El Salvador

Since I won't have my phone and internet is sometimes sketchy in El Salvador, I'm putting a link to our student site, just click on "news & updates".  Jody is hoping to update every day what we are doing in El Salvador, maybe a picture or two, but I wouldn't count on it :(  There is a time change, I believe either 2 or 3 hours, and the posts will be late at night, so you may have to read them the next day!  If I'm able I will update as I can!  Thank you again for continuing to pray for our team and we look forward to sharing when we get back!!!

Today is the day

Today I'm asking for you to prepare our teams HEARTS...pray that we will be open to the Holy Spirits leading, we will be obedient to God in whatever He asks of us, we will be open to sharing our faith with others, open to new things and experiences.  That being sad to leave our loved ones for a week would be replaced with comfort and excitement in being able to go and serve!  For a few of our students this will be the first time overseas, for a few this will be the first overseas trip without a parent with them or just leaving very difficult situations at home.  Pray that we wouldn't be preoccupied with the things at home, but focused on the task at hand!  Prepare our HEARTS for the week!

1 day

Today I'm asking for CONTINUATION...as I said this is a youth mission trip.  I'm asking for a CONTINUATION of God's leading in each of our lives.  As in any trip we will come back on a high, I pray that our team will continue to stay in God's word, studying God's word, staying in church, sharing God's love with others and being an example to those around us, keep that flame going!

2 days

Today I'm asking for SAFE TRAVELS...as I said earlier this week we'll be on a plane for about 4 hours, mostly over water (yikes), traveling by bus or taxi while in El Salvador, walking around sharing with the people of El Salvador and doing daily things.  Please pray for SAFE TRAVELS for our team before and during our trip!

3 days

Today I'm asking for PEOPLE...please pray for all the PEOPLE we will come in contact with on our journey, whether it be in the airport, on a taxi, people we meet on the street in El Salvador, children we visit, people we are able to minister to, or even people we can share our trip with when we get back!  We are called to be examples, please pray that all these different things we will experience, we will be able to show God through every aspect!  As one of my new favorite songs says "put your love glasses on"-see people through God's eyes, be compassionate and soften the hearts of the PEOPLE so we can share God's love with them!  

4 days

Today I'm asking for GOOD HEALTH...a few weeks ago at camp Jack got a cold, then I got it, then Emma (and about 2/3 of our youth group) .  It was a nasty cold that finally went away for me 13 days after it started!  Most of our students ended up at the doctor with either an upper respiratory infection or sinus infection, I decided to tuff it out and let my body fight it on it's own...so I'm asking for you to pray for GOOD HEALTH for our entire team.  Keep us free of sickness before we leave and also while we are away in a foreign country!  Please pray for our tummies, that we would not end up with any icky stomach viruses or any other tummy problems ;) because we are not used to the food in El Salvador!  I'm taking lots of vitamins to hopefully get my immune system ready to kick butt on some germs :)

5 days

Today I am asking for prayer for our KIDDOS.  My parents will be here to take care of them while Jody and I are away, I am absolutely confident that they will be completely taken care of, my prayer is for our KIDDOS to understand why we are going.  My immediate thought when I heard about this trip was "I can't leave our kids in the US while we (Jody) are both gone"...I even woke up one night this week so upset about our KIDDOS feeling like we were abandoning them, but Jody reassured me that we are being an example to them, God is worth it, He has called us to be "missionaries" and if He calls us somewhere we better go!  What a step of faith we are taking in both Jody & I leaving the country while our KIDDOS stay behind!  We are being obedient to God and we can be in no safer place than in God's will!  They are super excited that Papa & Wanka will be here with them for a whole week spoiling them, so we're also hoping this will help when we leave!  Please keep in mind they have never all 4 been away from Mommy & Daddy longer than a day or so, this will be a stretch!

6 days

Today I ask for PRAYER for our trip...I sent out about 50 support letters, and included self-addressed envelopes, my main motivation for sending out the letters was to gain PRAYER support.  This trip is a HUGE step for me and I need PRAYER support, unfortunately I only received a handful of the letters back :(  I'm hoping that everyone who received a letter will remember to pray for me even if they didn't send the slip of paper back saying that they would ;)  I am also a few hundred dollars short of fully funding my trip.  Although I am a worrier by nature, I was and am confident that God will provide the money I need, so this too is a PRAYER need!  If you are reading this and are willing and able to give you can do so through our church website by clicking here.

