Pe-cans, Pwam and Illegal Swings

Julia, Kaelyn and I ate dinner together at HTC Friday night. We ran into a ton of sevies, Julia found the biggest pine cone we've ever seen and our friend Samone sat down with us for awhile. It felt like summer and the place was packed with people obviously glad it was the start of the weekend.

 

More of our friends met up with us back at my apartment to collage together. At Campaigners earlier this week we had talked about crafts and decided we wanted to create together. With magazines spread around us and glue on our fingers, we listened to music and talked for hours. We had birthday cinnamon rolls for Maddy's upcoming birthday too.

 

Tonight was time well spent with Morgan, Julia, Maddy, Kara, Kaelyn and Molly. For these four hours we were so concentrated on what we were doing that no one was checking their phones. These girls are the kind that lift one another up and don't jokingly say mean things. They're not all best friends which made this time together even more sweet-- old and new friends all thrown together.

Saturday morning I met Kenzie, Courtney, Anna and Amanda for breakfast. Over Pecan Pancakes, bacon, potatoes and coffee we laughed and caught up. I love hearing their highs and lows of life, talking about SB memories and Prom coming up. These four are so sweet and I want to keep staying in touch with them even with our busy lives.

Next to my desk I have post-it note reminder that says, "Community is more than just fitting someone into your schedule." I want to remember that so that in my interactions with people I'm really seeing them and asking questions, not just checking something off my schedule. What's the point of seeing all these people if we're not building community?

Saturday afternoon we met for our monthly leadership meeting at Ryan and Lauren's house. Not everyone can always make it but today we had Kocher, Abby, Jackie, KCraig, Jeanette and new leaders Angelee and Steve. We did our introductions in a way I learned from Jenna Perkins. Rather than having KCraig tell us a few things about herself, the rest of us shouted out bits of info about her from "she loves everything about the Duggars" to "her passion leads what she does like empowering kids to help build a library in Ethiopia this year." I love that we have a team who knows one another and can illuminate what makes each person special.

HSE went to Prom Saturday night and KCraig and I got to visit a handful of our YL kids at their pictures. First we went to see Natty B who looked gorgeous in her red dress. We took pics of Nat and her date Corey and her brother Graham and his date Sarah.

Next we went to the Hawthorne's Country Club to see more of our kids. The first thing we spotted was the mob of parent paparazzi. They were one of our favorite parts of the whole thing.

We got pictures with Madi (her dress is SO cool) and Jacob, then with Kylie and Chad. We love these four and were glad that we could see them all dressed up today.

Then we screamed for, "EVERYONE YOUNG LIFE" to come over and we were joined by Brannt and Max. They clean up nice don't they?

Chad's sister Kendal was at pics with her friends Ashley and Chloe. KCraig and I went to eat dinner with those three, all Wyld Life girls, at the Hawthorne's restaurant for dinner. This country club is for members only so as guests it's so fun to recognize half of the people walking in because they all live in this neighborhood. We talked to Klink, another group of 8th grade girls and then the whole Halkyard family.

Sunday while Julia's family went to Jack's baseball tourney she got to hang out with me. We went to church at Northview, ate lunch outside in the sun, crafted while I made her watch The Baby-Sitters Club, got slushies and went on a walk.

I love hanging out and adventuring with Julia. She has such a beautiful heart, deep integrity, oozing joy and fierce love. This girl has fun no matter what we're doing and is consistently positive. Today felt so much like summer and we couldn't help but talk about everything good we're anticipating. We'll both be at Tecumseh and Young Life camp this summer and can hardly wait.

Julia introduced me to Andy Grammar's new song Back Home and we're predicting it's going to be really big. This will be one of my songs of the summer. "We won't forget where we came from, the city can't change us, we beat to the same drum." You'll love it and maybe start dancing.

This was a great weekend of fun and friends and community. I'm all about overlapping with all sorts of friends and spending time doing things that bring more color and more life to this world.