Check it out!

Check out what I did this weekend. It was amazing. I think my friend Kelli did an excellent job of putting it all down in words, plus every picture I have from this weekend is in her post. So I'm going to refer you to her site if you are interested in my weekend.

Also this weekend:
I got to congratulate my nephew on becoming potty trained.
I played the fun new version of Cranium.
I ate my mom's great home cooking.
I drove three hours straight without drowsing.
I went to see Peter and the Wolf as performed by the Sioux City symphony--I fell asleep.
I was in my house for a total of 20 hours.
I enjoyed my church's service--this week everything seemed more familiar. A wonderful result of my weekend spent doing Echo. Praise God.

Echo

This weekend Luke and I got to lead a small group at our church's weekend retreat for 6-12 graders. We got to stay in an amazing house with 10 juniors. Our group turned out to be really fun. By the end of the weekend I felt like I was just getting to know them, so it almost didn't seem long enough. However, I was exhausted, so I was glad it was time to go home. We got to hear a really great speaker who talked about our freedoms in Christ. We have freedom from legalism, but it would be foolish to use that freedom to do whatever we want. The Lord wants us to use our freedom and make the choice to obey Him. When we obey we are able to experience the best God has for us. I thoroughly enjoyed the band that played. We got to sing some new songs that were really good and meaningful. We had some late nights, great conversations, time to be creative (see everyone bending over our large mosaic that didn't win a prize, but should have), and an awesome time bowling.
The interesting thing is that I was not always enjoying myself, because there were times when I was taken out of my comfort zone. Luke had many students that were there, so often they would crowd around him and I would be left without a familiar face. My small group was off conversing with all their friends, and I was faced with the realization that this is the first time in a long time that I have felt friendless. I pretended like I had to go to the bathroom. I drank so much water from the drinking fountain that I actually did have to go to the bathroom. I couldn't wait for the social hour to end. I froze. I suddenly felt so self conscience and started to be irritated with kids. I got irritated with our church because it is so big and even though it's been a year and a half since we started going there, I still don't know anybody that I can just walk up to and start talking with. Or can I? Of course I can. The truth is I froze. I realized that I seem to always have Luke with me. When he's taken away with such admiration by his students with no love or attention given to me I wallow in self pity. I start to doubt that I have meaningful and interesting things to offer to those around me. The speaker had just gotten done talking about walls that we build to keep the bad out, but the problem with those walls is that they don't let any of the good get in either. Bingo. I've built walls. I was conscience of my wall-building during those moments and I was ok with it. My irritation with my surroundings made me ok with it. I realize now that I need to tear down some walls at church.

So it was a good weekend...exhausting, but really good.

While the students make Valentines...

Live from 4th grade...

"So, how was your lunch today, guys?"

murmur, murmur, murmur.
And emerging from the murmur: "Sucky!"

"Brady, you should never say that. Even if you don't care for what was being served, you should never say the food was bad."

"No, I said Slucky."
"What?"
"I said Slucky, which means good in my language."

"Oh, ok."

I looked around at all the kids and no one was without a blank look on their face. I'm sure they were thinking, "you have your own language?"

Stop it Stupid Steve.

Ok, Steve. What a brother asks for, a brother gets. Let me tell you why I picked this clip.

Well, Steve, what you may not know is that I really enjoy the Office episodes where they highlight a prank Jim has played on Dwight. I think they are hilarious. There was one episode last season where Jim rambled off like 5 practical jokes he had played on Dwight. I think it was the "Conflict Resolution" episode. I enjoyed that thoroughly. I also enjoyed this practical joke from the current season. After watching it again tonight I laughed out loud. I hope you enjoy!

P.S. For any who are wondering about the title...this was said often as we were growing up. But I love you now, Steve! I loved you then, but, you know.

Drama, drama, drama

This year I gave to Jesus my desire for graciousness. Right away I was tried when having a discussion with some co-workers in the lunch room about our school's accredidation and whether all our teachers should be licesened. I made myself look like a pompous jerk. Even though I believe my view would be well received in another time and another place with other people...this was just not the right group of people. I realized how I had failed already in my desire, but committed to dive back in.

Little did I know this last week would provide for an even bigger chance to fail, or succeed. I believe I have succeeded.

