// Senior Lunch and Recital //

I had the opportunity to head up a senior lunch and recital which took place on Tuesday of this week.

I coordinated with the head of our Senior saints ministry at our church and we began to make plans. We wanted an opportunity for our youth to be able to serve our seniors. 

The seniors we have at our church are true gems. Each one of their stories is a little different, but there is something to learn from all of them!! 

So on Tuesday we set up the fellowship hall for them and then the auditorium.

We served them lunch first {sorry I didn't take the time to take pictures of this part}...we kinda just let them mingle with each other for this part...

then we had the recital. 

Singing. Piano. Guitar. Violin. Cello. Trumpet.

 We also had one of the couples share their testimonies with us...

I'll end with a quote from each of them:

Don't ever tell the Lord what you don't want to do. Be willing to do whatever He wants you to do. {Mrs. Marilyn} 

The Lord always provided...ABUNDANTLY {Mr. Don} 

{What is the Difference?}

What is the difference between a youth group that is on fire for the Lord and one that is not? It's not their youth pastor,it's not their church,it's not their pastor. Let me tell you what it is. It's their relationship to the Holy Spirit of God and to the Word of God while it is being preached. 

Jerry Ross 

What I've been doING

Hello there!

I am not sure if anyone is still reading my blog since I have been pretty terrible at updating it...my sister lovingly reminded me about this today. Things have just been busy! I feel like my sisters have been posting things with something to the effect of "Step into my living room","Step into my house",etc. Well dear reader...

{Step into my life}

So much has been going on. I am not even sure where to begin!! 

Grab something to eat and drink (I am drinking chai as I write this!) and relax. You are in for a long awaited post!!!

Where do I begin. Time has been passing by so quickly.

{Schooling}

School has been going pretty good. I have had some late night learning,lately. Trying to cram school in whenever I get the chance.

{Working}

Work is going good. We always say that "Everyday is a new adventure at Chick-Fil-A" and quite honestly,it is. There is always something out of the the normal that happens at work. My boss just recently pulled me into her office to talk. I think I can now sort of relate to what it feels like to go to the principals office. Thankfully, I have a great boss and she didn't pull me aside for any bad news. On the contrary. It was good news. She told me that the Grand Opening Supervisors evaluated how I worked and recommended me to be a shift leader. So Cathy asked me if I would be willing to take on the responsibility of being a shift leader over the kitchen. We talked about it for awhile and then she told me to go home and pray about. Like I said "everyday is a new adventure at Chick-Fil-A."

{Traveling}

I just recently had the opportunity to go with 10 other people from my church to The Loving and Leading Conference at a church in Ohio. I sat in 10 workshops and 6 General sessions. I have learned so much ... from how my heart as a teacher should be to how to manage a classroom,reach the soul of a child,make Bible stories meaningful to children,have an effective Jr. church program,work as a TEAM and so much more. I think my brain is still on over load from learning all of this wonderful.Useful.Helpful information.Besides sitting in on classes I got to make lots of good memories with friends.

{Sharing}

Last Sunday night I got to sit down and share the plan of salvation with a girl from my church. She got saved after talking to another girl and directly after that I had the WONDERFUL opportunity to show her verses from the Bible and answer her questions about Salvation. I can only imagine heaven rejoicing as another child was born into the family of God. I am so thankful that I had this OPPORTUNITY. I can't believe that God would first off save ME and then let me serve HIM!! 

{Helping}

Right now I am helping a girl at our church with violin. She is preparing to play a her first piece of music that she has ever played in front of the church. It has been a joy to help and teach her with her music and see the progression that she makes weekly. Hopefully she will continue to use her talent in church in the days and years to come. The church could never have too many violinists.

{Creating}

I have been working on creating a CD cover for the CD my family and I made back in October so that it will be ready by Christmas. I am almost done with the cover,and hopefully it will all come together soon! 

{Reading} 

Shocking,I know. Right now I am reading Let Me Be a Woman by Elisabeth Elliot. An excellent book. I will just share one quote from it. "The fact that I am a woman does not make me a different kind of Christian,but the fact that I am a Christian does make me a different woman."

{Studying}

I am studying "God Created Man" right now to teach to the 1st to 4th grade kids in Junior Church. My mind has been going crazy with ideas on how to teach this...don't forget lots of visuals,mystery,and excitement!! I am excited to teach and I pray that I will present a very clear lesson.

