1st Ultrasound Pictures: 8 weeks!

Kayle and I went to our highly anticipated 8 week OB-GYN appointment today (St. Patrick's Day!). Little Hinkle/Little Bean/Little Bird is growing beautifully and has a healthy, strong heartbeat. We could even see the two halves of the heart beating alternately. The baby is about 1/2 inch long now with a little head, torso, webbed hands and feet, heart, kidneys, liver, appendix (already!?), and budding umbilical cord. The worst part of the appointment was getting my blood drawn (needles make me queasy). The strangest part was when the nurse said I would be able to see the baby sucking his/her thumb and peeing (gross) in a few more appointments. And the best part was holding Kayle's hand and gazing in wonder at the little heart of our sweet child. I also enjoyed showing the ultrasound pictures at work to my co-teachers and students. My youth group girls ask every time they see me what new features my baby is developing. It's a fun time of life to enjoy (when I'm not nauseous) and we both feel so blessed!




I will try to be better with posting on my blog... Somehow, I just couldn't get up the motivation after Christmas travel, a busy January, and an exhausted February (I thought it was SAD that had me dragging, but now I know I was newly pregnant). We'll just have to see how that resolution goes...

Angie and Kayle

Snow Days Are Better Than Other Days Off!

My excuse for procrastinating the blog post was unceremoniously taken away when my busiest work week (19 hours over 3 days) was reduced to only 1 hour worked and 2 1/2 snow days. Now I'm not complaining or anything. I did get basically a full week off for Thanksgiving and all for approximately 1.5 inches of snow. The commute on Monday was pretty harrowing nonetheless with everyone driving about 10 mph (not an exaggeration) and several people pulling over to put chains on their tires. We saw one guy stuck in the middle of the road in 1 inch of snow, because he was going 5 mph, slowed to a stop, and kept alternating between accelerating and slamming on the brakes to try to get moving again. At least his expensive car was sporting constant hazard lights, so everyone else knew to stay away from him too!

We thought our Michigan friends would enjoy seeing the front page of the Seattle Times. It's pretty dramatic considering there was only 1-2 inches of accumulation! This is our first snow that "stuck" since we moved to Seattle.





The other exciting story happened a few weeks ago. I dropped Kayle off at work around 10am and proceeded toward my school. A few blocks away, the light at the intersection just never changed from red. As I sat about 3 cars back, two police cars went speeding by with lights flashing and sirens blaring, but, still, our light didn't change. Next, another police car pulled up from the other direction and did an abrupt slide to a stop, parking lengthwise to block the road to my right. I thought, "wow, that was dramatic for someone coming to direct traffic for a broken stoplight." Sure enough, the officer jumped out of his vehicle and waved the traffic through the intersection in the direction he just came from. After the cars crossed, he went around the back of his car and pulled out a huge black assault rifle and started crouching down. This was the first time I got a little worried and thought perhaps I should be ducking or something. I glanced in the rearview mirror and noticed police cars were blocking the road behind me. I was stuck inside a police barricade! Soon after, two more police cars drove up and parked in the intersection. Their occupants jumped out, guns drawn, and moved down the sidewalk to the left. Meanwhile, I called Kayle to tell him what was going on. His advice was to stay in the car. Finally, my crouching cop ran back out into the intersection and directed our lane to turn right and get out of there. Phew! I was glad to get away from danger, even though the whole ordeal lasted only about 5-10 minutes. Still, even after checking online and searching the newspaper, I can't figure out what exactly was going on that day. It did make for an adrenaline-filled commute!

Most of the month was not nearly as exciting or perilous. At the beginning of the month (11/4), the ladies of our CG had a girl's night out at a fancy wine bar and restaurant in Bellevue. The menu features dozens of cheeses, the tiniest desserts you've ever seen, and hundreds of wines (among its other full-sized meals). I had an amazing salad with sugared pecans and some fancy, bitter cheese (not one I'd ever heard of before). Almost everyone was able to attend, so I enjoyed chatting with the 10-12 women and catching up with those who have been absent from CG for a while with their newborns.

On Saturday (11/6), I took one of my Eastside Academy students to the Seattle Harvest event with Greg Laurie. The event featured several live Christian bands including Kutlass, Revive, and Jeremy Camp. There was also some comedy and an explanation of the gospel. Kayle and I watched the live broadcast online on Sunday as well. The Key Arena (basketball) was packed with about 10,000 people, and my student and I enjoyed the evening. The broadcast from Sunday night is in the archives online. I think it was even better than Saturday. There was a touching interview with an Australian man who was born with no arms or legs and also some music from Jars of Clay and MercyMe. You can watch it here: http://seattle.harvest.org

The following week featured a day off from school for Veteran's day and the birthdays of my two siblings, Dani and Aaron. Happy 23rd and 18th birthday! On Friday, Kayle and I babysat for the McClellands and, as usual, enjoyed a dinner date after work before monitoring the sleeping baby (Tommy). The next day, we stopped by a fondue open house party at the Burns house, an annual event to visit with friends and enjoy chocolate and cheese fondue. Unfortunately, around that time, I also fell ill with a bad sore throat and headache. I was sick for most of the weekend and still tired and recovering the following week. I stayed home from work on Tuesday and missed church and CG.

