Last Saturday of April 2011

07.00


09.00

12.30

14.00



17.00

19.00

20.00

22.30

Growing Girth for the Gerths

The Gerth family is on their way to Tanzania in East Africa to work with Wycliffe Bible translators and we can help get them there.

The total amount of $45,000 is needed as one time gifts in order to get Ben, Jeannette, Kara, Luke, Ellie, Jenna and their belongings across the ocean safely; plus it covers Africa orientation, Swahili language school, a vehicle, and housing set-up.

Help yourself to some delicious cheesecake and help them get on their way and get settled!

Above are a few of the many incredible cheesecake flavors available. If you don’t see your favorite or you feel creative, just ask and find out what Baker Gayle can do!

One cheesecake can satisfy 16 (average!) people for only $35 – with the entire proceeds helping the Gerth family move.

Drop me a note and I'll get you the contact info as to how you can get one of these cheesecakes in your fridge!

Want to join me for lunch today?

Nutty visitors

This guy clearly heard there were plenty of nuts at the Seminary!!

(I came across this photo from late last summer when this little visitor stopped by our offices.)

Happy Day to Me

One year has passed since I first sat behind my desk in the south hall at Calvin Theological Seminary.

I've gone through two fish and have since gained two more. Countless bags of Starbursts and Twizzlers have been eaten by visitors wandering by and through. A number of colleagues have seen my little abode and more have been introduced to Si. These among a number of other things characterize the last 365 days in SM 126S.

Today's activities added to the story. This week is extremely quiet since a large majority of the students and faculty will not appear on campus because of Spring Break. Whilst they bask in warm weather somewhere other than Michigan, my coworkers and I find things to keep our spirits high.

Last Friday, I realized that this week I will have been working for one full year at Calvin, which definitely calls for somekind of party. I then invited all to a "surprise picnic party for V to celebrate her one year of employment at CTS" (Calvin Theological Seminary). Yes, it's weird and a touch narcissistic, but hey, it was fun!

Too cold to actually have a picnic, we enjoyed picnic-like food indoors with baked beans, macaroni salad and my all time favorite sausages (bratwursts) to all be finished off with cake and ice-cream.

Though clearly not a surprise since I organized it and sent out the e-mail.., my friends did surprise me with a table full of gifts. Knowing these people as I do, I knew not to get too excited about the possible contents of the packages.

See below.
(I apologize for the blurriness, the photographer later complained that I moved too much. Clearly he was right.)

I really don't know how to explain... Basically I'm wearing layers of other people's clothes given to me as gifts by loving colleagues. And yes, this included maternity shorts. I don't know either.

Spring Springeth

A few determined snow piles are clinging to their final crystaline frosty clumps, but there's no doubt that after one or two more days the last lurking bits of winter will disappear for a good long time. And I'm ready!

I've:

• priced bike racks for my car
• secured a student bus pass to explore the greater Grand Rapids area
• washed the few, but large windows of my tiny abode
• begun teaching my dog to run alongside me - well, trot
• raked my back yard

'Rake?' you ask. Yes, I do indeed live in an apartment complex where the grounds crew is responsible to clean the site. This includes cutting the grass and raking the leaves, but there are some areas - particularly the view from my patio - which are not included in their 'to-groom' list.

But it is on my list. If you look closely at this photo from last spring/summer you will see there is nice greenery, but also that the ground is blanketed with dead leaves.

This spring I intend to see green replace the brown hue, so today was my first layer of the raking mission. 'First layer' because I have no idea when, if ever, the leaves back there were cleaned up. It's probable not since the early 80's when these apartments were built. Muck and gunk on my boots after today's outdoor spring cleaning attest to this.

One problem is I'm not entirely sure where to put the leaf-muck pile. Being in touch with the apartment complex owners has gotten no response, so I'm left to my own creativity and devices. It may call for an ad on craigslist. It's amazing what people will take if you say it's 'FREE'.

Also, there's no promise that green will grow since my backyard really is more like a swamp area next to the creek, but I can still hope, can't I?