Upper Limits

We haven't been back to the Upper Limits rock climbing facility in over a year. Being over due, it finally fit in the schedule and several folks from Bethany went down with me to rock it up.

With only seven people total, we stuck with the three trained belayers and no one took the two hour class. That meant more climbing for everyone. On Belay...

Josh

Bets

And your's truly














Climbers...
Mr. Dave






Sir Ryan




Joanne



And Lindsay



Star climbers were definitely Josh...




And Betsaroo (best climb not recorded, sorry)






My fear of heights has not been completely vanquished, but my buddy and pal Josh provided much needed moral support. (no we're not praying)



SURPRISE!



After climbing was the traditional big lunch at Famous Dave's. Ryan grow up!! :-)




The evening was filled with a presentation by the fabulous duo, Holly and Joanne who shared with a captivated crowd about their recent trip to Isreal lead by James MacDonald and others from Harvest Bible church.

Thankful

My friend Sarah (no the other one) hid a blast of truth we all need in her last post. She stopped to think about all the things she should be thankful for. Alot of times as we stop to pray for a meal or something else that feels trivial, it's easy to forget what we are truly blessed with. I can be thankful for every meal I've had since being laid off because I can probably count on both hands how many I've paid for (not counting the times I mooched from the roomie). If you're like me, you're not constantly thinking about it, though we should. I wasn't able to forget that she stopped for this so how about I try it?

I'm thankful for..

Time
Energy
Health
Teaching
Friends
Encouragement
Challenges
Growth
Loving family
Loving church body
Attention from God despite my stubborn selfishness

There are many more, but these are what floated to the top just now. What are you thankful for, and how is it helping you to remember who you live for and what your priority should be?

Tobes in the house and Sarah is still mean.

Welllll. I had so many thoughts that it was too much. If a task is too big, I'll generally put it off. So I'll chomp it down and get it out of the way.

Surrounding cabin fever was Peoria Christian School basketball games. My boss needed help cleaning up and I gladly helped out. He was supposed to get a nap though, but family time is also a good thing. PCS varsity boys are 20-0 now. Yeesh! Go PCS!

Backing up to Friday, Winter Jam 2009. That's where several semi big name Christian singers and bands tour every winter. I originally wasn't going to go, because most of the groups in the tour are ones I make fun of pretty consistently. However, it was more entertaining than I thought it would be, and the group that has been around for more than a couple of years, Newsong, was sweet. Oh yeah, and the gospel message and adoption outreach with Tony Nolan was phenomenal. Musical lineup, if you care, NewSong, The Afters, Stephanie Smith..

Francesca Battistelli


Hawk Nelson


And the main attraction, TobyMac. The only Christian singer I know besides Carman to consider himself a black man trapped in a white man's body. Later came Carman's Hispanic phase. He also had some good stuff, for example.

Down in front!



Sunday lunch - SarahK (not the middle one) almost made Bjorn cry. Be nice Sarah.


Sunday Sledding

Josh had sledding fever again. Honestly, I had little interest in going out in the cold again, but somewhere along the way I picked up interest in supporting the roomie. Turnout was a little on the low side.

Push it out, shove it out, waaaaaay out!

Rodney, my friend, ex-landlord, ex-roomie, ex and future neighbor, is blogging like crazy about his wife's labor experience as I type. A few updates today and it is actually keeping me quite excited. Enjoy for yourself! GOOO Kaite!

http://katieandrodney.blogspot.com/

Cabin Fever!

No, it's not where you've spent too much time alone or in crowds so you have to hang out with only your besties every 2.5 days. It's our church's family event!
Saturday evening was an event for families to connect and have fun in a casual setting at the Pierce Community Center in Chillicothe. Basketball, swimming, volleyball, FOOD! I even saw some people just taking the opportunity to exercise on the running track.





This is Brian. Brain failed to tell me that there are six lovely single ladies in his House to House group. Brian in trouble. Jill, I'm half kidding....half. Brian is also a mad man on the volleyball court.


Marilyn rocked our socks off on the court. She ain't afraid of NO serve! Sorry it took so long to post.

YIKES!!

(insert joke about Johnny getting schooled by his kid)


Had my sports time, had my meal time. Now it's time to chat it up with the ladies. What you see here is a example of this blog's readership. Women between the age of 24-29. I have no readers over the age of 29 because of some weird rule whereby women age in reverse somewhere in their 30's. Every conversation with women has it's natural outs. This one ended somewhere around makeup or skin care techniques. I think Bill's to old to use the outs. He just sticks around and says "yes dear" to everything.

And We're Off

Thursday morning kicked off what may be a trend for a while. A little work here, some productivity at home there, fun time or computer support with friends between. It helps to not know what's coming next because you have to be ready for it! For the rest of the week, I was needed around the school to help out with the early afternoon responsibilities. But before that, Good Kevin and I had a chance to spend some time with Evan. Evan got back from the Mayo clinic a couple of weeks ago with tumors that have been deemed untreatable. His family is trying to enjoy as much life with him as possible right now, and he's still living on his own (kinda).

I didn't take any pictures because I didn't want Evan to think I was making a spectacle of him. We played a board game and watched part of a movie before I had to leave. The other Kevin is pretty good at keeping Evan laughing. You can catch up and read about what Evan's mom has been blogging about here.

Thursday was also the kick off of the next semester of our singles Bible study at John and Sarah's house. Our gracious hosts made dinner for us and organized some ice breaker activities. About 25 folks showed up. We will be going through the book of 1 Corinthians via a study commentary by John MacArthur.

Behind Becky the dog whisperer, newbies watch as our flagship ladies explain and demonstrate the class motto for about 20 minutes. Coincidentally, we had a few new faces pop up, including some of the most patient and inquisitive listeners I've ever met. The rest of my pictures featured too many people in the process of eating, and nobody needs to see that.
Knew there was something I was supposed to tell Josh before he got back to the house. As I walked through the door back home, it hit me. MAYA's BACK. Just an overnighter, I think due to Laugherty and Stuber laziness :-) I win.