By Wednesday, I felt better (enough) and went to youth group. We are still studying Joshua and have two weeks left before diverting to some special Christmas festivities together. Right now, the plan is to make a massive gingerbread mansion one night and exchange and deliver Christmas cookies to my neighbors the following week.

Last Friday kicked off a busy weekend as we went to the 7:30pm showing of the new Harry Potter movie with our friends from our old CG, Gary and Sarah Burns (same couple who hosted the fondue party). I found the movie to be excellent: suspenseful with enough comic relief to break up the general hopelessness of the mission at hand. Of course, I also am a professing "Potterhead" although the matter of Harry Potter's virtue/vice is still up for discussion in our house.

Last Saturday, I invited my youth group girls over for breakfast and our monthly leaders meeting. We made (and ate) cinnamon french toast, eggs, bacon, and hash browns. Meanwhile, Kayle went to his weekly men's accountability group. (I love that group, because the men talk about how they can better serve, love, and pursue their wives.) After, we went to Bolder's one year birthday party. They had the cutest cupcakes of lions and lambs, with designs made of frosting, mini chocolate chips and marshmellows. Bolder is Marilee and Thadd's baby, born just one short year ago and soon after we started in our current CG.

On Sunday, Kayle had to fill in for someone in the booth at church. I opted to stay home this week to rest up and get some cooking/cleaning done (only get 3 weeks off from teaching Sunday school before another 3 weeks on). Kayle was gone from 7:30am to 2pm, which is typical when we volunteer at one service and attend the next. I had lunch ready right as he came home. That afternoon, we went to our second one-year-old birthday party, this time for Tommy. We went early to pick up some balloons and help decorate. The party itself was at Gymboree, a toddler's paradise of mats, slides, tunnels, parachutes, and bubbles. Tommy also had the largest shaped-like-a-drum cake we've ever seen; Kayle joked that he half-expected the birthday boy to jump out of it.

Since the weekend, my anticipated busy-ness gave way to snow days. Yesterday (Tuesday), our mutual snow day was not good for our budget. Kayle has been wanting a new Windows 7 phone to test his apps and play with. Microsoft will reimburse for the phone itself, but we had to sign up for a new cellphone plan with unlimited data (internet) for 2 years. We took a nice, romantic walk down the snowy sidewalk, all bundled up, to Redmond Town Center. We ate lunch together at Claim Jumper and went to the AT&T store and Half Price Books. Kayle is excited to show you our new technology upgrade, since the phone we had before was almost 7 years old. Before we could only make calls and send text messages with great effort. Now we have a cool touch screen, can surf the net, watch videos, and check our e-mail. Do we need all that? Probably not, but it's hard not to get caught up in the excitement of new gadgets. And EVERYONE ELSE at Microsoft has one! And don't worry: our awesome phone number hasn't changed...

Last night, Kayle worked with Joe Filcik (from the Dutch House) on their bookshelf phone app. I worked on the blog and was distracted when Henry came home and watched "House" and "Lie to Me" on TV. Joe also showed us the new Kinect video game system. It uses cameras and sensors to let you play games without any controller. Kinect also takes pictures of you while playing so you can laugh at how silly everyone looks flailing around. Very fun!





Our Thanksgiving plans are not finalized yet, but it sounds like we'll be spending dinner with some friends from CG and possibly visiting Leavenworth (the Bavarian town here, like Frankenmuth). Call us on the weekend, since we'll have more minutes then to be able to talk! Love you!

Angie and Kayle

Videos

Here are some videos from two places where I spend a lot of my time and energy. Both are very close to our hearts!

This first video was shown at the Eastside Academy auction. I know all the teens in the video (except 1 alum) and love them dearly. Pray for them when you remember! Many are working hard to turn their lives around and several are on the verge of meeting Jesus.



This is some background into our pastor and Mars Hill campus in Bellevue. I'm excited for the future of the gospel on the Eastside and glad to be a part of serving my community.

Almost Halloween

I've been putting off updating the blog, because I wasn't sure what to write about. We've kept ourselves busy this month with all the usual weekly commitments: Microsoft, Eastside Academy, EA2, community group, youth group, and volunteering at church. In his free time, Kayle is working on his app for the new Windows phone and reading lots of Dilbert comics online. I've been reading several books, studying for leading discussion on Joshua, and watching new episodes of several fall shows. We especially like to watch "Lie to Me" and "No Ordinary Family" together.