{Playing}

I always make sure to spend some of my time playing my violin. I have about 5 different pieces that I am working on for church right now,plus some classical pieces that I am challenging myself to master...I know I will probably never be good enough to master the pieces,but it's a fun thought anyways. 

{Missing}

There is not a day that goes by that I do not miss my amazingly,wonderful,godly sisters the one in North Carolina and the other in Texas. I miss my brother-in-laws too...just not as much as I miss my sisters.There is just some unexplainable bond of love between sisters that makes being apart so hard. Like I said. Unexplainable.

{Talking}

Mainly to my sisters over the phone. While it's not the same as "Stepping into their living room" as they keep inviting me to do, and talking to them face to face. I still enjoy it. I just talked to my oldest sister this evening for the the first time in about 2 weeks. It had been way to long. 

{Sistering}

I just had to add this one. As busy as I have been I cannot forget that one of the most important roles I play in my life is being an older sister. And I try to be a fun one. Just ask my brother. We had a good time last night after church picking on each other,having fun,and talking.

I think that briefly sums up my life in a nutshell. I am sure that I am forgetting some things...everyday my "To-do" list gets longer,and it seems like the longer it gets,the less time I have in a day. One day....I will have everything done on that list.

I hope you have enjoyed stepping into my life for a little. I will try and be more faithful to blogging. I leave you with the most important thing that I have been doing and will continue to do...

{Pressing}

I am daily pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Though I fail Him regularly I am trying to do my best for Christ. Out of all things in my life I want to please my Jesus.

  But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.

Acts 20:24

{Senior Trip}

taking a rest after a long day!:)

The Tower at Governor Dicks

Last Saturday our 10th-12th graders went on a Senior Trip to Mt. Gretna.We hiked 7 miles,very slowly-making sure to make lots of memories (those of you who went will know what I mean by this!),it was quite an interesting hike and hopefully we didn't seriously injury anyone that we met along the trail!:)After we got done hiking we ate lunch and then we went to the Jigger shop.After eating at the Jigger shop we went mini-golfing and when we were done mini-golfing we went back to one of the parking lots and threw the football around and then the frisbee.To end the evening we went out to eat at Friendly's.It was a very interesting day to say the least!

Pie Video

OK,here's the video from VBS....

VBS 2012

This past week was our church's VBS.The theme was racing.It was great we had sprint cars up on the stage and everything.My jobs for the week were helping with games,holding the girls side of the bucket for the penny offering,and whatever else needed done!Well whoever won the most nights of having the most pennies(girls vs. boys) got to put a pie in the other representative's face.The representatives were Caleb and I.The girls won Monday,the boys won Tuesday,the girls Wednesday,the boys Thursday,and on Friday night you should have seen all the pennies!It was crazy!The buckets were overflowing with bricks of pennies(a brick of pennies is $25!) well the girls side actually couldn't even hold the last 2 bricks,so we sat them on top.When we let go the girls won!So outside we went for me to put the whipped cream pie in Caleb's face,I did and then he came after me and wiped it in my hair...there is a video of me putting the pie in his face so I will hopefully have that posted on here soon!The week was good all together though,I think we averaged around 40-45 kids a night.I didn't hear of anybody getting saved,but the seed was at least planted!

Camp 2012

Wow!Camp this year was a blast!The theme was The Great World Expedition,we "traveled" to a new place every day.I was on the Land Rovers,we came in dead last,but hey we had some great people on our team...= ).The teen speaker this year was Pastor Courtney Lewis,and he really drove his points home.It was a great year spiritually,and lots of decisions were made for Christ.I met lots of wonderful people this year,got to know the people from my church better,and got to reconnect with some old friends.Most all of us have decided that this year everybody at camp just 'clicked' it was like we all just got along with each other.Our days were packed here's a run down of what we did every day:

• Wake up/wash up
• Breakfast
• Cabin Clean up
• Devotion's 
• Chapel
• Cabin inspection reports 
• Free time
• Lunch
• Swimming /free time
• Big Field activity (team competition)
• supper
• Clean up for chapel
• Choir/prayer meeting
• Team competition
• Chapel
• Night activities
• Clean up
• Devotions
• Bed

As you can tell we were anything far from being bored...my favorites for the week were Chapel,Free time,and Night Activities.My friend and I were talking and were saying how this year we were so into field activities,giving 110% for our team.My favorite night had to be Wednesday when we went to the YMCA after chapel until 2 AM,that was a blast...I got to be team captain on the amazing volleyball team and I got to coach them.When we were playing volley ball I served the ball and it went right into the basket ball hoop!SCORE!!!That was pretty exciting for me and everyone else around me.Don't count on it ever happening again though! I enjoyed all the night activities though,we had a Skit Night,Night Game,YMCA,Free Time.It was fun...I can't wait until it is time for camp next year!

