As I'm sure you know, Kayle turned 24 on January 12. We celebrated with dirt cake at CG, and I think Kayle even managed to go the whole day without anyone singing to him (as he prefers). The next day, I brought the leftover dirt cake to youth group and the girls liked it so much that they asked me to post the recipe. Not much else was new for that week.
On Martin Luther King Day, I had no school at both EA and EA2. I found out that we only get 3 days off for EA2 the whole semester: MLK, Memorial Day, and Presidents' Day. I knew that EA2 didn't take off for normal breaks like Christmas break and spring break, but I just learned that we don't take off for summer either! Apparently, we get quite a few students in the summer who want to make up credits or continue their coursework. Luckily, my boss has been very good at giving me all my requested days off for Kristen's visit, coming home, and various weddings. This also means I don't have to search for a summer job this year- hurrah! My day off was much appreciated. I ran a whole bunch of errands, including getting a haircut, Kohl's, Radioshack, grocery store, and chiropractor. I also cleaned and did laundry. Of course, I did my share of lounging around and taking a nap too. Unfortunately, Kayle had work that day (which never happens- he has many more federal holidays off than me!).
Last week, I also got a new full-time student for 5 hours/week. I should be getting 2 more new students soon as well. It's very possible that my ~20 hour/week job becomes more like 30 hours/week soon. This limits my time at Eastside Academy, but I love working with my EA2 students too. I still help out at EA when I can, scheduling speakers, writing letters, and grading online classes. Most of my students at both schools had final exams last week, so there was general frenzy everywhere. I even subbed for a Calculus student whose 1st session was an emergency study session the day before the test. Whoa!
Besides work, CG and youth group also went well. We enjoyed soup and sandwiches last week and had a new couple originally from the Philippines visit. They have a 16-year-old son in Proxy (who I haven't met yet) and a 4 year old. I hope they join our group- it was nice talking to them. In youth group, we've been studying along with the sermon series, so we talked about the temptation of Jesus and how to deal with our own temptation. We are also working on planning some social and service events for our group as well as helping the girls step up into leadership by leading discussion. My co-leader had to take some time off to look for a new job, so I'm leading by myself for a while. With the new Bible study meeting style, I went from having no planning responsibility to pretty much all of the responsibility. Eek! Pray for me! We had our first "event planning" meeting on Friday and only 2 girls (out of about 12 total) showed up. We have a lot of good ideas but a lot of work ahead.
On Saturday was our long-anticipated date in Seattle. We went grocery shopping in the morning (not part of the date) and ate a nice, big breakfast. In Seattle, I had my massage appointment from the coupon I bought a few months ago. It was 70 minutes of amazing-ness, but, unfortunately, my neck and shoulders were hurting again within a few hours. Alas...no quick solution. (Kayle has me on an exercise/stretching/strengthening regime that he hopes will reduce my chronic back pain. We also might get a Wii Fit. If it doesn't work soon, I might go see a back specialist to see if there's anything else we can do!) After the massage, we happened on a nice restaurant on Lake Union for lunch. We had planned to go somewhere else, but it was closed for some reason. We ended up right next to the harbor and the parmesan-crusted Dover sole and huge cheeseburger we ordered were much enjoyed. I think we found a new favorite restaurant to visit while in Seattle! Our meal over, we proceeded to Seattle Center (where the space needle is) for our movie. We were there before 3:00 for a 4:10 movie and the line was already very long to get in. Apparently, everyone wants a good seat for Avatar in 3D on IMAX. It was entertaining to be in line though, because there was some type of anime convention going on with all kinds of teenagers in strange Japanese cartoon costumes taking odd pictures of each other in the park. Kayle said that he wished he had brought a camera! The movie was worth the wait- very visually stunning even if the whole spirtuality aspect was off. It's exciting to think of all the cool movies they could produce with that technology.
On Sunday, we waited until the evening service to go to church, since Kayle needed to fill in for someone in the tech booth. It was a special Sunday. Pastor Mark, with a long list of miracles, ended up in Haiti last week to survey the needs of specifically the churches there. He told his experiences along with video and pictures of the wreckage left behind by the earthquake. Mars Hill is now co-founding an organization called Churches Helping Churches to assist local churches in rebuilding after disasters and empower them to serve their commmunities and provide aid in the name of Christ. In addition to great physical need, the people of Haiti and everywhere have great spiritual and emotional needs that come to the fore-front after a catastrophe.
