Lots of New and Expectant Moms!

Last week was a crazy week, with something scheduled for every evening. On Sunday, we both served at church, with me teaching Sunday school for the K-3rd graders and Kayle in the tech booth running lights and powerpoint. It was also Father's Day, so we called home and caught up on news from our daddies.

On Monday, I delivered meals to two new moms. I made chicken picatta accompanied by vegetables, strawberries, long-grained wild rice, and chocolate chip cookies. I also brought some of our homemade meat sauce and a box of noodles for an easy 2nd meal. Signing up for meals is one of the primary ways our church (and community group) shows support for families undergoing a major transition, like a new baby, hospital stay, or death in the family. It seems silly, but I think it makes a big difference to get a few meals a week for several months! The website we use to sign up is really helpful: http://www.takethemameal.com

On Tuesday, we had community group, which was quite an adventure! Our group planned to merge with another for the summer to reorganize and prepare for a more geographical split down the road. We had a BBQ at the Klauder's house to discuss the direction our groups were headed and get some input from everyone. Unfortunately (or fortunately!), we had so many people show up that the two groups were quite a crowd and we couldn't all fit in one room to hold any kind of discussion. We had 16 kids under 7 years old, 2 teenagers, and about 30 adults! It is unusual for everyone to show up on the same week, due to all the babies and such. However, it became clear that night that merging is not quite logistically practical, so we are back to meeting in our usual groups. We will be bouncing between two host homes this summer, because our previous hosts are having a baby in August.

On Wednesday, I went to youth group, where my girls are doing a lovely job leading discussion in Ephesians this summer. We also have many exciting plans for serving our community. The girls expressed a desire to not waste all their free time now that school is out, so we brainstormed together some projects to pursue. It looks like we will be writing letters to seniors and visiting their retirement home, holding a car wash to raise money for a homeless shelter, serving two meals to Tent City (the before-mentioned homeless shelter), and doing yard work with some students from Young Life. In August, we will bond at a sleepover/group retreat at Lauren's cabin near Levenworth (a Bavarian town near the mountains). Here are some pictures of (some) of my youth group girls:






On Thursday, I went to a baby shower for Kim, who will be having her second son (Davis) in August. Marilee hosted the party in her gorgeous garden backyard, and I enjoyed the girl time with the ladies from CG and church.

This is the guest of honor, Kim. Isn't she just a radiant pregnant woman?



Here are Marilee and Jessi, best friends and both in my CG.



This is Jenni (I attended her shower about a year ago!) and Michelle (Mateo's mom - their lovely family moved here about a year ago from the Philippines.)



And this is a whole bunch of CG ladies. Starting with Mateo and going clockwise are Michelle, Marilee, Jenni, Jessi, and Kim.



I also spent some of the night entertaining Mateo on the swing and playing with Marilee's sons, Silas and Bolder.





On Friday, Kayle and I hosted a board game night at our house for some church friends. Desiree (my youth group co-leader) showed up with her husband, Josh, and baby Jonathan. Joe, from the Dutch House at U of M, also came along with his roommate, Henry. We all began the night with a few rounds of Wits and Wagers. Then, the boys became engrossed in a Settlers game while Desiree and I talked and played with Jonathan. Jonathan was so funny, and, at 8 months old, is already quite a ham! He would smile and laugh every time he saw my camera, even if he had been whining a moment before.







Sheesh! Didn't I tell you we've been busy lately! Another post, on Saturday's festivities, coming soon...

Eastside Academy Graduation

I might seperate this update into several posts, because I want to include a lot of pictures. Two weeks ago was the last week of school for both Eastside Academy and EA2. We celebrated one graduate from EA2 this year (most students do not go to EA2 full-time but transfer credit to a local high school or come for tutoring). The event featured some cake and ice cream, a few short teacher speeches, and a small breakroom full of people.

On Thursday night, Ashley, an Eastside Academy student, arrived from California for her graduation weekend. She stayed in our condo, since she graduated early and moved away last semester. I kept in touch by writing some letters to her, so I was a logical choice for a host(ess) while she was in town.

