A Thorn Among Roses

our hs winter retreat was this weekend up at lake ann, michigan and was it a great time! theme: pause. hmmmm...sound familiar? so pausing with high school students looks a little different than you might expect... but it's still pausing. and what i know for sure, is that god works even in the different!! tubing...on a hill that is almost pure ice and really fast. pausing. spending time without your own parents but with your adult leaders who rock your face off {embellished a little}...pause! visiting the emergency room for a head and neck injury from tubing on the icy hill with your numero uno adult leader....pause! and just when you think the weekend is over and you are totally on your way home with two tour buses full of almost 100 kids...god says, "no seriously! i totally meant pause!" and when we don't listen, we see a lot of this...anti freeze...from the bus. ooops! when we saw our totally faithful driver, dave, making a phone call from the side of the highw...

i love my bible study group of girlies!!! they are awesome for a number of reasons... they are fun {which is so important in life} beautiful and even pensive when they need to be... they laugh at themselves {another super valuable lesson in life} and they are down right supportive, loving and awesome!!!! they love jesus with all their hearts... they are trying to do the right thing in a world that is full of temptations... and they are doing it together!!! so i'm paying tribute today to girlies in high school who take a stand for their faith ...who don't just allow others to form who they are. they are formed by who they worship and who they serve . high school girls need {NEED and DESIRE} loving support from adults. we all do, actually. pray for our teens...and if you can serve them, do it...and remember, tell them how awesome they are. they hear it sooooo little. and mentor...mentor when and if you can...in any way. you never know what affect you will have on someone...

remember that boy in 3rd grade who use to tease you endlessly and pull your pony tail? well, high school kids are like that a little...when you are in ministry, at least in my experience. they rarely tell you how much they love you {although admittedly, i have some super awesome kids that do tell me} but they more so SHOW you. not with yard signs or hugs, but by tp'ing your house. so, i'm totally feeling the love...ryan, not so much! and they did a pretty good job, at least at the bottom. and they left me a little clue...the kids from big stuf def did the tp'ing. the orange bandana...hmmm. and i ponder a little more. i wore an exact replica of this bandana on our panama city trip... the orange was symbolic for us leaders as molding the church {yellow} and the family {red}...orange! get it? it's awesome...read more HERE . and look at the joy on jada's face...she loved running through it. brooke, on the other hand, is more of the panic button. she's runnin...

on vacation...well, if you call 60 high school students and 8 adults "vacation". remember when summer camp meant cabins in the mosquito infested woods with no electricity and a walk to the shower house in the middle of the night for a potty? no more... big stuf 09 is on the beach...yes, i said beach. panama city beach to be exact and well, god works on the beach too...and the kids like it better than the woods. {it's also easier to get leaders to go to the beach!} i love this opportunity...and thank god for working in and thru this ministry. so say a prayer for us...and the kids, too...just kidding!! {and yes, that really is my foot and flip flop...love them} big stuf ...here we come!!!!

i am a scheduler...i'm type a. i'm anal. i like order. i like things in straight lines and i hate clutter. i love schedules...except this one. yep, the dreaded high school schedule came in the mail. how did that happen? i mean, how did my piggy {she was sweet and cute and pink with a pug nose as a baby...get over it!} get to be in high school? she beautiful and smart...a lover of jesus and people...a softball player and a good friend and an uber fantastic daughter. wow...i'm really lucky. and old. i distinctly remember thinking in high school that i would never be as old as my parents...reality? are you there? yep. here's the check. and the balance. watch out world, my paige is a champion...in way more ways than softball! {and don't forget to get in on the tuesday blog party raising money for pediatric cancer research in honor of tuesday whitt...look at my giveaways below}