Back from Atlanta

I am back from my NCTM conference and it was wonderful. Professionally, I picked up some great material to take back to my classroom. I went to sessions on closing the achievement gap, cooperative learning in the math classroom, modeling functions in Algebra, how to help at risk learners, and many other interesting sessions. Personally, it was so nice to be back with old friends from my previous Math department. They are all doing well and we had a great time together, as you can see from the pictures. For a bunch of math nerds we have a fun time. According to my old department you would think the gender issue in math was the other way around. I hope Steve didn't feel too out numbered. My old colleagues are great people and excellent teachers. It was fun and inspiring to be with them again.

Hijacked Blog

So Beth is out of town, so I am hijacking the blog for once! Beth is in Atlanta, GA, at the National Council of the Teachers of Mathematics Convention. This is something Beth really enjoys attending, and I am really glad she is able to attend this year.
In her absence, I am posting something she would be too embarrased to post. One of her students is a real-life rapper (L-Ryder), and one day his peers were challenging his ability to rap about anything, as he claimed he could. To prove his ability, he offered to even rap about math. Posted below is the link to the rap that L-Ryder composed for Beth. Listen closely to what he says; L-Ryder's algebra knowledge is actually quite good! Kudos to Beth!
Click here to listen to the math rap.

Brian's latest sermon

Click here to listen to Brian's sermon, When is Enough, Enough?
(It is about 10 minutes or so in length.)

Last Sunday Brian preached on the topic of Stewardship. He has called it the 'third rail' of preaching before because it is such a sensitive and personal topic. Frankly, Pastors and churches have screwed up on this topic and given the image that the Christian faith is just a front for another corrupt business scheme, projecting that all they care about is how much you will give. On the other side of the coin many Churches avoid the topic all together to separate themselves from this image to prove that the Church is indeed not consumed by giving. As you will hear in Brian's sermon what you do with your money tells an important picture about what you stand for, and it is a matter that concerns our hearts, and thus the church. It was a tough topic to preach on, I think because it hits so close to home. Brian was anxious all week about this sermon. He barely slept the night before he preached it. He did a good job though! This weekend Brian is just helping with the service and leading a Bible study so we are free to enjoy the tournament without the 'third rail' hanging over us.

Vacation Slide Show

This is a slide show of our vacation pictures to the Nora Jones song Come Away with Me. I might make it my new theme song! Brian is really getting quite creative when it comes to photography. Hope you enjoy.
Click here to view the slide show.

Some stories from our trip:
Besides walking on the beach and enjoying drinks and food, we took a day trip into the town of Puerto Vallarta. The night prior to our trip we asked the lobby bartender where we should eat lunch in the downtown area.....
Click here for the rest of our stories

Detroit.........Basketball

The Sunday Brian and I got back from our vacation we were lucky enough to go to a Bulls-Pistons game. The weather was snowy and icy, so my Dad and brother who were going to join us couldn't make the drive in, but Brian and I ventured out and had a great time. We received the tickets at a silent auction that benefited the local Lutheran High School. We were guests of one of the members at the elegant night. We had decided ahead of time that we would make a donation to the school and bid on something. We picked the Bulls-Pistons game. The process of bidding was very exciting and we thought we had the tickets at one point, but someone upped the bid out of our range. We thought, "Such is life." Well, we were with another family from St. Peter who at the last minute placed the winning bid for the tickets. When they won they turned to us and said, "Here, you just won some basketball tickets." This was a very generous gift. The seats were very good and it was neat to see a basketball game from so close. The game itself was close until the end. Though the Bulls did lose, it was a neat experience and a generous gift.

Fun Visit

Last weekend my Mom and our family friend Sophie came to visit. We had a lot of fun. We went out to eat, shopped for ebay items at an outlet mall, and visited a MI famous year round Christmas store. Sophie loved the huge store. It was kind of a blast from the past. Sophie is a really dear family friend and a truly special person. When my mother's mom fell sick with Lou Gehrig's disease many years ago, Sophie was the in-home nurse they hired. Needless to say she became much, much more than a nurse to our family. The fact that she is such a part of our lives, I think is testimony to what a tremendous person she is. Sophie also has an outstanding sense of humor. She is hilarious, fun-loving, and a pleasure to be around. Sophie is such a simple soul, she would be happy no matter what she was doing. On Sunday night we had some of her favorites as you will see from the picture. We had sloppy joes for dinner, champagne to wash it down, peeps for dessert, and played her favorite game skip-bo several times. An interesting combination, but we all had a great time! Who couldn't around Sophie?

Our Vacation Videos

Click here to view the sunset from our balcony.
Our favorite thing about this trip was the sunsets and relaxing on our balcony with a full view of the ocean as you can see in the video.

Click here to tour our master suite at the RIU Vallarta.

When we arrived at the RIU Vallarta they gave us an upgrade to a master suite. It had a huge balcony and a jacuzzi in the room. This is Brian's tour of the room.

Click here to see downtown Puerto Vallarta.
The city of downtown Puerto Vallarta was a really neat city. So many other destinations would die to have its feel but couldn't create it if they tried. The church in the video is the center of the town which is cool.