In between the rehearsal and graduation event, I decided to take Ashley for a manicure and hairstyle. Lyric was also hanging around at school, so we invited her along too! Both girls are new Christians as of this year, and we had some great conversation in Starbucks before hitting the salon for their first professional hairstyling. It was a lot of fun to see them transformed and suddenly looking several years older. Afterward, we headed to a manicure place to get their nails done in pretty red and purple polish.



The graduation itself was the most touching ceremony I have ever been to. There were 10 graduates total and each got up to give a short speech about how Eastside Academy has affected their lives and what dreams and plans they have for their future. Then, a different staff member for each student spoke about touching school moments, encouraging advice, and how they've seen the graduate grow and mature.





I almost cried several times, though some speeches, like Juan's for example, were sillier than others...



During the tossing of the caps, Ashley's hat collided with Lyric's head, thus producing this classic shot about a second later.



After the ceremony, I took photos with several of the graduates and other students there supporting their classmates. This is Lyric and her brother, Ryan, who also attends Eastside Academy.



Here are Lyric and Skye, another wonderful (and colorful!) classmate.



This is Eric Dill, the math teacher in whose class I spend the most time this school year, volunteering and tutoring students in his various math courses.

Tons of Pictures Online!

I am working on posting about all the fun from the past two weeks or so. My parents gave me a purple camera for our anniversary present and it has already gotten a lot of use! There are several new Picasa albums online now, and I should be adding pictures from the Hinkle visit (arriving tomorrow!) soon. Here's the link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/Angie.Hinkle

Meet Lucy Jo Kidder

Brad and Sarah got married about a month before Kayle and I, and we went to their wedding in Chicago. We both knew Brad from youth group at Peace church. They just had their first child about two weeks ago, and she is just a doll. I can't get enough of cute baby pictures!

Cirque du Soleil: Kooza!

Not too much has been going on the past two weeks. For one, I was really sick on Memorial Day (102 degree fever) and was mostly taking it easy all last week. I did manage to go to a volunteer appreciation lunch at Eastside Academy and lead a coffeeshop leader's meeting for my youth group girls. We went to a new coffeeshop, and, though I don't normally drink coffee, I had an Almond Roca Mocha there that was simply amazing (think toffee and chocolate).

This week picked up a little. It's the last two weeks of school now, and I have 4 students all cramming for final exams in math, each with a massive review packet to complete. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we had CG and youth group as usual. On Thursday, however, Kayle and I went on a special date for our 2nd anniversary: dinner and the circus! The huge park near our house is hosting Cirque du Soleil for several weeks (same acrobatic troop that has several shows in Las Vegas). Marymoor park now has a huge "Grand Chapiteau" big top tent set up, with lots of trailers and smaller tents surrounding it. Quite a sight! Overall it was a very impressive show. It featured acrobatics, live band and singers, clowns, and dancing, all tying into an overall storyline with memorable characters. There were about 2000 people in the audience, including some friends from church we happened to run into. The show started at 8pm, and we didn't get home until 11pm. Overall, we both considered the show well worth it and very entertaining. Here are some pictures from their website, since we were not allowed to take pictures during the show:



These performers were launching each other into the air by jumping on the ends of a giant teetor totter. Once two men jumped off a platform to launch a girl on stilts about 30 feet in the air, where she twisted and flipped before landing on her stilts onto a mat carried around by other people. Whoa.


These guys were balancing on a tightrope. One guy almost fell and made the whole crowd gasp. He managed to twist and grab the tightrope with his hands before doing a kip to get back up. At the end, they let the chair fall off the pole it was balanced on. It fell into a net that seemed very, very far below!


The contortionists were simply amazing. I've seen very flexible gymnasts and these ladies still boggled my mind. I'm really not sure if they have any bones in their backs.


This act made me (and half the audience) actually scream and shreik as they were performing. I was pretty convinced someone was going to fall to their death. These guys had something like a hamster wheel that allowed them to run inside and create momentum to make the whole contraption spin. It was enough that they ran and jumped around inside the wheels, but then they were standing, running, and jumping (and jump-roping!) on the outside of the wheels too. They could actually get about 2-3 seconds of airtime if they jumped while their side was falling. Truly terrifying to watch...


This part involved lots of dancing and running around on top of giant balls. That girl in the middle is standing on a ball on the head of another person also balancing on a ball.


