What's goin' on??

I'm finally getting around to posting, and now blogger is having issues uploading pictures. What's up with that? Hopefully it will get resolved sometime today. Sorry.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!! Guess I don't need pictures to say that :-)


(update) Never mind. Pictures are uploading again. Now I have no excuse.

Another busy Sunday

Most of the New York team was able to make it to all three church services today to be commissioned. Pastor Lyall announced that we would be leaving this weekend, a bit about what we would be doing and then prayed for us. I was very proud to have the team stand up in front of the congregation since most of them haven't been on a trip with Bethany before, which is the whole point of Bethany's trips. To expose people to the mission field! We leave in 5 days!

Fay boy (far left above) did a great job with the solo this morning. What he didn't know was that the solo continued in the foyer after the choir chimed in, because they had his mic turned WAY up out there. Nice harmony dude :-) Took me ten minutes to find the correct spelling of foyer btw, and that's probably not even what that area is called.



These guys popped up in the office sometime this weekend. Pastor Daniel had some quiet time with his raisin friends from the 80's.







I want this guy's job. I think this is all he does Sunday mornings.







After church, the NYC team had one final serious meeting to discuss our departure this Saturday, and get any other questions and logistics out. Why is Erika ALWAYS sticking her tongue out!?!



Can you believe I waited this long to tell you that MAYA IS BACK?!!!! Jed brought her back Saturday night, but I didn't get to see her until after a long morning on Sunday. She's with us for a week while her fam is out of town. Happy Birthday Marla!!

It was obvious that volleyball interest was light today, so Maya got to tag along as I went to the courts to wait on any players who might show up. David and Jeffrey showed, so we had a nice chat.






Maya got to handle the gears on the way back home. Who will be the first to notice the scary part of this picture?




This was the final week of feast at church. Lots of people showed up.




Kari was quite proud of fitting 17 tables in the gym. :-) This is a great "before" picture.






And here's the "after" picture.





Thank you for the gorgeous smile Marilyn!


Joel....punk!


Jeremy (right) did another fantastic job with the main course...meatball subs!!

Babies and Men

(sigh) Softball was canceled for the fourth time this week. Today the rain game was "rained out". My shot at watching Treyven was almost gone, but WAIT. Steve and Elise let me tag along for a visit to see Helen and Mike's new baby, Isaac!! Check out Trey's two new teeth.







Isaac's a sleeper.














BACK to the Trey-cam











KC happened to be in town for a quick visit. He was around our Sunday school class long before I, but has since moved on to the quad cities.





Will someone please get Mike some new slippers?!




While still cute as ever, Anna is apparently in that "I need attention too" phase. No comment...I'm deep enough already.





No matter how many times she tries, Anna never learns that Treyven is too big for her to hold.


The afternoon was sprinkled with phone calls, naps and a tiny bit of cleaning.

Michael, owner of the bachelor pad down the street, invited some guys over for a man night. Man night seems to be declining in it's manliness recently.

Here, Mike is telling Jason, "I made that salsa chicken you told me about and it was delicious. My mom LOVED it!"


Here, the guys are discussing where to find some garlic stuff at the store. Apparently, it should be in the salad dressing aisle.


And here....aaaanyway.






Guy night consists of grilling









Surveying the hood for a while






Ice cream.





We shut down Dudley's, the new ice cream shop in the nice ghetto.










and a movie...what? Seriously guys.




Actually, I didn't stick around long enough to pick a movie.




We let a married guy join in. Long time no see Stevo.







Jon introduced us to a new card game, Jungle Speed.

Happy Birthday Chris!

Friday was one of my last two roommate's birthday.

I was going to put up a picture of Jerelyn giving Chris a haircut...but it looked too weird. They gave me permission and everything! :-) Jerelyn and Chris fed and encouraged me on a cruddy day...as usual. We need to find a house nearby they can live in so that I can keep at least two of the roomies around.

By the way, here's an update on the weddings. August - Andrew, September - Jed, October - Chris, November - Kevin gets lonely and buys a dog...

My bro, Eric, let me tag along with him and some of his friends to see Hellboy 2. Yes, it was weirder and grosser than the first one, but still absent of sex and language, and was pretty funny. Any movie is worth it to get to see my bro who I never see even though he lives a block away.

Ya, that's about it. Next post will have plenty of pictures for you ADD folks like me.

Farewell Mike!

This is ridiculous. I purposely brought my camera to work Thursday (big no no) just so I would remember to take it to lunch...and still forgot to take it to lunch. I apologize for the cruddy phone pics.


