why?

Why would a person drive 55mph in a 55mph zone, but 67mph in a 60mph zone?

...some people.

Well I better get an April post in.

I think I will start out this one by reflecting a little on Easter. The last week has certainly been hectic, but it really made Easter different this year. Again we had both sides of the family over for lunch, though we were missing a few. A nice time to catch up and reflect. Then Meg and I headed over to her Uncle's house for their get-together. In each instance, it is amazing to see the family love. Not a lot of families are like ours, and I very happy and blessed for both.

Meg, got a job offer in Mishawaka. I am absolutely ecstatic! I am so happy for her and for us. She has worked very very hard, and I really hope this job pays her off. Wedding planning is moving a long, and though it is not absolutely concrete yet, the day we are planning for is September 19th.

Last week I took the week off of work to help "chaperon" for the youth group mission trip to Galveston, TX. I still have not quite been able to process all of what took place in the last week, but I will try and get some of my thoughts out there. Let me get some complaining out of the way first. 2400 miles round trip on a school bus sucks. There is no other way to describe it. Though there were lots of laughs and 'engineering' that took place on the trip, I'll save that for another time.

On the way down, we were planning on making a quick stop for a splash of diesel, and we weren't even letting the kids get off the bus. We had already lost so much time, we needed to keep going. Well some of the adults got off the bus to stretch and such, and we came across a man who asked us what we were doing/where we were going. We replied that we were on our way to Texas to help with hurricane relief and that the youth group were doing this for their spring break. The man informed us that he was/is a pastor at a church in the area where we had stopped and that he wanted all the kids off the bus to buy a snack. We asked if he was sure and he said of course. So as the kids were piling off we were telling them to respectful and of course thank the man for his generousity. The kids all went in a grabbed a small treat, and when the man went inside to pay told all the kids to go stuff their pockets full, and to not just get 1 piece of candy, to get handfuls! It was amazing that we were stopped at that very same time in the same place as that man. We were told to expect the unexpected on this trip, and we hadn't even made it to Texas yet. (sidenote: the man said if we stopped back again on the way home, we could do the same thing)

Well after what seemed like forever, we finally made it to the church/ TeamEffort headquarters. It actually was right across the road from Johnson Space Center, that was pretty neat. We were told before the trip that all of us would have a bunk bed to sleep in. Wrong. The girls all had bunk beds, and the guys got to sleep on the most uncomfortable cots ever made. The last night, I slept on the floor.

Tuesday morning rolls around. Surprisingly I was wide awake after not getting much sleep the past 2 nights. When we finally made it to the job-site it was decided that I along with about 14 others of our group would work at a Baptist church hanging drywall in their basement that had been flooded. Neat. I had never hung drywall, but I learned very quickly. It was a very neat experience. It was a lot of fun and very encouraging to see kids who had never done a job like that before take to it, and learn, and by the last day, actually become pretty good at what they were doing. My partner that was working with me, most likely had never seen a screw gun before the missions trip, and by the 2nd and 3rd day she was sinking screws perfectly into the drywall and hardly ever missing the studs. It was awesome. The first day it looked like we had hardly gotten anything done, and it was a little discouraging, but by the end of day 3, it was amazing to see how much a rag tag group of people could accomplish. I really think we wanted to stay to make sure what we had started got finished, but that just wasn't in the deck of cards.

It was a lot of fun getting to hang out with all the kids, and getting to know them. They are all so different, but so much fun. All of them were great, and very few problems!

Going into the week I had so much on my mind, and it all seemed to melt away during the trip. It was a true refresher, even though it was by no means a vacation. I guess I would say it was more of a mental and spiritual refresher as opposed to a physical refresher. Our last worship service on Thursday night was very filling. It really made me think more about the Easter Sunday that was approaching.

Overall it was an excellent week, and I definitely would like to go on another one if the opportunity arises. There is so much more that I could talk about, it is just so hard to remember it all and how to get it down into text.


I didn't get this proofread so excuse any mistypes...

Chuff

Not again...

It's getting to be that time of the year again. Spring. The time that sucks the most for us in the fertilizer/chemical business. It will be a nice change of pace having full days of work. But, full days of working 6am-8 or 9pm just suck. Especially when those days are 6 days a week for what seems like months. Just this morning the boss said... "I think we are going to work until noon tomorrow." Aww man, not Saturday! That really puts a damper on Fridays. But it is what it is, and once I get back in the routine of working all day, getting a little sleep, going to work real early, and repeat, I'll get used to it.

Awesome news is, we are just over a week away from leaving for our youth Impact missions trip to Galveston, TX. I am getting really excited, and I believe it will be an awesome experience!

Just thought that I better throw another post on here for the month.

Catch ya later.

