Shetek is one of the highlights of our children's year - and ours too! This year 34 gathered at the Shetek Lutheran Ministries Retreat Center from Thursday evening until Sunday morning for the 20th annual edition of whooping and hollering, giving and receiving, cooking and eating and cleaning up, and general good will toward men. We missed Auntie Beth from Colorado, and Feyet, who lives at Tom & Judy's place, but added Saul (supposed to have an accent on the "u" but I can't figure out how to do it here), a friend from Riverside Lutheran Bible Camp who spent his Christmas break with us instead of flying home to Puebla, Mexico. (In the picture are Grandma & Grandpa Stadem and their 18 granchildren)
Among the many highlights were:
- a Norwegian feast with meatballs and lutefisk
- Andrew & Philip did the old Abbott & Costello routine, "Who's on First?" for the family. They've done it 3 times before, but the combination of their proximity to the audience (so every word was heard), their improved comic timing (so every word was heard), and their having just done it on Wednesday so they remembered everything better made this the best performance by far - and the best audience too! Lots of laughs!
- lots of Christmas carol singing in 4-part harmony, including by candlelight, and the traditional march around the living room to "We 3 Kings"
- a delicious Italian dinner cooked and served by the cousins to the adults
- "Couples Feud" - a game concocted by the cousins with questions such as, "Where and when was your first date, and who talked the most?" Steve & Tanya won, with a total of 6 out of 10 matching answers. But we all enjoyed hearing the stories behind some of the questions, and top marks for laughter went to Tom's proposal, John B's non-proposal, and Pete & Kari's first kiss!
- and, as usual, seeing the love and acceptance between all the cousins from age 22 to age 9, and the appreciation they have for their grandparents
What a blessing to have all of our extended families following Jesus with a forgiving and gracious love! Thank You, Lord!!
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