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.

"That's my life motto: I'm just in it for the sugar."

Here they are gathered in one picture in all their eighth grade glory--the Lunch Crew. Rhye, Donovan, Tyler, Jake, Josh, Nick and Johnny all have their very own friendship bracelets now and I love how proud they are. Today we had a lesson on the right and wrong side of a bracelet so they wear them the correct way. These guys are the best.

 

We finally had FBC after school since we've missed the last two weeks. It was a small group today and they asked if we could play Duck, Duck, Goose at the beginning. When we got to the bracelet making part Cecilia, Cami, Sophia and I played hide and go seek in the school in our heads. One person thinks of a hiding place somewhere inside HSJH and then the rest of us would ask yes and no questions until we "found" them.

I went to my first softball game of the season this afternoon to watch Brookie play for Cathedral against Genna and Kaylee on HSE. I'm not a softball guru by any means and once Katy P came and sat with me I had to ask her a few questions. My favorite parts were when Brookie caught two pop flys and the coach yelling, "Hey Miss Brooke, have a day, whatta ya say, whatta ya say," with a mouth of seeds.

Tonight Wyld Life hosted Easter Club and we were stoked. It's finally warm enough to hang out outside at the beginning. It was a party in the driveway as our friends showed up. Brannt was a bunny thug and Johnny Miller found an awesome bunny costume too.

Abby and Chelsea, two of my students, showed up for the first time as pastel bunny princesses with matching tutus. These girls are so fun and I'm thrilled that they showed up.

Team Boy Squad was running all over the place full of energy. These kids are awesome.

Chloe, Nicole, Alaina, Dalton and Maddy have become regular 8th graders and tonight they brought their friend Ava Baby that they met in the musical.

Alex loves getting to come to HSE YL with her mom which I think is really cool. Elise and Julia are the bomb and that bunny mask is just phenomenal.

There was some surprise friendship bracelet gifting going on tonight. Cecilia brought one for Jackie and Sophia gave one to Ryan. You know you are loved when you get a bracelet from a 7th grader.

We sang the first verse of a song downstairs before Ryan yelled, "JUST KIDDING!" and sent all the kids outside on an Easter Egg Hunt.

This house has an awesome backyard and we had already hid over 100 candy filled eggs all over the place. People were rolling down the hill and frolicking between the trees.

After the candy was devoured and the eggs collected we made it back inside to really sing those songs with Ryan. I told the girls, "Less pretty, more loud," and they belted out all the words to "Best day of my life."

What's Easter without fluffy, neon Peeps? Caden, Victoria and Alaina came up to eat the two Peeps hanging infront of them. Chad and Brannt may have made the little yellow ducks swing around a bit which heightened the challenge.

Natty B arrived as a puppy, cause puppies are totally Easter, in time for the sickest game of the night. There are two teams of three people. Ava and Abby, the two on shoulders, had to crack the eggs on the heads of Sophie and Hannah. Then Ava and Abby dropped the egg yolk into the cups that Ben and Henry were holding over their faces. An egg in the cup scored a point for their team.

It was eggcellent and had us cracking up. The boys were troopers and though Henry had a smile on his face the whole time, Ben ended up with more egg in the cup.

Ryan's Club Talk tonight was all about Easter. From Easter traditions, the history of Easter eggs and bunnies, to the story of Christ's death and resurrection. He talked about why Jesus had to die and what it means for us that he rose again. Jackie and I were in small group with some awesome girls who talked about their own traditions, what brings them hope and what they learned about Jesus tonight. I love this intentional time together.

Kayla and Hannah were in my Washington DC group that got stranded in the airport for a day. Hannah has been to Wyld Life a few times but this was Kayla's first club. I'm thrilled that they came tonight and that I got to know them a little better. Before they left Hannah told me about something she overheard me say while we were stuck in the airport. It has stuck with her and made a positive impact in her own attitude. I would have said it was insignificant and never realized that it could influence her thinking. It totally made my night that she took the time to tell me and made me remember how much our words matter, even when we think others aren't paying attention.

Today has been an awesome day. I'm thankful for the kids at my school, for YL girls on the field and in the bleachers, for leaders that show up to love kids, and Wyld Lifers that give me hope just by being their goofy, hyper, genuine selves.

"Miss Wright! What are the ingredients to make a tutu?"

Kelle wrote on her blog this week, "Bad things happen every day for all of us," I told her, "but good things happen too. Instead of waiting to see what the next bad thing will be, how about we start looking for good things that happen, or better yet--we could make something good happen." Amen right? Cup half full and all of that positivity.

Today it was easy to see all of the good things.

After school I got to hang out with KCraig at Starbucks. I love heart to hearts with KCraig about life and ministry. She has become such an important person in my life here and I'm so thankful for her passion and her craziness. We were joined by Chad, one of our awesome Wyld Life leaders. Chad is smart, often stressed, driven, dependable, funnier than he realizes and just really awesome. KCraig and I love hanging out with him and picking his brain about everything from his dream team to prom festivities.

I drove down to Bripp to meet my friends Emily and Rach for the rest of the night. We took their dogs Auggie and Ernie on a walk, grilled out for a picnic in the back yard and spontaneously went to Graeters for ice cream. It was the most time I've been able to spend with them in far too long and was just really wonderful. I love talking with these old friends about life and friends and coming up with new ideas for camp or our classrooms.

 

I discovered this "Eno Village" on the Young Life Leader blog. Oh. My. Gosh. How awesome and terrifying is this? I'm absolutely positive we wouldn't be able to try this out at Tecumseh but this just looks so cool. Can you imagine climbing up to those top hammocks and sleeping there all night? Or being the bottom hammock with four people suspended above you?

 

 

If you haven't noticed, I'm recently obsessed with the show Parenthood. I've plowed through 5 seasons and am only two episodes behind the current one. I can't believe I missed out on this show for years. If you've never seen it you've got to go back and start at the beginning. Talking about this drama with people is like talking about our friends that we actually know and care about. If you also love Parenthood I'd love to talk about with you.

A little more fun for ya before we go.