This is just one of the main characters, a clown king who acted very much like Kramer from Seinfeld. He and his two assistants called people onstage for "magic" acts, which really involved making fun of the poor audience members they selected. Their portions were full of surprises and laughter, particularly when the king clicked a remote and made someone's seat in the audience raise up 10 feet in the air! (The lady in the seat seemed very surprised and jumped out of her seat as soon as they let her down.)

We look forward to a happy 2nd anniversary on Monday and hosting an Eastside Academy student for graduation weekend next week. We're also hoping that summer will finally arrive with sunshine and warmth, since we are still experiencing the springtime rainy blues. We miss you and love you!

Angie and Kayle

Meet Everett Doyle Montgomery

Ooh...he is just so cute. I couldn't resist sharing the latest baby picture with all of you. This is the newest addition to our community group.

Emily Norman's Wedding and Michigan Trip

Wow! I have utterly failed on the blog posting front. I intend on posting once every week or two, but it gets easier and easier to procrastinate when I know I have a lot to write about! So, I will keep myself to the highlights this time (yeah right!).

On May 5, Kayle and I drove about 2 hours to Puyallup and back to pick up one of my EA2 students for a dodgeball tournament at church. The brother of one of my youth group girls decided a few months ago to arrange a dodgeball tournament to raise money for Haiti. Several of my girls joined a team, and I invited Alan to make or join a team as well. Kayle and I went to cheer and possibly volunteer and certainly NOT play. However, Hannah (another youth group girl) gave us her puppy dog eyes and was trying to get together a team an hour before the amateur bracket started. So I joined...and a few minutes later Kayle became our 6th and final player.


We played a round robin set in which we played every other team (about 10-11 total) and then a double elimination tournament (best 2 out of 3). Long story short: our team won about 3 games total to be the 2nd worst team in the amateur bracket. We still managed to play about 15-20 games! All in all, it was fun...and painful. I got nailed in the face in the final game and both of us were sore all over for about 3-4 days. Really sore! Probably should have stretched out or warmed up beforehand! On a lighter note, Emily and Kira's team (more youth group girls) got 3rd place.





My birthday, May 18th, was lovely. I checked my e-mail right after arriving at work and was surprised to see a wonderful birthday letter from Kayle sitting in my inbox. About 6 or 7 people called me at work, while I was tutoring students (still can't pick up the phone then!). Another 50 people wished me a "Happy Birthday" on Facebook. At work, my co-workers gave me a bouquet of tulips, a card, and a birthday cake to share (very yummy). In the evening, our community group did a potluck of southern food (fried chicken, jambalaya, corn, sweet tea- all very delicious). Kayle and I also celebrated with dinner earlier in the weekend, and he made me chocolate pudding with whipped cream and oreos for dessert. All in all, I felt very loved!

From May 20-23, I was in Michigan. I took the red-eye on Wednesday night around midnight and arrived in Michigan, safe and sound and on time, on Thursday morning. I spent most of my visit with family and enjoyed all the quality time. I went to lunch with my parents, saw a movie with my dad and brother, ate dinner and watched movies with my sister, and spent several hours over two visits with the Hinkle clan. It is so good to see everyone! On Saturday, I went to Emily Norman's wedding in Grand Rapids with my mom and sister.



Her wedding was beautiful, with 6 bridesmaids and groomsmen in teal and brown, a red trolley to transport the bridal party, Nubia singing an operatic "Ave Maria," and the most amazing wedding cake I've ever seen.


I also talked with many high school friends including Em J (a bridesmaid), PJ and Lisa, Bridget and EJ, Bram, Katie, Angie Gould, Nubia, and, of course, Emily Norman (now Emily Norman-Morey or M&M).




I arrived back in Seattle on Sunday afternoon after being delayed 1.5 hours in Detroit. Boy, was I glad to see my husband after a long weekend away and hours of traveling!

This week was mostly dedicated to catching up on sleep. Kayle had only a 3-day work week, since his building was being rearranged again on Thursday and Friday. With Monday off for Memorial Day, he had a 5-day weekend! CG on Tuesday was a Mexican potluck, and we welcomed a new baby to our group on Thursday (Everett Doyle Montgomery- Lindsey and Steve's first child). On Wednesday, I led Bible study with my youth group girls and had a great discussion on the first 6 verses of Ephesians 4, which exhorted us to "live a life worthy of the calling you have received." Tonight, we are playing Settlers and Wii Fit. Our plans for the weekend are few. Kayle hopes it will stop raining long enough to go on a bike ride together. Angie hopes to see Kat for a girls night tomorrow. We both hope to see some friends at a BBQ on Monday.

