10th Anniversary Videos

Well... here are the long-awaited videos from the church anniversary celebration variety show! Please note that we videoed on our mini camcorder, therefore video quality is not that great. Due to a *LOT* of laughter and no mics, some of the skits couldn't be heard and so I will only post the ones that are fairly understandable (so if you don't see your act, don't take it personally :-).

Drum roll please....

The show begins with "Women in Black" singing their celebration song!




Here are the youngest Geaschel and Hirst kids (accompanied by "Miss Anna") singing "Keep My Commandments." Notice that suddenly one voice gets louder - that's Samantha Hirst getting REALLY into this singing into the microphone thing... SO CUTE!




And ALL the Hirst & Geaschel kids reciting the 10 commandments and then singing them.




And now it gets funny. Here's Tom and Aaron - I must say they did a marvelous job with the accents. :-)


(I heard that Miss Eleanor S. asked her mother that night, "Mom... who is Alibaba?" Hmmm...)


And the following video is posted at the request of Mrs. Strand - Lauren, I sincerely apologize. It is a bit hard to hear from the laughter.


Behind the scenes note: When Daniel tries to hand Lauren the toy, you will notice that she starts putting Cheerios in her mouth instead (Wendy is being her arms) and suddenly appears to be choking - the reason being, that Wendy is unknowingly putting Cheerios in Lauren's mouth that had just fallen out of Tom's mouth! Grosssssss! :-)

This one we missed the beginning - everyone is laughing because Joseph is getting in the elevator from "Level 2: Women's Clothing." :-) It's hard to hear, but as each person gets on they are saying "C'mon, Ten..."



Well, hope you all enjoyed... :-)

Fireproof

Last night we went to the movie theater with our friends the Chidlows to see the new movie "Fireproof" from the makers of Facing the Giants.
It was very good, and though people say "folks won't enjoy movies if there isn't bad language" etc. I think everyone in the theater was on the edge of their seats.
The storyline centers on firefighter Caleb Holt. The subtitle of the movie is "Never leave your partner behind," a concept that is used in firefighting. Basically, Caleb's marriage is crumbling, they are about to get a divorce, and his dad challenges him to hold off for 40 days, and do "The Love Dare." I won't spoil it for you - you'll have to watch it for yourself. :-) There is a lot of humor in it too which always makes a movie more enjoyable.
The movie is rated PG and I would say it might not be the best for young kids, just because of some of the fire scenes and in the beginning where Caleb and Catherine (his wife) decide to get the divorce...

Here's the trailer and more info on the movie for those of you who are interested:

Christ's Church 10th Anniversary Celebration

This weekend our church celebrated their 10th anniversary - and it was quite the celebration! Friday started the weekend off with dinner, games and a campfire.

Food!

Cutie Pies - Clara and Wyatt

Saturday morning began the activities that kept our every moment busy. We had qualifying times for the pinewood derby, as well as volleyball, paintball target, bocce ball and games for the little ones.
The whole group was broken up into 5 teams, named after the 5 points of Calvinism. Our team was Perseverance of the Saints, and included us, the Webbs and Tom DeL. We color coordinated with white on top, jean on bottom and matching bandannas (unfortunately the only color JoAnn's had enough of was BRIGHT orange). The object for each team was to earn points for the team by participating in games, reciting the memory verse, participating in the variety show that evening, etc.

Here are some photos from the morning and early afternoon:

Pinewood derby qualifying

Team Unconditional Election teaching their little ones the memory verse with hand motions

Color tag!

Mr. Webb's amazing George Washington pinewood derby car - GO PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS! :-)

Emma shooting paintball (go Perseverance of the Saints!)

Bubbles!

Dad playing Bocce Ball (go P.O.T.S.! :-)

The pinewood derby race begins!

Jonathan Erber had the fastest car and won the trophy and blue ribbon

Erik Strand came in second, and when asked how it felt, he replied, "It is jus' amazing!" :-)

Some of the dads judge the pie contest

During the pie judging, there was a pie-eating contest.

Get ready...

Get set...

Go!

Bright orange is cool... Go P.O.T.S.!! :-D

Mr. DeL finished first and won the blue ribbon and the... um... pig nose.

