What a weekend

Did you ever have those moments where you look around and are just LOVING the moment? I have to say that this weekend was filled with those moments. Friday night our high school team finally beat Steel-High 14-13 in one of the most incredible football games I have ever seen. We were certainly there at the high school to welcome home the "boys", the cheerleaders, and the band. We were just so happy for those MHS Indians! Saturday morning as I got up to head to a meeting I can't say I was having one of those moments, but once I got to Milton and started connecting with some women there I was living in that moment. Saturday night we watched as people laughed, ate, and just had a great time of fellowship at our spaghetti dinner and pie auction. It was one of those moments where I was just thrilled to see our people having a great time together on a Saturday night (haha, and we weren't all at Wal-Mart!) Sunday afternoon we finally got a hayride to fit into our crazy schedules and it was soooooooooooooooo fun. Here are some pictures.

The girls!

And look at those guys!

The whole group...I'm so blessed to be their youth pastor!

And of course we have to make sure that everyone sees that I made sure to match the hat and sweatshirt. Of course my black gloves didn't match, but I don't have TN Vols gloves yet...haha!

You never know what you'll find!

My sister-in-law and niece said that they found these on the photographer's website! How cool! We had these pictures taken just about a year ago! We had so much fun that day. The whole crew!

Gumma/Grandma and Gumpa/Pa with the grandkids!

My bro and his family!

Marky D and me...this was my favorite one of us.

My oldest brother and his family

Me and my brothers!!!!!

The kids and spouses

I can't wait to blog!

I've been without a computer all weekend! AHHH! I wanted to blog so many times while we were away, but I guess I'll just have to try to remember it all and as quick as possible since I have a board meeting at church tonight. I should get a few things done before it too. Oh well, so here's a quick review of the weekend.

Friday - Mark and I spent over 13 hours working on Wesleyan Women stuff for the 2010 retreat. Then we were absolute fools and went to the football game in the ugly cold rainy weather. It was our homecoming though and we WON! 9-7! Got home and packed for the weekend.

Saturday - up at 4:30AM to get things together to leave for the Wesleyan Women Oasis. Left the house by about 6AM. Spent about 3 hours at the Oasis and then headed to an old favorite hangout to meet up with some friends. Talked to the girls for about an hour and then did some shopping. Saturday night we watched our nephew on MTV Made - sooooooooooo cool to see him on TV! Way to go Anthony!

Sunday - AMAZING! Went to Jersey City First Wesleyan Church and had an awesome time. It was so different than what we usually experience on a Sunday! Haha, we didn't get out of church until after 1PM! Of course it didn't start until 11AM...or a little after, but still. After church we drove like 5 minutes to Liberty State Park and saw the Statue of Liberty. We're already making plans for our JCFW friends to take us into the city! Can't wait! After that we just weren't quite ready to come home so we decided to go from one extreme to the other and found a cute hotel to stay at in Lancaster.

Today - shopping at the outlets and home.

Whew and now work and laundry are staring at me...YUCK! Oh well, it was such an amazing weekend with my awesome husband. Thanks for a great adventure!

10 hours for this?

I don't really know how long it took me to make this simple video, but it sure felt like it took a LONG time! I still need to make copies of it, print off about 100 more pamphlets, and make up over 20 retreat packets for Saturday. But every time I watch this video I remember why I love women's ministry! And why it's worth 100+ hours if that's what it takes to help minister to hurting women.

They make me so proud

I've had a few moments this past week when I just stop and realize how proud I am to be an aunt and youth pastor to so many wonderful growing kids and teens! Last Thursday night at our Secret Sister banquet one of the young adults in our group got pie in her face...who did it? Only the wonderful masterminds of two of our teens! I was so proud at that moment that I just wanted to nearly cry. Then there was Friday night...how could I not be proud of this?

I couldn't let them have all the fun without me!



This is the best way to celebrate someone's birthday!

My brother and his wife

My sister-in-law and her husband...haha...Happy Birthday to my big brother Bob!

I am so blessed to have such an amazing husband!

And on to a more serious proud moment: Saturday night we went to a football game and it was a PERFECT night for some yummy hot chocolate. The only bad thing - the lines were insane (thanks to the bands having their breaks during the 3rd quarter). I was going to "pretend" to be the aunt of one of the band members and sneak in line with her, but decided not to. While I'm sitting there watching a great game that awesome Undefeated Teen hands me a cup of wonderful hot chocolate. I know her parents were proud of her thoughtfulness, and I gotta say that I'm proud to say she's part of the youth group at our church!

So in so many ways these crazy kids and teens really do make me VERY proud!

My first day of school...

As a substitute was yesterday! Yup, called me in for high school science. I wonder if it scared them when I laughed at their request for me to come in for high school science? I was so nervous as I walked up to that high school (even though I tried to look as calm and cool as possible all dressed up and sporting my ever so cool Panera travel mug). I went right into the office and confessed that I was shaking with nerves. I said, "My word, I'm a youth pastor, I work with teens all the time, but this is freaking me out! High school science, really?" Wow, what an experience! I can't wait to go back. I loved it. Totally loved it. The students could not pronounce my last name. One thought that it was a good boxer's last name. My poor niece wanted so badly to call me by my first name and that's how I almost started to introduce myself, but oh well...it's a learning process. So, I wonder what school adventure is next? haha!

Teaching them young

I'm not positive on what my little friend was doing here, but I thought we'd go with the image and I'd copy her! I like to think that she's praying and that we're doing a great job of teaching the Undefeated Kids at a young age to pray.