Here is Sunday's touching sermon on Haiti:
http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/special/32-hours-the-church-in-haiti
Here is one of the slide-shows Pastor Mark showed on Sunday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esUu2C6kLu8
Here is a link to the Churches Helping Churches site:
www.churcheshelpingchurches.org
The sermon was very touching and challenging and, for the first time since I initally heard of the earthquake, my heart is broken for the people of Haiti. Please be in prayer for the relief efforts there but also for the hearts of the Haitians who so desperately need the hope of Christ.
This week starts a new semester and should prove to be quite busy. I am looking forward to a CG girls night out (and guys night out) this weekend. All the ladies are going to dinner on Friday night, but I'm not sure what the guys are planning to do. I'm also hoping to see Kat and hang out with her.
As always, we miss our friends and family who are far away. Much love and prayers!
Angie and Kayle
Monday, January 25, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Settling Back Into Routine...
Not too much is new since my last post. We've gotten back into the old work routine and are finally sleeping at our normal hours. It took us about 3-4 days before we were going to bed after 9:00 pm and waking up after 6:00 am! We kind of liked having so much time in the morning, but our evening activities require us to be up a little later than that.
Kayle has been busy at work, since their team has a lot to do before an upcoming deadline. Meanwhile, I'm still teaching at EA2 about 20 hours/week and Eastside Academy about 5-8 hours/week. One of my students is finishing up a calculus class this month and is excited about hearing back from colleges for next year. Several others are gearing up for big tests soon. Eastside Academy's quarter is over at the end of next week too.
There was no CG this week, because most of our group attended the West regional meeting for church. Kayle and I have been going to the North region because that's where we live and where my youth group CG meets. Youth group went really well this week as we looked at spiritual gifts and making a vision/legacy plan to set godly goals for intentionally living out the gospel in every area of our lives. It was nice to have a new middle school girl show up as well.
On Friday, we babysat for Caleb and Laura after work. It was Laura's birthday, so Caleb wanted to take her out to dinner. Watching Grace was fun...until bedtime. She's at the age where she knows what she wants and lets you know it too. We finally got her to bed and sleeping before her parents came home!
On Saturday, Kayle and I rented a movie, "The Soloist," and spent a restful day at home. Today, we went to church in the morning where Kayle did lights for both morning services. Meanwhile, I was planning to meet a student for some math tutoring and managed to do about 20 minutes of fractions and decimals before the 2nd service. Of course, if you linger in the back of the service, you might get asked to help out in children's ministry! Sure enough, the regular PreK teacher's car broke down and I stepped in with the 3-5 year olds. It was a fun lesson about the wise men with a follow-the-star game and a story with everyone crowding around to hear and see the pictures. We did have one major meltdown over not getting to be the line leader, but I think watching Supernanny episodes may have improved my handling of the situation. :) After church, we made meat sauce for CG later this week and drove into Seattle for dinner and to buy IMAX tickets for Avatar. We plan to have another Seattle trip in two weeks to finally get my massage, go to lunch, and see the movie. Sounds pretty great to me!
Kayle turns 24 this Tuesday, so wish him "Happy Birthday" if you get a chance. So far, our only plans are to make dirt cake for CG, which happens to fall on his birthday. I guess that's all for this week!
We miss you and love you!
Angie and Kayle
Kayle has been busy at work, since their team has a lot to do before an upcoming deadline. Meanwhile, I'm still teaching at EA2 about 20 hours/week and Eastside Academy about 5-8 hours/week. One of my students is finishing up a calculus class this month and is excited about hearing back from colleges for next year. Several others are gearing up for big tests soon. Eastside Academy's quarter is over at the end of next week too.
There was no CG this week, because most of our group attended the West regional meeting for church. Kayle and I have been going to the North region because that's where we live and where my youth group CG meets. Youth group went really well this week as we looked at spiritual gifts and making a vision/legacy plan to set godly goals for intentionally living out the gospel in every area of our lives. It was nice to have a new middle school girl show up as well.
