MSM Stuff & More

I have gotten to do a bunch of fun ministry stuff lately. Life has been, well, busier than it has ever been before. Rather than being overwhelmed with it all, I have felt really blessed by all of the opportunities and places that God has placed me in. First off, I started teaching at High School X on Monday. I have 2 Freshman English classes and 1 Junior class. The kids are pretty good and I already have a few funny stories. The school has more new staff members than returning members so it's fun to be around a lot of new, young teachers. One teacher in particular is a solid Christian dude who I have known for a long time. He is my age and our rooms are right next to each other. God is pretty cool. It has been fun spending time with him as we both pretend to know what we are doing. In other news, ministry stuff (for lack of a better word) has been really encouraging lately (for lack of a non-Christianese word). I went on Houseboats for a couple days, which was fun, and the MSM has been really good. We had an All-Nighter last week where over 50 kids showed up (the most we've ever had at an MSM event). It was a tiring/really fun experience. I put together a pretty involved scavenger hunt for the students that culminated with a rendezvous at my dad's fire station. You can ask me for the details sometime, but needless to say it was great. Mel and Tate joined me at the MSM end of the summer party @ the Burke's place. It was a fun way to end the summer. Tate swam with me for a while. He is at his cutest when he is in the water. He loves to swim! Enjoy the pictures.

Houseboats 2008

The All-Nighter

thEvent @ the Burke's

End of Summer Fun

Summer is officially over. Mel and I started teaching yesterday. Life has been busy, but really good. The past 2 weeks have included a houseboat trip, a weekend at the Flory's cabin, a Jon Foreman concert, and an MSM all-nighter. I will post more about everything later, but you can enjoy some pictures for now.

Monterey/Mel's 27!/Deej & Emily/Adios Pletch

Mel and I went to Monterey last weekend and took Tate to the aquarium. He enjoyed the jellyfish, but was more interested in the ocean itself. The kid loves water. It was Mel's birthday on Thursday so we decided to get out of town. On Saturday we had some folks over for a celebratory barbecue. Life has been good lately. Blogging hasn't been priority one so I apologize half-heartedly for the lack of posts. On Sunday Dan and Emily got married. There were close to 400 people at the Pine's house. The ceremony was really nice and the reception was fun. I was the emcee and hopefully I didn't make too much of a fool out of myself. Tate was a trooper as he endured the 100 degree heat without a nap. He danced a bit too. At the end of it all he passed out in my arms, which was pretty cute. It was fun to spend time with all of our friends. Pletcher is moving back to Texas and we had a going away shindig for him yesterday at the Hopyard. He will be missed. In other news...I got a job. I will be teaching at "high school X" in the Fall. I don't want to say the name so I won't show up on Google searches. "High school X"is the most expensive high school in the nation. It is insane. It would be ridiculous if it was a college campus. Super nice. I will be teaching Freshman and Sophomore English. It shall be fun.

Here are some photos from the past week:
Mel's Barbecue
Deej & Emily's Wedding

Making Room

I am filming a wedding tomorrow and am in the process of clearing stuff off of my computer. Mainly video footage. I decided to throw the footage from last year's houseboat trip together. Enjoy.