One special event was the Eastside Academy auction last weekend. It was a dinner with silent and live auction portions and (my favorite) a dessert frenzy in which your table bids for their choice of cake. During the silent auction, Kayle and I won some educational board games and a 3 hour session with a financial advisor. Our table secured the most rich and delicious "chocolate decadence" cake (we are still eating leftovers- only a few bites at a time!). Unfortunately, we still out of our league during the live auction portion although I did get the adreneline rush of bidding once on one item! My favorite part was watching a video about the school and hearing from 10 current and former students in attendence. Although I taught 1 math class on 1 day, I somehow was featured in several clips as the math teacher in the video (how embarrassing!). I'll post the video online when I receive a copy, so you can see the school I've been volunteering with. Today, we received an e-mail saying that Eastside Academy raised about $212,000 at the auction this year (22% of its annual operating budget).

Other updates...
-My youth group girls continue to plow through Joshua, a few chapters at a time. I'm learning a ton about the Old Testament and how applicable it is to my life. I bought an ESV study Bible, and it has tons of interesting footnotes about history, full-color maps, and useful cross-references. Highly recommended! Also, we're having a "fall costume" party tomorrow to enjoy some pumpkin carving and trick-or-treating for canned goods to donate to the food bank. I think I'll break out my kimono again this year!

-This is my "month on" as a teacher in Sunday school for grades 1-3. I'm especially enjoying our series about the attributes of God, including "G is for Good," "J is for Jealous," "R is for Righteous," and "N is for Never-Tiring." I bought some coupons for junior frosties at Wendy's and use them as prizes for memorizing a weekly Bible verse. The kids work so hard to memorize and help each other learn each verse. They often ask me for more verses! My class certainly keeps me busy as we've grown from about 12-15 to 20-22 students each week. Our church has been blessed with many young kids and new families.

-I'm excited for Eastside Academy this year. I continue to enjoy tutoring math and mentoring students informally. I also join them some weeks for chapel and the ensuing theological discussions. I'm particularly thrilled that one of the girls bacame a Christian last week and has been meeting with a former student for biweekly Bible study. Be praying for the hearts and lives of all my students as many have tough situations and many life changes to make.

-At EA2, I'm greatly enjoying teaching an economics course to one of my students. Another student is working through a geometry course and several students are coming for regular tutoring in precalculus, physics, chemistry, geography, algebra 1, world history, and freshman English. The biggest news is that our school was bought by a large online curriculum company called Apex (based in Seattle). It doesn't sound like anything will change with regard to my job or pay, but at least now I'll have access to some useful curriculum tools for free.

-Kayle's work at Microsoft is going well. His team released Async CTP, a feature that lets programmers write asynchronous code more easily; find more info about it here. Microsoft has been posting solid profits recently due to the popular release of Windows 7, Office 2010, and the new Windows phone.

Finally, I feel compelled to leave you with some of the comic strips we've found particularly funny.

Kayle's favorite and one that seems especially applicable right before the November midterm elections:





Other Dilbert favorites (you can click to make them larger):

This one kind of breaks my book lover's heart:

I'm glad my company's buy-out didn't go this way:

So delightfully geeky:

We saw several misguided advertising attempts on our trip out West. Just think, for every random ad, there were probably dozens of people that thought it was a good idea...

I greatly dislike chain mail!

And, finally, as we anticipate having kids someday:

Is it really October already?

Kayle and I had a much quieter month of September, setting aside time to re-group and re-prioritize for the new school year. Kayle's job is still going well and his free-time hobby programming has focused on some phone apps for the new Windows phone (a virtual bookshelf and a (soon-to-be graphing) calculator in F#). Meanwhile, teaching at EA2 is steady with 6 students and about 20 hours/week. I've also loved spending some extra time at Eastside Academy, meeting the 15 new students and reconnecting with students from last year.

Our church community group is still going strong and I loved the opportunity last week to visit an off-shoot women's study in the morning. The group is finishing up reading through "Every Woman's Battle," a great book about purity that has been surprisingly applicable. It goes into the emotional and thought-life issues that lead many women to feel dissatisfied in dating and marriage. Kayle and I are very happy, but I still found lots of pointers to continue growing and improving our relationship and centering it on Christ. Of course, it was also a joy to meet baby Davis this month, our newest CG addition.



In youth group, we are finishing up our study of Ephesians and moving into a survey of the Old Testament from Joshua to (hopefully) 2 Kings. I've been elbow deep in footnotes (ESV Study Bible = awesome resource), timelines, maps, and articles on archeology and am just loving all the new insights to some familiar and not-so-familiar stories. Joshua will be a 7 week Bible study that discusses each of the 7 stone monuments erected during the book to commemorate something Israel learned/experienced about God. I am so excited to continue teaching and learning about the Old Testament! Our God truly is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and I love Him more and more as I see His power, mercy, and justice play out in history.

