I didn't even realize that I forgot to post for two weeks until I received my weekly letter from grandma. It said: "Angie: Checked your blog, but nothing was added." How's that for a reminder! :) It made both of us laugh, and, apparently, it worked.
The last two weeks, work went very well for both of us. Kayle's job has been interesting lately and it seems like he is being productive. I have been transitioning to working more hours at EA2 and volunteering fewer hours at Eastside Academy. This is mostly because I have two students that now meet in the morning, breaking my day into smaller sections and making it harder to go back and forth. I still manage to volunteer in person at the school about 10 hours/week, but I've been doing more behind-the-scenes work like making food for the Thanksgiving meal, getting books donated, arranging a talk on science/faith, and writing letters to students on leave. The most exciting news is that one of the students at Eastside Academy became a Christian this month. It's amazing to see how much his life and attitude have changed in such a short time! Another cool moment was when the health class focused on what kind of legacy they wanted to leave and presented about their imagined future life in a mock obituary. It's always special to see students dream about their future and share what is most important to them.
Last Saturday, I went to a meeting about doing graduate school for teaching at Northwest University (a smaller Christian college nearby). I am looking into doing their year-long Masters in Teaching program. There are still a lot of variables affecting whether this is a good option, not the least of which are questions about whether my certification would transfer to Michigan should we move back. We are also saving for a home right now and should probably wait until after we make a down payment so that I would be eligible for some financial aid. Right now, I have an excellent job and am content to continue there while we figure things out.
This past week was also a pretty normal week. On Tuesday, we had community group as usual and made pinwheels for appetizer night. They were a big hit and both pans were completely eaten. (Pinwheels are ham and cheese in crescent roll dough.) We also had a new couple visit our group. Two of the women (Marilee and Rachel) are past their due date, so we should have a couple more babies in our CG soon. We were all saddened too by the news that two other women in our church recently lost their babies when they were nearly 9 months pregnant. Many are praying for them in their heart-breaking loss.
On Wednesday, we had the monthly regional vision meeting instead of regular youth group. We discussed how we can better represent Christ in the places God has already put us. Instead of worrying about adding more events and projects to our busy lives, we focused on how we can best love people in the relationships and opportunities to connect that we already have. It was cool to hear how God is working in and through the daily lives of other church members who live near us.
This weekend, we are mostly resting. Kayle and I watched a Netflix movie together last night. We were planning to babysit for some friends, but, since the baby now has a cold, her parents opted to go out next weekend instead. So, I guess we'll do our regular chores (grocery shopping, laundry, etc.) and maybe go out for dinner tonight. Tomorrow, we have church and a training meeting for children's ministry teachers and room leads. I'll also be cooking a lot for Thanksgiving at Eastside Academy and at Caleb and Laura's house.
We miss you all...only one month until Christmas!
Angie and Kayle
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Social Butterflies!?!?
Last week was a pretty busy social week for us, with something going on almost every night. On Tuesday, we went to CG and had a Mediterranean food potluck. In practice, although we intended to get some yummy Greek food or at least something out of the ordinary, we ended up eating Papa John's pizza, salad, pitas with hummus, and Milano cookies. The Papa John's and Milano cookies were our last-minute, no time to cook this week contribution. We held group at Thad and Marilee's house this week, since Kim and Jay (our usual hosts) were sick. It was a smaller crowd but a good discussion on what it means to be "Spirit-filled" (like John the Baptist, his parents, and Jesus among others). Group is going well, but it's sometimes difficult to pray with a toddler or two running around, attracting attention by being cute. The last few weeks, I've lost my train of thought while praying aloud because something was either thrust into or taken out of my hands. We love the kids, but they sure don't let you forget they're around! In particular, 1 1/2 year old Silas managed to get hold of quite a few Milano cookies when the adults weren't looking...
On Wednesday, I went to youth group bible study. Lately, it's been quite a rush to get from work, which ends at 6pm, to Microsoft to pick up Kayle, to home to drop him off, and back out the door to someone's house by 6:45-7pm. Last week I bought some fast food on the way. This week I grabbed an apple and granola bar and ate them in the car for dinner. We've been discussing lately how we want to serve together as a girl's bible study. We hope to do one or two service projects before Christmas.
On Thursday, Kayle and I came home for dinner before going to Caleb and Laura Bell's house for dessert and games. We went to their house last year for Thanksgiving but haven't seen them much lately. It was nice to catch up and talk to them for a while, since we usually only see them in passing at church or an event. We ate brownie sundaes and played a casual board game called Imaginiff (Imagine if...). It sounds like they're planning to move back to Texas with their 1-year-old so they can live by both of their families. We should enjoy their company while we still can!
