Year 2, Day 270 & 271: Road Trip!!!

I said I wouldn't blog until Monday, but I'm not ready to sleep yet, hehehe! So, it was a very quick, successful, straight forward, typical e2 one day seminar.  About 50 elders, elders in training, elder candidates (?), maybe some other leaders, all men except for 1 woman (I think she was the wife of an elder), came and heard all kinds of direct, passionate teaching on where the church is now, what they should be thinking as elders to bring her into the future, and resources and services available to help them to that.  I just happened to stay in the main room where Gary was teaching, and there was a good amount of material I've heard him say before.  How?  Well, he says similar things from the pulpit sometimes, or in conversations I hear, or they are Jared's answers to my questions about these topics.  But there's so much more to be said, and the theme of the seminar this year is "What's Next?" based off their new book.

Speaking of resources, it was fun to see their books all set up, how they answers questions, how they sell their books and now video lessons (I didn't know they didn't have to pay sales tax because they are non profit. I, as a regular business, do pay sales tax on product.), how much time it takes to do the set up and tear down, etc.  You won't be surprised by this, but it takes them less than 20 minutes.  Zip, zip, done!  CDF (Church Development Fund) Capital was also there.  It says on their website: "God calls his people into a story of transformation. We help Christians and churches embrace their part in this story by providing the three kinds of capital every congregation needs for growth." If you want to know more, go to https://www.cdfcapital.org/ because I'm trying to quickly understand what they currently do and I'm a bit confused and don't want to put wrong information out there.  They've been around for 45 years, so they are definitely trustworthy and I know our family has personally talked about and used them for different things.

Anyway, it was good to say hi to Jim Estep, who I had actually met while we are at MCC and he had come to do a leadership event up there.  I also finally met David Roadcup.  My oh my do the three have very different personalities but they have this singular laser like purpose in this ministry.  To equip elders, i.e. e2.  But to see their personalities mesh and to think about how they stretch and grow each other is pretty cool.  You need all personalities at the table and as long as people are willing to recognize that and work with it, and not against it, they will be better for it.

My head is spinning from the teaching today and various podcasts I listened to on the way up and down and the books I started to read.  I think there's a reason I'm only allowed to read a chapter at a time at home or a podcast or two a day.  It's way too much information!  I also made a bunch of progress on my crosstitch.  Maybe I'll have it done by the end of this Bible Bowl season, lol.  I've brought to their competitions last year, and many kids have been interested in it.  I just don't have time to work on it when I'm at home.  I felt like my mother as she would listen to the live sermon as well as online teachings, while doing her knitting.

Other highlights were having some one on one non distracted conversations with Jared as we drove over to see Leah's mom and brother and then back to the hotel.  Grandma Cook was doing well, and although we do see the Alzheimer's, she's actually doing pretty well for her 90 years.  Jared and I had some one on one time with her after he nurse's aid left and before Uncle Ed got home.  Then we all went out to eat at the same restaurant in August on the way home from vacation.  I'm thinking it's Uncle Ed's favorite restaurant, and it was an excuse to get Grandma out of the house.  She had already eaten dinner, but she ordered a meal anyway and took it home.  Jared and Uncle Ed talked airplanes and airports and all kinds of other things while Grandma and I just listened.  I was pretty tired by the traveling and such.  So, we had back to the hotel and to our room to unwind/prepare for the next day.

And now we're home.  Jared drove the whole way so Gary could, surprise, work those 8 hrs in the car.  He even brought his lapboard from home!  Well, it is the busy season and he has to fit it all in somewhere.  It just cracks me up.  I know it won't last forever, and some of it will change when he does make that transition to "life after the Creek" but I also know it's just his nature and to expect him to just keep going and going.  And speaking of going, I'm not catching a break either because we have stuff all day tomorrow and something else every day this week it seems.  So, I'll sneak in this blog post while I can and while my brain is still working.

I had fun taking pictures and captioning them on Instagram, so I'm going to repost the pictures here and hopefully transfer the captions as well.  I'll also add some other pictures from the last two days.

Snuggles before leaving the babies.

3 out of 4 babies in our bed!

Passing the exit we often took to go to Indiana Wesleyan University 18 years ago!

Vroom! Vroom!

Oddest thing on the road was this propeller or aircraft wing looking thing.  Everybody drove slowly past it, so it took awhile to get going again.

