Outrigger Island-Vacation Bible School

The week after CIY was VBS. (Like I said it has been crazy!) I taught a Bible class for 4 year olds-1st Grade and Jeremy was in charge of games for the older kids. Every year I get stressed out with all the preparations of planning the lessons and decorating my room. The age I teach is challenging since two classes haven't been to school and two have. I have to really adjust my lesson for each age group. This year's theme was a fun island one so I had a pool full of colored sand they got to dig in and find objects for the story. This was very popular with the littlest ones. It is priceless when you are telling the story about the Israelites crossing the Red Sea and the kids say, "Wow," when you tell them the ground was dry! Or when they gasped as I tore up the scroll that Jeremiah had written God's words on. That is why I keep teaching Bible each year.

I was very nervous going into the week about Faith going to the nursery because in general on Sunday morning she is not a fan. Pretty much 80% of the time I have had to go pick her up after five minutes. But she did great!! She stayed in the nursery the entire time each day from 8:30-11:45. I was very excited. I was also excited for Grace because this was the first year she got to attend the Preschool VBS program. She loved making crafts, playing games, and singing songs. This was also the first time she was in the closing program on Friday nights. It was so much fun going to her first program. She didn't sing but did the actions with enthusiasm. She had quite the audience as her Grammy, Papa, Aunt Jo Jo, Mark (Josie's boyfriend), and Great Grandma Holst all came to see her performance.

Grace's Big Adventure

While we were at CIY Grace stayed with Grammy & Papa (my parents). This was very difficult for me! It was the longest I have ever left her. The night before we left I was laying in bed still thinking about just packing her bag for Papa's house into my van and taking her along. But I knew this wouldn't work and I was just going to have to get through it. One of the things I did was wrap a little surprise for her along with a note for her to open each day we were gone. Little did I know just how hard it would be. Our phones were on roam in Carbondale so I had to borrow a phone from another youth sponsor to call, giving me one chancea day to talk to her. Two of the days she was sleeping and I didn't get to talk to her. Mom put her down for a nap at 3:00 p.m. and she slept till the next morning at 5:30 am!! She must of been REALLY worn out from all the fun she was having.

She got to ride a horse (My brother & his girlfriend have horses). Grammy said she was VERY brave and even wanted to lead it around. She also helped make my dad's birthday cake and made cookie bars a "surprise" for us. Grace loves to cook. She opened her gifts inlcuding a play camera, bracelets, a coloring book and crayons, a gluestick (she really love to glue!), & princess book with cd. Her Nana came to visit and brought her "num nums." (a happy meal) But her favorite thing might have been the playhouse my parents bought her and surprised her with. She loved "her" house. It was over 90 degrees but she still played in it a lot. Check out all her adventures in picture format above. (My mom is the talented person who does all of the fun collages)

CIY Move Conference

Well, it has been awhile! I have missed being able to update my blog. We have been traveling and very busy with summer so I am hoping to blog several times over the next day or so to get caught up. The beginning of our crazy schedule was a trip to CIY. On July 11th Jeremy, Faith, & I took off for Carbondale, Illinois with 32 highschool students. It was a great trip. I am always torn when there our youth trips about whether or no to go. Let me back up a little. The last couple of months I have really been doubting my effectiveness as a youth sponsor. I really love getting to know the highscool girls in my small group. But the past year has been challenging. I lost several girls from my group the previous year which I was really close to. Also, I experienced trying to juggle having a newborn and filling this role. (When Grace was born we weren't in youth ministry yet.) Trips are always a challenge because I don't leave my babies when they are still nursing so they come along. Now this sounds exciting to be a fun young mom and youth sponsor, but the reality is it is a challenge. My kids operate on a schedule and they require sleep two things that CIY doesn't exactly provide. But we figured out a plan to help me feel like I could partipate as much as possible. My best friend Ashley is the children's minister at our church and helps out with the youth too as time allows. So she went and we took turns caring for Faith and participating in the conference. I still bounced back and forth between missing being able to fully experience the conference and feeling guilty for not being super mom to Faith, but overall it worked out pretty well.

The first night of CIY I was ready to come home. Faith had been spiiting up all day and was not feeling well. I was back at the dorm for several hours while she slept and I "missed out." Satan was working on me big time, but I'm so gad I stayed. I think there are two things I really took from CIY. First, I loved the day we focused on the Holy Spirit. It was a great challenge to look at our life and decide whether we do things based on the prompting of the Holy Spirit or our own leading. I know I am often guilty of my own agenda! That night at the main session the sound of wind blowing was in the background the entire time the speaker was giving the message. At first I thought-okay that is going to be super annoying. But it actually was a great reminder of the presence of the Holy Spirit. Since we have come home every time I hear the wind I think about it. Second, my passion for ministering to the girls in my small group was renewed. I remembered why I really want to be a youth sponosor even though it is challenging as a mom of two little ones. I choose to serve in the youth ministry because I thought it was important for Jeremy and I to invest in the same place. Youth ministry is a HUGE part of his life and this makes us closer. That commitment is what kept me serving this past year. But after CIY I have a heartfelt desire to impact the girls in my small group for Christ. I found myself deeply desiring for them to make changes, to finally start reading their Bibles, etc. I'm so glad I had Ashley to watch Faith so I could lead a D-group-it really blessed me.

Here is Faith hanging out in her Pack N' Play at the dorm & snoozing on the way home from a trip to the mall. The yellow ball was a gift from a boy in the youth group. As you can see she liked it!