the sun actually came out today! most of us saw sunrise because we stayed up all night. caroline, christina, jessie, andy, and shaun took a sunrise plunge in the ocean which was short lived due to cold water. after a little rest the whole crew ended up in the water and on the beach. great time!
this afternoon most of us went jet skiing. chad and mike decided that sitting on the ski was too easy so they fell off. since the guy remembered me he gave us a discount and said he would give it to us every time we came. we also got a free ride on the banana boat so that a guy could be trained on how to ride it.
the houses for next year are reserved. tomorrow is our last full day here. rib night is tomorrow and we will finally get to the putt-putt place. for anyone reading, you've missed a lot of fun. looking forward to a huge crowd down here next year.
time to look at fil's pictures on the tv. peace.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Beach Trip Going Well
sorry for not having updated before now. my phone can't access this blog so i had to borrow andrew's computer. we just reserved our houses for next year. with our large 8th grade class we actually have reserved 1 full house (both sides) and another half. jessica has already assigned everyone a bedroom.
these boys eat like no other. we have gone through so much food already! thank goodness we are eating out tonight. the first night mike cooked chicken and pasta with bruschetta and sauteed squash. last night the girls cooked tacos with mexican rice and beans. one thing is safe to say, we will not have to worry about bringing leftovers home.
the weather hasn't been the best but we've still been out playing a lot. we hope that tomorrow we will get clear skies. tomorrow afternoon we will go jet skiing and since we got rained out of putt-putt last night we may go either tonight, tomorrow, or friday. a few have gotten burnt.
will post later. battery is running out.
these boys eat like no other. we have gone through so much food already! thank goodness we are eating out tonight. the first night mike cooked chicken and pasta with bruschetta and sauteed squash. last night the girls cooked tacos with mexican rice and beans. one thing is safe to say, we will not have to worry about bringing leftovers home.
the weather hasn't been the best but we've still been out playing a lot. we hope that tomorrow we will get clear skies. tomorrow afternoon we will go jet skiing and since we got rained out of putt-putt last night we may go either tonight, tomorrow, or friday. a few have gotten burnt.
will post later. battery is running out.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Under the bridge
Last night 6 kids and 3 adults went down to join the Lost Sheep Ministry crew feed the homeless of Knoxville. I wish more kids had gone but I am very proud of the ones who did go. It was really cold and windy. The snow even started blowing under the bridge by the time we were cleaning up. One mother was there with her 10 1/2 month old baby. Another child about 2 years old was being carried around. The generator did not work so there was very limited lighting. In a barely lit area under a bridge in Knoxville, the 9 of us preached the gospel. Not with words but with actions. One lady told me she would be in a tent for the night. Others simply said they would find a place that blocked the wind. As we thawed out in the van on the way home we all were humbled thinking about what we were going home to.
High School Retreat
The high school retreat last weekend was completely flipped fromt he middle school one. We had 8 guys and 4 girls and 4 adults. The group was mostly young but we had a great time. We focused on priorities wit hthis group as well. Instead of going ice skating, we spent some time at the acquarium before walking around in downtown Gatlinburg. I feel like I have started a rook training school. We continue to get more that know how to play which is great as soon as they know how to play well. Taboo was very interesting. I realized how old I was when some of the clues I gave just got blank looks. I can't believe we went through almost the entire box of words. The raccoon didn't come back but we did have wasps to keep us entertained. I wish we would have known they were there before Marc stepped on one. For some reason, this retreat wasn't as loud as the one with the Middle Schoolers. Wonder why that is? Retreat season is over for another winter. Retreats are great. Spending time together away from all the distractions is great. How are we going to deal with 25 high schoolers next year? Got any suggestions?
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Honesty
70% of teenagers claim to have cheated on a test. 69% of Christian teenagers claim to have cheated on a test. 92% of teens admit to having lied to their parents. Why is it so hard for teenagers (and adults too) to be completely honest? This was the topic of our discussion last night in Bible Study. Honesty is always the best policy but not always the easiest one.
We finally played the game that I had set up last week. 90 balloons with letters in them. First the relay portion where the teams got the balloons one at a time. Then they took the letters that were in them and had to make words in order to score points. It was quite amusing to watch the kids fight over the balloons and then think hard about words worth the most points.
Oh yeah, we started out with a challenge from a couple of my former youth to go on the mission trip this summer. They wrote of how much the trip meant to them. We had a good many questions asked and answered. I'm ready for the mission trip now! I think a good many of the kids are too!
We finally played the game that I had set up last week. 90 balloons with letters in them. First the relay portion where the teams got the balloons one at a time. Then they took the letters that were in them and had to make words in order to score points. It was quite amusing to watch the kids fight over the balloons and then think hard about words worth the most points.
Oh yeah, we started out with a challenge from a couple of my former youth to go on the mission trip this summer. They wrote of how much the trip meant to them. We had a good many questions asked and answered. I'm ready for the mission trip now! I think a good many of the kids are too!
Monday, January 25, 2010
Middle School Retreat Report
Not having wifi in the cabin was no fun because I couldn't blog during the retreat but here's a wrap-up of some of the events of this past weekend.
