Awana Ceremony

On Saturday it was Max’s turn to attend his year-end ceremony.  He earned the Alpha award for T&T, which means he completed the first book and memorized 90 verses.  Plus he participated in a verse-a-thon event and raised money for an Awana club in Venezuela.  Our kids did an amazing job raising funds as a [...]

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Liberties

My friend Brittany is getting married and I offered to address her invitations, which is something I love to do. Brittany is a super cool girl.  I used to be her jr. high leader so I can vouch for her coolness.  Also, since she graduated college, she became even more of a rock star because [...]

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Soul Surfer

For a youth worker, there’s nothing better than an inspiring true story.  The testimony of a real-life hero to share in conversation with students.  Someone who authentically lived out their faith and held on, no matter what.  And if it’s a guy or girl their age? Let that story shine. We have been given such [...]

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The 80′s Called

And they want this back. Our jr high group had its annual themed progressive dinner on Saturday night.  Actually it was a regressive dinner where we started with dessert at our pastor’s house, drove our group of nearly 30 totally awesome teens to the next house for the main course, and finished at another for [...]

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Deep Thoughts After the Retreat

The retreat – the one where I spent three days with 20 middle schoolers – was incredibly tiring.  But really awesome too.  There are times when I picture myself as a jr. high leader until I’m 84 years old because I love it so much.  I laugh so hard with them.  I care so much [...]

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Salt Sunday

I was a proud mom as well as a proud youth worker on Sunday.  Our church designated last week as Salt Sunday and after a short time of worship, we broke up into groups and headed out into the community to roll up our sleeves and volunteer. In Salt Sundays past I’ve visited a nursing [...]

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Sorry, Didn’t We Say We Were Tired?

Had an amazing weekend at this Student Conference in Virginia.  One of our own was picked out of the audience by the Skit Guys, which is always a bonus for any youth group.  It’s happened to us three years in a row.  Ethan (pictured below) was hilarious with his sound effects.  Jim, our long-time friend [...]

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My Valentines

C’mere, gimme a kiss How ’bout pop pop? (Her exact words) Sure thing, Love Bug It was a day filled with love. Mike and I unfortunately don’t get to spend much time together on Sundays – his busiest day of the week – but we had sandwiches for lunch and he brought home a couple [...]

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Talking to Students about Haiti

I heard our high school students had a great discussion about the devastation in Haiti.  They asked the questions everyone wants to know about why God allows these things to happen.  Just thought I’d share something that Mike wrote this week in response.  Keep praying for Haiti! In light of the earthquake in Haiti, we [...]

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Coming Back Into My Real World

Maybe I’m getting too old for junior high.  Perhaps I can’t enter and exit two different caffeinated worlds with the ease I used to take for granted.  But doing what I needed to do in planning my part (light on the planning, heavy on the procrastinating) and making sure my kids got more to eat [...]

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