The highlight of September was a weekend date with Kayle at the Bellevue Hilton. We won the gift certificate at last year's Eastside Academy auction and greatly enjoyed some time away. We spent our two-night stay relaxing, talking about priorities for our time and money, having some romantic fun together, eating amazing breakfast buffets and a dinner out, and strolling around the mall in downtown Bellevue. Kayle was talking about making weekend dates a priority for building up our marriage twice a year, and I wholeheartedly support that plan!

As we move into October, our schedule is picking up again. Kayle and I are doing some babysitting together and the youth group is planning a service day at Tent City, a dodgeball tournament, and a Halloween party. Our second Eastside Academy auction is also this month. Kayle and I are also getting very excited for Christmas already. We bought our plane tickets and plan to be in Michigan for two full weeks: Dec 16th-31st. Can't wait to see everyone!

Finally, I want to leave you with the lyrics to a song that's been playing on the radio. It's called "My Own Little World" by Matthew West and talks about what has been a desire of my heart as God grows us in generosity.

In my own little world it hardly ever rains
I’ve never gone hungry, always felt safe
I got some money in my pocket, shoes on my feet
In my own little world
Population: me

What if there’s a bigger picture?
What if I’m missing out?
What if there’s a greater purpose
I could be living right now
Outside my own little world

Father break my heart for what breaks Yours
Give me open hands and open doors
Put Your light in my eyes and let me see
That my own little world is not about me

You can listen to the whole song here: Matthew West's "My Own Little World"

August

I think, perhaps, since it is now September, I am a little overdue for posting about August. August was, by far, our busiest month of the year, and it is amazing to think of all that has happened to finish off what seems like the shortest summer in recent memory.

The first two weeks of August were booked solid with youth group bonding and community service. We had a weekend sleepover event that featured a campfire-side talk about marriage and dating, puppy chow, Guesstures, and a drive to the mountains and back. The next day, we decided to go to Tacoma for the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium and mini-golf. Picture me driving 8 teenage girls down a wet freeway in a gigantic 11 passenger van: just a little stressful. Once we arrived, it was a bit rainy but we saw all sorts of fun animals, like baby tigers, walruses (HUGE!), puffins, polar bears, and the tiniest, cutest seahorses ever. When you shepherd teenagers in your free time, you have to be prepared for a perpetual state of mild embarrassment. Most of the girls paid and stood in line with preschoolers to ride a camel. The day also featured singing "that's so Raven" to the raven (of course). After the zoo, we decided to take a rain check on mini-golf and enjoyed bottomless fries at Red Robin instead.



The following week, we had our car wash to raise money for Tent City. Despite the sprinkling rain, we washed 8 cars or so, made about $150, and celebrated with pizza and Guesstures at Emily and Courtney's house. On Thursday, we served a meal at Tent City, a moving homeless community that sets up camp in church parking lots for about 90 days at a time. The residents there were so gracious and thankful (and patient) as they waited for our grills to heat up. For a while, we were grilling only 6 hamburgers at a time for 85 people! It was a great experience overall, and we looked forward to seeing them again for our second meal in September.

One of my favorite times with youth group this year was our encouragement note session. We have been studying Ephesians this year in Bible study, and my girls were excited to practice their encouragement skills by writing notes to each other. "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for building others up, according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." I wrote two page letters to each of my 13 girls and was touched to receive their notes and see/read how much they've grown in Christ. We spent the entire evening talking about each girl in turn and taking some much-overdue group pictures. My, how God has developed in me a deep sisterly love for these teenagers!



In between all these special events, Kayle and I kept up our regular commitments, including community group, teaching Sunday school, and Kayle's early Saturday men's accountability group. We celebrated two births this month: Caleb and Laura Bell just had baby Andrew in Texas and Kim and Jay (our previous CG hosts) welcomed baby Davis. We also had a big scare: at Disneyland, a woman in our CG tripped and fell on the concrete with her babe in arms, and her baby suffered a skull fracture. There was lots of waiting and praying to see if any permanent damage was done, but it looks like the baby will heal completely with no serious side effects. Even more, his mom was free from guilt and full of peace in Christ through the whole process. Finally, our church campus had a summer baptism event while we were away in Las Vegas. Many people we know got baptized, including Lyric (who also gave her testimony) and the Martinez girls we used to babysit for. Praise God for new life and healing!

CLICK HERE for a video/picture montage of the summer baptisms

The second half of the month was filled with lots of reunions and traveling. Kayle and I spent August 19-21 in Las Vegas for Claire's wedding. We stayed on an air mattress in the apartment of another bridesmaid. The 3 days were a whirlwind of activity with a dress fitting, karaoke bachelorette party, rehearsal, home-cooked Filippino dinner, and a hair appointment. The wedding itself was at 7pm on Saturday and Claire was simply gorgeous! We danced the night away at the reception, and I particularly enjoyed seeing tons of Notre Dame friends, including all my senior year roommates and many other enginerds. Kayle and I arrived at the airport around 2am, right after the reception, for our 6am flight and caught some zzz's on the floor near our gate. Claire and Michael Desrochers (Day-row-shay) will be living only 3 hours away in Vancouver, Canada, so we hope to see them soon and finally be motivated to get our passports!




