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!