Reunion Time

It's been ten years since we graduated Peoria Christian School. And Mrs. Bachman STILL hasn't seen the pictures yet. Time to get the blog post up before she kills me.

It would be like me to try to point out all my friends and explain our relationship for you, but it will be avoided this time. We missed several of the folks I used to hang out with the most also. Here's the besties.

Cara (Junior year best friend) had to leave early for a puking kid. Great quote. When the first call came she knew mom could handle it. But during the second call you could hear 8 year old Jarret in the background saying "I'm dying and no one cares!" Love that kid.

Mike (Senior year) was at the farmhouse dinner the night before but couldn't make it Saturday.



Dave was there! Sporting the white shirt and tie. He and I were new Freshman year and stuck together, as newbies often do. Dave did alot better at branching out and getting to know other people long before I did. You can tell because he already had the scoop on most people before even showing up to the reunion :-)


Ya, there was kind of a sad showing of guys. I didn't hang out with any of these guys except Dave.

I guess sophomore year best friend would be David (not Dave). We geeked it up like the Star Trek fans we were. He was a no show though.

Despite my weird habit of having a different best friend every year, I had lots of friends. They were usually girls though. It was pretty normal to be in the girls picture.

I've been thinking alot since the reunion about what people were like in high school and how they might have changed. Wondering how I changed in comparison. A little depressing actually. Alot about growing in spiritual maturity is changing. Am I really trying hard enough? With how slow I am to comprehend things, it was also interesting to realize some qualities people had that I did not notice in school but I now realize were important.

Good times. And thanks to Julie and Donna for doing all the work!!

Single? Who Me?

Whenever starting a day full of this much socializing, learning, and more socializing, start it off right. Biscuits and gravy baby. I only had to try two Bob Evans' to find it and Ryan.

Not sure if you knew this, but I'm single. Yeeeeeeyaaa pretty much. So when you're single, you always go to these singles retreats to learn about singleness. No not really, but some folks who haven't been around here long are starting to get that impression. Pastor Ritch, intern Matt and their wives lead our singles group for a day long retreat focusing contentment and dating. I think it was pretty good considering how many good things we were able to cover in such a short period of time.

There was, of course, a time were the men and women got separated for a topic on purity. This is where we covered what to do while watching Children Of The Corn 13 with your date and which members of your family NOT to marry...

Andrew and Bruce eagerly awaited their first shot at appearing on the blog. Here, however, Bruce did not pick up the clue phone when it rang.

Peter took the brave and successful step out into unknown game territory for our class. We usually play alot of large group activities that have been done many times in the past. With an ever changing group and the knowledge that they've worked in the past, it wasn't always a bad idea. But we definitely added some good stuff this year.

First was the spaghetti and marshmallow building competition. Self explanatory. And of course, the team with the most experienced engineer, Nan, kicked behind.



Other games were played, but the most new and original would have to be live battleship....also self explanatory. Thanks to Mooners for making the icebreaker new and exciting...and ego boosting for a certain blogger. Like he needed it.

Well, posting about the High School reunion later that night will have to wait. And posting more details about the wonderful teaching of our Pastoral families will have to be avoided. It was a great day exceeding expectations and offering up lots of things to consider and change. However, I will inevitably point out what didn't go well, like all those "didn't we just cover that" moments...and no one will enjoy that. Probably the greatest thing I've ever taken away from the teaching at this church is the knowledge that everything starts with the motive and heart attitude with which you approach anything in life. No amount of rules, lessons, habits or alternatives will ensure or should give you great confidence in how to handle situations if you do not first run it all by the test of why you are doing something, who it is/isn't for and know who's in charge. It applies well to everything from who to date to what to wear and I felt this was the groundwork for most of the teaching this weekend.





And then there was Hagrid...

Go Eagles

There's a full day to blog about Saturday, but I told Wes I was going to bed a few minutes ago, and I know he reads the blog. Soooooo about Friday
Hit up part one of the PCS class of 1999 reunion at the Hermann farm. One of the gals was gracious enough to host the cheap and informal party for entire families. Small turnout but good chance to ease into the crowd. There are plenty of pictures from Saturday to make up for the lack of Friday's, but you'll have to wait.

Later caught my second ever live football game. Same team as the first. Becky was bound and determined to catch a game (and a cold) before the end of the season, and some of us were crazy enough to go with. Very different, and a tad boring for me. But man do I have an appreciation for the players after seeing them steam along after rolling around in the wet 40 degree grass over and over again. Thanks for sharing the blanket ladies.

Tell you what though - ain't no way I'm letting my daughter be on a dance team after watching theirs! Speaking of daughters, Ryan totally backed out of the challenge to crash the girl's party afterward. Lame!