We miss you all and look forward to lots of people visiting Washington this summer! We've been planning all sorts of activities for the coming months...

With love,
Angie and Kayle

Slower Week- Time to Catch our Breath

Last week, we finally had some time to rest. Unfortunately, I had a cold for most of the week with coughing, sore throat, and general fatigue. At least it was a relatively good week to be sick!

On Wednesday night, I had youth group at the usual time and place. We are studying Ephesians right now. Two of the girls led discussion on Ephesians 3, and we had a good prayer time after. Desiree, my new co-leader, has been a great blessing to me personally (as a person to talk to and learn from) and to the girls (as a person with similar interests).

On Friday evening, I went over to Kat's house to spend some time with her. She baked scones for an event the next day and we enjoyed pizza together. After all the baking, we watched "Sherlock Holmes" and enjoyed it very much. I had been missing Kat, since we hadn't been able to hang out for a few weeks!

On Saturday, it has become "normal" for us to trade the car back and forth all morning. So, Kayle went to his now-weekly accountability group with other guys in our CG at bright-and-early 7:15. Immediately after he returned, I hopped in the car to meet Desiree at a coffeeshop. We intend to get together bi-weekly to discuss theology (Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem) and plan for youth group. On the way home, I got a car wash from the high school boy's soccer team (they were holding up signs all over). I don't think they realized (or cared) that people inside the car can hear every word they said outside the car. I heard all sorts of exclamations like "Wow! Look at how dirty this one is!" and "It's your turn to get the bird poop!" It's sort of embarrassing to sit inside a car for an extended period while people outside wash it. I'll have to remember that if my youth group ever decides to do a car wash fundraiser!

At night, Kayle and I went to see Caleb and Laura, the couple we've babysat for a few times. They are moving back to Texas to be with both sets of parents again. Fortunately, Caleb will be able to work remotely with Microsoft, so they already have the job settled and just need to decide which neighborhood to live in. We talked for quite a while and ended the night with a few rounds of Bananagrams (like Scrabble without a board). And, believe it or not, Kayle only won 1 out of 3 rounds!

On Sunday, we kept busy as usual. I taught in the primary class while Kayle was assigned to help in the two-year-old room. My lesson was on what it means for humans to be made in the "image of God". After attending the 2nd service, I went to a new curriculum training for Sunday school teachers. Kayle spent those two hours learning a new program for the tech booth. The new curriculum should have interesting content; it's called "Children Desiring God" and from John Piper's church. However, it doesn't have many activities, like crafts or games, associated with it, so I might need to do some extra work coming up with ideas. So far, this is the 3rd curriculum I've used in the past year or so of teaching, so I'm sure I can handle the change!

This week, Monday and Tuesday were stay-at-home nights. I made Kayle pasties, since he has been asking about them for quite a while. He was thrilled! Tonight (Wednesday), my girls are helping another community group as they serve the neighborhood where Kayle and I live. We plan to bake and deliver as many cookies and brownies as we can in two hours. The other CG is helping individual households with various chores. Tomorrow is Caleb and Laura's official going-away party. Friday, we are going to a local community center's dinner/auction. And Saturday will feature a mother's day tea and chocolate tasting event with my youth group girls (and their moms, of course).

So, we're almost back to our usual hectic pace and I'm almost back to feeling healthy again. I am looking forward to Emily Norman's wedding in just a few weeks (in Michigan!) and to the Hinkle family visit to Washington at the end of June. We miss and love you all!

Angie and Kayle

Pictures from Little Si Hike

We finally got the batteries recharged and working well enough to upload the photos from our digital camera. We didn't take too many pictures (low battery problems), but here are some of the best. There are also a few more posted on Picasa:

http://picasaweb.google.com/Angie.Hinkle/LittleSiHike

Hiking up a Baby Mountain

This past week was one of our busiest yet with something going on every single night after work. We had plenty of plans for the weekend too but managed to rest up just enough for another work week. Fortunately, the calendar is more barren this week so we can catch our breaths before an exciting month of May.