We had 13 youth and 5 adults. We were supposed to have one more youth but she was sick and couldn't go. Jon, David, and I braved the trip as the only males with 15 females. Needless to say it was a very high-pitched retreat. There are a couple of our lovely young ladies who enjoy screaming way too much.
On Friday we had possibly the smoothest travel and check-in of any retreats that I have been on. We definitely did a good thing in moving the weekend away from Presidents Day. We actually had dinner ready right on time and for the first time ever we ran out of spaghetti noodles. A couple of us enjoyed Steph's great sauce with the assistance of our garlic bread. After discussion session #1 we digressed into random play time. When you put 8 or so people in a hot tub meant for 4-6 it overflows a bit. The first floor deck was showered by the participants in the second floor hot tub extravaganza. When we got around to watching a movie (Mean Girls) we had 9 people on the pull-out sofa. Poor thing is a little bent now :)
On Saturday we were giving the kids a chance to sleep in. There was nothing scheduled until lunch. Steph however wanted to take pictures of everyone sleeping so at 8:30 it was my turn to be photographed. As I woke up a steady stream of kids ended up in my bedroom and even a couple in bed with me. Silly me. I had set my alarm for 10:00. I thought going to bed at 4 meant sleeping in a little. Ice skating was quite amusing. Needless to say we will not be participating in the winter olympics speed skating events. Our trip to downtown Gatlinburg was fairly uneventful. We went to our normal spot for our group picture and returned home. After group discussion #2 we ate dinner. Boy did we eat. We definitely did not run out of anything. Discussion #3 was excellent as were the others. If you want to know what we talked about ask the kids as we are doing the same thing with the high schoolers and I don't want to spoil it for them. We had a little visitor Saturday night. Our little raccoon was quite friendly as he hung out for a while. I think the screams got the best of him because he disappeared after a while. Since there was basically no water left in the second floor hot tub we ended up with 9 people in the first floor hot tub. Poor thing didn't have any left in it either.
Sunday was tough to get up. We were able to leave the cabin at 9:05 and get back to church in time to unload and take a quick breath before the service.
Julie, Jami and I have now been on 4 winter retreats together and Jessica has been on 3. Steph was initiated into the club as she was on her first. The chaperones were great and the kids were too. I have left out many many of the stories. You are welcome to add them via comment if you want. We all came back tired but I think we also came back having grown together.
We had 13 youth and 5 adults. We were supposed to have one more youth but she was sick and couldn't go. Jon, David, and I braved the trip as the only males with 15 females. Needless to say it was a very high-pitched retreat. There are a couple of our lovely young ladies who enjoy screaming way too much.
On Friday we had possibly the smoothest travel and check-in of any retreats that I have been on. We definitely did a good thing in moving the weekend away from Presidents Day. We actually had dinner ready right on time and for the first time ever we ran out of spaghetti noodles. A couple of us enjoyed Steph's great sauce with the assistance of our garlic bread. After discussion session #1 we digressed into random play time. When you put 8 or so people in a hot tub meant for 4-6 it overflows a bit. The first floor deck was showered by the participants in the second floor hot tub extravaganza. When we got around to watching a movie (Mean Girls) we had 9 people on the pull-out sofa. Poor thing is a little bent now :)
On Saturday we were giving the kids a chance to sleep in. There was nothing scheduled until lunch. Steph however wanted to take pictures of everyone sleeping so at 8:30 it was my turn to be photographed. As I woke up a steady stream of kids ended up in my bedroom and even a couple in bed with me. Silly me. I had set my alarm for 10:00. I thought going to bed at 4 meant sleeping in a little. Ice skating was quite amusing. Needless to say we will not be participating in the winter olympics speed skating events. Our trip to downtown Gatlinburg was fairly uneventful. We went to our normal spot for our group picture and returned home. After group discussion #2 we ate dinner. Boy did we eat. We definitely did not run out of anything. Discussion #3 was excellent as were the others. If you want to know what we talked about ask the kids as we are doing the same thing with the high schoolers and I don't want to spoil it for them. We had a little visitor Saturday night. Our little raccoon was quite friendly as he hung out for a while. I think the screams got the best of him because he disappeared after a while. Since there was basically no water left in the second floor hot tub we ended up with 9 people in the first floor hot tub. Poor thing didn't have any left in it either.
Sunday was tough to get up. We were able to leave the cabin at 9:05 and get back to church in time to unload and take a quick breath before the service.
Julie, Jami and I have now been on 4 winter retreats together and Jessica has been on 3. Steph was initiated into the club as she was on her first. The chaperones were great and the kids were too. I have left out many many of the stories. You are welcome to add them via comment if you want. We all came back tired but I think we also came back having grown together.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Wednesday Night Wrap-Up 1/13/10
We had a great time tonight bowling as you can see in the pictures. It was kind of frustrating that we could only have 4 lanes because it is tough bowling with 8 people per lane. We had 30 kids and 8 adults. It was a great turnout. I don't know who won but I do know that I (Brian) played horribly. We welcome Stephanie Stokes to the Youth Ministry fold! She is going to start working with us, mainly in the middle school age group. Now, do you think we can get 30 kids to show up next week when we aren't going bowling?
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