Here’s the pictorial of our week at the Aaby home.
ReLAUNCH launched our week last Sunday
Halle's first day of 2nd grade
Audrey began her soccer career with her first practice
Triple A then began Kindergarten
We got to see King Felix pitch a gem
And Will got dressed up for the Husky game (a valiant effort I might add).
Good times were had by all (Aabys). Oh, and I got the garage cleaned and Elisabeth made Chili! Extra bonuses for sure!
Grace,
Brian
For those of you in the greater Seattle (Western WA) area, I’d like to let you know of an opportunity. I have been invited to be the keynote speaker/leader for a local seminar/conference taking place on October 10, 2009. This event, EXPOSED, comes on the heels of an event Youthmark hosted almost two years ago, 360ºParenting.
You can click here to get more information about the event. I’m already refining the research and am looking forward to this great event. If you are a parent, leader of youth or even a young adult who would like to know more about the current trends in technology (dangers and advantages) then this should be a great opportunity for you.
Hope you can make it, it’d be awesome to see some familiar faces! Spread the word!
Grace,
Brian
As I posted a couple days back, the ReLAUNCH event was a blast. I got the pictures uploaded and I’ve posted them below. If you haven’t seen the slide-show video it is posted a couple posts back (scroll down) or click here.
When all was said and done, we had about 175 people who up. Great times of worship and story telling. One student commented on my Facebook:
That night was amazing. Thank you so much for putting it on! It definitely helped me prepare for this mission field ahead of me.
Another said to me:
This got me so pumped to go back to school and share with my non-Christian friends.
And yet one other:
I went home and looked at all my non-Christian friends I have just on Facebook, I am going to be so much more intentional with them and build relationships with them so I can share Christ with them.
Thanks to all who came!
Grace,
Brian
Fall marks a season of “new beginnings” (seems redundant huh?). And, as I continue the tradition of Top 5 Tuesdays, I thought I’d explore the top five reasons I’m excited about the fall of 2009. The criteria for today’s top five–can be anything that has me excited that the season is changing from summer to fall, and as I peruse my reasonings, you’ll find that there isn’t a consistent thread, it’s quite the diverse list.
So, with no further ado, here is the list:
Honorable Mentions: Fall Foods (looking forward to some of the warm yummy stuff Elisabeth makes), Soccer on Saturdays (the girls are both playing soccer this year) and Will Walking (he’s bound to take his first real steps any day now)
Five: Football. I’m a big sports fan. Period. But for whatever reason this season I seem to be looking forward to football with great expectation. Perhaps its the fact that I have a specific high school that I get to follow (whereas in years past I have had students at various schools, now I can concentrate on my alma mater and the place I lead YL). Maybe I’m excited about football because of the renewed hopes for UW football? I could have renewed enthusiasm for the Seahawks because of a healthy Matt Hasselbeck or a new coach? Like I said, for whatever reason, I’m excited. Are you ready for some football?
Four: Projects and People. The fall marks the return to some regular meetings. Tuesday will often lead to a Youth Pastor network in West Seattle, Wednesday is my time with the Burien area Youth Pastors (and La Costa for lunch, YUM). I’m looking forward to the regular meeting with the Kent/Renton Youth Leaders as well. On top of the regular meetings the fall also brings me the time to meet with individual Youth Pastors to share about Youthmark and specifically the YMV’s for 2010. And last but not least in this category, the fall is bringing me some time, dedicated office time, to get the projects done that need to get done.
Missing From This Pic: US!
Three: Young Life. I became a Young Life leader at Kentridge High School late last fall and really began to invest as 2009 began. This last summer I was part of a group of about 50 students and leaders from Kentridge who traveled to Washington Family Ranch for summer camp. Well, this year, I return as a volunteer, only this year, I return to take on a class as well. Whereas last year I was sort of a “catch all” leader, this year I get to concentrate on those brand new students to KR. And the extra special blessing–Elisabeth is joining the KR team to work with the KR Frosh girls! Woo-hoo!
Two: Down Time With TV. First, understand I am not a huge fan of the ol’ tube. With that being said, there is NOTHING on during the summer that draws me to the TV (besides sports of course). Well, as the networks bring back regular programming I can honestly say that The Office, Survivor and The Amazing Race have me excited for a couple hours of down time during the week.