If you like it then you better put a ring on it...

Well it has been almost a month since the last post, but suprisingly it was a fairly quiet February.  Had a couple different meeting here and there for work.  Went to the ENT specialist a couple times.  He still isn't quite sure what is going on up there, but he thinks that it may be allergies.  They pulled blood last time I was there and sent me home a 4 page questionare to get an idea where to start testing my blood.  I just checked in with them today, and we must have been on the same page, because the lady had just left a message on the home phone wanting to make another appointment and that the results must be in.  Not sure if they are positive for anything or not, but I am kind of hoping that they find something, just so that we can start some sort of medicine or help relieve some of my sinus pressure.

About two weeks ago or so, I headed down to Purdue with Meg's family to enjoy her HTM management night dinner.  It was basically the capstone of her college career, and her dinner went beautifully.  She told me here recently that she got her grade and of course she got an A... and a high A at that.  I'm very proud of her and very happy that she has done so well in her courses.

Hmmm.... trying to think of any other exciting news that happened recently.

Dad did my taxes and I am getting some money back, that is pretty exciting....

hmmm...

I asked Meg to marry me...

hmmm...

I suppose I better revist that last one.  You heard me right, I did it, I took the plunge.  Saturday night we were in Carmel, and I took Meg to a beautiful little local restaurant called the Glass Chimney.  I had talked to them earlier in the week and they were expecting us.  They had a rose set at her place setting, and even then, Meg wasn't tipped off.  We had a wonderful meal with the our main courses being stuffed chicken breast for her, and canadian walleye for me.  The waiter then asked us for if wanted dessert, and we said yes, and he hurried off to get the dessert menu.  She opened hers up and started looking at the desserts, and I was little confused because I thought that there was going to be something special in the menu.  Then the waiter pointed out that the special dessert of the night was in the upper left part of the menu and Meg looked and saw printed in the menu, "Meghan, will you marry me?"  The rest is history, but we did enjoy some yummy bananas foster.  We are still tossing around the idea of a late fall wedding, so there is a potential for a lot of things happening here still this year.

Pics hopefully... well if you click on them, they will open so you can fully see them... not sure how to really post pics on here, I am kinda new to the internet...

Chuff out...

ps... Don't worry, you will be able to find us on Facebook either later tonight or tomorrow with our updated relationship statuses. Meg wanted to keep this a secret until after she has her candle ceremony tonight at her sorority, so we just deactivated until then.

Salmonella

Well it has been over a week, so I guess I better get this thing updated.

Last week was a tough time for Bremen, and even more so for the high schoolers as once again they have lost a classmate.  This made Impact last Wednesday night a very emotional time, and even through this tradgedy it was awesome to see the compassion and love the kids showed toward each other.  Josh and PK did a great job of talking with the kids, and doing what they could to help them out.

Thursday evening I found myself heading to Lafayette so that I would be there bright an early for a meeting all day at Purdue for work.  It is so nice to have a friend that lives in Lafayette, that lets me crash at his house when I need to.  Thanks so much Brad!  So of course I got to see Meg, and spent a lot of time with her over the weekend.

Super Bowl Sunday.  This was the first youth group super bowl party that I have attended, and I must admit it was really crazy.  I can't believe Max and Linda still allow their house to be used for all these parties!  There were kids everywhere!  Playing Guitar Hero on the PS2, various Wii games, 2 tvs in two different rooms with the game on, board games being played, ping pong, air hockey, and foosball.  Again it was nice to see the kids getting to have fun and maybe not have to think about all the events that had happened this past week...

Yesterday, I headed to the hospital after work to have a CT scan done.  My doctor wanted me to have one done, so that he can get a better idea of how we want to go about treating my chronic sinusitis.  Results should be available shortly, but my appointment with him isn't until next Thursday, so nothing to get too excited about.  I am just tired of my head hurting all the time, and ready for something to be done.

Then I made dinner last night, no big deal.  I was hungry, and knew that mom had just gotten home from work, so I fried the burgers, made the waffle fries, and whipped up the baked beans!  Everything seemed to taste just a little better.  Maybe it was just the taste of accomplishment...

Watch out for that PEANUT BUTTER!!

I almost forgot.

Well it is that time of the week again.  Monday.  Oh Monday, I almost forgot you.  Had quite the busy weekend for not really doing a whole lot.  Had a great game of OIL POWER Friday night.  It was, as usual, a blast! 

Saturday, I didn't do a whole lot.  Ran some errands and whatnot.  But Saturday night was the Impact adult leaders Christmas Party!  Yes, it is the end of January and we are just getting it done.  What can I say?  We were busy.  So we had this awesome meal.  It was all FONDUE!!!  We have cheese fondue to go with the bread, and oil fondue to deep fry anything we wanted.  There was steak, chicken, and ELK!  Cheese sticks, veggies, mushrooms galore!  A very fun night capped with chocolate fondue to go with the pineapple, strawberries, cherries, and my first cake I have ever baked, angel food.

