Working Together

On November 27, the first Sunday in Advent, the Stadem clan led a Compline Advent service at St. John Lutheran Church in Sioux Falls, where Mom & Dad Stadem have been members since Dad's last full-time call was there. He's served many congregations as interim pastor since his retirement, but Mom has continued her involvement at St. John and now Dad is the interim associate pastor there. When they first approached all of us with the idea of helping with this service, we were enthused and available - Pete and our family, two of his brothers and their families, and his sister and her family. One brother, who lives in Colorado, wasn't able to make it. When Dad mailed out the bulletin from last year's service, however, I wondered - "Seriously? You want the Stadem clan to do a meditative, contemplative service?" I dropped a couple of suggestions I had in mind for possible songs. Everyone had some contributions to offer - flute, liturgical dance, organ, piano, singing - and the order of service was delivered to the secretary about ten days before the service.

When we arrived in Sioux Falls on Saturday at about 2:30pm, to practice before our Thanksgiving feast, the cousins went wild, as usual. There was whooping and hollering and playing with wheelchairs and disappearing every time they were needed to rehearse. Sixteen of the eighteen grandchildren were present, plus a couple of friends, and every one of them thrilled to the presence of all the rest! All are musical, however, so they picked up the choir pieces, including solo parts, easily. Grandpa Stadem was quite concerned that they would be wild on Sunday, or at least make noise and whisper and disrupt the mood of the congregation. He gave a short speech to that effect, and later confessed to Pete that he had to surrender it to the Lord. "I've done all I can do." I wasn't worried because I have led the Sunday School Christmas program for the last ten years or so, and Saturday morning is always a disaster with no discipline whatsoever, and then the kids look like perfect little angels on Sunday during the program. I figured Stadem grandchildren wouldn't be any different - and in fact, half the kids there have been in my SS Christmas programs!

Everything went smoothly and quietly on Sunday. Some of the highlights were David singing "What Child is This" while Mary danced and Sarah and Rahila played the flute; teenagers singing "Pat-a-Pan" from Sounds Like Love, and the whole group singing "Creature Praise" with the youngest six grandchildren doing solo lines. We were blessed to see Cousin Janelle Swenson who came from Fergus Falls to see and hear us. Many people gave positive comments to us and to the parents in the ensuing days. And Liz, a high school senior this year, said, "It was a lot of fun to work together and not just play. We should do this again!"

Stadem Celebration at Shetek

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!!