Lots O' People In Reverse

This morning started way too early. The men's breakfast at our church is sometimes considered difficult at 7:30 on a Saturday morning. But Living Hope Community Church makes us look like chumps at 6:30. Buddy Mike got me to commit to the first men's breakfast at his church. It was worth it with a testimony from one of the biggest guys I've met (not pictured) sharing his heart out like a teddy bear. I've heard few more difficult pasts and current struggles. Which might sound depressing if it wasn't for the simultaneous dependence on God and transparency with other men that was so encouraging.
I told Mike I'd start going to his church when Bethany hits 3000 people in attendance. The connections and encouraging body of believers makes it hard to find good excuses. Mike held a snake? Yup...wouldn't you like to know where that came from?

Backing up to Friday takes us to the school office. It's a crazy and fun place to be. The two gals who run the show, Maria and Steph, are a hoot and a half. Friday was Maria's birthday and 6th grade teacher, Bruce, gave it his full attention. Every time he had a new class they would come down wearing a variety of hats from different cultures and Maria had to pick one. The chosen hat would determine what style the birthday song would be sung in. I can't post pictures of kids whose parents I don't have close relationships with. But trust me, there's a room full of 6th graders to the right and Maria is not excited about the phone being pointed at her. That's what she gets for not reading the blog that I have shown her multiple times!

Finally we have the obnoxious antics of Ryan, Wes and several others at Bible study on Thursday. I made the mistake of leaving my phone in the hands of Ryan for a few minutes an ended up with a load of fuzzy and weird pictures including this word picture by Wes.



He's so sweet.
Not him.

I'm An Uncle!

Eeeeeeeasy Mom. Eric did not have a baby. Not sure if I ever officially got the title Uncle for Emery, but I'm definitely getting to be Uncle to Jed and Julie's first family addition, Rosie!Not to brag, but it's my first time holding a newborn less than a day old. Thank you Marla!. It was so great to see Julie doing very well and hang out with my old roomie with his new title, Dad. Another sappy moment went by there as I wondered how time flew by so fast. I'm grateful to have been with so many friends before they met their wives and to know them and their kids now. And they don't even have to keep me entertained to keep me grateful.

Lots Of Cars And Getting Fired

First the fired. I agreed to serve John and Sarah for a full 48 hours at their place last weekend. Raiding the fridge, partying, reading and watching annoying episodes of 24 all weekend. Oh ya and something about a dog. But it was cut to only 24 hours (ha..I get it) thanks to the pesky flu bug doing the same thing with little Moon's immune system. Sorry gal! Hope you got better.

The one night I did stay there, the coyotes sung teddy and me to sleep. Teddy and Jack Bower's stupid wannabe son-in-law. All the idiots in season 3 are men by the way.

Don't worry. Even with the short time frame, there was plenty of time for grown up slip 'n slide.













It was that time of year again for winter car care with the Bethany Men's Ministry. This year was even more participation by the guys and more cars offered up for service by the ladies.

A car wash bay that could get a car through (inside and out) in less than ten minutes.

Highly skilled mechanics generously donating their time.

And as usual, a bunch of guys standing around.

Ryan's Mom

Just had to say it.

You guys are gonna get alot of Moon ranch stories this weekend as I spend some time with the Payter (Payton) dog sitting.

First act was to have some dudes over to raid the fridge. Check!! Thanks for stocking up on man food Sarah. I was baffled at the device I found while rummaging through the kitchen. Noah identified it right away though.


Yes mom, I realize now that I've actually used one before. It's an apple peeler!

Lessons From 24

It's been sick day after sick day for me this week. Since my roomie popped in season 2 of the suspenseful show, "24" last week, I haven't been able to stop watching them while sniffling from the couch. Here are a few lessons I've learned from the hit show.

-There are, in fact, 24 hours in a day...not 16. Long story. I can't count.

-Don't trust anyone.

-It's a wonder our government can get anything done.

-When at first you learn a lesson about something you shouldn't do, do it a few more times just to make sure. Like when you find out that people are working against the president, don't tell him, tell some other people you don't know, over and over and over again.

-Use Kim Bower as an example of women not to date. Unfortunately, I've seen some of the most recent season, and they haven't killed her off yet. And why would you? With someone that dumb you've got tons of filler drama at your disposal.

-Don't watch any more. The cool premise and satisfying season endings are not worth the other 22 hours of bad script, constant failure and dumb people (usually ladies....hey they wrote it not me)

Now ask me how long it will take before I pop in season 3...

Another Moon Day

I bet Sarah thought I forgot about her birthday. No ma'am. After bible study dinner she started playing with her presents. Hubby John got her this reading light headband to help with those 45 35 year old eyes. Or maybe they're for jogging at night.
Great turnout for first week back to coed study. Lots of fun with the ice breaker game and hangin' out. Same good question as last year was posed this time around. Why do you go to Bible study?



Didn't get alot of clear pics, but Moon pointed out this one to me. It looks just like the usual story time, but look closely as Jeffrey is engrossed in his children's holloween book. This would have been the perfect time to sneak up on him.

Last highlight of the night involves a 5, 30 and 32 year old acting like...me.

Pumped Out

Hey, we had a bonfire too!! Ashley and Andrew are just a bunch of copy cats. :-) Thanks to the Rabenhorsts, we got at least one more cookout tonight before the cold season.

I've heard of body pump workouts before, and I know you have to be careful. A coworker was an instructor on the side and she told me all about it. It's body attack she made me afraid of. Peter gave me a chance to give him some male backup at the all female body pump class he started last week.

After the first 10 minutes, I could barely walk. I think the only thing that kept me going was the fact that these ladies were right behind me, and my ego couldn't handle giving up in front of them. The smile is totally one of those "I took body pump and survived" smiles. If you can't tell I'm smiling, it's because Peter's arms were shaking so much. Dwight is a pretty good instructor too. Just look at what he's done for Peter...

Coffee Time

Trying to take advantage of slower evenings every once and a while since I'm usually too busy. Monday night Mr. Mooberry agreed to have coffee at a place I saw more of in college, Panache. The types who hang out at coffee shops all the time entertain me, and many are secular liberals of some sort. Which got me thinking, I bet they would be interested in the book I'm reading, "Jesus Interrupted". I wouldn't recommend it. It's disappointing and insulting to intelligent debaters. However, as a text book for an elective class at church this fall, it's extremely motivational for studying the gospels in order to understand what he's taking out of context, handling without grace or oversimplifying about perceived contradictions in the gospels. Alas, there weren't enough people there to notice my Jesus dissing literature. But we had a nice discussion and I'm grateful to know such a witty and discerning guy.

Soon (when I get the pics sent to me) you get to see the reason for tonight's slow evening...thanks Peter and Kelli.

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...