National FBC Day

I was horrible at friendship bracelets when I was little. I remember seeing older campers and counselors working on them and being amazed at how easily they braided and knotted the little strings to become an intricate pattern. Watching their fingers was like watching magic. I couldn't do it. I made knots in all the places I wasn't supposed to and rarely finished a tornado let alone anything more advanced. Friendship bracelets were so not my thing.

 

I didn't pick up those bright, skinny, long strings again until my counseling days began. I wanted to be able to trade with my friends and give bracelets to campers and counselors. Somehow it got a lot easier when I got older and suddenly I had no problem with diamonds and double Vs. When I became a teacher right after college and wanted to start a club it only made sense to teach these kids to make bracelets. I wanted to bring a little bit of camp into the classroom. The Friendship Bracelet Club would be a place for every girl--you don't have to be smart or cool or athletic or outgoing or even very good at bracelets. You just have to show up.

 

FBC is about friendship bracelets but it's about so much more than that. I've been running this club on Thursdays for four years now and I don't look back and remember all the bracelets we've made. I remember laughing with Natalie, Saba and Maggie that whole first year. I remember Rachel freaking out about her hockey crushes. I remember Isa singing and the Mager twins dancing. I remember running through the hallway playing human ladder. I remember getting to know Katy and Rachel as they would pull chairs up to my desk. I remember discovering Mikaela's creativity and Grace's heart. I remember getting to know girls that I never got to have in class like Libby, Emily and Alexa. I remember when I couldn't tell Malena and Cailtin apart for at least a semester. I remember the first couple weeks when the room was so packed with girls you couldn't even see the floor.

 

National Friendship Bracelet Club Day is a day to celebrate the things that matter. These girls. Having fun. Including everyone. Embracing whimsy. Spending time with friends. Doing something for someone else and expecting nothing in return. Being a good friend. Not the bracelets themselves, but what they symbolize.

Friends from camp and young life have been getting these sweatshirts since the club began and although we can't all be together in person to celebrate, I love that so many of them were rocking their sweatshirts today and spreading that FBC love.

The captions on all of these Instagram pics are my favorites.

Did you know Edward is in the FBC?

Emma was visiting Butler today and walked into Alpha Phi to stay with her friend. She opened the door and across the room saw Abby wearing her FBC sweatshirt. For a second they just stared at each other and then yelled a little bit and got really excited. So fun. Connections are my favorite.

I've been living the FBC dream with Natty B for four years. She's a rockstar.

Taylor Porter had her dog wear an FBC sweatshirt today. We take things to the next level.

In case you can't read Allison's caption here, "There's actually nothing greater in the whole entire WORLD than a freakin amazing friend. Be one. Make one. Stay one." Amen.

Tonight I got to hang out with Sam and Megan for pizza and dorm room planning, social media stalking and Glee analyzing, laughing and just being together. I miss seeing this pair more often.

 

I can't wait for our Wyld Life Neon Club tomorrow night. A few lucky kids will even win a specially crafted neon YL t-shirt. I'm so excited for Friday.

 

National FBC day TOMORROW!

It's that time of year again, National Friendship Bracelet Club has arrived again.

 

Here's what you can do:

 

use #nationalfbcday on Instagram and Twitter

wear your FBC sweatshirt

let your friend borrow an FBC sweatshirt if you have more than one

wear friendship bracelets

make friendship bracelets

have lots of fun all day long

Highs of the Day

1. Talking about Cold Tangerines with these girls before school today
2. Getting to hang out in the library all day
3. Planning Neon Club for later this week

 

4. Listening to Pompeii by Bastille thanks to Allison Stamer

5. Listening to She Is by Ben Rector thanks to Sarah Briggs

6. #tecumsehtuesday on Instagram

7. Maddy, Olivia, Alli Sams and Julia getting autographs from people everywhere in the school all day for our game

  

8. Trusting that God's in control even when I don't know how some things are going to work out
9. Getting to see Emily for a split second
10. Following through on being a runner for day #3

Lists of joy and hope

Spring Break has come to an end and the midwest tour is over. I'm back to Fishers and Indianapolis, 8th graders and sevies, Young Life on Mondays and Wyld Life at the end of the week. Thankfully Spring weather has finally arrived, at least for a few days. I ran outside after school because once it gets warm I become a runner again. Once the time rolled around for kids to show up to Campaigners we had to stay outside. We sang together in the driveway and I loved being back together.

 

We talked about the joy of the resurrection tonight. About how while we were still sinners Christ died for us and now we get to live life to the full with him. We now live a life of hope and joy, not just happiness, but a joy that's hard to explain. All the girls wrote down a list of the people and places and things where they find hope and joy and then we each shared a few. I love getting to hear what they write down.