Unpacking time!

Making conference bundles to sell!  Let me be the first one to say that this resources are incredibly reasonable in price! I've been to my fair share of conferences and materials are always expensive.  10 books and a jump drive chock full of teaching and what, over 100 years of experience to back them up?   Awesome!

e2 has a permanent slot for an article in every episode of the new and improved Christian Standard.  I'm pretty sure it would be available to read with the online version as well.  Plus, e2 sends out a blog post every week, too.

Books galore including Gary's books he has written on his own.

So many resources!

We were at Great Lakes Christian College in Lansing, MI.  Great hospitality for a small school.  A small school with the same struggles of every other Christian college founded 60 years ago, they need students, they need money, they need prayers.  Well, we will be hopefully helping with that in less than 3 years time when Benaiah goes off to college.  Eek!

Room selfie!

Big fancy hotel!  But this was the only one available close by.  And there was some big college football game going on nearby as well, so it was packed!  5 stories, very cold lobby, (maybe so you'll go into the area where there are snacks to purchase and purchase a Starbucks drink as well to warm up.

Even the rotating doors had fancy things in between them.

Oh the Cook family ingenuity!  Instead of buying a ramp for the dog, Uncle Ed made one out of cardboard!  And it's very, very solid.  It's made of "cells" i.e. special configuration of cardboard.  Cool!

Woof! Hi, Luke!

Dark brown squirrel in the trees near Uncle Ed's house.  Not a shadow, it really was that dark!

Sunset on the way back to the hotel.

Everything in the room was this lime green color.  The wallpaper, the curtains, the headboard, the tables, and some in the flooring too!

e2 green!  And Justin's favorite green!

Talked with the kids of course on Facetime, which was odd for me because usually it's the kids and I calling Jared.  Justin was chatty.

Keturah didn't have much to say.  Benaiah was eating dinner and didn't want to talk.

Abishai took his turn and then went back to playing his car crash game on Grandma's nook.  They all had a fab time together.  Yeah!

The fancy hotel even had relaxing lotions for your face and feet and a room spray - all containing essential oils!  Color me impressed!

It's a treat to have real cable TV, so I turned it on, found something I sort of recognzed, and turned that on.  Well, it was a good 1/2 way through already, but I now remember why I liked it.  First of all, we still have it on VHS.  But it was only released 15 years ago, so I'm not sure how or where got it on VHS vs. DVD.  It's called, "A Walk to Remember" and it's as pure of a film you can get without it being from one of the faith based companies.  The female lead plays the reverend's daughter, so there's nothing more than kissing and holding hands.  In fact, the male lead expects that the girl wants a separate blanket to snuggle under as they watch the stars together all night long.  And it's pure love, not puppy or heavily romantic love, because (spoilers), the girl dies shortly after their marriage from cancer.  But it's not heavily dramatized as in the guy hates God because of it.  And they play 17/18 year olds, and we were 21/23 at the time, so it must have hit a chord for me because we were close in age with the characters.  Anyway, simple, pure, moral, perfect.  They don't make them like that anymore.

Sunrise at our venue.

Gotta have the essentials.  Butter coffee (bulletproof coffee) and kleenix for them runny Johnson noses.

The campus is pretty up to date.  Here's there little science lab.  I remember loving the lab at IWU.  In fact, I still have some lab sheets somewhere.  And science Benaiah is doing biology this semester, I thought he would get a kick out seeing the different kingdoms of living things on the wall. Instagram caption: FYI I miss school! No joke! I love love love to learn! Cute little lab here at this small Christian college. I'm grateful I married into a family of life long learners. It's one of the things that attracted me to Jared, that he was and is always learning. With audio books, podcasts, seminars and printed and bound books. YouTube included. Keep learning!

Great Lakes Christian College's vision.

Instagram: At least at an all men seminar there won't be a long line at the women's restroom between sessions! Woot! Woot!

Gary must be the promoter of the group or the spokesperson because he kept talking about all the resources that were available, including services like church coaching.  Instagram: Ready to go! Lots of resources available!

I might have added my own understanding to some of these quotes.  This is David Roadcup.  Instagram: Match, patch, and dispatch- don't stay stagnant, don't stay in maintenance mode. What is your focus? Evangelism and discipleship? You need both! Vision, mission, values - what are yours at your church AND at home- homeschoolers need to have these too. When you have these, which are Spirit led, your home, your church will grow.