On Friday night, I went to Kat's house to make a pumpkin pie and watch "Back to the Future". Last year, Kayle and I bought a store pumpkin pie and it tasted so bland that we ended up throwing most of it away and shunning pie for the rest of the season. My pumpkin pie with Kat turned out great, so I will probably make another by myself for Thanksgiving. Kat and I have been trying to get together every two weeks or so and she is becoming a great girlfriend to talk to. Meanwhile, Kayle enjoyed a night at home playing computer games and not missing pumpkin pie (which apparently he doesn't like...).
On Saturday, we went with some other members of our CG to volunteer at a new thrift store. It was a cold, rainy day (it rained much harder than usual for Seattle) and we ended up waiting in our cars and at the grocery store coffee shop for over an hour before the staff showed up. Apparently, the lines of communication were crossed and they forgot we were coming to volunteer. So, when the store finally opened, we ended up doing some odd jobs for two hours. Altogether, it wasn't the most productive, but I guess that is what can be expected from a brand new program that isn't super organized yet. After volunteering, we came home for bit before venturing out again on another social call, this time a fondue open house at the home of someone in our old CG. We saw a lot of people from CG and church that we haven't talked to in a while, so it was a fun time to sit, chat, and eat chocolate. We stayed for a few hours and then decided a dinner date night sounded pretty good. We ate at our favorite restaurant, CoHo cafe, and enjoyed prime rib and a bacon cheeseburger. Then, we came home and relaxed watching a tv show together. All in all, a busy but good day!
Today, we had the week off for children's ministry so we relished the opportunity to sleep in until 9am! Deciding to go to the 5pm service, we spent the morning making waffles and pasties and doing laundry. After lunch, we went to Joe's house to listen to Focus on the Family's radio rendition of C.S. Lewis' "The Screwtape Letters." It was done well and pretty entertaining and funny. Next, we rushed off to church and heard a sermon on the birth of Jesus (and it's not even Christmastime...Pastor Mark pointed out that we don't know which day Jesus was actually born anyway!).
Phew! If hearing about our social calendar isn't enough to make you tired, we also had a pretty busy workweek. I really enjoyed being able to go to the end-of-quarter awards ceremony at Eastside Academy. One of the girls, who is married with two young kids, finished up her credits to be able to graduate and is planning to go into nursing next fall. She offered the advice to her fellow students: "if I can graduate with two kids, you all have no excuse!" Good for her! She worked really hard and ended up with excellent grades. Many of the other kids were also touched by the awards they received as the teachers brainstormed to ensure every student there got two awards and a personal Bible verse. We also shared some yummy food. I clapped so hard my hands turned bright red!
The biggest victory at EA2 was from a student who had previously failed 4 quizzes in his algebra/trig math class. He came only a few sessions before the 4th quiz, and, despite studying really hard, still failed. It seemed pretty hopeless as we went into the unit exam, which would cover the material from all 4 previous quizzes with only a few tutoring sessions in between. My boss called to tell me that the boy got his unit test back this week and passed it with a C! He said that both mom and son were crying and laughing when they received the grade. They were so relieved to have seen some progress after so much hard work and disappointment. I'm so happy for him too! Another student at EA2, this one in Calculus, also did well on his 2nd test with me. We are cruising through the course faster than a college class since he is assigned 6 hours/week with me, and he is doing very well so far. I also received one new student this week and will have another new student next week too.
We can hardly believe it is already November. This past week, it has finally turned to the perpetual cold rain and gray skies of a Seattle winter. The temperature dropped quite a bit and I don't think we'll see much of the sun until the spring. Time seems to being going by so much faster lately, so it feels like Christmas is just around the corner! We miss you and love you all so much!
Angie and Kayle
P.S. Happy Birthday to my siblings, Dani and Aaron! I can't believe how old the two of you are now. My baby brother and sister are growing up so fast!
On Wednesday, I went to youth group bible study. Lately, it's been quite a rush to get from work, which ends at 6pm, to Microsoft to pick up Kayle, to home to drop him off, and back out the door to someone's house by 6:45-7pm. Last week I bought some fast food on the way. This week I grabbed an apple and granola bar and ate them in the car for dinner. We've been discussing lately how we want to serve together as a girl's bible study. We hope to do one or two service projects before Christmas.
On Thursday, Kayle and I came home for dinner before going to Caleb and Laura Bell's house for dessert and games. We went to their house last year for Thanksgiving but haven't seen them much lately. It was nice to catch up and talk to them for a while, since we usually only see them in passing at church or an event. We ate brownie sundaes and played a casual board game called Imaginiff (Imagine if...). It sounds like they're planning to move back to Texas with their 1-year-old so they can live by both of their families. We should enjoy their company while we still can!
