the 2010 CHRISTmas card & letter

2010 CHRISTmas card - for 4x8 copy

Every Terrell in Plover liked Christmas a lot…
And they couldn’t conceive of those who did not.
They were excited about Christmas! The whole Christmas season!
God coming to us? Why, what a great reason!

We thought for the 2010 year in review
That channeling dear Dr. Seuss just might do
So with sincere apologies to ol’ Theodore
We’ll recap the Terrell adventures and more.

First… Tapestry church, the plant from 2008
Was growing and serving and doing just great!
We saw many friends come to faith this past year
And be baptized in 40 degrees without fear.
The ages have branched from just 20-somethings
To babies and seniors and boomers with gumption.
In August we trekked to Nicaragua, you see
with our Tapestry crew and entire family.
Children were fed and Jesus was shared
All of our lives were changed too–no one was spared.

As for Robert, he’s still quite a running fool,
Regardless the weather: rain, snow, or just cool.
5Ks and five miles were the general style,
But also two half-marathons–13.1 miles!
O
ther hobbies were curling, fishing, and hunting of ducks

But alas with the gun, he had not much luck
It could be his head wasn’t screwed on just right.
It could be, perhaps, that I prayed with my might.
(To see cute little ducks blasted forth from the sky?
I’m not gonna eat them–it would just make me cry!)

I also took up the running lifestyle this year
And finished 2 5Ks and a 5 mile run with a sneer.
I pretty much hate running and the whole running season
But I like that it allows me to eat food that is pleasin’
In February I went to Nicaragua with OpSmile
And did speech therapy with kidlets in Español style.
May found me in Brazil, 15 students in tow
To see cleft palates and observe surgery, you know.

As for Adam, he is now a 16 year old punk
Busy with a girlfriend, band, school, and other such junk.
Still playing electric bass and moving onto percussion
Head-banging so hard, good thing no concussion!
Video-taping, editing, and curling have been his thing
With college tours beginning for him in the spring
Our prayer lives have improved as he drives in the snow
And we’re learning hard lessons of how to let go.

Noah has recently just turned fourteen
And surpassed me in height–that boy’s tall and lean.
A videogame controller is oft found in his hand
and he’s constantly asking about dinner plans.
He eats like a horse and he smells like a boy
And he cracks goofy jokes that bring us such joy.
His height comes in handy on the basketball court
As he dribbles and shoots with the junior high sort.

As we think back on you, dear family and friends
We’re left with sweet thoughts as the year draws to an end.
We hope that you, like the Grinch, get the real Christmas reason
Not the gifts or the trees or the family time at this season.
Born in a small stable as E-mman-u-el
“God with us” came to hang out and with us to dwell.
Jesus changed all of time and history too
Because He loves me and because He loves you.

So as you sit down for your big Christmas feast,
Regardless of who carves your fancy roast-beast;
We wish all of you the hap-happiest Christmas
And pray that you have a New Year that is blessed!

The Poem/Newsletter is by my amazing wife, pamela.

exit through the gift shop

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during my lunch break today i watch the majority of banksy’s “exit through the gift shop” and then finished it later. while i have mixed feelings about street art, i do like a lot of it. my mixed feelings are, i disagree with using someone else’s property for your self expression but i love much of it when it is done on spaces where the owner is cool with it. i loved this documentary/mockumentary – no one seems to agree concerning whether it is real or fake. the content and message was really cool. thank you netflix for streaming this.

the street artist in this documentary/mockumentary are amazingly creative people. some of the artistic connections they make are truly incredible.

SIDE NOTE – you can still contribute to building a house in nicaragua. if you want 2010 tax credit for it you need to do so before january 1st. we go to nicaragua january 9th.

SIDE SIDE NOTE – i’m watching arrested development season 2 with the family and buster just had the first line “You lied to me… you said my father was my father, but my uncle is my father. my father is my uncle.” oh how we love arrested development.

whiting mill closing

as many of you probably know by now the whiting mill is closing. adam h told me about this first and then immediately asked “what can we and what can the big “c” church in the point area do?” i think it is a great question and something that we should respond to as followers of JESUS CHRIST. between now and february 360 people will be losing their jobs. how does the bride of CHRIST respond? i don’t have the answer right now but i am open to ideas and invite all of you guys to pray with the tapestry leadership team and i.

i sent the following email out to all the local pastors whose email addresses i have.

hey guys & girls,

the tapestry leadership team and i have been praying and talking together since the news of the whiting mill closing. we have been wondering how the bride of CHRIST could respond in a way that glorifies JESUS by meeting the needs of people created in HIS image. so i am turning to you guys. do you think there is a way that the church in the point area can respond together. i am sure all of the churches we belong to will respond individually but i was wondering if any of you would be interested in exploring ways that we might could respond together? i don’t have any plans right now other than trusting that GOD has placed all of us in leadership within our congregations to equip HIS people to do HIS works.

in HIS love and mine,

robert

i’m open to everyone’s ideas no matter how extreme.

