Halloween Young Life Club

As per usual, I was incredibly impressed with the costumes of our YL kids tonight at Halloween Club. 

Grey's Anatomy found Meredith Grey.

My personal favorite costumes of the night:

There was no shortage of creativity and fun from this group.

Tonight's events included a trick or treat hot potato pass, anatomy mix-up, cross over mash up, Guess the Leader, mystery box and a talk from JD about faith and sacrifice.

I love Young Life and Shannon and silly costumes and weird games and spontaneous dancing and all of our leaders and real talk about Jesus and hugs from Ellie and Lucy's laugh and Monday nights together.

It's never too late.

Tonight at Young Life something amazing happened. Gidget and Fudge brought four of their Senior friends with them to YL for the very first time. Reagan, Claire, Lucy and Gracie are some of the sweetest girls you've ever met. I had them as students years ago and still see them at meets during the year, but they've never been Young Life girls. Tonight Gidget and Fudge couldn't have been  more thrilled to have them at Campaigners. It was obvious they were nervous when they arrived to the Barn, they weren't really sure what to expect. But when they left at the end of the night they told me they were so glad they came. 

It reminded me of some other friends first time at the Barn-- Abby and Ashley and Cassidy. They're all girls who didn't step foot into a Young Life event until they were Seniors. They each had friends who had been doing YL all along, but for some reason they never came. But their friends were persistent and didn't give up. Each of those girls, Abby and Ashley and Cassidy, all ended up saying that they wished they had come to YL earlier.

Two things I'm thinking about...

It's never too late. Be the person inviting. You never know when that friend will end up saying yes. They just might change their mind and join you. They just might love it. They just might say they should have come with you years ago.

It's never too late. Be the person who shows up for the first time. If you've been holding back from checking something out because you're nervous or afraid you won't fit in or you're just not sure what to expect... go for it. Be brave. Take a chance. Step outside your comfort zone. Trust your friends. You just might end up loving it. It just might end up changing your life for the good.

"My grandma made this dress for my Mom's Senior Prom." YL Goodwill Prom Club

After being suggested so many times, Goodwill Prom finally won the Twitter poll for Club. Tonight dreams came true and we threw Prom at the Barn with a red carpet, photo booth and streamers. The best part of course were the outfits. 

I found my dress at a Salvation Army in college and wore it to a formal. Justin's tux is from the wedding in Mexico we went to last Fall Break. 

Kids outfits came from their mother's closets and Goodwill-- we had quite the spectrum of attire.

We played Dance Master-- one person in the middle was trying to figure out who was in charge of changing the dance moves.

We ran around to pop balloons that were tied to our ankles...

Beesley taught us how to do the Jiffy Mixer... We'll do it again at Camp T next week...

We danced fast around the circle dance and then stopped and danced slow with the person across from us when it switched to a slow song...

Cole and Ellie were named Prom Queen and King... And Ian gave the Club Talk at the end of the night.

I'm pretty sure people would like the actual event of Prom more if all Proms were YL Proms.

College Cass, WL Paint War and other Updates

In just one week the Fall Creek Junior High 7th Grade Field Trip to Camp Tecumseh will be in full swing. WE CAN'T WAIT! Earlier this week, all 293 of our t-shirts arrived, get sorted and distributed to kids, counselors and teachers. Now we just need October 1st to arrive. 

Some of my favorite words I've found lately...

Last week a dream came true-- Justin and I hosted HS Young Life kids for the first time. Maddie, Liv, Wash, Grace, Hannah and Meric are all girls that I lead FCJH 8th graders with. They came over for Fried Rice night and an enthusiastic game of Fishbowl.  We want to have the kind of house where people always feel welcome and know they can show up unannounced.

Saturday morning we set out early to Muncie to pick up our girl College Cass to take her to Victor's for breakfast. Over pancakes and biscuits & gravy and french toast, we asked her all the questions about school and classes and friends and everything she's checking out and getting involved with. After being a constant part of each other's lives the last few years I really miss seeing her all the time. Cass is one of the greats.

The rest of the Davis clan arrived and we got to celebrate Emily, our niece, at Ball State. We walked all over Campus, checked out the Brookstore and one of the cafeterias, saw the dorm room, played some pool. Chirp, Chirp.

Saturday night we made it back to Fishers for the Wyld Life Paint War. Thankfully, the cooler temperatures made it much more enjoyable to run around outside all night long.

Our outstanding, welcoming, positive HS leaders greeted kids and gave them name tags.

A whole slew of kids showed up for the very first time tonight along with dozens of regulars.

We had a human ladder race...

Had a relay race with some balanced eggs...

Chugged Mt. Dew through a smelly sock...

FTK (For The Kids)...

Got to listen to a Club Talk from Johnna...

And then through colorful powder at each other-- it was awesome.

Sunday I traveled to Camp Tecumseh with co-directors Kristen and Haley and our 23 new counselors so they could learn where everything is at camp before they have 6 kids to teach.

Sunday night we got to have dinner at the Barn with our adult YL leaders-- Ian, Brad & Johnna, Abby, Emily Kitchen, Rick, Scott & Jordan and Justin. We had a fiesta and talked about life moments and laughed together. It was time well spent.