One: Routine. I love the summer for the sense of non-routine, but I am so excited to have a somewhat regular, predictable schedule. Even the non-predictable travel has become predictable for me, meaning, I know that it will happen and we (Elisabeth and I) know how to adjust our schedules to make it work. I like knowing that the girls have school at X time, that Will should get a regular nap at Y. With the sense of routine I’m hoping to have a more predictable date night with Elisabeth! Though I like change, I like what the change from summer to fall will bring–routine.
What are some of the things you’re looking forward to this fall? What does the change of seasons bring/mean for you?
Back to the projects and people; I like this routine (cuz it will free me up for some football and TV after Young Life)… Ha, look at that , I tied them all together!
Grace,
Brian
Sunday night, August 30, 2009 marked the official ending of the 2009 YMV season. What a year it has been. I will be posting some pictures (just haven’t uploaded them yet), however, I had one person tell me that he “stopped counting at 160” and another said, “I counted more than 175 people at this thing.”
What a blessing it was to be together. Please praise the Lord with me as we celebrate the thousands of lives touched through the YMV’s this year! Please be in prayer for me right now as I am writing next years Prospectus. My hope is to have this done this week!
If you are on Facebook, go to my page, or the Youthmark page (if you’re not yet, become a “fan” of Youthmark). You can see the video we showed last night (with the same songs on it as we played last nigh). Otherwise, click on the video below to see it with an updated soundtrack (because of copyright issues).
Appreciate your prayers for us!
Grace,
Brian
For those who have been journeying with me/us through this first year of Youthmark (and the first complete year of my blogging) you deserve a little celebration, don’t you think? Well, even if you haven’t been journeying the entire year, come too!
This Sunday evening, Aug. 30, Youthmark is hosting ReLAUNCH at the Covington Cutters Point in the Home Depot Center. This will take place from 7-9 PM and you will receive 50% off your coffee and/or blended drinks! The evening will include time of fellowship, sharing, prayer and worship in song ! I can’t wait to see the smiling faces of many missionaries (not just those who went on trips, of course).
Here is the address:
Cutters Point Coffee
27177 186th Ave. SE Suite 101
Covington, WA 98042
Hope to see you, your friends, your family and even those you want to be exposed to Jesus and good coffee!
Also, for those who don’t have a home church or feel like you could take a “church miss” this weekend, Faith Baptist in Kent is having the students give their ministry report from the summer. I have been invited to share for a couple minutes as well. Services are at 9:00 and 10:45 AM. You can get info on location here.
Grace,
Brian
If you were there, if I already told you, you’re not allowed to play.
This should be an easy one, therefore the prize is a simple one, a coffee at Sbux with me next time we see each other.
Who is this “famous person” I took a picture of recently at a grocery store?
If someone doesn’t get this based on just the picture then I will either post a larger pic or begin to give some clues. In other words, I intentionally made it a small picture!
Grace,
Brian
*** Hints ***
1. Been on the big and little screen
2. I speak english
3. Updated larger picture below
4. From the land of U2 and Guinness
*****WINNER****** AND UPDATE ABOUT MY BRUSH WITH FAME******
I got up this morning and Elisabeth announced to me “you have a winner, it’s Jeramy.” Well, I got online and because first-time commenters (or those who haven’t commented in quite some time) have to be approved by the blog-owner I found that the actual winner was Ben. He got his Pierce Brosnan answer in about a half hour before Jeramy. Congrats Ben. And as an FYI, Andrea who commented that she knew the answer but wanted to see if someone else knew, did in fact know the answer, I saw her on Facebook last night and she told me the answer but hoped someone more local would win.
I posted the largest picture below, where you can see more clearly that it is Pierce.
My conversation with him.
In the checkout line at Foodland, as Pierce grabs a “US Weekly” or some other gossip magazine I said, “trying to find yourself in there?”
With his Irish accent and laughter he says, “I certainly hope not, I haven’t done anything to warrant my being in here.”
He didn’t have his club-card with him for his grocery discount, but the cashier was kind enough to look in the system (after she had him spell his last name for her) and he got the discount on his $34 bill. Which he paid for with a $50. I noticed because he had to get past the five or six $100 bills to find the smaller denomination.
Amtrak, Spaghetti Factory, Starbucks, good times with Kirk, Amtrak and home in time for the kids.
I love Youthmark.
