Her friend, Brooke (apparently Meg likes to have friends named Brooke), came to our house with her to prepare for the dance.
The sisters were excited too. This kind of event is brand new around our house.
We loaded into the van and drove through the stormy night to get the girls to the dance.
This is probably the picture you've been waiting for. His name is Nick and he seems like a nice kid. He plays the trumpet in the band and was Meg's date for the night.
She also spent time hanging with friends.
For the record, the Colts played the Bourbon County Colonels.
The kids had a good time. Below you will see that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
Elijah (our next door neighbor) was looking sporty and happy in his yellow jacket, but don't be fooled by his yellow jacket! He is an Ohio State Buckeye to his very core.
Anna was doing a good job walking around and meeting new people.
Beeson wife line-up . . . we wanted to thank them for welcoming the Beeson International students.
The Clergy Council arrived in Wilmore on the same day as the ministers who make up the International Beeson Pastor class. The Clergy Council is a group of ministers who serve as advisors to the direction and content of the entire Beeson Program.
Because of this blog, I am the guy who is always taking pictures. Here Randy joins in the fun.
Trav Wilson chats with P.C. Matthew who just arrived from southern India.
Left to right: Jim Garlow (John Maxwell's successor in San Diego), PC Matthew, can't tell who is behind PC, James Jackson, Randy Jessen, Kent Reynolds, and Linda.
The Clergy Council makes a presentation to the American Beeson Pastors while the International Beesons return to their orientation sessions.
Bishop of the North Georgia Conference of the United States, Lindsey Davis, is one of the members of the Clergy Council.
We all ate supper together in the President's Room (I guess because he isn't using it right now).
Here Jim is holding a pandanus leaf pounder (or rikininar). It is the counterweight for a large clam shell. They are passed down from generation to generation.
Here I am holding it up for a different view.
I made it back home in order to handle the final details on buying the house. Jerry and Kathy are the ones who sold us the house. They have been good to us and they made the process both bearable and possible. If you happen to see them around town, thank them for us!
Here is a picture of the house. There are renters there right now. They will be renting it until they are finished building their house (which is right next door).
This is the view from John and Yvonne's house. You can see all of North Johnson City from their porch. This is John and my friend, Robbie. Robbie and I watched the Gators play the Vols. For me it was worth staying up for the game . . . not so much for Robbie.
On Sunday morning Jason went with me to Grandview. Here is a view from the back side of the building. That's Buddy's motorcycle. It was a beautiful morning.
The praise team was practicing when we arrived. It was great to hear them again.
John, Buddy, and Becky sang an announcement a la the Beach Boys ("Good Donations")
David Roberts preached a wonderful sermon on the importance of words and controlling our tongues. I was especially glad to be present when Logan was baptized by his dad.
I was able to snap a few pictures of the congregation after bringing greetings to the church. It was great to see everybody. I realized I have been away too long. We have such a wonderful church that it's hard to be away. You begin to realize what you're missing when you're gone.
After the worship services I had the chance to have lunch with some of the people who have been visiting Grandview. Joel and his family were there. I made sure to take a picture of Joel this time--I forgot to take a picture last week when we had coffee together in Lexington.
Dr. John Rowe spent the day with us last Friday. He is a communication specialist who usually works with corporations to train their leadership for making presentations, answering questions, and other such things. We worked on things like eye contact, loudness of voice, hand movement, and feet movement.
Leslie Newbigin doesn't disappoint in this book. He has an amazing mind. I feel dense when I read his stuff because he anticipates questions that I would never think to ask. He has the ability to pull the rug out from secular critique of the gospel. If you are going to read the following paragraph all I can do is apologize in advance. How does one summarize a Newbigin book in one paragraph? Apparently the answer to that is POORLY, but I've got to get these anthropology papers turned in because this weekend I'll be traveling to Johnson City and won't have time to make these papers any better.Newbigin exposes the Modern (Post-modern?) faith that takes shape in the secular worldview and its commitment to the rational universe, a belief that cannot be proven by use of reason itself. The natural result of this secular faith is the formation by default of a society that uncritically believes in accepting as valid the plurality of “truths” people are encouraged to embrace in their private understandings, but that are not seriously allowed into public discourse. If Christians are to be faithful to the gospel, however, we must be unashamed to proclaim as valid our starting point in the debate. The Christian starting point is the revelation of God in the life of Jesus of Nazareth, the in-breaking of God into history and the high point of the meta-narrative that comprises the story of God'’s interaction with humanity.
Meg is in there somewhere. I'll have to bring a better camera next time.
Cora just danced while the band played . . . and while the football team played.
Meghan is always thrilled when I whip out my camera phone . . . but I reserve the right to be a geeky dad. No amount of pleading can change that.
Classmate Kent loves high school football so he came along and watched all he could stand to watch. You might think he is smiling for the camera, but (in truth) he just saw the offensive line play of the West Jessamine Colts.
By Saturday morning at 8am, Meghan was back with the band for a competition. She wouldn't be home until 11:30pm, so Anna, Cora, and I went back to the Bible-themed miniature golf course. This time we did the Old Testament course. Just a word of warning: The Old Testament is harder than Miracles! There was one cute Par 1 hole, though. It was the "Sabbath." It was a downward-slanted "V" with the hole at the narrow end of the "V." Anna and Cora both got a hole in one there--but it isn't idiot-proof. I got a bogey.
After minature golf and miniature lunch we went to the store to kill some time before meeting Joel for a cup of coffee (this is the Joel from Tennessee who, along with his wife, bought our house. He was in town for the weekend). Cora decided she could work retail someday.
