School Daze

Happy Tuesday everyone! I hope everybody is having a fun and exciting week. I know that for many of us this week ushered in that most beloved of times, that glorious dawning of the first day of school! It is moment filled with the promise of blessed silence from the overworked DVD player, the hope that Barney in all his overexuberant purple-ness will not be on constant loop in our subconsciousness, the unfettered joy of knowing that a surprisingly aerodynamic foam pirate sword will not be launched from one progeny to another in a fit of aggravation or assault.

Our Caroline began her journey in kindergarten this year. It was a bittersweet moment to walk with her up to her classroom with her enormous pink backpack that was six times bigger than her, and watch as she ran in the room and turned to tell us in that sweet voice "Okay Mom! Dad! I'm here...you can go now..." rolling those eyes at those two dorky parents who refused to just leave the school. We left feeling happy that Caroline is ensconsed in learning and hopelessly depressed that the rumors of my old age have been sadly confirmed. Now, if I can just get Kathryn to quit singing "Freedom, Sweet Freedom" at the top of her lungs, all will be right with the world! I kid, I kid...sort of..

I hope everyone's first day of school or continuation of Barney viewing (or continued happy isolation from the wonderful world of a seven foot tall "uber-happy" felt dinosaur) has been great this week. We had a great crowd this Sunday and look forward to seeing any of you that were unable to make it. We had a informative lesson on embracing our Pauline tendencies. (Though I will fully admit that for most of the lesson I was very confused about why we would want to emulate the nice lady who fries up catfish at her "Country Buffet" restaurant on Gentry Ave., but then I realized that Andrew may have meant to be like Paul...) Andrew will be finishing our tour through Acts this Sunday. The following Sunday we will be beginning a study on I Samuel.

Continue to let me know of thoughts or suggestions regading the guys' gathering this fall. Any preferences will try to be honored. We look forward to seeing everyone this Sunday.

On a side note, as the election season begins in earnest, I did want to make sure that we all pray for a safe, honorable, and wise process for this country as we seek to elect our next President. Our leaders should always be the subjects of our fervent and frequent prayers, and this election is no different. Regardless of your affiliation, we hope that our new leader will seek God's will for this country.

Matt

Someone Get This Kid a Sequined Onesie!

Sometimes videos just speak for themselves....

http://apostoliclive.com/play.php?vid=492

I bet this kiddo is tons of fun saying his nightly prayers!

Matt

Of Donuts and Gatherings

Good afternoon everyone! As promised, I have updated the e-calendar attached to this Blog with the dates you all signed up to bring donuts and other morning artery cloggers through October. I will not bore each of you with the details of my Sisyphysian attempts to access or edit said calendar, as it involved the epiphany that I am unable to work computers at a level equal to my five year old daughter and also included some very "non-Sunday School" phrases hurled at the screen. Suffice it to say that it's done and ready for everyone to peruse. (On a side note, I am very aware that "Sisyphysian" is not a common word that anyone under the age of 157 uses...as Mr. Freeman and Mr. Gillen know, I tend to use weird words in my e-mails. It's kind of like a built in activity for readers. Most just ignore these words and move on...which is wise.)

Secondly, I have been asked by our Fearless Leader, Dr. Bentley, to arrange a Guys' Night to fellowship and possibly watch a little football. We are going to try and set up social events like this for the guys once a quarter(?) as this is the period of time it takes to get us to organize anything. My thoughts were to gather for football, but we are not beholden to that. Let me know your ideas and we are open for whatever suits the group (or is approved by the wives).

To the women of the class: Never fear, your social is coming up soon...I just do not have any information about it, as I am neither a woman nor informed.

(And don't worry, we are not going to just do gender specific socials, we will be planning group socials as well. We just wanted to start the discussion for these. )

We will continue through Acts this week. We have two more Sundays of Acts and then we will begin a study of 1 Samuel starting in September. (No really, Mr. Freeman! 1 Samuel! I thought, like you did, that this day would never come!)

Please keep Jason and Jenni Holman in your prayers this week as Jason will be taking his Boards. To Jason we wish a clear mind and the opportunity to show all he knows and has learned. We know you'll do great. To Jenni we offer our prayers for having to live with someone who is taking their Boards this week. She knows better than all of us how truly "fun" that can be!

Feel free to let me know of any other announcements that we can post. I'll try to keep everyone informed. Feel free to send comments or post something as well. Otherwise, it just seems like I am having some weird electronic conversation with myself (and I paid good money for my therapist to get me over that problem!)

Matt

8-8-08

All:


I hope this post finds everyone well! I know it has been a busy week for many. I hope no one was unlucky enough to get caught up in Edouard earlier this week! We just received a picture from some of our friends showing the devastating damage caused by this massive storm.















Well, as some of you can see I am not Amy. (I am also very good at extremely obvious statements, apparently.) For reasons inexplicable to me, and no doubt confusing to you, I have been asked to assist in posting on the Blog and updating our fair class on all the "goings-on" both within the class and in each of our lives in general. I guess that makes me the Sunday School equivalent of a MySpace page, without all the cheerful LOL!'s and RFOL!'s or a large e-shrine dedicated to the Jonas Brothers or Hannah Montana. Lucky you...


Anyway, I hope that my little posts will be informative and entertaining. I will fully admit at the outset that I tend to interperse things with my admittedly off-brand sense of humor. I apologize in advance.


As to announcements:


* Please be reading Acts 18-19 for Sunday's lesson. (I have it on good authority that Andrew will not be providing a 97 page PowerPoint presentation on this passage, so reading ahead will be helpful.)


* We need to sign up again for Refereshment Duty. According to my wife (who is much wiser about all things organized) we should just send out a sign-up sheet for each upcoming Sunday. Such a sheet will be available on Sunday. So, be thinking about which day you and yours will want to bring donuts and/or kolaches. We will sign up for August and September.


* This Sunday, August 10 at 11:15, the Children's Ministry will be having a meeting that will be discussing the new construction and changes to the check-in/check-out systems. It is important to have as many parents as possible there so that we can have our input. The meeting will be in the Chapel. Please attend if you can make it. (I am not sure if Kathryn and I have our "quarterly" PALS duty that Sunday (though in all likelihood, as that is a day that ends in "day" we are probably on the list!)). It is an important opportunity to have your say in how the Children's Ministry runs.


I hope this post finds everyone well. In all seriousness, we are so glad to have each of you as a part of this class. Kathryn and I are blessed every Sunday by Andrew's teaching and the group's fellowship. Please encourage anyone you all know to come and attend if they are looking for a Sunday School. They are always welcome in the Bentley's class!


Matt