The November Varsity FBC Project: Knot Your Average Bracelet

Every month the girls of Varsity FBC are combining our efforts to do small things with great love. We know that we're each sharing love with each bracelet we make for the people around us, but together we can have an even larger impact on the world.

This month we made our bracelets for Knot Your Average Bracelet, a project started by my friend Rachel Kent. She was in CILTs Session 3 this summer and she showed up with a bracelet for all 39 of her fellow CILTs. When I recently met up with her for lunch she was waiting inside the restaurant with a clipboard on her lap, tying knots on her current bracelet. This girl gets stuff done and she does all of it was a giving, humble heart. 

At the end of the summer Rachel started Knot Your Average Bracelet on Etsy. On her shop's site she explains, "When you purchase a friendship bracelet from Knot Your Average Bracelet, an identical bracelet is given to a child sponsored through Unbound. Unbound is a nonprofit organization that operates in countries all across the world, providing people with basic necessities such as food and shelter. Children are also supported with an education that would be otherwise unattainable. Additionally, all of your money after shipping and processing goes to Unbound's "Most Needed" program, which covers immediate support such as medical emergencies, funerals, and housing repairs. For more information on Unbound and their mission, as well as information on becoming a sponsor for a child, young adult, or elder, visit unbound.org." Isn't that just so dang cool?! I love it. 

This month I wanted Varsity FBC to help Rachel and the kids of Unbound. We started making pairs of matching bracelets and ended up with 10 different pairs to add to Rachel's Etsy shop. If you're interested, I'd love for you to check out her shop to purchase a set of her bracelets.

Bracelets for the November Project were donated by Brooke Ratliff, Hannah Devoe, Sophie Sams, Erin Dickett, Brooklyn Seagrave, Mollie Krone, Hadley Hendricks, Elise Ruby and Sarah Wright. 

"I got a subscription to Club Penguin today. $8 a month. Worth it."

Highs of the Day:

1. Young Life went ice-skating tonight instead of meeting at the Barn for Campaigners

2. Chik Fil A dinner party with Silvana, Sophie, Elyse, Mia and Hannah

3. Being super productive at school

4. Jayla telling me that she'd been refreshing Overlap all weekend waiting for a new post (aka knowing that someone cares about what I'm writing)

5. Talking with Nat Rat about Work Crew, Jake about leading Wyld Life, Isaiah about camp and seeing our YL kids embrace opportunities to grow

Things I Can't Wait For:
1. CILT Reunion is just over a week and a half away
2. All City Wyld Life Club this Saturday
3. Skiing with the fam at Crystal Mountain over break
4. Reuniting with some long long YL friends later this week
5. Ethiopia with some of my very best friends is just over three months away

"Thank you for liking my picture of the cats. That was very big of you."

Saturday morning started with the most exciting Hot Chocolate Club event of them all-- the Amazing Quilt Camp Race! Christine always does a fabulous job of coming up with challenges and activities that has the two teams zooming all over the TLC. I used to compete but these days I'm more of a facilitator.

The Green Banana Monkeys Team

The Red Team-- Fuzzy Lightnighg Ninjas

They started by finding the pieces of a Christmas Carol inside a giant Santa Sack of snow and then putting all of those words in the correct order of the song. Oh my goodness, it was tough.

Then downstairs they had to blow up balloons of their team color, stuff them in a pair of pantyhose and put the "antlers" on someone's head.

Upstairs in the hallway they bit one candy cane and used it as a hook to transport other candy canes to the tree down the hall. They couldn't use their hands as they transferred all of the candy cane decorations.

Finally they returned to the dining room to draw a Santa on a poster board piece by piece. It was a close call but the Red Team won by just a few seconds.

I'd pick Maddie and Meric to be on my team any day.

After lunch we went on a walk across to camp to start filming Meric's Spanish movie, pick up some stuff from the Nightingale and get in some steps at my favorite place. 

We worked on a Christmas quilt all day with Bethie. Mom sewed, Meric ironed, Maddie pieced things together and I helped out while friendship braceleting at the end of the table. Team Sewing is always the preferred method. 

I love that every December Quilt Camp I get to hang out with Arden and Scarlet Friend-- sisters and Tecumseh campers. Arden was a CILT last summer and I got to know her even better. 

A surprise this year was getting to see Nikki Lanigan Jones for a little bit on Sunday morning. She's been here visiting with family this weekend and finally our paths overlapped. She's just a rock star. I can't wait for more time together at the reunion in two weeks. 

But of course my favorite person at Quilt Camp is my mom Bethie. She puts the whole thing together, knows every single woman here, takes care of everything anyone needs and does it all with humility, enthusiasm and a smile on her face. She's the greatest.

So thankful for another successful Christmas Quilt Camp. It's been a great one!

Back at home I added all 9 bracelets from the weekend to my most recent stockpile. We're catching up to last year's number and I just may reach my goal for the summer by Christmas.

p.s. Did you notice that Maddie and I continued to accidentally match in our Patagonia's the rest of the weekend?

"Don't forget to NOT get a Diet Coke on your way, we've got DC on tap."

The official start of the Christmas season has always been Mother Daughter Quilt Camp up at the TLC at Tecumseh. I've been going since we first started when I was about six years old and I haven't missed one since. Now I travel up to camp as soon as school gets out and bring a couple helpers along with me. This year I brought Meric and Maddie--two Young Life girls who I think are pretty awesome. 

We had quite the road trip to camp-- complete with Arby's curly fries and a playlist of hits from Maddie.

Once we got to camp we settled right in. We were in sewing room B aka the Party Room for the weekend. Bethie, my mom, taught Maddie and Meric just what to do as they both made their name tags. They are officially quilters. 

