Sledding Saturday

Actually lots more, but it's a simple title day.

Men's Breakfast

We rolled out this year's theme for the church's men's ministry, "No Man Left Behind". In a strange twist of random fate (did I just say random fate?) I think our Sunday school class motto will be "Every Man For Himself". I like that idea. It took people lovin' on me when I didn't deserve it or entertain them in return to get me interested in ministry, personal growth and loving other people. Why should I return the favor?


Nearly record turn out and my favorite menu items provided by the ladies cook team made it a blast. Pastor Lyall outlined our call as Christian men and our Ministry purpose, then Steve talked about what the ministry involves from week to week.

From there, many of the guys headed over to the church's new building site to help build more temporary walls and coverings, cutting down on labor costs.



I barely contributed during the hour I was there. Plenty of guys showed up and they only ended up working three hours total. Twas a busy day, so I moved on to the next thing.

Sledding!
Cody and Lisa, a freakishly generous and fun couple from church let a bunch of us come over to their place this weekend for a sledding party in the afternoon. Thank you so much for hosting and being so hospitable with refreshments and conversation! They also have two incredibly cute kids who seem more grown up than some grown ups I know.

Go Bjorn go!




A little more on the cautious side, Sarah made up for it at the bottom of the hill with her aggressive snow fighting tactics.
















The Lady boat. Not so much a jumpable craft, but fun nonetheless.








Hit it!



Surfin'






Even little Johnny had a good time :-)










Next item on the list, host Lasagna trials. Josh made an edible lasanga dish at home earlier in the week, and wanted to flex those cooking muscles some more. So, he invited a few couples to our house to try it out on. A few couples quickly exploded to 15ish people and a good time.
I was fully reminded and encouraged by the loving and mature spirits of my previous roomies, Chris and Jed, this weekend. Miss you guys alot!



You guys





Jerelyn threatened to give me a black eye if I didn't step away from the sink and let her take over. YEeeesh! Don't trust that smile on her face, she mean!








Stormy, I didn't succumb to pressure while people were in the house, but it did happen eventually. (Grunt grunt)

Chilly Update 2

Whoops. A little late on this one. Sorry. Although, I just ran into a family at church yesterday who missed some big posts last month. I think they got lost in the shuffle of my average .9 posts per day. Sorry about that too :-) Look, I'm just SORRY!! :-P

The school had snowdays most of the week, but the boss man gave me a few hours of work the first day since he was slackin' and hadn't finished cleaning up the day before. I've been blessed with other people not being able to work for him so that I can pick up hours. PCS opened a new middle school building shortly after I graduated and sent all the 5th through 8th grade kids over there. Last week was my opportunity to work more in that building since the guy who normally maintains it had a really gross eye injury.



Another thing that gave me work was the boy's basketball 14-0 record this season. There was a game in the evening and it took over an hour to clean up the next day. Fun fact. Back in my day, the bleachers were all wood and metal and had to be pulled out and pushed back by hand by at least two people. Now days you've got these metal and plastic things that expand and retract at the push of a button. Pffffftt!

Later in the week, Josh made a dry run of his Lasagna dish in prep for having people over to try it en mass over the weekend. You'll get that post later. Yes, there was a pizza pan involved in cooking his Lasagna.

Chilly Update 1

You still haven't been told about the near tragedy I found at school the first day on the temp job last week. Peoria Christian School's mascot used to be called the Crusaders. The mascot was a medieval mounted knight, and we had a sweet armored knight standing in the front of the school.

Well, around 1999, someone suggested that the crusader might be considered offensive since the Pope went through a little Muslim eradication via crusades phase in the 11th century. They showed a video about it chapel one day and asked us to vote on alternative mascots. At one point, we were given a choice between the flame, the thunder, and the eagles. I'm not sure who one, but there were quite a few write-ins for "The Flaming Thunder Eagles". My class, graduating that year, made their motto "The Last Crusade". All to find out later that we weren't going to change it just yet. Talk about embarrassing. I think we also said we were "On the edge of the millennium" which was said to be just about as cheesy.

Eventually it did change, to the "Chargers". At least we kept the horse. Well, first day back on campus I was greeted in the High School hallway with this...

That's it! I quit! Actually, back in the Crusader days, we knew about a Catholic school in the area who's mascot was also the Crusader, so I suspected this had to do with sports. And it did. Now come on, honestly. How did we lose the Crusaders but they kept theirs? The boys basketball was 13-0 last week, and probably 14 if they won the game my boss and I cleaned up after this week.

There were some interesting booths on display for the school open house this weekend. Board games? Sweet. Mr. Fay was actually not a part of this. It was another teacher.





The school Russia trip was almost my first run in with a missions oriented trip. They usually interviewed prospective team members for each trip. However, during my senior year, interest was low enough that basically anyone who was interested could go. I was asked but felt no calling at the time to participate in missions, nor did I have the confidence that it would be something I could help with. The school now sends teams to France and South Korea as well.

What a dork Jeremy. What a dork. Which two Miis look alike?





So there's this squirrel who keeps messin' around the front doors all the time. One of these days I'll get a good picture




Monday night, My friend Carol invited me over for a little computer support time, along with the standard feed the bachelor meal. Food was awesome Carol!! So was the company. She is currently taking care of her niece an nephew through the end of this school year, and they are very fun, though it's clear they can be a hand full at home.

House to House - Hood Edition

You're only getting caught up by a day cuz I still gots things to do, and our internet is still being a poop.

This Sunday kicked off another six weeks of house to house. A short term small group study that our church puts on to encourage spending time in God's word and getting to know other people. I had been in plenty of house to house groups before and feel rather well connected. It's nice to have Sundays off, so I decided to pass...until Jed got a group going in our hood. There's really no way to get out of that one :-) Steve and Elise graciously hosted and put together a great food selection.

Iowa - Still The Place To Be

Next stop on the Iowa appreciation trip - Fun City! I'm calling it a beefed up Chucky Cheese.








First event - Ultimate go cart death racing. Five people enter, only one leaves.






Next was a 3D movie adventure thing, but I really couldn't get pictures of that, and I totally failed to snap one of Kim in her dorky 3D glasses :-)


What we really came for - Laser tag. This was a first for me. Very fun, though difficult to crouch around and hide because of a (then) sore leg.



The neat ambient light is psychedelic and promotes good dental hygiene.










His future's so bright he gotta wear shades.















Do these lights make me look fat?


In a two-team setup, the girls beat the guys by what I consider a pretty close margin. If twern't fer my bum leg and there only bein' two of us guys, we woulda whooped ya'll!


With a few credits left to burn, we spent it all on racing and shooting.


I like to look at it more like I was fourth on the last lap, but first in two of them.







Final stop - Martini's. A fine dinning experience overlooking the Mississippi.






As advertised

Chicken Lips (and her food....zing)

Grilled Pepperoni and Portobello Pizza


Mediterranean Salad (not displayed, but very excellent)

Big Island Burgers

Big...Ice Cream Pie




Being another opportunity to try an interesting drink with friends who are comfortable with it, Amanda and I tried something new. Her martini was supposed to have dry ice in it, which was the whole point of ordering it. But they come out with the drink and inform you (after pouring) that they are out of dry ice. Thanks.




Mine was pink. I don't recall the name. No no, don't try to remember, it's gone.








After a quick trot up and down Snake Alley, a steep, narrow, winding brink road, it was off to home.