About two weeks ago our superintendent came to a morning teacher meeting and told us we all needed to be at a very important parent meeting to be held Thursday, January 25. We were told it was going to be about the future location of our school. Currently we share a building with a church...it has been this way for about 50 years. The church is ready for us to move out, understandably so. A new place is needed for us to go to in the next 2-3 years. Our school is run by a board of 6-7 people. They make all the policy decisions and every other decision, come to think of it. The teachers were told nothing else besides just to be at the meeting.

So Thursday came and many parents were at the meeting too. For an hour each school board member got up and told us all about the property and how the Lord had been directing them to pursue the purchase of this building. They closed in prayer and that was it. They left us all hanging and flabergasted. One bold man asked for a time of Q&A, which was well received by the audience. Apparently everyone was feeling a little outraged. In everyone's comments one could pick up that no one thought this location was good, we all would have liked to have known about this before, and the board may not get much support in this decision. The board announced that they were closing on this tomorrow. "Please wait!" "If the Lord has opened this door for you now, don't you think He can keep it open?" Things get confusing when you throw in all the "God's will" stuff, and the "let's just have faith" stuff. "If my skill as a contractor is telling me that this is a lot harder than what you're saying, does that mean my faith is not as good as yours?" If it really feels like God is opening this door, does that mean that we have to walk through it? What if it only feels that way to you 6 people on the board?

Maybe you can follow how frustrating this meeting was and how blown away everyone felt. If you can't, that's ok. I really don't expect this to be of interest to any of you. This is more of a reflection on how hard it can be when you mix worldly skills and business with people who keep telling you this is the Lord's leading and that it's a matter of faith. Yes, we can have faith that the Lord will make all things work together for good, but shouldn't we try to put our school in a safe place? And shouldn't your probable funders be told of this earlier than 12 hours before it's a done deal?

Anyway, I came to school on Friday expecting lots of opportunities to talk about this and I was not let down. It was all the staff was talking about. I believe I succeeded in keeping a civil tongue and being gracious. I had so much resolve to not get tangled up in this. Mostly because I felt like my opinion didn't really need to be heard. I don't have kids going to the school, I probably won't be working there when we move, and how is my voice entering the arena going to help rather than hurt? I believe I succeeded. I did get tired of the tension. I think it'll be there again tomorrow at school when everyone finds out that they signed the papers. It's a big deal and people are worked up. We'll see what happens. It's weird but I came out of all this feeling humbled. That would require more explanation that I won't get into. But, I'm pretty sure people thought I was boring to talk to because I wasn't going to get worked up. I'd rather be boring than singled out as someone who's leading the opposition. In this case I think there is an opposition that needs to be lead, in a godly manner. I'm just so happy that I'm not that person.

Eerie

I am including a picture of Miles and Holli. I think it's funny how their names so closely resemble my brother-in-law's name. See below post for further explanation.

I had to do this in a separate post b/c aparently I had too many pictures on the last entry.

Aren't they a cute couple?!? :)

Sometimes Holli and I look like twins. Sometimes Miles really makes me laugh.

Mandy, meet Mandy

I figured a formal introduction would be appropriate.

I would like to introduce to you Amanda Roush. (Pronounced the same way as Miles' last name! Cool huh?) Amanda is married to Greg (Pronounced the same as Holli's last name! Cool huh?) They have three kids: Sam, Elijah, and Clara. Sorry I don't have a picture of Clara on my computer. I will remedy that...just not tonight. Amanda gets to spend lots of time with her kids during the day, and loves it that Sam is now potty trained. Amanda enjoys family, friends, being crafty, funny TV shows, meaningful talks about things that matter, and Hawkeye ball games. Amanda grew up the oldest of six kids.

I would like to introduce to you Mandy Shew. (Pronounced like "shoe".) Mandy is married to Keith who has a big mouth. (Get it? hahaha...heh...yah) They have two kids: Abbie and Adam. Mandy spends time with her kids at school sometimes, cooks amazing food at camp, and does many other things at camp and around the community (like waiting in line for a Playstation 3). Mandy enjoys family, friends, being crafty, camp, Guitar Hero, and Cornhusker football. Mandy grew up the youngest of 7-8 kids. I don't remember how many...either 7 or 8. I've included a picture of Mandy that has Bryan Johnson in it. This way you can see him as well.