And, last but not least, we rounded off the month with a visit from my mom and grandma the following weekend. It was very fun to have three generations of Oskamps together for dominoes, shopping, and touring Redmond/Seattle. Mom and grandma arrived on Thursday evening and ate an enjoyed but exhausted meal at our favorite downtown Bellevue restaurant. The next morning, we left for San Juan Island, a 2.5 hour drive and ferry ride away. We stayed in a nice, converted motel and rented a car to tour the beautiful island and stop at Lime Kiln Park. LK Park is an absolutely beautiful sea-side park and one of the best places in the world to see Orca whales in the wild and up-close. After 4 hours of strolling, squinting, taking pictures, eyeing tiny hermit crabs, spotting porpoises and seals, and playing Euchre, we gave up our quest to see whales but maintained that it was a good day nonetheless. On Saturday, we walked all around Friday Harbor, ate breakfast in a bustling diner, shopped many little touristy shops, stopped at the whale museum and a few art galleries, and grabbed some homemade ice cream in waffle cones before boarding the ferry back to the mainland. That night, we ate dinner at Coho Cafe, which had mom and grandma raving about Seattle seafood for days.


Sunday was mostly a quiet day. We went to church in the morning and baked homemade rosemary chicken and bacon/pineapple pizzas. Then, I enjoyed an afternoon nap followed by a full game of dominoes from double 12's to 0's. The only unfortunate part of the day was that Kayle creamed the rest of us in dominoes. In fact, I think the final score was Kayle at 150 and a different person in each of the 200s, 300s, and 400s. Kayle is just about as ruthless as Grandpa Oskamp, who shows no mercy no matter how far ahead he is!

On Monday, Kayle went to work and the girls took to shopping in Seattle. We rode the metro bus across the bridge, giving mom and grandma the leisure to sightsee out the windows. They were just delighted by Pike Place Market, eagerly browsing all the local artists' stalls and taking taste tests of homemade jerky, jams, pasta, and produce. Mom and grandma couldn't get over how beautiful and big all the flower bouquets were nor how perfect and colorful the fruits and veggies on display. I think we ate about 6 samples of peaches and each one left our mouths watering. We enjoyed peach, pluot (new fruit = plum + apricot), and strawberry smoothies for lunch before heading to the Seattle Aquarium for a quick tour. The highlight of the aquarium was watching the marine mammals being fed. The harbor seals were eating fish and performing a few silly tricks for a crowd of onlookers. The sea otters were so cute, floating on their backs eating crab and spinning around to dump the shells underwater. Mom and grandma were also quite funny as they reached in the tanks to touch anenomes, tube worms, sea stars, and sea cucumbers. There was more than one expression of surprise or disgust. After a full day of walking, we nearly missed our bus home while getting our picture taken on a bench. We made it, collapsed in the comfy bus seats, and finished off the day at CoHo cafe (again- I told you they couldn't stop raving!).


Kayle and I have mostly spent the last week recovering from the month of August. We had great fun with youth group, friends, and family but welcome the school year again with a craving for routine and rest. My schedule at work will be light until classes pick up the pace, and I went to Eastside Academy again for the 1st time today. We also bought pizza on Saturday for Tent City and played some board games with the homeless there.

I've been realizing lately that I have the tendency to allow busyness to crowd out my personal time with God and cloud my priorities and sense of purpose in life. For a while there, I was mostly happy but missing that sense of pervading joy that comes from knowing God, doing His work, and hoping for Heaven. The sermon on Sunday was an enthusiastic reminder of where our joy should be based and what factors can rob us of the joy that should come from our relationship with God. For the first time in a while, I felt as if I was just bursting with the excitement of worshipping God, smiling so hard as I sang that my cheeks hurt. I was also reminded that God Himself is more joy-filled and happy than any human could ever be. If this is the case (and I think it is), then God is not a grumpy dad that looks at me with a critical eye and an urge to complain about all my imperfections. Instead, His joy in Himself is not dampened by my failures but, rather, He is eager to celebrate with me in my moments of daughterly obedience, when my love of God begins to reflect His overflowing love and acceptance of me. "The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song." (Psalm 28:7)

CLICK HERE for the Sunday Sermon: "Jesus Rejoices in the Holy Spirit"

CLICK HERE for more pictures from August

The Hinkle Clan Converges in Washington!

My last update was fully 3 weeks ago, just before the Hinkles came to visit us. I wanted to give myself enough time to do their visit justice and share stories and photos. With that, here are a few highlights from July 1-6.

Everyone arrived on Thursday, July 1st. Kristen and Casey got off a plane from Australia, and Hinkle mom and dad, Cody, Esther, Esther, and Siang arrived by van. We mostly rested, talked, and played board games, since everyone showed up in the late-afternoon/evening.


