We're all geared up to take Qayum and Jordan to the retreat, planning to leave right at 4:00 when Phil gets out of Workshop. While Phil is in Workshop, Christine buzzes with the text message that there is a truck blocking traffic and she and Jordan will be late. After Workshop, Phil can't find Qayum anywhere. Around 4:20, Christine stays with the car and Jordan comes to SEO, bringing the TV (we're returning it to 402 after using it for the Super Bowl). Phil meets him outside, and as they are walking to the elevator, he mentions to Jordan that he hasn't found Qayum. Phil is thinking how Qayum is usually always around, and how much less respect he'll have for Qayum after this. Anyway, Phil and Jordan take the elevator up to 402, and Qayum is there! He woke up late and even had to take a cab to make it. It's a good thing we were bringing the TV in, because Phil probably would have just taken off and left Qayum. So we leave around 4:35 and head straight into the bad downtown traffic. On the trip, we have some good discussions, and Jordan shows Phil a web article about the Golden Ration that he is presenting for a class. We call Anna and Nikki and they take orders for our Taco Bell. Finally, we get to Bloomington-Normal.
We come in to Mom & Dad's and shortly thereafter Nikki, Anna, and Tolu arrive. We eat in the kitchen and have a hilarious conversation. Anna talks about the ridiculous "points" system for Weight-Watchers, and we get to joking about how breathing counts for points. After spending a long time guffawing, we finally hit the road, as Anna drives Mom & Dad's new van, the Sienna. We get to Carlinville around 11 and ask for an extension of the gym time. We play basketball, people watch some Olympics (opening night at Salt Lake City), and Brian has gobs of Laffy Taffy for everyone. We talk with Bunyan a lot while shooting hoops. Around 2-ish, we go to our sweet Suite. Anna and Nikki go to their room to bed, but we stay up with Brian, Nathan (both left early on), Chrissy, Karen (who we discovered was also at the Area I Youth Retreat in November), Christina, Jordan, and Qayum. We play around with the video camera and TV as a monitor, then play Scum while watching a tape delay of the Olympics opening ceremony. Chrissy is falling asleep so bad that she actually drops her cards after briefly going unconscious. Eventually everyone but J & Q leave, and we sleepCQayum on the top bunk, Jordan on the bottom, and each of us with our own bed. Ah, yeah--Too bad it's only going to be 3 hours!
Saturday morning Qayum gets up, showers, and gets Phil up. Q & P leave for breakfast, waking up J & C on the way out. After breakfast, Phil doesn't see Christine but sees Jordan, who tells him, AShe was getting pretty good with the snooze button.@ Phil also gives Bunyan a copy of a picture of Bunyan, Emma, and Michelle taken at the wedding. Bunyan then tells Phil that he and Michelle are no longer an item. Christine does make it in and after Harvest plays for awhile, Dwight Stinnett speaks on how we, like computers, need to "defrag" by going to God in prayer. We get into small groups (we're in the same small group) to discuss "Down but not out"--2 Corinthians 4:7-18. Phil gets some reassurance by other group members that doing math is accepted by and useful to God. A minister in our small group mentions that one of the things he wants to stress as a minister is that being a minister is not the only way to promote and do God's work. We have some extra time before lunch, so Phil goes and buys 3 Harvest CDs.
At lunch, Phil (coming later than others) sits with Ian. Ken (the runner from NIU) comes by to talk to Phil about running, and Ian reaches over and eats half of Phil's taco. Loving the idea, Phil finishes the other half. Rick then organizes a Volley/Wally-ball tournament, and our team (we're on the same team) is a pathetic 1-5, not winning until our last game, where we of course go crazy and attempt some sort of mocking pile-on celebration (initiated by, of course, Phil). Then Christine goes to take a nap as J & Q play ping-pong and Phil aggressively assembles a football game.
<< It took awhile, but eventually we had enough people for a game. My team had nobody who could throw. We had pretty good defense for the most part, but got down early after a couple of defensive breakdowns. Finally we discovered that the best strategy was for our quarterback to hand to me and that would give me the option to run or pass--very similar to flag football '99 at ISU. We ended up losing 5-3 (Ian caught a TD pass over me), but I scored all 3 of our TDs on some nifty runs. I was probably the most dominant player on the field, but as a team we just couldn't get it all together. Still, it was fun to play again, try to get everyone involved...and show off the ol' moves a little. >>
Phil does some stretching and runs a couple of miles. We can't find our keys, but it's time for dinner (quick). We go to eat, and Phil piles his tray high. He ends up in a political argument with Justin, who incidentally was on his football team. Justin shows a lot of maturity and doesn't take it personally, shaking hands afterward. We go back for the last segment (Christine has a good idea for where Phil left the keys) and Harvest again leads great Worship, including having us all cup our hands to symbolize giving what we have to God. We have communion led by Rick, then give a bunch of hugs to everybody. Phil does find the keys where Christine thought they'd be, and again Anna drives back, discussing men the whole time. We get back and Phil calls Becca, and we all go hang out at the Hac (Jeanna's gone). Afterward, we drop everyone off and come back, and Phil talks with Qayum in Mark's room until 4:30am.
Back to My Journal