Busy Week - Part 2

Sunday afternoon, in spite of threatening skies, the Empty Nesters had a picnic at a campground by Darrington. We had a covered area, but it turned out that we didn't really need it. It didn't start raining until we were on our way home and we even had some sun breaks during the time we were there. We had a rather small group this time, there were only 12 of us, but we had a good time anyway!
We kept a fire and lots of smoke going! Along with wearing jackets, we kept pretty warm.
Some of us played a game, which we scored like bocce ball, since no one knew the rules. I won the game in the group I was in and ...
...Ken beat the ones in his group. Ken got the most points of both groups, so he was the over all winner.
Most people roasted marshmallows and made s'mores, but Ken roasted a Cheeto on his stick.
Steve keeping his new puppy warm.

Empty Nester Fun

Last Friday night, we had our third Empty Nester event since we started in November 2010. This time we went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant, then went bowling afterwards at the Stanwood Bowling alley. There were 22 people that came to dinner and 20 that went bowling. Every time we have a get-together, there are a few new people that attend, so we are getting to know more people at church, which is the whole reason we started the Empty Nester group. We had a great experience both at the restaurant and the bowling alley, they both were very accommodating . We were scheduled to bowl between 8 and 9:30, because there was a group before us and a group after us. I had reserved 4 of the 8 lanes in the bowling alley for our group and figured there would be some other people bowling with us. I was pleasantly surprised when we arrived there, to find that the owner had decided that since we only had an hour and a half to bowl, that they were not going to let any one else bowl during our time period. That way we only had 3 or less bowlers per lane and we were all able to get 2 games in. It was really nice to have the place to ourselves!

Empty Nesters

Last Friday we had the first empty nester social for our church. Several years ago, we had a group of approx. 10 -12 couples that we called the empty nester group. The numbers were limited because we were meeting in people's homes and there's a limited number of people that can be hosted in someone's home. I was in charge of reminding people that they had signed up to host an event during a 2 month period. After a couple of years of doing that, I needed a break and asked if any one else would be willing to do it, but no one stepped forward, so the group stopped getting together. Since then, a lot of people have left our church for one reason or another and we have found it difficult to get to know other people in our church. I figured others were probably having the same difficulties, so I thought we should get the empty nester group going again. I talked to one of our adult ministry pastors and he thought it was a great idea also. So last Friday, the Persons and us hosted the first all church empty nester social. This time we are not limiting the number of people that can attend, so we are having the get-together at church or other places (like maybe a park) that has room for a large group of people. We don't know how many people we will end up coming to the socials, but we want to make sure that every one who is interested can come. Last Friday, we had 26 people come to a dessert and get-acquainted game night. We had hoped there would be more than that, but we only announced it one week in church before the social, so maybe next time we'll have more come. It was a lot of fun, we got to meet some people we didn't know, and got to catch up with some that go to a different service than we do, so we rarely see them. We got lots of comments from those that attended and on Sunday from some that were unable to attend, about how much they thought something like this was needed. I'm excited about the group getting started again and yes, I am in charge again of reminding people when it's their turn to plan an event, but after a few years off, I don't mind doing it again. It was nice last Sunday to recognize some of the couples that attended the social and be able to greet them by name. It was a good start and we hope we'll continue to get to know more people and not feel like we don't know anyone at church any more. The next social is even already planned, we're having a New Year's Eve party at the end of the year!