Pizza Party!

Tonight was our last night of our "summer" youth group program! During the summer, we focus more on giving the kids a fun, safe place to goof around... including lake days, water games, root beer float nights, outdoor olympics... fun things like that to invite friends to!! And since school starts tomorrow, we decided to treat the kids and walk downtown to Westside Pizza for a little pizza party! The kids enjoyed it... and so did the leaders!! Haha!!! They have the BEST pizza!!!

The pics may all look the same, but trust me, they're all different... and equally funny in my eyes, so I had to post them all! Haha!!

But anyway, next week we're back to business, getting into the swing of another school year!! It's going to be a busy year, with numerous activities already scheduled on the youth calendar, we're starting small groups, plus we've got kids in football, band, and choir, so Chris and I will be just as busy with attending their extracurricular activities!! Not to mention, having a new addition to our family... it will be interesting to see how God works it all out!! We're also super excited to have James K. join us as another leader this year, which is such an answer to prayer!!! And we're still praying for another female leader!! :-) We're so excited for this year... and it will have to be all God making it happen... because there's no way Chris and I can do it on our own strength!!! But God is good... and we can't wait to see how He works in the lives of our kids and us this year!!!

5th Sunday!

Every time a 5th Sunday falls on the calendar, our youth group takes over the worship service! The kids greet at the doors, pass out bulletins, lead worship, give announcements, run the sound/tech desk, take offering... they do it all! And it's always SO much fun to see them participating, and the congregation LOVES seeing them up there! Chris also put together a video from some of the summer camp pictures and the kids came up and spoke about their experiences... it was a great Sunday!! And we ROCKED the worship time!! We had that stage filled!!! We had kids on the keyboard, flute, guitar, singing... and then leaders on the guitar, bass and drums!! It was awesome!!!! Wish it could be like that every Sunday!!! :-)

We got a lot of great comments after church, and everyone really seemed to enjoy the service! After church, we headed out to eat with Jack, Barbara, Jon and his 2 friends, Chris & Sam. They were in town, after a 4 day hike, climbing Mt. Olympus. Why my husband can't take a normal picture, I don't know. But Jon seems to be the same way... he was hiding for quite some time before peaking out around Sam. It must be in their blood. Punks.

Middle School Camp

Who wouldn't want youth pastors like these 2 fine gentlemen! :-)

Last camp of the summer!! And thankfully, it was held a little closer to town! Middle School Camp was held out at Camp David Jr. (where we have our family camp each Memorial Day weekend!) We only had 1 middle school boy attend, and Chris was in charge of games... so he went out, but I stayed in town. I didn't enjoy staying at the house by myself at night, but it was nice to be able to drive out during the day and take part in camp! I ended up going out on Tuesday and Wednesday and was able to watch the games, hang out at free time and take in the evening sessions.

Thad and Chris were introducing the days games... and what better way than in tie-dyed XXL onesies!! And just like high school camp, every game is better when it involves a slip-n-slide... so Chris demonstrated...

Daniel getting ready for the slide of his life!

Chris and Daniel took the canoe out for a bit during free time... the weather was GREAT all week long!!

Chris said he'd jump in if the girls did...

Elizabeth didn't make the first jump... and got scolded.

But she did make the plunge and actually swam to the other dock... which is more than Rachel and Chris did!

This is what I did... sat in my chair and worked on my tan. Well, Tuesday I got burned... Wednesday was a little chilly... for which, I'm sure, my skin was thankful!!

FBY Yard Game Olympics

For this week's youth group, we met at a local field and had some yard game olympics!! Events included Badmitton, Croquet, Bocce Ball and our own rendition of horseshoes, using frisbees and trash cans!!

Chris and I are so thankful for answered prayers and the need for additional leaders!! The day before summer camp, Chris got a text from James, someone from church, wanting to know if we needed any help! He was able to come to Bellingham with us, and was a great help to Chris, since he was busy leading games and such... and James was available to play and bond with the kids!! We were very excited when James agreed to keep helping with youth group for the year, including helping Chris lead small groups AND he plays the drums!! Woo hoo!!! Thank you Jesus!!