Feeling 2022

Tonight Maddie was at Free Chapel Youth again, the first of the year, and a New Year's Bash for all the youth.  It was a group service, followed by a bit of a party at the North Campus, including some chicken strips and spicy sauce to kick off the new year. 

Of course, the opening song for the night had the lyrics "Feeling twenty two."  Maddie was singing along, as were all the other "Swifties."  It was a good service, as was the KidPak service, which had a new message and everything.  Instead of going with something elaborate for the skit, we did our standard "Wisenheimer invention," where kids used an invention that read minds to determine what it is that they could do in 2022."  We did this idea last year, and it was fun to do again this year.  

The "Master Chef" one was a bit of a joke of course, one inspired by our binge-watching the show "Nailed It" over and over again.  It's been a hilarious and actually occasionally educational cooking show, one we've been laughing at together as a family throughout the holiday season.  There are Christmas-themed episodes that have been super fun to watch, and of course the end results are always really hilariously awful.

The morning went really well at KidPak, with smaller numbers in the audience at the first service, followed by a larger second service.  It was so quiet, certainly when you consider that we had literally 20,000 people visiting all in one day just three weeks ago.  It was good to see everyone who was back there, with all kinds of comments like, "I haven't seen you since last year" and so on.  It was the first service of the year, traditionally a quiet one for KidPak, something more for transitioning into a new series, which will happen in a week's time when we go for it with "Get a Clue."

In the afternoon there was time for Maddie to get a shower and Mom had a big meal for us, a pork roast.  We do not have the oven working, and that's all on Mom whenever she's able to find this utopian oven she's looking for.  But until then, we have a stovetop and a perfectly decent toaster oven we picked up the other day.  Maddie's using that to get pizza, tater tots, chicken nuggets and all her usual staples.

I've been reading one of my Christmas presents, a book about Ulysses Grant.  I just learned from this book that his middle initial is not "S" as I've always heard.  That was a mistake made by someone signing him up for West Point.  Fun facts there, and there's more about this boo that I've been enjoying lately.  I'm enjoying reading books about our past leaders, particularly our Presidents, and this is a great history book about a guy who perhaps doesn't get enough credit as a leader.

After youth, we continued that Spider-thon we're in the midst of, watching "Spider-man:  Homecoming," with such a great performance from the Vulture.  The rogue's gallery for Spider-man is so rich, and it really gives the Batman series a run for its money.  These villains have been done so well over the years, and as we've been watching over this Spider-thon, even the weaker movies have some great sequences.  There are still plenty of great villains to choose from for the future movies, including the best one of all, Venom.  

We finished late tonight, and it's okay as we can all sleep in late tomorrow.  We read a couple chapters tonight in the Kingdom Keepers book, and then we said our prayers.  The wind is picking up outside, and the temperature is about to change dramatically.  Tomorrow, it's supposed to be winter again, something we haven't seen so much this year.  The temperature has been warm, and more like spring.  But tomorrow we'll see things turn cold, and that will make things feel a bit more normal.  Until then, the wind is howling and a cold front is rushing through.  It's going to be a noisy night outside.