December Quilt Camp is special because it's the one camp when little girls-- daughters, granddaughters and nieces all get to come be part of the fun. The Hot Chocolate Club met for the first time on Friday night to meet each other and make best friend necklaces.

Many of these little girls I've known for years and I love getting to play with them over this long weekend. Mia, Shay and Bunny are growing up but they're still pretty teeny.

The most fun is getting to spend the whole weekend with my girls. Julia ahs come with me for the last two years so it was strange not being with her. But I've taken these two to camp twice, I was their teacher years ago and we've been friends ever since. We braceleted and laughed and dreamed up scenarios for camp next summer.

Friday night ended late after a day packed with fun and friends and family and fountain Diet Coke. 

Did you know Maddie and I are accidentally matching in our Varsity FBC shirts?

"Anything Kathy and Linda plan, I want to be part of."

FBC is the place to be on Thursday afternoons. We played Norwegian Nosedive today when all of our friends from other schools arrived. You and a partner have to only have a certain set of body parts touching the ground like one chin, two hand, one butt and one elbow. Silliness ensues. 

Today I loved sitting and talking with Brooke and Hadley, getting more bracelets fro the Varsity project from Elise, Brooklyn and Hadley, the whole room singing to Justin Bieber and a visit from freshmen Maddy, Hannah and Elise. Now we're all anxious for the FBC shirts to arrive. We're crossing our fingers for next week.

KCraig and I got to have a Chipotle date on our way to Book Club. I'm so thankful for our friendship, for common passions ad motivations, for the fun we have together.

Our Book Club was meeting for the very first time tonight and it didn't really involve a book. This past summer Kathy and Linda talked about how they wanted to create a venue for all of our YL people to gather more often. We love and value this community and want to be part of it more.

A room full of YL friends showed up at Linda's house tonight-- babies, coffee and cookies in tow. We sat in a circle and talked about receiving and Jesus and life. Ryan leaned over part way through and said, "So is that what a girls' campaigners circle is like?" Let me just tell you it was awesome. Who knows if we'll ever read a book together, but I want to keep being intentional about seeing these friends and living life together.

"We're basically releasing a Taylor Swift album right now."

Before the kids arrive to Wyld Life, the HS and adult leaders gather around the table to eat dinner, talk through the lesson and catch up. It's something I always look forward to. Once the kids arrive, my attention is on the 7th and 8th graders, but for the start of the night we get to live life focused on each other. I love that Jake, Ben, Jacob and Zach all showed up to be with the Junior High guys tonight. I'm thankful for KCraig--someone who is passionate about creating Campaigners lessons for these kids, who is investing in these leaders, who points us back to Jesus.

We tried something new tonight to mix up the kids between groups and even out the group sizes but still let them be with their friends at the same time. I think it ended up working well for everyone. I was so happy to get to hang out with 7th and 8th graders Carly, Hailey, Hadley, Sydney, Blythe, Grace, Lauren, Claire, Brynn, Marcella, Jordan and Laura. We laughed and talked and asked questions and it was so, so good. These girls are great humans and I love spending time with them.

Tonight I got to lead alongside Genna, Julia, Anne and Rachel. They're people who bring Christ in my life with their love, their stories of hope, their examples of whimsy and trust and joy. I'm better for knowing them. I'm proud of them and can confidently encourage the Junior High girls to look up to them as role models.

Today Brookie passed me a note near the end of the day at school. "I got bored in Social Studies so I wrote you a poem," she told me. And in multiple colors of neon pen I read the most awesome poem. Here are a few of the lines:

"Your bracelet skills are off the chart,
When I received yours it warmed my heart.
You are an inspiration,
You're sweeter than candy from a gas station.
You are nice to everyone,
You're way better than going on a run."

I've been reading Drew Barrymore's memoir Wildflower and just finished it today. It was even better than I expected. Each chapter is a different story--auditioning for ET and befriending Steven Spielberg, going on a cruise and jumping off the ship, meeting Adam Sandler and partnering in three movies, learning to do laundry and living on her own at the age of 14. I learned so much more about her than I expected and wound up wanting to be her friend. It's funny and smart and interesting and just so good. Worth the read.

"If I was pooping in Theta and I saw your face I would poop even more."

After years of adventuring and exploring and hiking in Colorado, Arielle and Wolf Dancer have finally moved back to the Promised Land aka Indianapolis. I'm more than elated to have one of my best friends so close. They moved into their house in the last few days and Ellyn and I got to check it out tonight. We showed up with a house warming gift, got the full tour and laughed and told stories around the kitchen table. Life is better together. 

Top 10 Memories with Arielle:
1. Co-owing the Camp Cookie Company-- we made and sold cookies to camp families out of our wagon
2. After the Optimist Challenge was built Arielle and I would meet their after school and I would make her race me over and over again
3. Knowing every word to all of the Barlow Girl, Stellar Kart, Relient K and Superchick songs growing up
4. Running cross country together in HS for one year and sticking together even though she was so much faster than me
5. Showing up at her door in Colorado with Smoon and Ellyn
6. Creating an activity for our Blazer girls that was inspired by the horcruxes from Harry Potter where we hid icecream sundae supplies all over camp for our girls to find
7. Discovering a secret room at camp, making it our Clubhouse and then letting Ellyn and Smoon be part of it our summer of CILTs
8. While growing up you could usually find us watching Mary Kate & Ashley movies at my house, eating pizza and grapes, and french braiding Arielle's curly hair
9. Spending Spring Break together in Orlando at Disney Quest or Islands of Adventure
10. Three summers of living the CILT counselor dream together

Honorable Mention Blog Title:
"One day your closet with your Diet Coke was slightly open and everyone wanted me to shake all of the cans."
"I looked up the Top 10 jobs where you can get the most steps and wrote them down for you."