On Friday night, I went to Kat's house to make a pumpkin pie and watch "Back to the Future". Last year, Kayle and I bought a store pumpkin pie and it tasted so bland that we ended up throwing most of it away and shunning pie for the rest of the season. My pumpkin pie with Kat turned out great, so I will probably make another by myself for Thanksgiving. Kat and I have been trying to get together every two weeks or so and she is becoming a great girlfriend to talk to. Meanwhile, Kayle enjoyed a night at home playing computer games and not missing pumpkin pie (which apparently he doesn't like...).
On Saturday, we went with some other members of our CG to volunteer at a new thrift store. It was a cold, rainy day (it rained much harder than usual for Seattle) and we ended up waiting in our cars and at the grocery store coffee shop for over an hour before the staff showed up. Apparently, the lines of communication were crossed and they forgot we were coming to volunteer. So, when the store finally opened, we ended up doing some odd jobs for two hours. Altogether, it wasn't the most productive, but I guess that is what can be expected from a brand new program that isn't super organized yet. After volunteering, we came home for bit before venturing out again on another social call, this time a fondue open house at the home of someone in our old CG. We saw a lot of people from CG and church that we haven't talked to in a while, so it was a fun time to sit, chat, and eat chocolate. We stayed for a few hours and then decided a dinner date night sounded pretty good. We ate at our favorite restaurant, CoHo cafe, and enjoyed prime rib and a bacon cheeseburger. Then, we came home and relaxed watching a tv show together. All in all, a busy but good day!
Today, we had the week off for children's ministry so we relished the opportunity to sleep in until 9am! Deciding to go to the 5pm service, we spent the morning making waffles and pasties and doing laundry. After lunch, we went to Joe's house to listen to Focus on the Family's radio rendition of C.S. Lewis' "The Screwtape Letters." It was done well and pretty entertaining and funny. Next, we rushed off to church and heard a sermon on the birth of Jesus (and it's not even Christmastime...Pastor Mark pointed out that we don't know which day Jesus was actually born anyway!).
Phew! If hearing about our social calendar isn't enough to make you tired, we also had a pretty busy workweek. I really enjoyed being able to go to the end-of-quarter awards ceremony at Eastside Academy. One of the girls, who is married with two young kids, finished up her credits to be able to graduate and is planning to go into nursing next fall. She offered the advice to her fellow students: "if I can graduate with two kids, you all have no excuse!" Good for her! She worked really hard and ended up with excellent grades. Many of the other kids were also touched by the awards they received as the teachers brainstormed to ensure every student there got two awards and a personal Bible verse. We also shared some yummy food. I clapped so hard my hands turned bright red!
The biggest victory at EA2 was from a student who had previously failed 4 quizzes in his algebra/trig math class. He came only a few sessions before the 4th quiz, and, despite studying really hard, still failed. It seemed pretty hopeless as we went into the unit exam, which would cover the material from all 4 previous quizzes with only a few tutoring sessions in between. My boss called to tell me that the boy got his unit test back this week and passed it with a C! He said that both mom and son were crying and laughing when they received the grade. They were so relieved to have seen some progress after so much hard work and disappointment. I'm so happy for him too! Another student at EA2, this one in Calculus, also did well on his 2nd test with me. We are cruising through the course faster than a college class since he is assigned 6 hours/week with me, and he is doing very well so far. I also received one new student this week and will have another new student next week too.
We can hardly believe it is already November. This past week, it has finally turned to the perpetual cold rain and gray skies of a Seattle winter. The temperature dropped quite a bit and I don't think we'll see much of the sun until the spring. Time seems to being going by so much faster lately, so it feels like Christmas is just around the corner! We miss you and love you all so much!
Angie and Kayle
P.S. Happy Birthday to my siblings, Dani and Aaron! I can't believe how old the two of you are now. My baby brother and sister are growing up so fast!
Monday, November 2, 2009
A Happy Halloween
This past week, we didn't have many plans that were out of the ordinary. Now that I have a job, it seems like the weeks have taken on much more of a routine. We still enjoy our church community group on Tuesday nights (only two more babies on the way...) and I still go to youth group on Wednesday nights. Now, the weekdays are more regular too, with school all day (at EA or EA2 or both) and picking up Kayle from work afterward.
