The Wedding of Melissa Goodell and Janus Abello - 24 June 2012

The part of the ceremony officiated by Vince Hawkins, lead minister of the Columbia Church of Christ.

This past weekend, I traveled to Columbia, Missouri, to attend the wedding of my friends, Melissa Goodell and Janus Abello. Both the ceremony and the reception were held at Columbia College. They chose to have their ceremony on a Sunday, which is a little unusual, but I liked that I could drive down to Columbia after church.

I first met Melissa when she moved to Columbia to be closer to her then-boyfriend, Brandon. Being from Boston, we instantly bonded over our shared love of the Red Sox. One of my earliest memories with her is watching 'Fever Pitch' with Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore and relishing thoughts of Fenway Park. That and helping her learn how to drive a manual-transmission car. And Janus, I can't remember when I met him, but I've known him for a while. He's originally from Anchorage, Alaska, and came to Columbia to study at the University of Missouri. I think it's pretty cool how God brought them both thousands of miles from home to meet each other, took them halfway across the world to Novosibirsk, Russia, for them to fall in love, and then solidify that love into marriage back in Columbia, Missouri.

Here's some of my favorites:

   

Maks, the lead minister of the Novosibirsk Church of Christ, traveled to Columbia to be part of their wedding. He prayed in Russian (left). The vows portion (right) was officiated by the other minister in the Columbia church, Jason Touchatt. Melissa cries as Janus read his vows. I cried, too. They were great. He talked about how parts of Melissa's character initially scared him because they were so amazing.

The Allen-Fugate Wedding - 30 April 2011

On April 30th, I traveled to Columbia, Missouri, to attend the wedding of my friends, Monique Allen and Shawn Fugate. The marriage is a joining of two families: Monique and her sons, Vonnie and Shawn, and Shawn and his children, Corey and Kayley.

Here are some of my favorites:

Monique's son, Shawn, right, and Shawn's son, Corey, serve as candle lighters. I love Shawn's concentration and concern over keeping the flame lit.


Monique reacts to seeing someone in the crowd as she is escorted down the aisle by her father.


Vince's expression says, 'hey!' during Monique's vows.

Jump! Jump!

So at church today, after a morning of teaching kids' class (1 & 2 grade), I was standing around the fellowship hall and was struck with an idea: some of the kids were jumping off this carpeted platform and I thought it would be fun to catch them in air. These are the pictures.

Participants: Reece & Jace, Corey & Kaylie, Shawn & Vannie, and Garrett.


It looks like he's taking a dive off the platform...


Falling through the air...

It's Not Superman, It's STRONGMAN

On July 24th, the Columbia Church of Christ held its first Strongman competition. Organized by Randall Heater, participants included children and adults, men and women.



It was on the hot side and it was sunny. But we had fun. I was lucky not to get a sunburn (I forgot my sunscreen).

Here's some of the fun:


It struck me as amusing that Reece was lugging these heavy things in flip flops. When I asked Daniel about it, he said that originally the kids events weren't supposed to entail walking with anything...


Zach is tired after lugging the bars. He leans on his dad, George.