ONE week...

from today myself, Jody, 3 adult chaperones and 9 students will be on a plane from Atlanta, Georgia to San Salvador, El Salvador.  This has been an emotional week for me already, I can't imagine what next week will hold!  Emotional, I'm sure some of you are saying "Why?"  I like schedules, organization, things that are the same, it's my personality I've been this way as long as I can remember...this will be my first trip outside the US, this will be my longest plane ride (4hours), this plane ride will be over water a large majority of the time, I am leaving my 4 babies at home (in the safe care of my parents), we are traveling to latin America where things are extremely laid back and schedules look great on paper!  Jody has told me to remember 3 things...1. Flexibility 2. Flexibility 3.Flexibility.  Me and flexibility don't get along too well, don't get me wrong since marrying Jody, having 4 kiddos, being in ministry, student ministry, I have HAD to be flexible, I'm not saying I can't or won't, it is just not "normal" for me!  Already this week I've been pushed outside my comfort zone.  God has already been teaching me so many things, revealing so many obstacles in my life, things I need to change, that have been strong holds in my life for so long, things I never realized until a few days ago!  I'm excited to be in El Salvador, to be obedient in following where God is leading me, it's the getting there that will be the hardest!  So for the next 7 days I'm asking all of you to please pray for this Mama, scared to leave her babies, scared to try something new, just scared in general, but willing :)  And for the next 7 days as we are in El Salvador...  

Graduation 2011

This past week/weekend was graduation for our seniors!!!  I teach the senior sunday school class, so this year is especially exciting and sad at the same time!  This year we had 12 seniors that graduated throughout last week (our church serves several different high schools).  Two Saturdays ago we had a dinner to honor them...

(pictured are 9 of our seniors as well as Sunday school teachers and youth pastor :)

The following Sunday morning we recognized our seniors during our 11am service.  They each wore their schools cap and gown, tassels, cords & medals (academic achievements) entered to the graduation march, were called up one by one and given a graduation gift while showing a baby picture as well as their senior picture on the screen behind them :)  What a fun way to recognize this huge accomplishment in the lives of our students!!!  

Jody was able to see 2 graduation ceremonies and see 6 of our seniors actually walk across the stage and receive their diplomas.  I was able to go to one graduation and see 2 of our students walk :)  Each graduation required a ticket, since there were so many students, tickets were very limited!  We were thankful our students were able to snag an extra ticket or two for us to go and share this special moment!!!

Forgive these pictures, I took them with my phone and it was dark both inside during the ceremony and outside!  These are the two I was able to see!

Congratulations to all our graduates, we're so proud of you!!!

Can you...

support me prayerfully as I travel to El Salvador in the next few months?  I'm halfway there financially...

Thank you to those who have already committed to praying for myself & our team and to those who have graciously donated financially!!!

Turkey Bowl & Decorating

Back in November our students (7th-12th grade) had their annual Turkey bowl, a flag football game after church around Thanksgiving!  I of course had to play-my competitive nature I guess!  Here are a few pictures I took during the game.  

We ended up with 3 1/2 teams and of course my team ended up winning the whole thing :)

I also wanted to add some pictures (not really good quality) I took of our student center back before Christmas.  Jody and I spent a few days planning, shopping, cleaning, rearranging and decorating for Christmas!  

It ended up snowing and iced over the roads the night of our Christmas party, so all the planning we did was short lived and the party ended up being cut super short so everyone could get home safe :(

Part of the room decorations were small Christmas trees.  Each Student Sunday School class was given a 3 foot pre-lit tree, construction paper, a bottle of glue, a bottle of glitter, 1 pair of scissors, pipe cleaners, popscicle sticks and were given 10 minutes to decorate their tree using only the materials given to them.  The winning tree (selected by the church secretaries) or class received a pizza party at Big Pie in The Sky :)  Here are 4 of the 6 trees (I missed a pic of 2 of the trees somehow)...

My Sunday School class didn't win, but we had fun...and the room looked awesome with all the decorations!!!

"This is what we do"...

These girls volunteered to watch our kiddos Friday night so Jody & I could attend our Sunday School Leader Christmas Party!  We had fun and it looks like they did to :)  When we got home they had made and edited this video for us on our Mac!!!

Life, In Spite of Me

Last week we had the opportunity to have a guest speaker at our Wednesday night Student bible study!  It all happened by chance, but definitely by God's timing. Kristen Jane Anderson made a fatal choice when she was just a senior in high school at the age of 17 that changed her life forever and left her in a wheel-chair for the rest of her life.  After that fatal choice this young women made a life-altering decision to make Christ her Savior.  Since then she has spoken at numerous venues not only for students, but adults as well, founded the ministry, Reaching You Ministries to help people battling depression and suicide by giving them the hope of Jesus Christ!   Just recently releasing her book, "Life, In Spite of Me: Extraordinary Hope After a Fatal Choice" and was on Oprah a few years ago sharing her story.  I really encourage you to listen to this video, her testimony!  Click here for recent statistics from SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions).  Thank you Kristen for sharing with us!!!

Fall Festival

We enjoyed so much this year's fall festival a few weeks ago!  Between Jody & I there were a lot of pictures, here's a link to all those I posted on facebook!  It's a ton easier uploading from the Mac to Facebook then each individual picture to Blogger!

Youth MiniStarz

A friend of ours sent this to Jody, so true and so funny!!!

