Party Recap

We hosted a Super Bowl party at our house last night. Things sure have changed in the last few years!! There were 8 adults and 9 kids :-) and 6 of the kids are 20 mos. - 4 years old :-) Thankfully we have enough space that we can spread out! I think everyone enjoyed their time. Of course, we had plenty of food! I did try a new appetizer recipe out of the cookbook that Mom Van gave all the girls for Christmas. It was easy, good, and kid friendly! I'll include the recipe at the end.

I don't know if anyone at the party was really a die hard fan of either team. Jon and I wanted the Patriots to win. Mostly because we are sick of hearing from the '72 Dolphins and having to watch their celebration every time the last undefeated team loses. I said something to that effect in class today and one of my students said, "The older generation all wanted the Patriots to win because they are sick of the Dolphins. The younger ones don't really care." So, I guess I am officially an older generation :-) I guess I knew that already! (That doesn't mean I need some young punk to tell me that though!) I told him he failed for the day ;-)

The party served as a birthday celebration for Scott Mellema too. We also turned it into a much belated surprise 40th birthday party for Jack Brouwer. We had never officially celebrated his trip over the hill, so we thought he surely wouldn't expect it 8 months late! Heather made a really cute trifle and put Jack on the opposite side of the hill...the rest of us on the upside. I have the pics on my camera...I'll try to download them tonight. I didn't get many other pics, though. It's hard to take pictures when you're hosting!

Jon told me that Connor was crying last night when he went to bed. He was probably VERY tired, because it was after the game and pretty late and he had wanted the Patriots to win (because that is what Dad wanted) and they lost. He seemed to be okay about it this morning, though.

We had a very enjoyable worship service yesterday. It was a kickoff Sunday for Mission Emphasis Week at church. We had a choir from Minnesota Teen Challenge at church. They are a faith-based drug and alcohol rehab center. The name is a little misleading, though. They serve men and women from teens - adults. Several of the members gave a short testimony about their life and how things have gotten back on track. They did say that everyone in treatment has to be in a choir..whether they can sing or not. I think they go around to quite a few churches during the year to try and help raise support. They had a couple of great singers!

We also had someone from CRWRC speak, Amy Thompson from Kenya was live via the internet, and Bob Pollema was the preacher. I remember him from Dordt. He grew up in Hull and was in the Nat'l Guard for awhile and lived in Mexico at some time. He was a church planter in Las Vegas and is now living/preaching in Bunde, MN. Quite the entertaining preacher! He went through his classical examination the same time as Pastor Todd, so Jon had heard him then too.

There are things going on throughout the week at church. Pastor Todd encouraged us to fast on Thursday. That could mean different things. We could fast the whole day, fast for 1 meal, brown bag lunch it instead of going out, or whatever we want to do. We are to bring the money that we saved from our meals to church on Sunday to give to feed the poor. I haven't decided how much I will fast yet.

This has probably gotten long enough :-) Happy Monday!!