On Friday, we babysat for Caleb and Laura after work. It was Laura's birthday, so Caleb wanted to take her out to dinner. Watching Grace was fun...until bedtime. She's at the age where she knows what she wants and lets you know it too. We finally got her to bed and sleeping before her parents came home!
On Saturday, Kayle and I rented a movie, "The Soloist," and spent a restful day at home. Today, we went to church in the morning where Kayle did lights for both morning services. Meanwhile, I was planning to meet a student for some math tutoring and managed to do about 20 minutes of fractions and decimals before the 2nd service. Of course, if you linger in the back of the service, you might get asked to help out in children's ministry! Sure enough, the regular PreK teacher's car broke down and I stepped in with the 3-5 year olds. It was a fun lesson about the wise men with a follow-the-star game and a story with everyone crowding around to hear and see the pictures. We did have one major meltdown over not getting to be the line leader, but I think watching Supernanny episodes may have improved my handling of the situation. :) After church, we made meat sauce for CG later this week and drove into Seattle for dinner and to buy IMAX tickets for Avatar. We plan to have another Seattle trip in two weeks to finally get my massage, go to lunch, and see the movie. Sounds pretty great to me!
Kayle turns 24 this Tuesday, so wish him "Happy Birthday" if you get a chance. So far, our only plans are to make dirt cake for CG, which happens to fall on his birthday. I guess that's all for this week!
We miss you and love you!
Angie and Kayle
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Phew! The longer I wait to update my blog, the harder it is to find the time to sit down and post everything! It's been a busy December with Dani's visit and the 2-week trip to Michigan. Here are the highlights in probably more detail than you could ever want:
Since my last post, I only had 1 1/2 more weeks of work before Christmas break and Dani's visit. My students are all making good progress except the one who is MIA about half the time. We had an EA2 Christmas party on Friday, Dec 11- it was held at an Irish pub restaurant with good Irish food and an open bar. It was funny to meet a couple from Michigan that also met in advanced math classes, played trumpet, and even knew someone Kayle knows from Caledonia High School band. The wife also works for EA2 and the husband works for Microsoft. All in all, talking to them was kind of eerie and, despite all the similarities, I maintain that we are a bit less geeky than they were...
Saturday the 12th was super busy. I went to a girl's brunch at Brenda's house in the morning. Brenda made a delicious breakfast spread and we sat around and talked for a few hours. After, I rushed off to practice Christmas carols and go caroling with my youth group girls at a senior center. I was very nervous that we might not have enough singers, but, with 10-12 of us, everything went smoothly and the seniors were rocking it out with us by the end. Finally, I finished out the day by meeting Kayle at Jeff and Paula's house for a cookie baking/Christmas party. Kayle went with some other friends earlier in the day. I was exhausted by the time I arrived, but I still enjoyed some chili and yummy Christmas cookies.
On Sunday, I was the primary (1st-5th grade) Sunday school teacher with Kayle helping out in the room too. Then, we came home, made two meals for new moms in our CG, and delivered the meals to their homes in Bellevue. Both said afterward that they enjoyed the chicken picatta with pasta and veggies. At night, I went to a youth group leader's meeting. (Now, can you see why I didn't post earlier?)
On Tuesday and Wednesday, I had CG and youth group respectively. We celebrated Christmas with a big meal together for CG and we saw many faces that have been busy attending to babies lately. We also surprised Kim and Jay, our hosts, with a gift card to a fancy restaurant so they could go on a nice date. In youth group, we studied advent by talking about Christ's second coming and how we anticipate both Christmas and Christ's eternal kingdom at this time of year. We had a good conversation with lots of questions and things to wonder about.
On Thursday Dec. 17, Dani arrived in Seattle! I picked her up from the airport in the late-morning and let her settle in a bit. Then, we went grocery shopping together and made pasties as a surprise for Kayle. On Friday, Dani and I went into Seattle while Kayle was at work. Dani got a massage for her Christmas present (I was supposed to get one at the same time, but one of the massage therapists was sick that day). Meanwhile, I walked to a nearby bookstore and enjoyed a gingerbread latte in the Starbucks next door. Afterward, we headed to Pike's Place market and downtown Seattle where we shopped a little and ate at a lovely Chinese restaurant. We finished by touring the Seattle aquarium, touching the urchins and anemones, staring at the cute seals and otters, and enjoying an octopus presentation. Of course, there were lots of colorful and odd-looking fish too! We took the bus back to Redmond and picked up Kayle from work.
