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.

Swanson's Roof

     For quite a few months we have been planning to re-roof Kim Swanson's trailer.  We had some funds left over from Texas and raised additional funds.  Julie VanVoorst, the Diaconal Coordinator, worked with churches in GR South to raise additional funding.  Finally we had enough money.  Now shingles.  Rev. Randy Ledeboer put us in touch with a roofing supply company (Eikenhout Inc.), and they provided quality shingles at half price.  Julie arranged for a dumpster from Bob's Disposal, and now we were ready.  It was Thanksgiving weekend, the weather was fine, and we were ready to work.  Except I didn't coordinate delivery of the shingles in time.

     We put the project on hold, but when additional funds came in early in December, we pushed forward.  It was a cold day, and the crew was smaller than we had planned.  We stripped and cleaned one side on a Saturday, then a crew stripped the other side on Sunday.  Those of us who aren't as agile on a roof stayed below and cleaned up.  We had to rely on the old tarp-it-and-dump-it technique, but it worked.

     One lesson we learned: don't roof when it's cold.  The shingles were too cold and wouldn't lay flat.  We were able to dry-in the roof and ended up having to tarp the skylights and wait on the weather.  Our roofer kept telling us we needed 40-degree days, and I kept wondering how many of them we would have in December.  Apparently a bunch.

     It's approaching the end of the year and it looks like we'll get the project done.  If we can't complete the shingling we'll tarp what's left and finish in March of 2007.  But I believe we will get it done yet this year.  Prayer is powerful.

     Another lesson we learned; more of us need to learn how to shingle.  I'm thinking of letting people practice when we re-roof our garage this spring.  It would be helpful to have more people who can shingle when we go to Texas next year.

Pumpkin Night

OK, so you go to the Apple Orchard and bring home all those apples.  What are you going to do with them all?  How about baking up some goodies and bringing them to the next meeting!  That's what we did; apple crisp, apple pie, cookie fresh from the oven, and fresh-roasted pumpkin seeds.  We opened with some icebreaking games, then dove into pumpkin-carving.  Seth and Ryan, 2 of Randy's skate buddies, tagged along.  We had a great turn-out, and even invited the Cadets to join us!  We have some pretty unique imaginations, as you can tell from some of our pumpkins.  It was a good night of relaxing fellowship.  I never knew pumpkin guts could be so messy!  Thanks, Ray and Paul, for the extra help!

Klackels Orchard

It was a dark and cloudy morning....then the sun broke through!  It wasn't exactly warm but a good time was had by all.  We rode the wagon out to the apple orchards and picked 'em fresh off the tree.  Jonagold, Fuji, Mutsu...what a variety.  When not out shivering in the cold we could be found inside picking out some squash or buying a bag of Honey Crisps.  Afterwards we met with Andrea and Elijah and had a great lunch at the Big Boys downtown.  Oh, and Klackel's is in Greenville, not Sparta.  My bad.  All in all it was a great time, as you can tell by the pics.  Next year we want to go as a group and spend some time in the corn maze!

GAMES AND A MOVIE

A large part of what we do is spend time together.  One planned event was a night of bowling, but when we got there the place was smoky and the leagues were still bowling.  Once we found out the cost ($150.00) we went to Plan B; Craig's Cruisers!  There we enjoyed a game of minature golf (Jim whupped 'em all) and some airhockey.  The best part was watching Luke on the go-karts!  That boy can go!  It's intersting to note that Drew still carries the scorecard in his pocket to remind Jenny that he beat her at golf.

Another night was a stay-in night.  Most of the group engaged in a Skip-Bo Tournament.  Paul and Jim didn't want to put the rest of them to shame so they opted to watch a movie isntead.  They were joined by Jenny and Andrea (and the little guy).  We watched The End of the Spear.  It was a pretty tough movie to watch, even a little violent, but it definitely made you think about the power of forgiveness.

Our next fellowship event is a trip to Klackel's Orchard in Sparta.  Hopefully it won't be snowing Saturday!