After the guys contest, they had a kids contest.

While Miss Maggie was still licking away after the winner had been declared, I think she may have legitimately won the messiest face award!

Volleyball

Mrs. Beatty explaining the couples' relay race: 1. Moms change the baby's diaper and strap her in the stroller while dads take two logs and pile them in between the tables. 2. Mom pushes stroller through the buckets to the clothes line and pins the clothes up, while dad runs back, grabs a garbage bag and a screw, puts the bag in a bucket and screws the screw into a piece of wood. 3. Mom takes the tablecloth off the clothesline and sets the table; dad runs back, picks up his garbage bag and "pays the bills." 4. Mom takes clothes off the line again, and pushes baby back to start, and the next couple goes. (Whoever came up with this was clever!).

Dad getting his bag open - imagine Luke in the background yelling "C'mon, lick those fingers!" :-)

Dinner is Served!

Saganaki - "Ooopaa!"

The lamb that Aaron faithfully roasted for most of the day

That brought us to the evening's festivities - the Variety Show, dessert, and a dance.
The Variety Show was... uhhh... very variety-full, if that's a word. Let's just say there were a LOT of laughs - a LOT.

"Women in Black" - the Celebration Song

Samantha Hirst singin' her little heart out - this was adorable. She got as close to the mic as possible and drowned all the other kids out with her gusto-filled voice - she knew all the words and was even fairly on key. Love it!

Videos may follow later... (do I hear some of you groaning?? Or a certain young lady in particular whose name begins with "L"?? :-).

Oh, and by the way, the winning team was announced on Sunday, and it was Irresistible Grace. Our team came in second........ to last. By hey, according to Tom at least, we were "awesome." (Guess he's an optimist...)

It was a fun-filled weekend of celebration - do we HAVE to wait another 10 years to do it again?? :-) Just teasing!

Scamper

Today our sweet Scamper passed away.

For the last few months he has been sick with a "mystery disease" called F.I.P. and we've known it was only a matter of time; but it's still hard to say goodbye! He was our lovable little guy for 5 years - 5 years of cuddling, purring, sleeping in bed with us under the covers :-), chasing Gavana, and yes, occasionally driving us crazy with his mischief. We loved him and he will be missed.

Scamper with Gavana when they were still kittens. He was always her protecter - and torturer. :-)

Scampy in the cupboard - where he is NOT supposed to be.

Scamper annoying Basha exceedingly by crowding her space.

Fall?

North Carolina!

We're back!! And glad to be so, though we did enjoy the time spent out East. Most of the time centered on the wedding, though we had ample time for just relaxing.

For some members of the family, Mahjong is the game of choice.




As far as the wedding... Thursday night some friends of Amy's parents (Amy is the bride, by the way :-) hosted a "barbecue" at their gorgeous home. Barbecue to them apparently means a high class, $40 a head meal. :-) I wish I had pictures of their mansion, it was unbelievable (to give you an idea, they have 4 kitchens, a movie theater in the basement, and an elevator).
Saturday was the wedding at Duke Chapel. The chapel was amazing! I got a few photos but not enough! I am kicking myself because I forgot to take pictures of the exterior after the wedding. Ah, well. Another time!

This one's for Opa - You were right, they have a mighty nice organ!! :-)

After the wedding we headed over to a country club for the reception. In the hallway there were 3 large-as-life ice sculptures of David's (the groom's) white German Shepherd, Angel, and Amy's two dogs, Turtle the Pomeranian and Max the chihuahua. Very cool!





And here are a few more random pics from the wedding:

Amy's family is Norwegian (I think!) and we heard that this is their traditional wedding cake. Fun!

The first dance

The bride dancing with her daddy (aww) :-)

The story behind this is: The feet pictured are Stephanie's (sister of the groom & also matron of honor). She and her husband Charles came over in the morning before the wedding and she was wearing these...well...unique shoes. She had kept putting off buying new shoes for the wedding and ended up buying them that day! My Aunt Lulu joked that she should just wear those instead. Well, lo and behold - she wore them at the reception! :-)

The bride and groom with their melting dogs. LOL!

Hope you enjoyed the pics...