On Saturday, we enjoyed a delicious seafood dinner in downtown Bellevue and went to "Snowflake Lane," an outdoor Christmas celebration at the mall with fake snow and drummers dressed as toy soldiers. On Sunday, we went to church in the morning. While Kayle served in the tech booth, Dani and I went out to breakfast at Denny's. We spent the rest of the day making cookies for our neighbors. We made many, many gingerbread cookies and decorated them all! We also made almond bars, chocolate chip cookies, and cranberry walnut cookies. We delivered them on Monday morning before our flight, and they were much appreciated by our neighbors. Several said that we made their whole day!
On Monday, we began the Michigan chapter of the month by flying home with Dani. We finally made it, after a short delay in Detroit, around midnight Michigan time. In Detroit, we laughed when they announced over the intercom that we would need to take another plane from a different gate because (and I quote) "this plane is broke!". My mom and a bunch of Hinkles met us at the airport. It is so nice to see family again!
I couldn't possibly tell all the adventures of being home in Michigan, because it seems like we saw so many people! We enjoyed several family days with a Maxey celebration and prime rib lunch on Christmas morning, a Hoksbergen family gathering also on Christmas day, and a Hinkle Christmas bash on the 26th. We enjoyed seeing all the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins as well as opening gifts, having a white-elephant exchange, eating many cookies, and playing some board games. I also enjoyed going with my dad to serve food to the homeless one morning and eating lunch at Sam's Joint with my brother, Aaron. The Hinkle household was also quite busy with 3 Burmese foster sisters now (there are now two Esthers and Siang), bringing the total Hinkle family count to 10 if you include the two of us.
Of course, we also saw some high school friends over break. One evening, I went to a girl's night at Bridget's new house. I reminisced with the other 7-8 girls for 7 full hours of non-stop talking. I also visited with Emily J that day by going to see the Princess and the Frog Disney movie in the theater and sleeping over at her house at night. On New Year's Eve, we had a co-ed high school party with about 10 friends at PJ and Lisa's house with board games, Euchre, more Christmas cookies, talking, and watching the ball drop. Our friend, Conall, also stopped by the Hinkle house to visit with us one afternoon. All in all, it was refreshing to catch up on the lives of our friends.
We returned to Seattle on Saturday, Jan 2. With the time change, coming back is physically much easier than heading to Michigan. We left Michigan around 1:30 and arrived at home in Seattle by 6:30. After some quick partial unpacking, we relaxed and went to bed early.
Today we went to church in the morning, including helping out in the booth and in children's ministry. We spent most of the day just catching up on e-mails, doing laundry, and relaxing. It's hard to believe that we need to go back to work tomorrow!
We love you all dearly and can't wait for our next trip to visit!
Angie and Kayle
Since my last post, I only had 1 1/2 more weeks of work before Christmas break and Dani's visit. My students are all making good progress except the one who is MIA about half the time. We had an EA2 Christmas party on Friday, Dec 11- it was held at an Irish pub restaurant with good Irish food and an open bar. It was funny to meet a couple from Michigan that also met in advanced math classes, played trumpet, and even knew someone Kayle knows from Caledonia High School band. The wife also works for EA2 and the husband works for Microsoft. All in all, talking to them was kind of eerie and, despite all the similarities, I maintain that we are a bit less geeky than they were...
Saturday the 12th was super busy. I went to a girl's brunch at Brenda's house in the morning. Brenda made a delicious breakfast spread and we sat around and talked for a few hours. After, I rushed off to practice Christmas carols and go caroling with my youth group girls at a senior center. I was very nervous that we might not have enough singers, but, with 10-12 of us, everything went smoothly and the seniors were rocking it out with us by the end. Finally, I finished out the day by meeting Kayle at Jeff and Paula's house for a cookie baking/Christmas party. Kayle went with some other friends earlier in the day. I was exhausted by the time I arrived, but I still enjoyed some chili and yummy Christmas cookies.
