"I thought she was going to be nice and just do a couple crackers but then she squirted the whole can on my face." WL is WILD Club

The first Wyld Life Club of the year. The Junior High kids have early been awaiting the first WL event at the Barn. The HS and adult leaders have been anticipating reuniting with kids and starting new friendships. And it seemed only fitting that the theme of the night would be WILD. 

It's been raining all weekend, but the weather didn't keep anyone away. The kids started arriving by the van-load 20 minutes before the night even began.

There were so many old faces, like kids we went to Michindoh with last summer, and a whole lot of new 7th graders too.

Everyone came in WILD costumes but Kathryn's King Crab costume has to be the winner.

Everything was WILD. We played Switch, Change, Rotate and got all mixed up as our trains ran all over the basketball court. In Everybody's It, everyone was tagging everyone until there was only one person left.

We got over 100 kids and 30 leaders together for our first group picture of the year...

But then made sure every kid had a place to belong on a team with leaders who are excited to know them.

FCJH 7th Girls

HIJH 7th Girls

RJH & FJH Girls

8th Guys

7th Guys

HIJH 8th Girls

FCJH 8th Girls

We KICKED OFF the year by KICKING OFF our shoe to see how far across the gym it could fly.

Then we competed in blowing up balloons until they exploded by popping in our face.

And last but not least, friends stuck oyster crackers to their friends face by using spray cheese and it was just as disgusting as you can imagine.

Bailey and Taylor were in it to win it and had no qualms about covering Taylor's entire face.

Justin gave the Club Talk tonight-- he told us what we can expect at Wyld Life and 4 WILD facts about Jesus.

Then everyone broke up into small groups with a leader and got to talk more about the Club Talk and start building those friendships. It was an incredible sight to look around the gym and see every kid plugged in and engaged with a leader.

After everyone had gone home the leaders moved the party to DQ with ice cream cones and french fries. They guys are the best. I'm so thankful for this team.

Clean Plates. Big Pan Fan. Hoby Full Send. TWL Pits Work Crew 2018

Thursday I left school and headed North to Timber Wolf Lake-- a Young Life Camp. It's an annual tradition to spend Labor Day weekend volunteering as the Pits Boss with a crew of HSE YL girls. We wash thousands of plates, scrub hundreds of pans and keep clean cooking tools in rotation in the kitchen for four days. It's the greatest. 

This year Elise and Hannah came back again, Wash and Elyse got to experience work crew for the very first time, and after a month of serving as a Tawashie and Server Work Crew, Mack and Sophie got to be in the Pits. I knew this group would be so, so good. 

Washie and I made Pits themed chokers earlier this week as a surprise for everyone. 

We were so excited to be back at Timber Wolf-- a Friday morning walk around the lake and up the sand hill by the obstacle course, unlimited coffee, living in the Woodchipper, Worship in the Club Room. It's one of our favorite places. 

Family Camp is extra special because it's all about these families, many of whom come year after year with all of their scooters in tow. Elyse was pumped about all the babies at camp and determined to hold as many as possible.

Friday we felt official in our Work Crew shirts and name tags. We got trained in the Clean and Dirty sides at breakfast and lunch before helping families carry in all of their luggage as they arrived to camp.

I'm so lucky to know these girls. I'm so proud of who they are and who they're becoming.

When we got breaks you could usually find Elyse with more babies and Wash in Carlton's with some coffee related drink in hand.

But most of the time we were in the Pits, in our blue aprons, getting work done.

It may be work, but we're in total agreement that it's also SO FUN. And this crew continually lowered our time all weekend long because they got so fast. 

 After Ian helped us in the Pits on Sunday we jumped off the rope swing into the lake and then got treated to ice-cream in the Blue Ox.

By Sunday night we were tuckered out (we've got so much respect for the crews that do this for a whole month) but we were ready for one last giant meal.

We came. We washed. We conquered. I couldn't have asked for a better crew.

When I got home I couldn't wait to tell Justin about the kitchen-- the new way of dumping pitchers into these special buckets over the floor drains, the way they changed the in/out door to make things more efficient, what it looks like to split up the girls into clean/dirty teams to maximize their effort. He told me that he thinks I missed my calling in life-- I should've been working in a role where I help companies streamline their processes and procedure for higher efficiency with delegation and innovation. I think he's right.