...to everyday life

Worship Arts Party

David and Melissa Gafford held an open house for the Worship Arts Ministry folks last Friday night. Here are some pictures. I had a blast bowling and boxing with the Nintendo Wii. Oh yeah, it was fun seeing people too. Really. But the Wii... Great food too.

Party Song

Troy Miller did a great job leading us in Tomlin's Party song this weekend. I wish everyone could have been there at the youth Challenge Conference last summer, singing "Party" with 6000 students at Purdue University, led by Chris Tomlin, lights out and all the kids with glow sticks, moving with the music beat and jumping up and down. It was awesome.

One night the students dressed up in constumes. Can't remember if everyone did that night or if they did it on their own. It doesn't take much to get them dress up and have some fun. This is part of the group that dressed up that night. My youngest, Aaron, straightened his hair and did a rock star thing. Even had an entourage. And our youth director, Tim, did the mohawk thing thanks to all of you that contributed to make it happen. (Remember, you can click on the pictures to make them larger.)

They had a great stage set up--lights and other visuals. (Look what's on the screens. Maybe a little subconscious stuff going on since I don't remember it.) It's really incredible watching our students worship their hearts out and be impacted by the speakers. Everyone's favorite (and one of my favorites) was the main speaker all week, Francis Chan. You can link to his church podcast from my blog.

Go Party

Every year around this time we invite all of our neighbors over for a chili supper get-together. Lois makes a red chili and a white chicken chili; our neighbors bring the rest of the meal. One year we organized a summer block party that was a blast (literally, since the fire department came and blasted us with water just for fun).

This year's dinner was bittersweet because our next door neighbors are moving, so we doubled it up as a going away party. They and their cute-as-can-be daughters will be missed.