Youthmark Executive Team
Grace,
Brian
A few weeks ago, while on vacation, I did a series of posts entitled, “Top 5.” They were a hit (from what I could tell tracking the blog stats), I had a blast creating them, so, I decided to keep them going with a series now called, “Top 5 Tuesday.” Each Tuesday I’ll complete a Top 5 list, the only catch, I want your opinions, comments and reactions too.
It seems as if I have so much to do that I don’t even know where to start. I’ve been working from my local coffee shop (Forza this morning) for about two hours and completed a couple small tasks (admin), but I know I have a number of MUCH larger tasks that are just begging to be completed. So, I rather than working on them, I thought I’d just list them in the order of how much I need to work on them, but don’t necessarily want to work on them.
The only criteria… well, you should just read them, because honestly, some of them are great projects that I do want to work on, but are just overwhelming in the amount of work that needs to be done on them.
Without further ado, here is the list.
Five: Files and Data. Honestly, who likes doing data entry? I have contact lists all over the place. Both personal, networking and Youthmark related. I need to take the time to get all this data into my computer and then onto my phone. On top of this, my computer is completely full at this time (thus the external hard drive that was ordered and should arrive today). Can’t wait to do this one! Yeah right!
Four: The Prospectus. Each year (I say that as if it has happened SO many times) Youthmark will produce an 8-10 page prospectus (brochure) for potential church partnerships. It is actually a very exciting project, but is time consuming. We are in the midst of doing this years right now. However, I had no idea that the demand would be here so quickly. I literally have people asking me almost every day if they can see/hear about the new trips for 2010. I can’t wait to get this done, but it takes awhile and does require a lot of creative time/space. I am excited about the theme for this years Mission Ventures and the training (a later post). This is not a “drag” or even an “I don’t want to do this” project, this is more of a “where do I start, there is so much to do?”-project.
Three: Receipts. I have a nice stack of receipts and accounting I need to get through in the next few weeks. During the summer it was so go-go-go that I designated a drawer for all my re-entry moments back to the house. Elisabeth appreciated not seeing all the receipts on my desk, the counter, the end table, the kitchen table, the side-board table, and anywhere else I have placed them in the past, but now it is time to attack and get all the books straightened out!
Eventually it could look like this!
Two: The Yard. Not just the yard, specifically the side-yard. The front and back look manageable right now, however, both side yards, especially the one people can’t see is a bit “weed-y” you might say. I told Elisabeth yesterday, “If I had a three day weekend in which I did just yard work I MIGHT have the yard in a place I felt good about.” We’ve discovered that we really need the simplest of yards… namely because we don’t like weeding, and we kill stuff (whenever we plant flowers, gardens, etc.). So, grass, evergreens and bark is about all we want.
One: The Garage. You may have seen the pictures/post on the blog last year of my MAJOR garage cleaning (click here to read that post), well, this year it is in greater need. The dining room to homeschool room to eventual office is only one part of the 
garage needing the renovation of space. We now have Youthmark product (books, shirts, supplies, etc.), and of course the kids outgrow stuff faster than the charities we support can offload some of our stuff. We officially “temporarily” moved Elisabeth’s car out of the garage last week, mine had been out since Youthmark products came in late last spring. So, I have a two to three weeek window to complete this task! Here’s what I hope it will look like soon!
Any jobs on here you’d like to do for me? Maybe we could work out a deal… I make you my homemade lasagna and you come do my yard? Sounds likea great plan! Thanks.
Grace,
Brian
Several weeks ago we began the endeavor of teaching Halle to ride her bike without training wheels. She was a little nervous, but day-by-day we (my dad, her grandpa) were able to let go of the bike for longer amounts of time. It took probably just three or four outings for her to really to ride on her own in a straight line. She did great.
Over our vacation at Sunriver we took her bike and she really did well on a large loop around out neighborhood. She perfected the art of small turns, but was too nervous to really do any turn-arounds.
Well, this last week she perfected the tight turn-arounds and I can proudly announce that she is an official bike-rider (for whatever reason the tight turn-around is what makes it official). If I were the DBL (Department of Biking Licensing) she’d have her license.
"I'm Licensed by the DBL"
My favorite moment came last week when we rode down to a neighbors house to exchange “who is your teacher” information with a schoolmate, the neighbor girl came outside and said, “wow, Halle, you can ride on two wheels already?”
Halle very humbly responded, “yep, but I just learned, so don’t worry about being late or anything.”
Proud Daddy moment number 5,634,363,645!
Grace,
Brian/Daddy
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