SIDE NOTE – don’t worry mom, i used capitalization in the actual email. 🙂

you don’t want me to pull for your team

while the thanksgiving break was a wonderful time with the family it pretty much sucked for the football teams i pulled for. they all lost. here are the results:

  • been a BAMA fan all my life – they lost
  • been a packer fan since 8th grade – they lost
  • been a LSU fan since pam went there for her ph.d studies – they lost

you really don’t want me to pull for your team on thanksgiving weekend. i am apparently a thanksgiving football jinx.

SIDE NOTE – i am happy to say that i have only had one meal since thanksgiving day that did not include a leftover smoked turkey sandwich. mhmmmmm! i figure i have another 3-4 sandwiches left. then the sadness begins.

the more sign

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tapestry’s sign for advent conspiracy is finally up. while we have our web address on the image we wanted the message of CHRISTmas being about something more than things in wrapping paper to be foremost. if anyone goes to the home page they’ll find more about what we are trying to convey – READ MORE HERE.

world run day

shark runner

sunday, novemeber 7th is world run day. i thought it might be fun to get together with a group of people and run that morning. so at least pam and i are going to show up at lake joanis and run as far as we can, or want to, for 60 minutes and then go somewhere for breakfast – probably al’s or cozy kitchen (i’m not sure which is open on sunday mornings). you are welcome to join us for a completely organized, non race, celebration of movement – any kind of movement.

i think it might also be nice for those of us who want to to donate $5 to world vision.

here’s the facebook event page.

i blame the zombies

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i am supposed to be in minnesota right now for the MWBC annual meeting. i was going to be sharing a little bit concerning the cool things that have been happening within tapestry over the past summer. it was going to be a good time because i get to brag on what GOD has been doing within tapestry and see some people that i really like.

like i said i was supposed to be there right now but this morning i apparently turned my alarm clock off rather than hitting snooze button for only 5 more minutes of sleep. instead of waking up at 3:30 a.m. i woke up at 7:15 a.m.   bloomington, minnesota is 4 hours away from point and since 8:30 a.m. was when it all began i realized quickly that i wasn’t going to be there and called to let them know they could start making fun of me. i’m sure they are.

i do have a an excuse that makes me feel a little better. you see, i was pretty tired from saving pam from zombies all night. that is the dream that i remember form the evening of sleep. pam and i were in a mall and i was having to save her from the zombies that were constantly invading the building (this sounds a little familiar doesn’t it?). it was a very tiring night. zombies, while slow and dumb, are very tiresome. you will be excited to know that my weapon of choice was a machete because you never have to reload a machete. i used other weapons to keep the zombie horde at bay but it always came back to the machete.

obviously my dream was probably connected with the uwsp zombie shamble that i watched part of last night. seeing zombies waddle down main street ruined my r.e.m. sleep and cost me the trip to minnesota. so i guess i am really blame the threads you sent me invites to the shamble. thanks guys and girls. 😉

alma

this is an excellent, but rather creepy, video from pixar’s rodrigo blaas. it’s really good, which is not surprising from anyone connected with pixar.

infant baptism

yesterday i had the opportunity to share the good news of the kingdom of GOD with a 13 year old who has been coming to tapestry for awhile. i mention this for two reasons (one sad and the other most definitely not):

  1. this is the first teen i have been able to share the gospel with outside of bible camps since moving up to wisconsin and leaving professional youth ministry. a junior high students approach to faith is fascinating to be a part of. i’ve missed it. this was the sad part.
  2. when this kid is baptized he will be the youngest person baptized within tapestry thus far. in fact, he will be the youngest by at least 6 years. everyone else has been 19 years old or older.

this is unusual because everything i have heard recently is that the average age of baptisms within evangelical churches has gone further and further down (i’ve looked for some articles to link to concerning this but i wasn’t able to find any in my brief search so what i’ve heard could be wrong). one of the reports i heard said younger and younger baptisms had reached the point that some have said that baptists and other evangelicals are often basically baptizing infants, something that goes against most evangelicals’ beliefs. it thrills me that we are basically baptizing adults who have come to faith.

SIDE NOTE – there are two terrells that are curling now. adam has joined the SPASH curling team.

another list saying how great point is

forbes just released an article declaring its opinion concerning the 15 best small towns in the us of a in which to raise a family. four cities from wisconsin ranked in the top 15 and point was declared the 6th best. yet more proof that the terrell family moved up to a wonderful place – something we already knew.

there’s no need to be jealous people just because we have the best water in the nation and are in the 10 on everything else that is good. 🙂