"So what do you use quilts for?" Quilt Camp and Wyld Life Camp Announcement

For as long as I can remember, I've spent the first weekend of December at Tecumseh for the Mother Daughter Friend Quilt Camp. Ladies come from all over the Midwest with their sewing machines and supplies in tow to gather for three days. I was so happy that when I arrived on Friday afternoon I got to hold my friend Mel's baby girl Lillia right away. She was born in October but this was our first time to meet. 

My mom runs the whole show and does a phenomenal job from planning, to organizing, and hostessing and making everything festive and fun. I get to help with the Hot Chocolate Club, the band of twenty something little girls that come with their moms and aunts and grandmas. I always bring a friend or camp girl or someone from YL to help out through out the weekend. This year I got to bring several friends to help.

Kat and Grace, two Day Camp counselors, drove down from Chicago after school on Friday. They carpooled down with Gianna who spent the weekend with Sophie so I got to see both of them a lot too. I'm such a fan of this whole crew and loved getting to spend time with them. 

Shannon, a Session 3 CILT, came down from Chicago too but she wouldn't arrive till Saturday morning.

 

Julia came with me from Fishers last minute, we seriously planned it Friday morning when I realized none of my other helpers could be there the whole weekend. Luckily it worked out for her to come again and she was already familiar with what we would be doing.

Arden and Scarlet Friend are long time Quilt and Summer Campers and I always look forward to seeing them and hanging out on this weekend. Arden will be a CILT this summer and she's so excited to be there for two weeks. Arden and Julia may end up being in the same session. 

Friday night we sewed the binding on my friend Sarah's quilt that we made together about a month ago. Nancy J quilted them for us and I'll get to deliver it next weekend to her new house in Champaign. The Hot Chocolate Club played some games, colored a mural and talked about Christmasy things. It was late by the time we finally fell asleep in the Nightingale.

Saturday morning we were joined by Shannon Flynn and I was so excited to see her smiling face. The whole crew was together all morning and most of the afternoon.

We took the Hot Chocolate Club on an adventure hike across the Suspension Bridge...

down to Mermaid Lagoon...

and back around the Richard G Lake. I loved getting to spend time with camp kids Shay, Sophie and Bryn. Everybody loves Camp T but we camp kids share a special bond with this place since it really is our home.

In the afternoon the Hot Chocolate Club competed in the Annual Amazing Race. It's a very, very big deal. The girls are split into two teams that come up with a name and cheer.

Then they race around the building finding clues and finishing different challenges.

First they found five hidden stockings that each held the pieces to five different Christmas puzzles they had to assemble.

Next they had to throw "snowballs" at a snowman and score a total of 8 points.

Then they ran downstairs and filled in the missing words on four different Christmas Carols.

Finally they came back up to the dining room and scooped up hundreds of snowballs by only using spoons.

The finish was close but it was the Red team that pulled through with a victory.

We took a walk in the afternoon to see the progress at the Green Cathedral and to visit the Longhouse, our favorite cabin in all of camp. Shannon was in Choctaw with me last summer and Julia will be a Session 3 CILT this year.

Then Julia, Shannon and I drove back to Indy for the Under the Sea Wyld Life Club at the Barn. We made it there in time for leadership. After a week of one on ones with new leaders, these friends are now officially our Leadership Team. We are so lucky to get to work with every single one of these people.

Once kids started coming in the door the room was bursting with energy and fun and excitement. I loved seeing people's outfits and how they carried out the "Under the Sea" theme.

I really love all of these girls. Sophia has been with Wyld Life for two years now. Sarah, Grace and Sydney are all 7th grade girls I have in class this semester and seeing each of them is always a highlight in my day.

We sang songs like Under the Sea, Spongebob and Surfing USA. We played Savage Woman and got to pull all of the boys apart as they desperately hung onto one another.

Then Sarah, Caroline, Evvy, and Sarah got to make jelly sandwiches with their feet and then feed them to Jake, Ben, Garrett and Cameron. It was amazing.

Then four more kids came up for "What are you drinking?" They saw three glasses on the table, one had live goldfish in it, before they were blindfolded. Then they each had to pick a cup and drink it. We replaced the live goldfish with Swedish fish candy but they didn't know that.

TWilly went last and he got the live goldfish. The audience was screaming but I think Tanner was pretty proud of himself that he got to drink a live goldfish.

BGrad gave the Club Talk tonight and I was so excited to hear him speak. He's been here since the beginning and in the past two and a half years I've seen his attitude, choices and life be transformed because of his faith. God is producing fruit in him and it's so cool to watch that. He shared with the kids about his camp experience and how he and his friends carried one another's burdens in love.

Then we made the announcement that this summer WYLD LIFE IS GOING TO CASTAWAY! That means our Junior High kids are going to camp in Minnesota at a Young Life property called Castaway. This is a very big deal. Usually Wyld Life groups in the Midwest are restricted to Michindoh or Timberwolf but we're going all the way to Castaway. We have 70 kid spots and 14 leader spots available for this summer.