Thursday, I was invited to lunch as an honorary member of the quality team to celebrate the hiring of Mike from his current part-time position to a full-time spot elsewhere at Caterpillar.


Mike's team has been like a revolving door recently. The folks at lunch consisted of the team as it was two months ago, and the completely new six member team today.


Mike was the last drop of testosterone left on that team. I had feared it would completely run out. Just days before his leaving, however, Dan showed up to save the day. Dan will be a fine addition to the team, as long as Anita doesn't teach him to bug me...


Speaking of Anita. Please note the protection of Anita's identity. Also notice the record-breaking week of buggings from Anita this week (right side of blog)... :-)











Jennifer (team lead currently on REALLY long maternity leave) with the team that awaits her upon her return in October.









Rachel, the beautiful little reason Jennifer is on maternity leave.








My horseshoe. Not only was I invited to lunch, but I even got to pick the place. And this folks, is why we're here.

Rock Band Conflict

Considering the awkwardness of last week's Bible study lesson, no one needed to run through it again during review time tonight at 6...so we played Rock Band, thanks to Joe, until the appointed eating time. Several folks, including myself, got a rotation on the drums.


Remy Stix


Tap master John (previously known as First Peter)


Rumfun on the drum


Aaaand.....Ryan





Technical difficulties nearly stifled the lesson, "The Art of Conflict". I think Joe was just afraid it would be another weird one...









Thank you for hosting Joe! (left) 1Peter and I suffered greatly at the hands of Joe's two cats. The cats weren't around, but their hair and dandruff sure was.






Noah wins the laughing conteset again. We thought making fun of 1Peter or Ryan would top the night off, but we definitely had a five minute laugh out of Noah's recent discovery of a work client who sells a combination "oral/rectal thermometer". As Ryan would say, "Ewwwyyy"

Lunch With Bill

Nothing exciting has happened today so far. No pictures...nuthin. Softball was canceled once again. And it was my turn to watch Treyven!! So, you get some deep thoughts instead. I know I know, just smile and nod.

Went home for lunch today. It's becoming a habit when I don't eat out because I'm too lazy to make food before I leave.

So, I haven't been able to take joy in watching "The Cosby Show" for a while now. But, I decided to watch it today while I ate since there was nothing else on. Yes, there's things about every show that are bad examples, mostly because they are fake. But I'm still shocked at what great examples this show has regarding various aspects of family life. Today, mostly noticing how Cosby's character (hopefully in real life too) is so loving, funny and FLIRTY with his (screen) wife of umpteen years. Then, takes randomness and sacrifices of family life joyfully. While there is no clear backing of scripture mentioned in these shows, it's cool how much some things in this show parallel the stuff Tommy Nelson speeks about in his lesson's on relationships.

?=?

Even though they had only been married a couple of years, some pretty good friends of mine, Kevin and Carrie, were always encouraging examples of married flirters. I think Mr. and Mrs. Anonymous are the same way (don't make me wrong!). I hope after being married several years, I can still show the same joy and giving in family life as all the examples I have to go by.

Back to reality. So, when I went back to work, Anita was the only one to notice the change in apparel. Apparently, I am incapable of eating spaghetti without getting some on me. Maybe it's because I was watching TV.

By the way, Jed, I think someone may have been in your house over lunch. You may want to take a quick inventory of your books and make sure none of the so called "poopy" ones have been tossed out...

Soup's Up!

For those crazies waiting for a few more pics, or the folks with nothing to do during the day...Facebook and Picasa have been updated with Chi-town pictures from this weekend. Most of Sarah and Becky's pictures are also included in the Picasa albums.

My Picasa pages can be found here. Comment away. Vote on whether or not Sarah is picking her nose or curling her eyelashes. Then vote again on whether or not she is whistling at Mike or gasping for breath (at seeing Mike jogging, of course) :-)

He Left Us!!

I woke up this morning and noticed the room across the hall to be very messy and cluttered. That's normal for Jed's room, but this time, furniture was missing. Though his wedding isn't until September (...still not touching that one) He is the first one to abandon the bachelor pad on 906 West. We miss you Jed, and all the nights you come home late banging your head against a pillow over wedding plans....I can't wait for it!





Don't worry Jed. I'll still keep an eye on you...

Game on!

Sadly, today's softball games have been canceled due to wet fields. However, we still have a game to play. It's called "Who's the stud in the outfield?"



The 5:45 team still took advantage of the time to practice, and this fella was on the field today.