"I'm getting better at awkward silences!"

AP FLOCK. Or should we just call it "THE best way to spend an hour and a half on a Wednesday night"? Yeah, I think we'll go with that. Well, as always we started off with Happies and Crappies... for an hour... which somehow turned into a discussion about Aaron's college "adventures," Joe's State football ring (that is aparently also a mood ring, it has a button that says things when you push it, and it'll run out of batteries if you don't charge it with your car charger. But watch out, you might get the cords all tangled up), and the brownies that made Brian feel crappy, literally.

Then we split. Guys in the conference room, girls in Sara's office. Somehow we managed to have a somewhat deep conversation about role models despite the random discussions about Sara's friend getting engaged, going to Uncle Tom's Cabin, her friend getting stranded at an airport and ending up meeting an old lady and going to a Matt Maher concert, etc....

So our talk about role models started a little something like this:

Sara: "So somehow this lady got my name and wants me to ask you guys this question and take your picture for the cover of their publication or something."

Jane, Kenz, and me: "Okay... So what's the question?"

Sara: "Describe what you look for in a role model."

AWKWARD SILENCE >>> Staring at eachother. >>> Waiting for someone else to talk. >>> About 2 minutes go by.

Then Sara says, "You guys - I'm getting better at awkward silences!" :]

So as funny/awkward/hilarious as those few minutes were, we actuallycame up with a pretty good list of a few of our role models: Our parents, Sara Batenhorst, Andrew Rockers, Debbie and Dana Nearmyer... That awkward silence actually provided some pretty great thinkin' time... Then we (mostly Jane) came up with this idea that when we think of someone as a role model, it is because they have qualities that we admire and that we wish for ourselves to have. We see something in our role models that we want to try to work toward. These people inspire us, push us, and inspire us to be the kind of people we want to be.

And as I'm typing this listening to Matt Maher on my iPod, I think about how great of a role model he is for those who listen to his absolutely phenomenal music. But as much as he can influence my life, I don't actually know him, unfortunately. Then I think about how many fantastic people God has surrounded me with every single day, who I've grown close to and who truly are my role models. :]