Santa Baby...

Just slip a sable under the tree- For me- Been an awful good girl Santa Baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight...ba boom, ba boom, ba boom, ba boom

Chapel Christmas 2007:

The Nativity

We just finished up the Christmas concerts this evening...even with the cruddy weather, we had a fairly large crowd at the 7:00 performance. Like last year, I was simply blown away at the talent level of our singers. Kenton and Emily did a phenomenal job of pulling this whole thing together; I am so incredibly proud to be part of this 100+ ensemble of singers, orchestra/ praise band players. Many of them are like family to me, and I feel incredibly privileged to be able to worship with them each Sunday.

It's hard to believe, though, that after all the individual practicing and group rehearsals, it's all over. This year, we had a Celtic flavor to the concerts- complete with a group of young Irish dancers who accompanied a few of our songs. I think the pivotal song of the entire concert was a tune entitled How Many Kings. A follow-up message by our pastor answered the question, How many kings would give up their thrones for us? The answer? Just one, and his birthday is in about two weeks.

Some winter humor...

Dear Santa,

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F.Y.I. That whole "naughty or nice" thing is soooooo yesterday....

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A Traditional Thanksgiving

Well, not exactly. We checked into the Kalahari Wednesday morning around 11:00, and stayed through Friday afternoon. The entire resort is undergoing a major addition which will eventually double the size of the water park. Still, the kids had a fantastic time, and were pretty much water-logged by the end of each day. Even little Sarah got in on the action as she was able to play in the toddler water-slide/ swing section as well as accompany me on the lazy river…well, at least until Wednesday evening.

Coming out of the hot-tub with my son, I lost my footing and in the process sliced my foot on the ceramic tile. Not very graceful, mind you. Anyway, I didn't even realize what I had done until I had started walking towards the locker rooms and heard my son scream. What must have appeared like a really bad scene in a low budget horror flick, I looked down only to see my entire foot covered in blood. Long story short, I went to the first aid station and got the thing bandaged up. They told me that I should probably go to the nearest hospital for stitches, but spending the eve of Thanksgiving in an emergency room did not appeal to me all that much. I figured I’d go on Friday when we got back to town. (Note: after a 24 hour period, one usually can’t get stitches due to the risk of infection…as I found out on Friday at the Urgent Care in Green)

Thankfully, Marie was with us so Josh was able to hang with his big sis the rest of the weekend while Cindy and I resided in the kiddie area with Sarah- with my aching foot well out of reach from any water.

The original game plan was to go out to eat on Thursday, but our room was equipped with a full kitchen and dining room table. So- God love Wal-Mart- Thursday morning I made a quick trip to the store to buy a turkey and all the trimmings so that we could cook inside. Since Sarah is still taking naps (and is not all that keen on dining out these days), it worked out perfectly. She slept, and I cooked and watched a good portion of the Lions game while Cindy, Josh, and Marie enjoyed the park. I often thought what kind of pathetic person would actually go grocery shopping for EVERYTHING on Thanksgiving morning…you’re looking at him.

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Behavior Pooh






Having politicked for a number of weeks now to his teacher for what equates to the Holy Grail of St. Matthew's kindergarten class, Josh finally brought home Behavior Pooh from school- a prestigious award for the youngster who demonstrates commendable behavior. Each student is then asked to complete a page in the class scrapbook documenting the adventures that they share with the little guy.

Hoban Can Food Drive

40,000 cans is the goal this year- a pretty ambitious number for a bunch of teenagers whom many would label as self absorbed and indifferent towards the plight of the poor, right? Well- to date, our kids have brought in almost 35,000 with one more weekend to go- an impressive number considering the fact that we only have about 900 kids in the building. Each year, friendly class competitions have served as the needed motivation to fill the central hallway with food for neighboring soup kitchens and hunger centers.

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The kids produced an extremely entertaining video to kick off this service project, and so far, the response has been incredible. As an added incentive, students who brought in 5 cans this morning were permitted to wear OSU or Michigan game day jerseys/ t-shirts to school. (Why anyone would want to wear the Wolverine blue and gold is beyond my comprehension) Pictured here is a portion of this morning's collection of food.

The Colors of Fall...
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And a whole lotta fun...

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