Our Vacation Pictures

Click here to view our Puerto Vallarta Vacation pictures.
One of Brian's favorite lines from Animal House (which drives me crazy because he uses it when he doesn't want to give an opinion) happens to be, "Each is outstanding in their own way." Well, this time I agree with him. Brian and I have certainly been very blessed with some opportunities to travel and we have loved every one. This vacation was no exception. As you will see Puerto Vallarta doesn't have the crystal clear blue waters of the Caribbean, but it has awesome breezy weather, lush gardens, an authentic Mexican town and feel, and gorgeous sunsets. This vacation will be remembered by us for made-to-order breakfast omelets, long morning walks on the beach (which could take you miles in both directions), afternoon beach volleyball matches, swimming and reading for hours in the pool, and a few hours of sitting on our balcony and enjoying the sunsets. Not to mention great dinners and drinks in the beautiful hotel RIU Vallarta. I think I personally had a whole serving bowl of guacamole over the week. It was a truly wonderful trip. Well, back to reality here in Michigan. Really, reality isn't that bad, for me at least. Brian is very busy this week, but he enjoys it. Luckily, we have pictures to remind us of the awesome memories. We've posted pictures from our trip on our flickr site and you can click the link above to view them. We'll be able to post more videos and stories later.

Back from Paradise!

We have safely returned from Puerto Vallarta! The 60 degree temperature change is quite a shock. However, we have plenty of memories and pictures to get us through the rest of the winter. Our trip was just fabulous and one of the highlights was the gorgeous sunsets. This is a picture Brian took with our digital camera from the private balcony of our room. The sky was unbelievable and we sat out each night for a couple of hours enjoying the views and the ocean breeze. We will write more and post more pictures later.

Look who was in church on Sunday

This is one of the We Care cards St. Peter received in the offering plate to record weekly church attendance. I guess someone likes The Office! I hope the Scranton branch liked Brian's sermon.

New Member Party

Last Friday Brian and I had a party at our house for the new members. As part of his position, Brian has started an assimilation program and has paired new members with existing members in kind of a mentor relationship. The program is pretty successful thus far and is meant to help people feel more connected to St. Peter and one another. At times, this can be hard to achieve in such a big church. We decided it was time for everyone to reconnect again so we made a ham, provided drinks, and some mentors brought appetizers and desserts.
We created a rotating trivia game out of 10 numbered trivial pursuit tables, which we set up in our unused second floor to provide a little fun for the evening. There were 6 rounds each 10 minutes long with an intermission to get food and drinks. Each couple kept track of their scores in each category. The couples that had the most overall points at their particular table when the round ended moved up a table, and the couples that had the least moved down a table. This way people got to play with and meet a bunch of different people. I found some plastic trophies and mardi gras beads at the dollar store, which we gave as little prizes for the couples that had the most correct answers in each traditional trivial pursuit category and one for the overall winner.
The neatest part of the evening for me was breaking down expectations people have of Pastors, Pastor's wives, or church people. A new member told us they didn't know what to expect when they came to the Pastor's house, but they sure didn't think they would be kicking back in their socks playing trivia until 12:00am. Hopefully, that was a good unexpected! It was a fun night and I think one that might become a tradition for new member classes.
Click here to view other pictures from this evening.

Brian's Sermon...and the Golf Cart

After a few months into his job at St. Peter, Brian is preaching regularly, and though he will hate that I write this, he is doing really well. He has preached 3 of the last 5 Sundays and when you are on at St. Peter you are really on. Each weekend you preach you preach Saturday night, multiple services Sunday morning, Sunday night, and then again Monday night. It makes for a busy weekend, but Brian really enjoys it. I find things to do with the time he is away in the evenings like writing this post.
Well, a couple of weeks ago Brian preached on the topic of following Jesus...
To Read the rest of this post click here

Our Videos

So we've found a new way to post our videos that is much clearer. It might take a little longer to download, but the quality is worth it.

CLICK HERE for Dominican Slide Show
CLICK HERE for Beth Skating
CLICK HERE for Brian fishing

Video of Brian fishing

Click here to 'catch' the video
Well, with my second day of school being cancelled due to the cold weather, I have been trying to figure out this video thing, and pining for some warmer days. This is a video of Brian fishing in his bass-man boat this summer at my parents' house. Soon enough it will be summer and we can recreate these memories at Valley Lake. Let us know how well this video link below works for you.

The not so good and the very good of the Midwest

Well today is a sad day for Bears fans. What started out looking very promising with Hester's kickoff return for a touchdown, turned into a big disappointment as the Bears handed the ball over to the Colts five times, couldn't get anything going on offense, and really couldn't stop the Colt's drives. So now we Chicago fans enter the all too familiar land of "next year". "Next year" it will be the Bears recovering five turnovers. "Next year" it will be a matured Grossman that connects for a string of first downs. "Next year" it will be the Bears running back interceptions for scores. The land of "next year" always holds so much promise for us often disappointed Chicago fans, but "next year" does look good for the monsters of the midway.
On a positive note.....
Read on by clicking here