reunion...

Tosha with her neice Winter, Tammy's little girl. She is a cutie pie!

Tosha with Morgan Bacon. She turned 2 this past September and is starting to chatter away! A GREAT way to spend a Monday!

youth leader reunion

This past Monday I took off work to recoup from the youth retreat...I don't bounce back like I used to in HS. The blessing about that day was I was able to reconnect with Tosha, a former youth leader of the senior girls.

Tosha was back in AK visiting family for a week. Her sister Tammy had a baby girl a couple months ago and her dad recently had a bad fall at work (broken back, ribs, shoulder, etc.) so she came to spend time with them and help out.

We ended up going out to Amanda's house to surprise her and see the Bacon bits (Drew, Gavin and Morgan). We had a great time catching up a little on life before she headed to Anchorage to fly back to CO. The fun news is she may be moving back to AK this summer!

I'll add the pic later...the DSL at my new "house" is as slow as molasses! :)

wacky youth leaders

Part of our "routine" included a little competition between 2 Puddleton High dance groups. Ya like the name? Rolls off the tongue nice when you're playing a cowgirl. Anywhoo, one team was the "prep" team the other was the "hick" team...hence the hats and buck teeth. Amanda and I split ourselves between the two. For those parents out there that read this, aren't you glad we're mentoring your teens???

fall retreat...

This past Friday, Saturday and Sunday was our annual fall youth retreat down in Soldotna at Solid Rock Bible Camp. A grand finale retreat for my senior girls! A bitter sweet time to say the least. Every Saturday night at these retreats we have a big "American Idol Rock Star" talent/no talent show. It is one of the highlights of the weekend and this year we were hard pressed to not be outdone. There are prizes for best serious talent and best silly talent.

Amanda, former WHS and UAA cheerleader, coached our team on to victory! She choreographed a fun routine to "Cotton Eye Joe." We ended up being able to borrow the "fantastic in pink" dance costumes from a local high school (a free-bee off Ebay) somehow. Anywhoo, the costumes got us on the path to a cowgirl dance team with those gross fake hill billy teeth. It was FABULOUS!! We spent the better part of Friday night fine tuning our moves and routines...THANKS AMANDA!! Who knew cheerleading would still be paying off?? At the end of the dance we had a large part of the crowd up front square dancing with us. It was a riot!

GAP

GAP is a college/career age ministry at my church that was started...11 years ago (my freshman year of college) by Ella Embree. Ella had just come back to AK after college and the Lord impressed on her heart to start such a group at WBC. She talked to Larry and got the ball rolling and it's been rolling ever since.

Last night I had the opportunity to go and share with them about my trip to Africa. I shared a little background history on South Africa and then went into the ministry that the Embrees are involved in, ways we can support them and future ministry opportunities for a short-term group trip. I am so thankful for that time. It was a blessing to be able to share my trip with others, but also get a prime group excited about ministry...WHEREVER!! Young single people are often in my mind left by the wayside as far as looking for ways to plug in at church, in missions, etc. It's not to point any fingers, I've seen it ALL over the country. I'm just excited to be able to encourage a group that is so AVAILABLE and open to GO!!!

We had some great conversation and even a little Zulu quiz, much to Keeton Kroon's dismay. :) John Doak, our new adult ministry pastor is leading this group right now as they dig into the book of Job. I was excited and encouraged to see how they have grown. Someone mentioned they average 15-20 people a night...I think we started with about 5-7 back in the day Ella. God is blessing and growing this ministry!

For unknown reasons the site, connection, something is glitching right now and not letting me download pics. I'll post them when I can. :)

serving at sunrise...

Sunday morning a small group of our senior girls got up at the crack of early dark thirty (6:30 to be exact) to meet at Wallmart and go on a mini shopping spree. Why you ask did we decide to shop at such a magnificent hour? We were shopping for a service project, the Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child shoe box gifts.

Samaritan's Purse does an annual gift giving to children around the world at Christmas time and this is the month they are collected. It's a lot of fun and we decided to do it as a group this year. We (someone else on our team) thought an early morning run would be fun and different. Not being a morning person at all I wasn't completely sold on the idea but it turned out to be a blast!

We shopped, drove to my house sitting place to wrap stuff up and eat breakfast and then headed on to church. We were all talking about how amazing it is the amount of stuff you can accomplish in the wee morning hours before the rest of the world wakes up! If you're in ministry or work with kids and want to change it up a little...try an early morning adventure!

The picture is at a coffee shop warming our hands by the fake fire. Asthetically pleasing to look but lacking in warmth. :)

dance team!

Our 3 man dance team striking a pose!

back at bunko...

Last night was our November bunko bash at Laurie's house. There were some GREAT gets ups there! Sarah Coke dressed up as Pippy Longstocking...braids straight out, freckles, the whole bit. Shantel Peppard (9 mos pregnant) had a deflated, inflatable soccer ball taped around her stomach. Rachel Kroon (also 9 mos. pregnant) was a farmer. Laurie dressed in 80s attire. Another sub dressed as a gypsie. Amanda, Jenny and I dressed up as a 3 man dance team. The costumes are ones we borrowed from CHS for a routine our Sr. girls will be doing at our fall retreat next weekend.

Again, the evening was filled with much socializing, snacking, and little playing dice. After 3 rounds we called it a night. By our next bunko there will be two new babies added to the group! Blessings on you Rach and Shantel! Hang in there these final couple weeks!

I'll add a picture later. For some reason it's not letting me right now.