On Friday, we made plans and visited Marymoor park. There, we took turns on the tandem bike, played tennis and Bocce ball, and took a nap (well, I'm the only one who took a nap, right on the grass!). That night, I made dinner for everyone (10 people!): chicken picatta with veggies, fruit, wild rice, and pasta noodles. We even had a caper and non-caper batch, for the picky eaters...

On Saturday, the boys (Kayle, Cody, Dad) went to Mt. Rainier for the day to hike. I packed them sack lunches and happily sent them off to trek in the snow. We sent them with a camera to document the day and got back dozens of pictures featuring only pine trees. The boys themselves were only in a couple. Esther and Siang went to Tukwila to spend a few days with some Burmese friends there. The rest of the girls, Mom, Kristen, Casey, Esther Khim, and I, had a shopping day in Redmond/Bellevue.



We visited the Redmond farmer's market and bought some freshly-popped kettle corn, sweet Rainier cherries, a half-flat of raspberries, and a beautiful flower bouquet. We also walked around Redmond Town Center outdoor mall where we stopped at a board game store and Claire's. I was just dying to bring Esther to the giant Asian grocery store in Bellevue called Uwagimaya. There, we bought noodles, spices, rice, metal chopsticks, and MSG in a jar (I didn't know there WAS such a thing!). Half Price Books yielded some bargain DVDs and novels for the ride home, and Goodwill was the site of long excursions to the dressing rooms. Overall, a very enjoyable and thrify shopping day.



That evening, the women rallied to cook a large vat of meaty pasta sauce and about 20 pasties. The hiking boys got home just in time for fresh pasties, right out of the oven. They were pretty pleased about that! The extra pasties were re-heated for lunch the next couple days. I don't even want to try to guess how many Kayle ate! We used the pasta sauce for dinner a few nights later.

Sunday was the 4th of July! We took everyone to the early 9am service at church before going home to prepare sandwiches and cut watermelon for a day at the park. I wanted to get to Gas Works park early to get a good seat for fireworks and enjoy the festivities. Once there, 5 of us decided to let Kayle and Cody save our spot while we bused downtown to go on an Argosy boat tour of the Seattle harbors. However, shortly after boarding the metro bus, the weather turned sour and we all felt bad about leaving Kayle and Cody to guard several coolers and blankets during 3 hours of light rain. We returned (after the tour) to them camping out in the woods, our blankets hanging on tree branches and Kayle and Cody playing frisbee amisdt the trunks. So much for saving our spot! Luckily, the park cleared out some during the rain, so we found another place to spread out our now-damp blankets. We waited for dark by playing Scum (a card game) and watching a fireboat spray water all over Elliott Bay. We also took a lot of pictures of the Seattle skyline and even saw not one, but two, full-scale pirate ships.




The fireworks show itself was the most amazing I've ever seen. They shot the fireworks off a barge in the middle of the bay, so the colors lit up the water and the skyline behind. The fireworks were also sychronized to music, which at one point struck me as so funny that I laughed uncontrollably for several minutes. We all "oohed" and "ahhed" and laughed and screamed for the entire show and found ourselved highly amused by the end. Even Kayle and Cody admitted that the fireworks were worth the wait!

On Monday, a bunch of us went go-karting at a high speed indoor track. To race, everyone needed to wear a funny, yellow head cover and an over-the-head racecar helmet. We all felt pretty authentic and snazzy.

We weren't supposed to crash or bump other cars (they had a flag for slower cars to pull over so faster cars could pass you), but, at one point, I accidently ran into the tires on the edge at high speeds. Kayle emerged as the champion on both days we went racing, and I wonder how he got to be the best while I finished dead last!

Five of us also went on another Argosy Cruise tour, departing from Kirkland. We moseyed around Lake Washington with a tour guide explaining the outrageous prices of the homes there as well as some stories and special features. One of the highlights was Bill Gates' house, which apparently sports a computer system where guests fill out a survey and wear a Star Trek-like lapel pin. Then, when moving throughout the house, the art and temperature and TVs and lighting change to meet the guest's preferences. I sort of wonder what happens when you have guests with very different tastes all in the same room... Bill Gates is also rumored to have a padded trampoline room. Whoa!

That evening, we went to dinner at Claim Jumper, a country-western place with a longest menu I've ever seen. After, some of the girls stayed in Redmond Town Center to shop some more. I went to bed early so I could get up for work the next day. Kayle and his dad drove down to Tukwila to pick up the Burmese girls. And, Cody met a friend from Moody in Seattle to hang out and have dinner together.

Tuesday was the last full day of the Hinkle visit. While I was at work, everyone went into Seattle for the day. Kayle, Cody, Dad, and Kristen rented bicyles and cruised around to several parks, Ballard Locks, along the Puget Sound, and past the sports stadiums.


