Faith Story Night

Wed. Oct. 22ndLast night, Marina and around 20 other freshman kids at our church went up one by one to the podium, introduced first by Pastor John. They each spent 3-5 minutes (some even more...) sharing their "faith story" with the audience of peers, parents and group leaders. Most shared that they were born into Christian families and can't remember their baptism. That Sunday School was often remembered as a time of crafts, stories and snacks. Some had touching stories of hardships or deaths of loved ones when they questioned the 'fairness' of God. And most also spoke of camp experiences or other youth group events that touched them, and have made them feel they are growing their faith and moving forward with their walk with God.

Each story was different and showed the variety of personalities. Marina did a great job, and I fought tears as I listened to her and was so proud of our daughter. It's fun, but also hard to see them growing up so quickly.

Marina will confirm her faith during church services this Sunday, Oct. 26th.

Spirit Week Continues...

Day Two... "Retro Day"



Day Three... "Pajama/Comfy Clothes Day"

Jordan wore sweats, but didn't want to be in the picture.

Day Four... "Green Day"
no, not the band (Kelly's cousin's the lead singer!)
Green as in Environmental, etc. - but that means wear the color green apparently.
Jordan is shocked his sister put her arm around him, and I'm not sure either one of them is excited to be wearing the same t-shirt as the sibling - but what can you do?

Spirit Week Begins

"Black & White" day...

I grabbed a quick shot of Jordan & Marina as they were dashing off to meet the bus. Ryker shared his shredded swim team t-shirts. Jordan got the black one, Marina got the white one. If they participate in any other days this week, I'll try to post photos of those as well. Have a great week!

p.s. Ryker had a GREAT time at Homecoming!

Homecoming Night!

Ryker & Alison

The happy couple.... whew.. getting that boutonniere pinned on was a fun challenge for her!

LOTS and lots of posing for photos - couples.. guys, girls, group, on and on!

By this point, they were begging for the 'photo show' to be over... I think their cheeks were tired (remember your wedding day?)I'd tell you all the names of people, but I don't even know them all - it is mostly Alison's group, who Ryker knows pretty well, but the guys aren't his "gang" of guy friends. In fact - all the girls are sleeping over at one girl's house, and the boys were invited to one guy's house, but Ryker and one other guy are not doing that - the other 4 guys are pretty good pals.
After an "almost snafu" of the limousine service.. the owner of the company ended up delegating himself as the driver, and showed up with a great stretch Suburban Limo.

Got a quick "parent/son" shot...

Marina & I went over to the H.S. after the photo event for Ryker's group, so we might catch glimpses of more homecoming dresses, as many groups start the night with the formal photos at the school, then do dinner and return later for the dance. We ran into her good friend Natalie and family - and the girls ended up getting to have a quick 'sit' inside the HUMMER limo that Natalie's brother's group was taking. It had dual-rear wheels and could hold the huge group of 26 kids - it was quite a site, and really amazing inside!

Next Painting

Still working on this one... I'm focusing on typography for the time being... I love the designs you can get when combining letters and numbers. This painting will be donated to the "W2O" chapter some friends of mine started a couple years ago, which offers women the opportunity to combine socializing with philanthropic opportunity to help various charities. www.womentogetherstronger.com This month all proceeds go to Northwest Hope & Healing, focused on breast cancer.

Check back soon, and I'll have posted the finished piece!

Oktoberfest-David's Birthday

Okay, this is actually David's dad & his wife Miriam. Apparently they recently hosted their own version of Oktoberfest. I wish we'd borrowed those outfits!

Oct. 11th is David's birthday, and we celebrated in Autumn style with an adult Oktoberfest party along with 4 other couples we know from Jordan's soccer world. The 10th was our friend Kevin's b-day, so he & his wife co-hosted the event. The cake was baked and enjoyed on Sunday night - with just our family - great way to end a busy, yet fun weekend!
Thank goodness we have the buffet counter in the dining room, as we couldn't get the party moved from the island in the kitchen Sat. night. 10 of us hovered around that all evening - only a few of us took our plates to the family room to sit in comfort while eating. The Foley's brought the German food - brats, potatoes, schpaetzl, and I did Harvest Chicken Salad, appetizers and Spiced Pumpkin mini cakes with orange glaze - yum!
We all overdosed on the chocolate frosting/butter cake that David requested. Good times!

"Black-Out" Oct. 10th

Ryker & Marina both went to the EHS football game vs. Skyline - it's a major rivalry. Sadly for our school, Skyline is an amazing team this year and whomped the Wolves. How do you like Ryker's black-out fashion design?