'tis the season...

... to stuff your face! :)

We had our youth group Christmas parties this past weekend. The high school youth group party was on saturday night at our house. Not our most fun party ever, but it was good. it was a little more chill than usual and a good opportunity to hang out with the kids. the leaders came over early to decorate our house and make cookies for the party. again, LOVE watching their leadership develop. they amaze me. sometimes i wish i was as wise as they are when i was a teenager.

decorating cookies around the table at the high school youth group party

the spread

eric and me at the party

middle school party white elephant

decorating cookies at the middle school party

the middle schoolers got all hyped up on sugar and went crazy. it was awesome! they stuffed their faces and then ran around the yard screaming and playing. i've never seen them like that. parents reported fast talking and hard crashing in the car on the way home. i call that success. :)

youth group meetings are over for 2009. it's a little hard to look back and consider if you've taught them everything you were meant to teach them. it is exciting to look forward, though, and think about the next year. each semester is different out here. some families leave and others return and some are new altogether. i've said goodbye to a few students and am looking forward to seeing others again. and there are some older siblings returning for the holidays that i'm really looking forward to seeing. some i haven't seen in years. it's just another reminder to make every day count.

i'm also looking forward to camp bluesky 2010. i'm headed back to the States in a month or so to recruit counselors and have a staff retreat. our camp staff team isn't very big as of yet. please pray that God would bring the right people to serve at camp this summer. and if you know of any cool college students, send them my way!

i'm still working on my Stateside schedule and will let you all know very soon!

thanks for reading about me!