Wiggle Butt

Little to report except that the red tape and details required in order to get a CDL for driving a school bus is a huge pain. In one week it will have required three trips to the DMV and two to a finger printing facility. Next week is the physical and still to come, driving test. Sheesh

I'm also proud to say that the three little dudes at my AWANA table, Jairus, Evan and Tanner, have proven to be the most productive bunch of troublemakers in AWANA. Who else could manage to finish 3 sections in one night and still manage to get negative points for behavior? All three of them.

YES! As a last minute backup, I snagged Maya for the week. She also goes by "Wiggle Butt" apparently. It's alot easier to take care of this hyper dog after taking care of two super hyper/needy ones.


And my roommate continues to amaze me as he polishes off five glasses of Dr. Pepper. The lady started bringing them out in twos eventually. Yes, he had to drive like a madman to avoid having an "accident" on the way home.

Theeeee Wheels On The Bus Go Round And Round

Do my tax dollars really have to go to a DMV which constantly under-staffs the one desk that everyone (except renewals) has to go to in order to be told where else to go by a slow typer in front of a computer which accesses the information even slower? And do you really feel safe knowing that I'll be behind the wheel of a school bus (without kids) after passing a test which it turns out I only studied half the material for? If it makes you feel any better, I did study alot but they tested stuff I wasn't told to study.

Shivering Beatles

A little late and under pictured was a sweet time to catch up with old friends last Sunday. Greg and Steph have been back in town for a while and had some oldies over for some grillin'. Peter, LaNae, Greg, Steph, Jon, Joy, Wes and I were around more than a few years ago and had to say goodbye when Greg's work took him out of town. Federal law (or Greg's law) forbid me from taking pictures of him, but Jon's fair game. Thanks for a great time guys!

Fast forward through another quick week to hangin' last night at the rib fest on the river front topped off with a Beatles tribute band, American English. Up close they look old enough to be the real Beatles and definitely sounded like them. Oh ya by the way...it was really cold.

The riverfront was enough for me to put on a sweatshirt but the CEF banquet tonight (thanks Lisa) warranted a coat for the first time this fall. After realizing that I'm listening to Christmas choir music in my car all the time now, it occurred to me that there's no reason to not listen to other Christmas music. Which then got me wondering why I like winter so much, until it gets really old in February. Is it the fact that I can put all the junk I carry around in a coat as if it was a man-purse? The feeling you get when you just jogged three miles below freezing? Decorations and white scenery? No yard work? The fact that women who have no idea what size they wear (which is basically all of them) are forced to put a coat on?

....yes.

Give Me An Inch

Did you know that if you find a 5-inch long french fry in your Culvers combo basket, you get a free scoop of frozen custard? Well these girls do.

She Gone!

Now that we finally have internet again, I stayed out too late to post anything significant. Also, turns out the search function in blogger doesn't go back very far. So without reference to the previous attempt at selling my Corsica, the nearly dead car that got me through the last six years or so, I can tell you that it is finally gone! No for real this time.

I know, boring to you, but one less thing to register and insure for me. I left it in the street unlocked for a week but no one would steal it, so it actually went legitimately. Maybe I should have left the keys in the ignition too (cough JED cough)

Shady Sale

Can't really update you appropriately while the home Internet is still down. But it's nap time at the church hog roast right now...


And they have great cell reception out here soooo here's a teaser.

Dogsitting in Washington for the night made it real easy to check out Storm and Katie's garage sale early in the morning. You gotta stay on your toes though. While Jan is doing a great job trying to offload the bathroom tub for $20, Storm is trying to sell your dog.



Th kid was a bargain though. Yes they had already been to Starbucks.


Time for some hog!


As Ben lays his hands in the speaker to heal it.

Go Bears

Got to speak to the men at the Rescue mission tonight. Dave is a great encouragement to follow after in worship. And the mission is a great environment to teach in as long as you are personal and transparent. I even got to use our football time at Ryan's last night as an illustration!

It was a another rootin' tootin' night, but with the guys only this time. Thanks for hosting a great time watching Sunday night football Ryan. The illustration that I got to use was that our football time was alot like any other typical American Sunday night football bash, without the cussing and beer. It occurred to me that we didn't have the usual personal and thoughtful conversations I'm used to with these guys. It's a rare occasion that I'm glad to say is rare and doesn't concern me in the least. But it does remind me of the holding pattern we could get in if we didn't believe that God had a plan for us in the future, and NOW to serve Him, glorify Him and enjoy Him everywhere.

Now, as much as I am positive that life is about more than only noticing and remembering little hilarious details with a few friends or some funny football slapstick, this move definitely made the night.