Terry and John - a history

Terry is going to a wedding today. In Chicago. Without me. I'll skip my sob story and go on reminiscing about Terry and John, the groom, the grown-up junior higher that Terry first met when he was working with the youth in Chicago while he was at Moody.

I really like and look up to my husband so I'm going to go through his and John's history. Also b/c this is my therapy since I can't be there. And also, b/c my history intersected with Terry's and so John and the whole Lakeside crew became quite dear to me. They love him there. I just get to bask in the reflected love of Lakeside for Terry and so I love them too! So, rewind.

Terry first got involved with this church, Lakeside, b/c he knew the pastor from his first year in college, back in 97-98. At that time he was attending his freshman year at Ozark Christian College. He started going to the only E-Free church there and met the pastor, Stan, and became good friends with him and his family of 7 children. Stan was instrumental in getting Terry to transfer to the Moody Bible Institute the spring semester of 1999, which he did after a semester off at home. And the funny thing was that Stan moved to Chicago at the same time to pastor Lakeside Church. So Terry went to church at Lakeside with Stan.

So once at Moody, Terry chose to fulfill his PCM (Practical Christian Ministry) at Lakeside. And that's where he met John.

Terry taught John's junior high Sunday school class. How cute are both of them?!

Terry worked with Lakeside the entire length of his time in Chicago. He didn't leave until he had to - we were engaged and so he came home in 2003. But even then, we came back lots.

So in the summer of 2001 he attended his first Teen Camp at Lake Geneva, WI, with Lakeside. I've written about Camp before here. Lakeside and their sister church have done a Family Camp for about 60 years. Here's a photo from his first year. I didn't see any of John in Terry's photos but John's soon-to-be-wife Erin is standing to Terry's immediate left - her head is right next to his blue shoulder.

This is Terry's second year at Teen Camp in 2002. We had just started dating before he left to go there. And such was his "like" for me that he drove all the way home to SD afterwards to have more time with me. Again, I don't see John, but Erin is there in the left corner on the end of the row of girls.

2003. Terry goes back for Teen Camp again. We were engaged and I was supposed to go but was too sick with mono (thanks Terry) to make the trip. There's John and Daka, Terry's closest buddies.

I think Terry brought John and Daka home with him after camp of 2003 b/c they did all this fun stuff in the Hills that I couldn't since I was still sick with mono! The punk. They climbed Mt. Rushmore with my dad, sister and our friend Adam since my dad was still a law enforcement park ranger there. Here they are on the back of George Washington's head. No joke. Again, engaged Eva sick at home.

Then they climbed Harney Peak. Again, without me.

2004. Finally I get to go along with him! After we were married and very early pregnant with Noah (didn't even know it yet), he took me to Teen Camp to be a counselor with him. What a blast. John's got the buzzed, almost bald, head in the middle. Terry and I are at the bottom left.

Then we didn't see John again until 2008. We had gone to camp with Noah and baby Evie that summer but John wasn't able to go - something about being grown up and having to work. So since we were in MN for my gramma's funeral, we stopped and saw him. I wrote about it here. And that was the last time we saw John. Until today. Terry will see little junior high John get married. I am bummed not to be there but we agreed he needed to be there.