This 7th grade crew of girls is pretty phenomenal. Most of them are going to come to camp with us next summer.

Registration opened on our website at 9:00 after club finished and people started signing up right away. We were flipping out on Sunday when all 70 spots were filled by 1:00 pm. In less than a day our whole trip is filled. Insanity. I'm so excited for this adventure.

We hung around Club to say good-bye to friends before heading back to Quilt Camp. Julia is a sophomore so she wouldn't ordinarily get to come to Club but tonight was a special exception because she came with me from Quilt Camp and hung out with Shan the whole time. Shannon doesn't have YL at home and I loved that she got to see the people and place that mean so much to me here.

Sunday morning we finished the binding on the baby quilt that we put together on Saturday. The Hot Chocolate Club put on a talent show complete with singing, violin playing, a balancing act, a fashion show and a disappearing act. Our Chicago friends headed out after that and we were sad to see them go. Julia and I were busy with friendship bracelets and a little Gilmore Girls until lunch. We helped my mom pack everything up and carry it out to our cars as people were leaving. I love my mom so much and am glad I'll see her and the rest of my family in just a few weeks.

Sunday night I got to play with one of my favorite camp people, Molly Henry. She's been in London all semester and I have definitely missed her. We had dinner, talked about very important things like how we'll get Taylor's attention at her concert and what we should do at the CILT reunion in two weeks. I'm so thankful for Molly's friendship and ideas and heart and spunk. She's a great one.

Honorable blog title: "How long have you two been friends?" "Oh, we're not friends."

"VICTORIAN ERA HYPE!"

I met early this morning with the bible study girls since we have a DC meeting this Friday. I'm thankful for mornings with them as we talk about Shauna's wise words, read bible verses together and talk about how it all applies to our own lives. These girls are some pretty fantastic people. 

Friendship Bracelet Club was hilarious this afternoon. We started with some Christmas themed trivia after school and tested our knowledge of Christmas carols and Christmas movies. Once we started making bracelets though we got distracted by other things going on. I had a set of 3-7th grade boys and a group of 3-8th grade girls each working on their push-up-three-man-weave which required them to do jumping push ups over their friend and then rolling on their next turn. Some girls made a human table and two of the boys figured out how to make a two man wheel. It was phenomenal.

This time with these junior high kids is always one of my favorite parts of the whole week. I'm thankful for kids like Reece, Maggie, Rachel, Abby, Grace, Hannah and Teia that just laugh and giggle and play the whole time.

Tonight I had the honor of accompanying the 8th grade choir as a chaperone to the HS Holiday Show. It was a sold out show and I was lucky to get a seat in the audience. I was eager to go because so many YL kids and past students were part of the show.

I even got to sneak back stage and ran into Hannah, Courtney and Cassidy as they were getting ready to perform. While all the singers were walking in the school I also got to see Es, Abby Martin, Natty and Isa, Hannah Shank, Audrey Davis, Alyssa, James Conaway, Josh Kroll and more. I had to squint to pick them out on stage admist all of the sequins and glitter.

All of the groups did a phenomenal job and I got to listen to some of the most beautiful renditions of Christmas Carols. I was especially impressed with all of their fancy footwork and facial expressions.

I sat at the top of the auditorium with the choir but lucky me, Cami, Julia, Brooke and Rachel sat right in front of me with Mrs. Washburn. When the show was all finished up we even got some Christmas cookies and hot chocolate as we walked out the door.

Why "With" Is My Favorite Word

I've been spending the past few days with my friend KCraig and our HS friends around a table. The kitchen table in the Craig house and the corner booth at Mama Bear's have been our gathering spots as we've met with these Young Life kids to talk about their experience with Wyld Life. Something I admire about KCraig is that she has the gift of affirming whoever we're with at the moment with specific, genuine encouragement. She makes eye contact, tells them what she sees in them and smiles. I've watched Hannah, Katie, Jenna, Haleigh, Blaire, Marie, Rachel and Es all take in her words. A weight is lifted from their shoulders and they physically  relax as they realize that, "Yes, she gets me. She loves me. I belong here."

I have a post-it note on the side of my computer screen at school that say, "Community is more than fitting someone into your schedule." It would have been easy to just go through the motions of these meetings with these HS kids this week, but KCraig knows that this time with our friends is valuable. I hope that each kid walks away feeling known and loved and valuable.

The Science of Happiness did a segment interviewing kids about their family. They discovered,  "Being a good parent isn't about how much time you spend with your children, it's about the quality of the time. And that's a direct result of your ability to stay present when you're with them." I understand that desire to have the person you're with be there. It's frustrating to spend time with friends that are on their phone, thinking about what they have to do next or preoccupied with something else going on. When you're with someone, be with them.

I think so much of what I learned about being with people I learned at Camp. As a camper and as a counselor I have been incredibly thankful that so many distractions are removed from Tecumseh so we can really be with one another. We eat meals with our whole cabin. We stand in chapel with friends on both sides of us. We play on the blobs and the rope swing with our lake buddy. We walk to River Village while we sing songs with our campers. You are very rarely alone at camp. And I love all of that with-ness.         

