Klackel's Orchard 2007

Fishing Day

Thought we would take a little time on Memorial Day weekend to wet our lines and haul in the fish at Millenium Park.  It was warm and windy and the fish went home well fed, but we did manage to snag a few.  A good way to relax on a Sunday afternoon, and a good place to do it, too.  We'll be spending some more time here this summer.  Just ignore that whole thing about feeding seagulls by hand.  None of my attempts were successful.  Fortunately none of them left me a present, either.  That stuff is tough to get off.

Growing and Green

We continue to grow as a group.  God has been so good to us.  We have been suplementing our Nooma material with some material called Green.  It's a video curriculum from Steelroots that brings together people from extreme sports like skateboarding and snowboarding to talk about faith issues.  Although the material is definitely aimed at high school kids some of our better discussions have come out of this material.

We welcome back J.R Roman from a tour of duty with the Marines in Iraq.  That's him in the picture with our buddy (his son) Elijah.  If you look closely you can see a wonderful curl of Andrea's hair on the right side.

We also welcome Jessica and Caleb Pabon.  Jessica went on the Texas service project(check out the Texas journal at journals.aol.com/jmdyk49548/texas-2007) and has since joined our group.  We are happy to have both her and her son join us each week.

We spent some time planning for the future, asking each member what they want out of the group and where we want to be in the Fall.  This planning time involved everyone including Emily and Jordyn.  We also talked about plans for the Summer, both for service projects and times of fellowship.  We agreed to meet twice each month in June, July, and August, one time working on a study and the other in fellowship events. 

We finished the night with an ice cream treat at the Dairy Den.  Somehow we always pick the cold nights to enjoy our treats.

Our service project in May is working with the church on a clean-up day.on Saturday, May 12th at 8:00 a.m.

Birthday Trip

So what do you do when you are a small group and someone you love lives in Wisconsin and has a birthday?  Road Trip!  A good time was had by all as we celebrated Becky's birthday.  The trip over was a bit of an adventure, what with white-out conditions and icy roads, but once we got out of Indiana it was smooth sailing.  After a good nights sleep it was time to go shopping at the JC Penney Outlet Mall.  Then back to the house for a wonderful dinner.  Becky opened some presents, including her Nala puppy (thanks, Tab and Paul).  Some went out looking for karakoe, others played cards, and some of us hit the sack.  We filled two benches on Sunday morning.  Finally it was time for a tearful goodbye and the ride home.

Christmas Party

Our first Annual Christmas party was a laid-back affair.  We all brought treats and just sat around talking.  Sometimes it's neat not to have too much planned.  It gave us a chance to joke around and to get back in touch with what was going on in our lives.  We had talked about buying small gifts for each other but instead decided to donate the money we would have spent to purchase gifts from CRWRC.  We ended up buying a calf for Bangladesh and a goat for Tanzania.    The calf can be fattened up and sold for profit, or can be kept and raised to full maturity.  The first off-spring of that calf is then donated to another family, providing both food and income.  For families in Tanzania, having a goat is like having a bank account; in times of need goats can be sold to cover unexpected expenses.  Goats are bred and once again the first offspring is doanted to another family.   What a great way to celebrate the gift that never ends, Jesus.