 

I find such hope and joy in getting to live life with all of these kids. It's so cool to look at this group now and see how it's shifting and changing. Some of the people I expected to be here all the time aren't regular attenders and kids I wasn't even aware of before wouldn't miss a week. The best part is that God was already thinking of those girls and guys when this whole thing started, he knew that YL would become a home for them.

Glory or Death #sarahandbengetmarried

I continued the final leg of the Midwest tour by driving back around the lake to Chicago and then up to Wisconsin on Friday. One of my best friends Sarah and her fiance Ben are getting married in just under a month. This weekend all of the wedding party got to hang out at a lake house up north so we could do some pre-wedding bonding. Friday also happened to be Mary Ellen's birthday so we were full of celebration.

 

Somehow we piled the first seven people and all of our stuff into the car so we could ride together. We had to make a snack pit stop at the Oasis and get a Wisconsin pic at the coolest Wisconsin sign which made the trip a bit longer than it might have been.

Late in the afternoon we pulled up to Chris's lake house we'd be spending the weekend at. One of architect Frank Lloyd Wright's homes, there was more than enough space for all ten of us.

 

 

The weekend was a great mix of just being together, adventures, being "chill", playing games and wedding party bonding. That first afternoon we did a little adventuring on the rocks and made up a choreographed routine to I Want To Dance With Somebody per Mary Ellen's request.

 

Once Kat, Steven and Nate all joined us we were ready to party. I loved that our dinners and breakfasts were gathered around this giant table. I love that we set the table and ate as a family and sat there long after we finished eating.

We played the newly-engaged game and tested Sar and Ben's knowledge of each other. There was a birthday cake with candles for Mary Ellen. We had an enthusiastic game of Fishbowl and our team dominated.

Saturday morning we drove into Milwaukee for a surprise adventure: Tactical Laser Tag.

 

As opposed to traditional laser tag when you just try to rack up kills and avoid getting killed, this was all about working as a team on four different missions. The five of us and one little twelve-year-old were the only girls in the group of 34 playing. The boys underestimated our ability to play the game and our team ended up winning the whole thing. We're intense.

 

Although we don't support actually shooting anyone or training people for violence, the whole thing was a blast.

The arena we played in was crazy cool and I can understand why all these local gamers come back so often. Kat crawled into the red buildings basement, Ben yelled the loudest, Michelle carried the bomb, Mary Ellen and Sarah were more valuable then they realized and Alex was way more into then he originally expected. The boys even entertained the idea of coming back for the tournament that night for a nano-second.

We went out to eat lunch in Milwaukee, the boys played frisbee when the girls went in the hot tub, watched March Madness basketball, had a fiesta for dinner, played 4 on a Couch and family, made ice-cream sundaes, tried What Were You Thinking and stayed up so late. On our last morning together we ate breakfast, cleaned house, and watched I Found the Gown until all the laundry finished.

This weekend was all that I hoped it would be-- full of community, adventure, conversation, relaxing, eating, playing games and enjoying being together. Having the ten of us spend all of this time together was one of Sar and Ben's best wedding ideas. I'm so excited for us to be reunited at the end of the month for the final wedding festivities and the big event itself. We all love Sar and Ben so much and are incredibly excited for them to get married.

Shootin' frying pans and other Michigander adventures

Thursday I got one last morning with Katie, Nick and baby Lincoln. I'm so thankful for my family and the chances I have to hang out with them like this. This will be one of the last times I'm with them before baby #2 comes along. Soon we won't be able to remember a time without him/her but for now we're very happy with the Lincster.

 

I got dropped off in Holland to meet Tracy, my freshmen roommate at Hope, for lunch. We've been pretty good at seeing each other when I'm back in Michigan and I love that I can still call her such a good friend. I loved laughing over lunch and taking fun pictures on campus and remembering funny things that happened when we were students here. Tracy is still a part of Hope as the Varsity girls' lacrosse coach and is doing big things.

After a coffee date with Shima, Bethie picked me up to take me home. When she saw their neighbor Bill in his yard she thought we ought to stop to say hello. He was working on setting the site on his pellet rifle and immediately asked me if I'd like to shoot it. Of course I took him up on the offer and wasn't half bad. He said I should start going by Annie Oakley.

I introduced the family to Holland's famous Fricano's pizza for dinner before we had the neighbors over for cherry pie. It's fun to get to meet all of these different people that are such a part of my parents' lives here in Holland. They certainly are making this place a home.