Teen's vs. Parent's Volleyball Tournament

This past Friday we had a volleyball tournament at church.For ten weeks we have trained and been coached for this,to play against the parents.We had an awesome Coach (who made us do some awful drills!= D),we met every Monday night,we were there working on our volleyball skills from 6PM-8:30PM.There was 12 of us,and we all worked our hardest.Well time for the tournament came we were playing best out of seven games,meaning winner would have to win 4 games or more.We started the games...the adults won the first 2 games,and then we won the next 2,and the the adults won one,and then we won one,and then we won the last one;making it adults-3,teens-4!We won!Go Strikers!We were pretty excited about it,but there's more of the story to hear,there was some motivation behind this...first our Coach told us that if we didn't win the third game (since the adults beat us in the first 2 games) that we would have to run 20 suicides,I don't know about you,but I strongly dislike doing suicides,our next motivation was that if we won the game Coach would make 11(enough for each of us,because the twelfth player couldn't make the game) whipped cream pies,one for each of us to smash in his face,and our last motivation our team captain said that if we won we could pour Gatorade all over him....another reason for the victory was the pep talks from our team captain and coach.Well the first thing we did after the win was took a minute and thanked the Lord and then some of the guys carried Coach around,then we all high-fived and  congratulated each other.Then our team captain gave us his water bottle full of grape Powerade,and true to his word,let us dump it all over him...me and another girl did it.Well I was standing there talking to someone and next thing I know my team captain came at me with cold water and dumped it all over my back....and there another person who was squirting me with water and 2 other girls (one of which was my loving sister!= D) put ice down my back...it was a very eventful night,I'm just glad I didn't get red Gatorade dumped on me like some of the other team members did...afterwards we hit the v-ball around some,and talked,and just had some great fellowship!= D
[sorry there was no pictures...= (]

Teen Activity-Mystery Dinner

This past Saturday,the 17th,we had a teen Mystery Dinner.We all had to dress-up and try and guess the theme...there were some pretty interesting costumes,I'll see if I can remember them all!Scottish,a Nurse,Slovakian,some wore St. Patrick day shirts,Leprechauns,Indian(from India),hockey player,French,Amish(some people have very creative minds!),Cowboys,Golfer,Basketball player,racer, an army soldier,and I came as a Mexican.Surprisingly I actually guessed the theme right,I wasn't really trying to,I just wore what I had!Sadly we didn't get a group picture!We had to order off a menu in a foreign language and we didn't know what we were getting-that includes utensils...it was pretty interesting to watch!Here are somethings we did,we watched a "movie" at the beginning,ate,played games,and watched skits!

skits

skits

skits

watching skits

eating

watching skits

Since I guessed the theme right I had to go upfront and kneel before "Billy-Bob" and he hit me on the head and shoulders a couple times...I got to take the maracas home too!

eating with no utensils...

One of our wonderful youth leader the Fosters

The Amish man!

Mrs. Foster

eating with no utensils

"Juan"

eating

Kristi

Our other wonderful youth leaders Bryan and Lynn

"Billy-Bob"

the Amish man again

"Pablo"

 (the pictures were taken by one of the youth leaders and a friend!)

Volleyball

This past Saturday the teens (and the  parents,as our cheerers!) from my church went to the annual Basketball/Volleyball tournament.It was a great day we had two volleyball teams and one basketball team.When we weren't playing we were cheering(or making other random noises!= )),by the end of the day I don't think any of us had a voice left!The guys placed Second in basketball.My team (team # 2) went the whole way to the second but last game and  team # 1 went undefeated all day.It came time for the championship round where they played another undefeated team,it was a close game but after a time-out and a pep talk by there great coach they got there act together becoming the champions.The minute they won my team took off,down the stairs,off the stage.We got down there and we were all congratulating them giving them high-fives.It was a great day and a great win!

team # 1

team #2

team #2

the winning team #1 (sorry this is the best picture I have!)