"Oh, just so you know, this jersey isn't from my boyfriend cause I don't have a boyfriend."

 Two years I got to lead a bible study for a group of 8th grade girls. Many of them had been my students the year before and I was so excited to get the opportunity to lead them. We would meet every other week at the Devoe's house before school started. We didn't have Young Life yet but I was dreaming that these would be my first YL girls in HSE.

Last year I was asked to lead a new group of 8th grade girls through Julia Dewolf. I met with these girls  every other Wednesday and read through the book Love Does by Bob Goff. I loved getting to know these girls better and see their idea of faith dramatically change through our conversations, reading this book and living it out.

My old bible study girls are all in HS now but I've got two new groups that I've been asked to lead. Because we meet every other week I'll see a different group of girls each Friday as we read through Love Does together. This morning I met with Maddie's group of friends for the first time. I'm pumped to get to know this large group of girls better. Some are current students, siblings of YL kids and new Wyld Life girls. They already are so excited and I know I'm lucky to get to work with them.

Tonight I got to be a Young Life leader with my friend Hannah Blachly. She was back from Purdue for the night and we got to hang out. Dinner at Chipotle and then we drove over to Zionsville where HSE was playing. Honestly, being a YL leader is really weird sometimes. Hannah and I just showed up in hopes that we would get to see some of our girls but after not hearing back from any of them this week didn't have high hopes. But God is good and the night turned out far better than I expected.

We ran into Amanda and Courtney, two Zionsville CILT girls, in the parking lot and we all walked in together. It was so fun to see them after being here just a week ago. Hannah and I walked over to the HSE side and though there was only a row of screaming students we spotted Sophie VanO right away. Soph is awesome and the sister of one of Hannah's best friends at Purdue. We know about half of the cheerleaders too and it was fun to see them stunting and cheering.

Then we saw my girl Olivia Kegley on the field. She came over to see us and we got to hang out for the rest of the first half. I love Liv and am always so excited to see her. Just being around you makes you happier. This girl treats everyone with kindness no matter what and always finds the positive in every situation.

At half time the cheerleaders are free so we actually got to talk to Haleigh, Hannah, Butler and Kunk-- these girls all went to camp with us this past summer and were in Hannah and my cabin.

It was getting cold by this time and the girls were extra hyper and it was just really fun laughing and taking pictures and hearing their weird noises.

Sometimes being a YL leader is weird. But sometimes, a lot of times, being a YL leader is just awesome. I'm thankful for these girls and getting to show up in their lives.

Hannah and I crossed over to the Zionsville side of the field to find more of my Camp Tecumseh kids. I was here with them last week so some of them were surprised to see me back so soon. Thankfully it wasn't too hard to find them in the stands. This week I got to see Julia Plant, Tay Hof, Colleen and Annie, Claire and Kiley, Amanda and Courtney, Anna Firmani and Mackenzie, Lauren, Will, Justin and C-Rich. So many Tecumseh kids.

It was totally worth it to drive over to Zionsville tonight to see all these YL and camp kids. Annie cracks me up, Julia is beyond precious and Hannah is my favorite partner in crime for walking into a student section or sharing a funnel cake.