On Sunday, I was the primary (1st-5th grade) Sunday school teacher with Kayle helping out in the room too. Then, we came home, made two meals for new moms in our CG, and delivered the meals to their homes in Bellevue. Both said afterward that they enjoyed the chicken picatta with pasta and veggies. At night, I went to a youth group leader's meeting. (Now, can you see why I didn't post earlier?)
On Tuesday and Wednesday, I had CG and youth group respectively. We celebrated Christmas with a big meal together for CG and we saw many faces that have been busy attending to babies lately. We also surprised Kim and Jay, our hosts, with a gift card to a fancy restaurant so they could go on a nice date. In youth group, we studied advent by talking about Christ's second coming and how we anticipate both Christmas and Christ's eternal kingdom at this time of year. We had a good conversation with lots of questions and things to wonder about.
On Thursday Dec. 17, Dani arrived in Seattle! I picked her up from the airport in the late-morning and let her settle in a bit. Then, we went grocery shopping together and made pasties as a surprise for Kayle. On Friday, Dani and I went into Seattle while Kayle was at work. Dani got a massage for her Christmas present (I was supposed to get one at the same time, but one of the massage therapists was sick that day). Meanwhile, I walked to a nearby bookstore and enjoyed a gingerbread latte in the Starbucks next door. Afterward, we headed to Pike's Place market and downtown Seattle where we shopped a little and ate at a lovely Chinese restaurant. We finished by touring the Seattle aquarium, touching the urchins and anemones, staring at the cute seals and otters, and enjoying an octopus presentation. Of course, there were lots of colorful and odd-looking fish too! We took the bus back to Redmond and picked up Kayle from work.
On Saturday, we enjoyed a delicious seafood dinner in downtown Bellevue and went to "Snowflake Lane," an outdoor Christmas celebration at the mall with fake snow and drummers dressed as toy soldiers. On Sunday, we went to church in the morning. While Kayle served in the tech booth, Dani and I went out to breakfast at Denny's. We spent the rest of the day making cookies for our neighbors. We made many, many gingerbread cookies and decorated them all! We also made almond bars, chocolate chip cookies, and cranberry walnut cookies. We delivered them on Monday morning before our flight, and they were much appreciated by our neighbors. Several said that we made their whole day!
On Monday, we began the Michigan chapter of the month by flying home with Dani. We finally made it, after a short delay in Detroit, around midnight Michigan time. In Detroit, we laughed when they announced over the intercom that we would need to take another plane from a different gate because (and I quote) "this plane is broke!". My mom and a bunch of Hinkles met us at the airport. It is so nice to see family again!
I couldn't possibly tell all the adventures of being home in Michigan, because it seems like we saw so many people! We enjoyed several family days with a Maxey celebration and prime rib lunch on Christmas morning, a Hoksbergen family gathering also on Christmas day, and a Hinkle Christmas bash on the 26th. We enjoyed seeing all the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins as well as opening gifts, having a white-elephant exchange, eating many cookies, and playing some board games. I also enjoyed going with my dad to serve food to the homeless one morning and eating lunch at Sam's Joint with my brother, Aaron. The Hinkle household was also quite busy with 3 Burmese foster sisters now (there are now two Esthers and Siang), bringing the total Hinkle family count to 10 if you include the two of us.
Of course, we also saw some high school friends over break. One evening, I went to a girl's night at Bridget's new house. I reminisced with the other 7-8 girls for 7 full hours of non-stop talking. I also visited with Emily J that day by going to see the Princess and the Frog Disney movie in the theater and sleeping over at her house at night. On New Year's Eve, we had a co-ed high school party with about 10 friends at PJ and Lisa's house with board games, Euchre, more Christmas cookies, talking, and watching the ball drop. Our friend, Conall, also stopped by the Hinkle house to visit with us one afternoon. All in all, it was refreshing to catch up on the lives of our friends.
We returned to Seattle on Saturday, Jan 2. With the time change, coming back is physically much easier than heading to Michigan. We left Michigan around 1:30 and arrived at home in Seattle by 6:30. After some quick partial unpacking, we relaxed and went to bed early.
Today we went to church in the morning, including helping out in the booth and in children's ministry. We spent most of the day just catching up on e-mails, doing laundry, and relaxing. It's hard to believe that we need to go back to work tomorrow!
We love you all dearly and can't wait for our next trip to visit!
Angie and Kayle
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