Fall Retreat 2010

This past weekend we took our students to Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters for a Fall Retreat.  Jody had made a wager that if we got 50 students signed up to go he would shave his gotee!  Although I was rooting for the students to get 50, I did NOT want him to shave off his gotee!!!  Lucky for me (& Jody) we got 45 students!  Last week schools were out for a fall break, and it just so happens that there were a few schools that had decided to have "non-mandatory" but necessary practices which prevented some of our regular students from going!  We had a great weekend and the students LOVED Snowbird and can't wait to go back in the summer!!!  Thanks to my parents for coming to Georgia to watch our kiddos for the weekend (Friday-Sunday) so I could go without kids!!!

This was our group shot, complete with leaders!  If you want to see more pictures of the weekend, click here A, B or C...there were about 500 pics and I edited them down to 423!  A few of our students took our camera and captured the weekend from their perspective, always interesting!!!          

Water Polo

Something that is completely new for us is Water Polo.  Saturday one of our students was in a water polo tournament about 45 min away from us.  We really knew nothing about water polo, I had seen a partial game during the Olympics, but had definitely never seen a game live so we were excited to check it out and support our student!  Although we didn't understand the rules, the object of the game is to make as many goals as possible, pretty standard in any sport!  There was a lot of whistle blowing and pointing going on, players had to go in the corner, players 

wearing "funny" hats as Lizzy stated...but the kiddos and Jody & I loved it and loved cheering for "Woosta" and his team :)  Although they didn't win the tournament, we had a blast watching and trying to figure out the rules as we watched!!!  We'll have to read up so we can better understand the game for next time :)  Way to go "Woosta", you did a great job!!!

It's High School Football Time!

One thing I love about student ministry is watching all the different sporting events!!!  Our students are involved in everything from band, competitive swimming, color guard, volleyball, cross country, baseball, soccer and water polo to name a few :)  Friday we took the kiddos to our first GEORGIA high school football game.  Football here it's HUGE!  The schools here are 5A schools with artificial turf on the fields!  Everyone and I mean everyone dresses in their school colors, tailgate before games and really gets into the school spirit!  Lizzy was so excited but had no idea what a football game was or what you do at it.  She kept asking "is this the football game?" (while we were driving), "is the football game coming to our house?" :) 

We were able to use season passes which also included special parking (up close), and as we walked towards the field Lizzy started yelling and hollering with excitement!  As we took our seats Lizzy was wiggling around so much and was so pumped for the game to start she could hardly contain herself!  A vendor handed out free megaphones which the girls loved and especially yelling for their team into them towards the field.  

Jack enjoyed watching the game from Daddy's lap and did so good sitting so long!  We did bring plenty of snacks and things to keep him busy, but watching the game kept him entertained for the most part!  The girls enjoyed so much watching the football game and everything that was around them, the noise, the excitement, all the people...even when some guy teens were shirtless and painted their bellies in school colors-Lizzy kept asking why those guys were naked?!  Another highlight for the girls was watching the cheerleaders cheer for their team!  Half-time came and the band performed along with the color guard.  One of our students is on color guard so they were pumped to see her and kept yelling her name the entire performance!  The band was so large I couldn't get them all in one shot...

And here are some shots of the end of the band/color guard performance...

Our first GEORGIA high school football game was great, stay tuned for more student sporting event posts!!!

Pushed out of my comfort zone!

As many of you know I like consistency, in every area of my life...this can go either way, good or bad...

Back near the end of the spring our church began running out of sunday school space and our 11am worship service was packed!  At the time we had an 8:30am worship service, 9:45am sunday school and 11am worship service.  We didn't have the space to add additional sunday school classes, so on August 1st we started a second sunday school hour, moved our 8:30am service to 9am and our 11am service to 10:30...am I confusing you?  Basically you have the choice to attend the 9am sunday school then the 10:30am worship service or attend the 9am worship service and then the 10:30 sunday school class.  This meant that almost all of our sunday school classes split and formed "new" classes!  What a change for our church!  There are so many positive things that have come from this, namely we now have more space for visitors!  Although the kiddos and I have to be to church about an hour earlier, Jody is home to help me get the kiddos ready for church and we can ride together to church, that hasn't happened in years!!!  And even though everyone is on campus at the same time we have many parking lots to fill and it's ok if we have to park in one of the back lots to let visitors park closer!

The biggest stretch for me was teaching a sunday school class...since we had to split classes, Jody needed more sunday school teachers!  I enjoy teaching girls bible studies and in the past have taught girls sunday school (years ago) but Jody needed an additional teacher for one of the 12th grade classes, a class predominately guys, yikes...way out of my comfort zone!  I was so nervous to teach the first time!!!  With the addition of about 20 new 7th grade students, he needed another Wednesday night bible study teacher for the middle school!  Have I mentioned I feel most comfortable teaching high school girls?!  Not too many weeks in, but already God has been teaching me so many things by "pushing" me out of my comfort zone in both of these areas and I've realized it's not that scary, crazy sometimes, but not THAT scary :)  What a blessing it is to be faithful and serve!!!