead, we broke out the "Ungame" and Scrabble and bonded over game night. I bought several $25 gift certificates on Restaurant.com for $2 each (super awesome deal!), so we should be eating at a few new places soon (including an Italian/Greek place- YUM!!). Yay for date night!
Also this weekend, I was pleased to be able to hang out with Kat (from church) and go to the Pro Club for dinner and back to her house to watch a movie. The Pro Club was a little fancy for my taste and they were very keen to get us to come on a tour (I think we were asked about 8 times by 4-5 different people). We ended up watching "17 Again" too, which was pretty full of awkwardness for a full 2 hours. Overall, we had a fun time laughing together and getting to know each other more...
Well, that's it for this week. We love and miss you all, as always!
Angie and Kayle
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