Instagram: ICCC inside joke: the circles are here too!

Father and Son, side by side. Instagram: The financial guru of the family jumped in to answer a question! Just another reminder that no matter what jobs you have had in the past that may or may not be in your desired field of work, you can walk away with skills that you can apply to the next job. Jared learned financial things at his job 8 yrs ago and it has helped in two out of 3 jobs since. Anyway, father/son moment. Can't wait to see Benaiah and Jared do that someday! #family #jobs

(Again, I added my own experience and knowledge here) Instagram: "If we fail to change, you are blocking the mission." Ouch! Applies to homeschooling or parenting too. That's why I continue to seek out learning so I can better our environment at home. I do hang on too long to whatever I have set up bc I worked hard on it. And ouch, Indian creek's changes directly affect me and mine and sometimes I don't like it. But I have to stop grumbling, embrace it and move forward. Ouch.

The room was very full.  It is located at the center of the building, with classrooms on either side of the hallways from it.  This building also contains the student center and cafeteria.  It's been in use since the '70's.

Sharing product.

The school had us join the regular students' brunch they have every Saturday.  Remind me of eating at the cafeteria at IWU.  I'm grateful that I wasn't gluten free then, because I wouldn't have gotten to try things like fried okra!  This isn't my lunch, this is Jared's lunch, and even he went easy on the carbs!  All carbs with a bit of protein.  Maple syrup was portioned out.  They had 5 different kinds of cereal to choose from.  A few pieces of fruit.  It's currently at 130 students, and I would think a lot of them go home on the weekends, so it was pretty simple.  They did, however, have cherry pepsi!  I had two glasses of that this afternoon.  Yum!

Ah, now I understand Leadershift in terms of it applies to the Creek's staff.  Neat!

Some of Jared and I's stuff for the day.  He worked on some spreadsheets.  I listened and relaxed.  Sitting was hard thugh because it was just plastic chairs.  I had to stand up for part of the sessions, knowing that I would be stuck in the car for 4 hrs on the way home.  It did help, but I'm definitely in pain.  I'm just used to moving around a lot during the day with the kids and movement helps fibromyalgia.

Another gorgeous day outside, and I spent it inside.  I did hear that the kids and Grandma spent some time outside.  Benaiah also washed his clothes and hung them out to dry, which is way cool.

I did this whole puzzle on the way home today while listening to Jared's audiobook about cold therapy.

Grandma took the kids to free movie night at church.  They saw an oldies but goodie, "Monsters, Inc." Abishai hadn't seen it, but he wasn't scared afterwards like some kids might be.  He stayed pretty still for Grandma, too.

My sisters should recognize that blanket (it was my summer blanket) and the pillow case was my sister's bookcase. 

Middle schoolers are crazy! 

Benaiah was off practicing drums or something.  He also worked at Grandpa's house catching up on some money earning.

We did get big hugs from Abishai when we got home.  He did say, "I miss you, Mommy!" and he didn't want to go to bed.  Remember, I haven't left like this before and he's only slept over at Grandma's house once.  Grandma said that when he woke up this morning, Abishai came down the hallway, past the living room where Grandma was sleeping, got to the kitchen and yelled, "Grandma! Where are you?" (I think he said that second part, but I know it was more than just "Grandma.")  It was dark, but he didn't hesitate to walk around.  He does that with me all the time, wander the house until I get up. It was so cute the way Grandma explained it.  Grandma didn't say otherwise, so I assume they all behaved when they went with her to her nail appointment.  And they made it to church as well, even in time to see some kid baptisms.

I'm out of words.  I'm sure I've forgotten some details, but hopefully this will document what the guys do when they leave us women at home every now and then.  It was a great trip, and a good break for me, and a good reminder that Jared and I need time away more often, or at least make more time at home to talk and just be with one another.  Oh, and one of my favorite parts was to not have to worry about ordering chicken nuggets for a munchkin at the restaurants we visited.  And having to set them up in a hotel room.  Or remind them to brush their teeth and shower.  Just simply taking care of myself for once, which takes like 5 minutes. lol.  Oh, the mom life.  It's awesome, it's busy, but now and again, we all need a break.  Thanks, Mom for watching the kids!