In a Momastery Post from Glennon she wrote, "I learned that people need help. And the people who need the most help are the ones too lost to ask for it. I learned the importance of a net. People need a net. Nets are groups of people who watch out closely for each other. Who notice when someone needs help. Who have the skills to help when real help is needed." Her therapist told her, "Glennon, that's your life's work. You are creating a net." 

Honestly, I think that's exactly what I'm most passionate about too. I want to create nets for people. There were seasons of my life when I didn't have or wasn't aware of the nets in my own life and I desperately wanted them. That drives my passion to create and be part of the nets for people around me. 

CILT sessions are nets.
Campaigners groups are a net.
Bible studies on Friday mornings are a net.
The FBC is a net.
Young Life family is a net.
Wednesday fiesta girls are a net.

I was talking to Audrey, a Junior High girl, about a friend of hers recently. The two of them are growing apart and she really misses how close they used to be. The friend is spending more time with people that might not be changing her for the better and Audrey is just so sad. We talked about if the friendship was worth fighting for and what she might to do to talk to her. Then Audrey told me, "At church on Sunday, the sermon was about parenting, which doesn't really apply to me, but they said your kids should be able to talk to someone other than just their mom or dad. Thanks for being that person for me." 

Getting to be that person, getting to be with these girls, is my very favorite thing. 

As a teacher I'm thankful that I get to be with my students every single day. It's not always easy and I'm not always really great at it, but I know that my time with them is important. Hopefully I'm teaching them even more about life than I am about writing. 

As a Young Life leader I look forward to my time with my girls-- from 7th graders to Seniors. Whether I'm singing with them at the start of Club, talking with them during a one on one at camp, laughing with them during chick flick Sunday or going out to dinner with them I get to show them the love of Christ by just being with them. My hope is that our time together will always point them back to Him because one day we won't be such a big part of each other's lives but He will still be with them. 

As a counselor I love being with my campers. After a few summers on staff I realized that my time with those kids was my main priority and more important than my time with the other staff. Some of the counselors are still some of my best friends, but I know I've only got one or two weeks to share devotions, walks, games and pool time with these kids. I want them to know that I'm in this with them. 

We recently spent a day in class writing lists of things we're thankful. Most of things on my list include the word with.

Making bracelets with Julia
Going to Steak n Shake with Brookie
Making crafts with the 8th grade girls
Leading with KCraig
Playing with Linc and Red
Talking with the FBC girls
Having dinner with Emily and Rachel
Living in Choctaw with Ellyn
Going on adventures with Smooney
Walking in the hall before 6th period with Cecilia and Fudge
Having heart to hearts with Mags
Writing letters with Fitzie
Going to DC with the 8th Graders

I want my life to keep be about being with people-- being present, being invested, creating nets and doing life together. 

"The awkward and the weird is like so good."

It's baby season for a lot of people in my life which is very exciting lately. Ryan and Lauren's daughter Olivia is a few months old now just like Mike and Mel's daughter Lucy at Tecumseh. Ryan and Abby had baby Lucy on Thanksgiving last week. Renee and Joel will be welcoming home their baby in the very new future. I'm so excited about these kids and that I'll get watch most of them grow up. 

After a semester of "taste and see" for our HS Wyld Life leaders-in-training this is the week of one on one conversations to see who will become leaders. KCraig wanted them to have the opportunity to try things out without being fully committed so they could see if this was something they really wanted to do. We gave them responsibilities, expectations and leadership roles that they could take advantage of in the past few months if they wanted to. Now the time has come to talk about their experience and what they see the future looking like.

Adult leaders are invited to be part of the conversation with these High School kids so I'm going to as many of them as I can this week. I want to know their hearts and hear what they each have to say. This afternoon I get to sit in on talks with Hannah Huston and Katie Beegle. I love these girls and am so excited for them to officially be on this team.

Tonight was a Young Life Campaigners night out at the barn--my favorite. We did some individual prayer time before we gathered back up to sing together. I'm thankful for a team that mixes things up, that challenges one another and continually points kids back to Christ.

The SSS gang (Seniors, Sophomores and Sarah) gathered in the cubby room to talk about thanksgiving and living lives of worship. I'm thankful every week for the community and friendship that's developed in this space. It's a time where we get to question and challenge each other and our faith. This is a place for laughter and truth and the freedom to be.

We're already anticipating writing love tank notes to one another next week at the last Campaigners of the semester. I get so excited because it's so easy to think of reasons these girls are fantastic and all the gifts and talents that God has given them. I'm lucky to have this part in their lives.

Tonight I'm thankful for hug attacks when friends arrive, Karl the Cool Dragon's radiating joy, Haleigh's favorite moments from Mexico, Hannah's laughter, Natty's Cherry Pit forts, seeing Sophomores and Seniors build bridges, singing together and sharing dinner with a full table of leaders.

These last few pictures are beauties of raw emotion-- I love a really good candid picture.