Last week, I subbed for 2 extra math students on Monday and an SAT prep student on Tuesday and Thursday. One of my previous math students also returned, so work is picking up a bit again. I still managed to visit Eastside Academy on Tuesday and Thursday for a couple hours each. It is fun to see the students there and witness firsthand the positive changes in their lives. One of the girls became a Christian on April 15 (tax day) and another returned from rehab and said he enjoyed my letters while he was gone. I am also meeting quite a few new students, since EA receives new students year-round. Can you believe there's only 8 weeks of school left before summer?

After 7 hours of students on Monday, Kayle and I went to a theology discussion night at Starbucks. We ate from Quiznos (our new favorite fast food) and talked about Jonathan Edwards' exposition on the Trinity for several hours. It was fun, but we left with more questions than answers (which I imagine is how its supposed to be when you look too closely at the mysterious).

On Tuesday night, we went to community group as usual. We had a great discussion about the Beatitudes in Luke and how they relate to wealth. If all my wealth (and talents, time, resources, relationships, etc) are a gift from God, then I am just a steward of His resources. How much of God's wealth entrusted to my care should I keep for myself? With all the pressing needs in the world, this has been a perpetually difficult question for me to answer. How does God want me to balance generosity with saving for the future and providing for my family? Whatever we give never seems to be enough...

On Wednesday, I went to Mongolian Grill (like Mongolian BBQ at home) to meet with my youth group girls before the regional meeting. For $11, I got a yummy mix of noodles, rice, veggies, and beef that was enough for two meals. I also ate about 5 fortune cookies. The "fortune" I liked the best said: "Your lover will never wish to leave you."

On Thursday night, I was going to meet my friend (Kat) to hang out, but Kayle and I decided we were just too tired to do anything that night. Instead, we made a nice dinner of spicy chicken alfredo and rested up for the weekend.

On Friday, I only had two students in the morning. I went home around noon to clean up the house and do laundry. At night, we hosted the youth group girls for a board game night. We ate strawberries, pineapple, cashews, chips, and salsa while sipping home-brewed Starbucks coffee. It was a lot of fun playing Wits and Wagers, Mao (or is it Mow?), and Pit. Even better, the 5 girls that came got to meet our new leader, Desiree. We laughed most of the night while Kayle hid upstairs on his computer. (We told him he was welcome to play with us, but he was wary of all the estrogen in one room!)

On Saturday, Kayle left early (7:15!) to go meet some guys from community group for accountability. The last two weeks, they've gathered in Top Pot doughnuts (like Krispy Kreme but better!). He brought home a dozen doughnuts for me to share with my youth group. Shortly after he returned, I left for my monthy "coffeeshop leaders meeting". The girls gathered in Tully's to plan events (a mother's day tea and chocolate tasting!) and review the direction of our group. I am very proud to see them mature as leaders and Christians. And, of course, they enjoyed the doughnuts! Since it was the last day of fee free National Park week, Kayle planned for us to go to Mount Rainier to hike around. However, intimidated by rainy weather, we settled for a 2 mile (each way) hike up "Little Si". We had fun on our first Washington hike together although my asthma still kicks in when going up steep sections. We endured some light rain and enjoyed a victorious and relatively sunny view at the top. Of course, next to Mount Si, Little Si is a baby mountain (about 1/4-1/3 in height). But we were sore the next day anyway...

At night, we watched a sci-fi movie called "Knowing" with Nicolas Cage, which involved a curious and strange mix of prophecy, determinism, national disasters, and aliens (think "Day After Tomorrow" meets "Contact"). We (read: Angie) are thrilled with discovering RedBox movie vending machines in our area. We don't rent many movies, and now we can get them for ~$1/night and return them anywhere.

On Sunday, I taught the primary lesson on creation (involving a nature "scavenger hunt" and playing "spider in the web") while Kayle worked up in the tech booth. I sat up with him for the second service. The sermon was very thought-provoking and addressed the "do not judge" verses along with the rest of Jesus' Luke sermon on the plain. You can (and should!) watch it here:

http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/luke/the-beatitudes-part-2

At night, I went to a youth group leader's meeting before falling asleep soundly after a long day!

That's it for this week! We miss you all and hope you enjoy the pictures...
Angie and Kayle