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!