Meanwhile Mom and Casey went with the Burmese girls to Seattle Center where they went up the Space Needle for a spectacular view of the city and mountains. Then, the girls walked around the International District and settled down for a gigantic lunch at an authentic Korean restaurant. Upon return to the Eastside, we all met at Grasslawn park for a few family pictures and a nice stroll and some frisbee-throwing in the beautiful, sunny weather.

Afterward, Esther, Esther, Kristen, Casey, and Cody (?!?!?) walked again to RTC to shop. The rest of us lounged at home. We enjoyed a final night of board games and a dice game from Pirates of Caribbean II (except we weren't betting our souls or anything!).

Despite grand plans to be driving by 7am, everyone was still packing and mingling at 8:00 when I left for work. We said our last goodbyes, and they were off, calling me only once to confirm some driving directions. Kayle and I recovered with extra sleeping and less activity for the following week or so, but we sure do miss our family already...

For more pictures, click here.

Month of Missionaries

So, there's a little story from Soren Kierkegaard that a Mars Hill pastor told in church on Sunday. It pretty much sums up this month and how I'm feeling about my faith right now.

One Sunday morning in Duckland all the ducks dutifully came to church, waddling through the doors and down the aisles to their pews where they comfortably squatted.

When all were situated and the hymns were sung, the duck minister waddled to his pulpit, opened the Duck Bible and read: "Ducks! Ye have wings, and with wings ye can fly like eagles. Ye canst soar into the sky! Use thy wings!"

It was a marvellous, elevating duck scripture, and thus all the ducks quacked their approval with a hearty A-MEN!

And then they plopped down from their pews and waddled home.

This month, Kayle and I have been surrounded by exciting things happening in our church and fruitful personal ministry. Our campus raised nearly all the money (about $1.1 million!) for a new building in downtown Bellevue. This was a challenge for our church, since we have a lot of new and young believers who are still growing in generosity. It was a challenge for a lot of older/more mature believers too, because it seems difficult for a rich person to truly understand financial sacrifice. Sometimes I feel like the rich man who, when Jesus told him to sell everything and follow him, instead went away sad because he had great wealth. Perhaps, he could name a few luxuries that he really didn't want to give up. I pray that I do not hold onto my comforts so tightly that I miss opportunities to serve and bless others.

We also have been inspired by several missionaries this month. Jenny Razey, our friend from Bellevue, just came back from a year of teaching at an international school in Sudan. It is encouraging to hear her stories of sharing her faith, sacrificing comforts, fighting spiritual warfare, and making Muslim friends in a country plagued by heat, tribal divisions, and instability. And, through it all, God has been faithful and powerful in her ministry. She is currently raising money to go back for another year, get accredited in Africa, and possibly stay and teach in the country long-term. For more stories: Jenny's Journeys blog




Rachel's sister and her husband, missionary teachers in Romania, came to speak to our CG about their adventures in Bucarest. Their hearts go out to a country left with scars of distrust from neighbors betraying neighbors in the recent Communist past. They teach in a K-12 Christian school for missionary kids, business leaders, and locals.

Finally, a couple from our our CG, Nick and Jessi Connolly, are moving to Boston to plant a church along with their 3 kids, ages 3 and under! Watching them plan and pack up their things in faith has been amazing. God has provided them with a church to partner with, a job to supplement their income in the early years, and a great training program with Acts 29 and Re:Train. They are trusting God to raise some large figures to cover the first few years and are truly flying instead of waddling. Gospel Community church plant



Meanwhile, Kayle and I have been busy with our own ministries. Kayle is still serving in the tech booth, arranging the schedule and running the lights. There is rarely a week when we come to church and someone doesn't run up and tell him about some sort of technical issue. I'm been busy with youth group and teaching Sunday school. About half of my youth group girls are involved with "Serve the City" this week. Basically, they spend the first part of the day doing free yardwork and chores scheduled by going door to door in neighborhoods near church. In the afternoon, some keep doing yardwork while others lead a 5 day afternoon VBS. I've been going after work to help out for a few hours before everyone retires to a church member's home for rest, games, and a Bible study at night.

Our group is also preparing for a car wash to raise money for a local homeless shelter that moves around to different churches on the Eastside (Tent City 4). We are serving two meals there in the next 2 months, which our church is supplying with Micromission funds (money set aside by Mars Hill for community groups doing service projects). We are hoping (and praying!) to match or exceed that amount, using the money to buy much-needed hygiene supplies, cleaning supplies, and bus tickets for the camp. It's a big project and involves lots of phone calls to potential business sponsors! Phew...