Sunday, was awesome.  PK had an awesome sermon.  He really set the bar high, so he will really have to work to keep up that caliber of sermons.  Then came the vote that we have been anxiously awaiting for several months.  Grace and Salem have voted and decided to merge!  I am so incredibly happy, and cannot wait to see where this ride takes us.  It has been a long time coming, and I am glad that it finally went through.  Then we had a meeting for the mission trip to Texas, and then to cap the night off, Sunday school at J&Js which also featured some fondue because of all the left-overs from the night before.  And one last thing to end the night.  We played the game 'scare Angie.'  Basically, Angie hates to be scared, and so I try my very hardest to scare her every opportunity I get.  Whether it is just sneaking up behind her, or jumping out of closets, as long as I get to hear that blood curdling scream, I know that I have won.  Well Josh even got this one videotaped, and it is pretty funny...  Sorry Angie, I know you hate the game, but thanks for being such a good sport.

Chuff Out!

I forgot about Monday.

Well, a week has come and gone and I somehow forgot Monday.  Yes Monday, my day that I seem to remember that I have this blog and realize maybe something has happened in the last week worth writing about.  Guess that goes to show you how exciting my life has been lately.  I did have a nice weekend though, which did involve rescuing my parents, aunt and uncle, and their friends after their van hit a snow drift and shot snow into the engine bay, running the serpentine belt off its' pulleys.  But that night was just cold, and snowy, and I don't really want to talk about it.

Looking at exploring my entreprenural side of my brain though.  I have a few ideas, but that seems to be all that ever comes from my little visions of something different.

I'm going to have to let that one sit a little while, so I can ponder more.

IMP(ACT)

Monday... are you suprised?

And just like that, it is Monday again.  Where to begin?

Last Wednesday night, was our first night of Impact for 09, and the kids really seemed pumped.  We had one of our larger turnouts this school year, and the place was really rocking.  Josh also let the kids know that over spring break, the youth group will be taking a missions trip to Galveston, Texas, to work with everyone who lost their homes during hurricane Ike.  I'm excited about the opportunity, but I still haven't asked if I can take work off.

Fondue Friday night was just plain awesome.  I don't know what it is about fondue that makes it so much fun and so good, but it was.  

Monopoly and Oil Power!  It was a blast getting to play some old board games.  Even though the girls would complain about not wanting to play anymore, they then seem to win.  "I don't want to play anymore."  But you are winning?  "So, I just want this game to be over."  Silly girls.

Combine church Sunday at Salem.  It went really smooth, and again we had a packed house.  Amazing how people still can fill out the comment sheets and say that there is plenty of room for new people though, when the math proves there isn't.  We are at 90-95% capacity, and you are to allow 20% capacity for growth.  I'm not math wizard, but I can figure it out.

Merger vote in 2 weeks, I hope it passes.

Meg is back to Purdue for her final semester!  I wish her good luck!

'til next time...

Monday again...

Well it seems like Mondays are a good day to post.  It has been a week since the last one, and will probably be another week until the next one.  This past week went way too fast.  I worked Mon/Tues, then took Wed/Fri off to make for a nice 5 day weekend.  It was extremely hard to come back to work.  Nothing too exciting really happened, but I want to talk about church on Sunday.

*For any of you that didn't already know, Salem and Grace UMCs have been in merger talks for the past 14 months, and by the end of the month we will have our fates decided.*

For whatever various reasons, it was decided that on this past Sunday, Salem's congregation would head to Grace to have a combined service, with Salem hosting this coming Sunday's service.

1 word.

Amazing.

Ok, another word.

EXCITING!

There is just a different feeling worshipping with so many people.  Yes, we were crowded.  A reason we met together, was to get a feel for if we need to build a new church to accomodate everyone if the merger passes.  So many years I have seen so many empty pews at Grace, and to see the sanctuary and every chair that could fit into the back room full of people gave me an amazing feeling.  I hope others felt this amazing feeling.  I can't wait to do it again down at Salem!

Most of the day, I thought about how awesome it would be to combine all of our great resources.  It almost made me a little mad that it hadn't been done so long ago.  Each church is filled with a lot of great people, doing great things.  It almost seems like the opportunities would be endless if we could combine all these great people!

This has been the most excited I have been about the church in a long time.

Until next time... stay classy

*ps I've noticed that everyone else's blogs seem to have lots of pictures.  I think that I might have more to write about if I had some pictures to comment on.  Hmm, now I just need pictures.