On Friday, Eastside Academy cooked a meal (pasta, bread, fruit, cookies) and brought it to two different homeless shelters in Seattle. The girls went to one place and the guys to another. The girls also got lost for two hours, since no one specified the exact location where we'd be serving among the many programs under the same organization. When we finally made it there, the high-schoolers were complaining of hunger and very cranky. They stopped whining immediately upon seeing the more difficult position of the people they would be serving that day. It seems they suddenly realized that a late lunch and warm car ride is still much better than not knowing when your next meal would be and spending all day out in the cold. It was a learning experience for them to meet and serve the homeless of Seattle, many for the first time.
After returning from Seattle, I tutored a teen at EA2 before picking up Kayle and going to a Halloween party. Michelle and Tony Martin from Eastside Academy hosted it at their home in Issaquah, and Kayle came along to meet them and some more of the students I work with. About 10-12 students came with some of their kids and cousins in tow, and we enjoyed pizza, popcorn, and candy while playing some games and watching a scary movie. It was a pretty relaxed time, and we enjoyed it a lot.
On Sunday, Kayle and I served in Children's ministry in the toddler 1 room. With the time change and a long sermon, the kids just were not happy campers and we had a few more "criers" than usual. In particular, I had two one-year-old boys that kept alternating between playing and crying and would come sit on my lap during the crying phase, usually both at the same time! We also had a full room with over 20 toddlers, so, even with 6-7 volunteers, we were kept really busy. I'm glad nap time doesn't usually fall right in the middle of the morning service! The sermon was also very good, especially the last part about the recent creation of a stage called adolescence. Pastor Mark had the women laughing so hard about boys who refuse to grow up! Well, you should just watch for yourself and be entertained:
http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/luke/the-birth-of-john-the-baptizer
(Skip forward to the 38 min. mark)
After church, I was very excited to be productive around the house. We cleaned the kitchen and bathrooms, did several loads of laundry, cooked a new meal, cleaned/vacuumed out the car, and prepared lessons for EA2. Kayle also finished getting the new computer hooked up with remote desktop connections to our laptops and a wireless connection to the printer. We even read 10-12 chapters in Isaiah together! Yippee!
This week, I'm looking forward to a game night with Caleb and Laura on Thursday as well as a dessert night with the girls on Friday. It's a busy social week for us, but a pretty slow week for school, since the quarter is ending at Eastside Academy and we have no school on Friday.
We love and miss you and are ever more excited for December...
Angie and Kayle
On Friday, Eastside Academy cooked a meal (pasta, bread, fruit, cookies) and brought it to two different homeless shelters in Seattle. The girls went to one place and the guys to another. The girls also got lost for two hours, since no one specified the exact location where we'd be serving among the many programs under the same organization. When we finally made it there, the high-schoolers were complaining of hunger and very cranky. They stopped whining immediately upon seeing the more difficult position of the people they would be serving that day. It seems they suddenly realized that a late lunch and warm car ride is still much better than not knowing when your next meal would be and spending all day out in the cold. It was a learning experience for them to meet and serve the homeless of Seattle, many for the first time.
After returning from Seattle, I tutored a teen at EA2 before picking up Kayle and going to a Halloween party. Michelle and Tony Martin from Eastside Academy hosted it at their home in Issaquah, and Kayle came along to meet them and some more of the students I work with. About 10-12 students came with some of their kids and cousins in tow, and we enjoyed pizza, popcorn, and candy while playing some games and watching a scary movie. It was a pretty relaxed time, and we enjoyed it a lot.
On Sunday, Kayle and I served in Children's ministry in the toddler 1 room. With the time change and a long sermon, the kids just were not happy campers and we had a few more "criers" than usual. In particular, I had two one-year-old boys that kept alternating between playing and crying and would come sit on my lap during the crying phase, usually both at the same time! We also had a full room with over 20 toddlers, so, even with 6-7 volunteers, we were kept really busy. I'm glad nap time doesn't usually fall right in the middle of the morning service! The sermon was also very good, especially the last part about the recent creation of a stage called adolescence. Pastor Mark had the women laughing so hard about boys who refuse to grow up! Well, you should just watch for yourself and be entertained:
http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/luke/the-birth-of-john-the-baptizer
(Skip forward to the 38 min. mark)
After church, I was very excited to be productive around the house. We cleaned the kitchen and bathrooms, did several loads of laundry, cooked a new meal, cleaned/vacuumed out the car, and prepared lessons for EA2. Kayle also finished getting the new computer hooked up with remote desktop connections to our laptops and a wireless connection to the printer. We even read 10-12 chapters in Isaiah together! Yippee!
This week, I'm looking forward to a game night with Caleb and Laura on Thursday as well as a dessert night with the girls on Friday. It's a busy social week for us, but a pretty slow week for school, since the quarter is ending at Eastside Academy and we have no school on Friday.
We love and miss you and are ever more excited for December...
Angie and Kayle
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