Finally, Kayle and I have been trying much harder lately to meet our neighbors. We passed out invitations for a board game night to 3 buildings in our condo complex. An Indian couple, a single guy from Brazil, and another Brazilian friend came to our house last Friday. We had a wonderful time, talking, laughing, and playing Wits and Wagers. We are excited to get together again to play Settlers of Catan and possibly have a BBQ in the near future (TBD). Several other neighbors who couldn't come have also expressed their gratitude and desire to hang out with us sometime, and we have a dinner date next week with a lovely 88 year-old neighbor named Katie. It was also encouraging to hear people reiterate how much they enjoyed and were surprised by the cookies we passed out a few months ago. Apparently, one neighbor had a visiting brother who couldn't stop talking about it and then went home and told his family about the random neighbor who blessed them with cookies. So strange and delightful what God can do with a few dozen chocolate chip cookies!!

Overall, the sermon, about Jesus feeding 5000 men, really got me thinking this week about whether I act like I believe that God is able to do "more than all I ask or imagine." Most of the time, I feel like I do a lot of planning and praying to "waddle" better. I want to fly in faith in all areas of my life, so that, in everything I do, God is glorified and I can marvel at His grace and power. Watch this sermon...seriously. It has a really cool testimony at the beginning! :)

Feeding 5000 Men- Pastor Bill Clem

I'm going to close this random, rambling blog post with a song that was one of my favorites in youth group and a prayer that has been on my heart lately.

I don't wanna be, I don't wanna be, a casual Christian
I don't wanna live, I don't wanna live, a lukewarm life
'Cause I want to light up the night
With an everlasting light
I don't want to live a casual Christian life.

Toy Story 3 and a Seattle Adventure Thrown In!

Last Saturday was one of our busiest days in a while, particularly because most of the activities were originally unplanned! In the morning, I met in a coffeeshop to make summer service plans with my youth group girls (details in previous post). I'm proud of their desire to serve and plan activities, and I sometime wonder at how much I've seen them grow in their faith in the last few months. Kayle came to the coffeeshop too, mostly because he wanted to leave very promptly to make it to the theater early.

We rode over to Seattle with Jeff and Paula Irwin, the friends who often host movie nights and BBQs. Kristen went to their house with us for the Super Bowl this year, and the going away party for Caleb and Laura was there too. It was good to catch up with them a bit and be excited for the arrival of their first baby (a girl!) later this year. Once in Seattle, we found our friends climbing on a sculpture near the Space Needle. After posing for some pictures and catching a bite for lunch, we were off to stand in line to ensure some good seats all together.






While in line, we competed in the Irwin's favorite card game, Set. I usually consider it a great victory if I manage to get 1 match the entire game, since it takes a lot of practice to spot possible trios. Here is an explanation and puzzle from the New York Times to give you an idea of the frustration of learning the game with more adept opponents: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/crosswords/setpuzzle.html



The movie itself was very funny and enjoyable. The characters are as lovable and creative as ever and, combined with daring escape scenes and some heart-wrenching growing-up goodbye scenes, it was probably the best movie three-quel (?) in a long time. Of course, it was all larger-than-life in 3D on IMAX, and I'm slightly embarrassed to say I shed a few tears in there somewhere...

After the movie, Joe proposed that we visit the Ballard Locks because he had heard that the salmon were running through the fish ladder there. We planned to come back to Seattle Center to eat dinner with the other movie-goers, but we got caught up shooting the marshmellow gun (and sometimes trying to catch them in our mouths), discussing the inner-workings and necessity of the lock itself, and taking crazy pictures. Joe, James, Henry, Kayle, and I did indeed see our first Washington salmon up close (and alive) and basked in the glorious weather that has been teasing us lately from time to time. (We are all waiting for summer to decide to arrive and stay for more than a couple days!)







Afterward, we walked around Ballard, looking for a place to eat. Armed with an iPhone, we ultimately decided on a well-rated fish and chips place directly next to the locks.

Foolishly thinking we were on our way home, we drove past the Ballard Mars Hill campus and into Fremont. I mentioned the Fremont troll, since I'd never seen it but would hear Americorp members talk about it last year. So, we were off on a detour to see this ugly Seattle treasure tucked under a random bridge. (If you look closely, there is a real VW bug being crushed in the troll's left hand.)




Later, driving past Gasworks park, Kayle and I mentioned this was another Seattle icon we had never visited. The park is just one large hill with a large rusty gasworks contraption on one side. But it has an amazing view of Seattle across the lake! The park is also the site of a huge 4th of July fireworks show every year, and we are sorely tempted to fight the crowds on Sunday for a chance to see the show light up Seattle. Of course, while I was marvelling at the view and taking pictures, the boys were occupying themselves with long distance frisbee and a sad attempt to fly a kite.






We finally headed for home and caught a glimpse of Mt. Rainier from the 520 bridge crossing Lake Washington.



Back at our condo, Kayle and I crawled into our nice, warm bed. We planned to serve at church bright and early the next day and both of us stayed up until 1:30 am at board game night (we were up late talking to Joe).

I hope you enjoy these long-winded recollections of our activity-filled lives. I am happy to be able to share them with all my family and friends. We miss you and love you all!

Angie and Kayle