"You could wear all tan and say you're being a Jenga block."

Yesterday I wrote about being weird. Seconds after I hit the "Publish" button I got a text from Ellyn, "Omg just loved your post. I love KCraig. I want to be her. I think about what I want to be buried in all the time. I love you. Being weird is such a compliment."

I had no idea how she found the post so quickly because I don't think you can get blog notifications. She said, "I must have just felt the Choctaw magic because I just checked in it class. I have a presentation on Monday and I don't want to do it because mine's going to stink. I can't pronounce any of the words! It's on prehistoric Africa. I'm thinking maybe just take a crash course magic class and then just wow them with an incredible show and hope no one realizes I didn't present anything on the topic."

Weird right? She's the best.

Tonight was the first outdoor track meet of the season for HSE. I LOVE track meets. With so many different events I've got YL kids and old students all over the field. I got to see distance runners Grace, Courtney and Rachel in the middle of the field. It's Rachel's birthday today so it was extra great to see her. I got to see Grace run the last leg of the 4 x 8 for her team and gain ground to get the win.

As I was cheering for Grace's team I realized I knew one of the North Central runners- Annie! She's an old Tecumseh kid and these days she does NC YL. She told me she thought I might show up at the meet and she'd already recognized Grace from my Insta.

Hannah Conrad's been a high jumper her whole track career and today I got to see her clear 5' 8" like it was a walk in the park. If I tried to high jump I would probably run straight into the bar. But even more impressive than her ability was the way she was helping and taking care of all the other jumpers. As a Senior, that kind of caring is so important.

Katie Timmons is Kocher's assistant but while Kocher was away at the boys meet, Coach Timmons got to be in charge today. Katie and I have just become friends this semester but I'm already such a fan of this girl. I loved seeing her encourage and give specific feedback to each of the girls after their turn.

From the track meet I ran across town to Mama Bear's for Wyld Life Campaigners. I got to be part of the leadership conversation before 7th and 8th graders started to arrive. We sang One Thing Remains and In Christ Alone with Conner, got announcements from KCraig and then broke up into small groups to talk more.

Tonight we read the story of creation in Genesis together. We drew pictures of the things he made in the margins of our paper--the sky and sea, the land, sun, moon and stars, plants and all natural things,  animals of the sky and on the earth and it was all good. Then on the last day God made man and said that they were made in our image and they were very good.

How cool is that? We were made in "their" image-- the image of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. God was relational from the start. Everything else he made was good but he said that human beings were very good, the best thing that he made.

We went around our group and shared something that we dream of being or doing one day. I loved getting to hear these girls' hearts and their dreams-- being doctors, moms, traveling to Africa and Europe, inventing things, helping others. Some of my dreams have changed over time but some I keep coming back to-- leading a Wilderness trip, writing a book, being a wife and a mom, visiting London, going on a YL Expedition trip, working for YL...

Do you know what tomorrow is?

National Friendship Bracelet Day 2015! Get hype. Wear, make or give a bracelet. Wear your fav FBC sweatshirt... or all of them. Come to FBC if you live in Fishers. Make it awesome. 

We're weird. That's ok because Ellyn's doctor told her, "Being weird is a side effect of being awesome."

I wish I'd believed earlier in life that being weird is a good thing. I'm pretty sure I was weird from the start, but if we're being honest I think I was self-conscious of that weirdness for awhile. I made up clubs like The Purple Parrot Club in 4th grade and the The Gold Dolphins soccer team in HS that never actually played soccer. My friends and I wore sweatbands on our arms and skirts over pants in HS because the lead singers from our favorite band Superchick did that too. I make at least a friendship bracelet a day and I'm low key nervous about it leading to early on set arthritis. Rather than typical teacher posters, my classroom is filled with crepe paper streamers, posters of Taylor Swift and hundreds of pictures of  the staff and kids from my school. I'm weird. But at this point, I'm convinced that being weird is better than being normal. 

My friend KCraig is weird. She left teaching this year to go work for Young Life full time. She gets a vanilla cone from McDonalds every single day. Her Lulu Lemon pants that she got on sale are called her "funeral pants" because she wants to be burried in them. She'll start a dance party anywhere at anytime with anyone. She's weird and one of the greatest people I know.

My friend Ellyn is weird. She loves Will Smith and Spongebob more than life itself. Ellyn ate so many Nerd Ropes once that she blacked out and she asked Willy Wonka (the maker of Nerd Ropes) if she could marry him. Ellyn has rules for pooping at camp (plop, plop, flush) and is best friends with her grandma Jarn. At camp you'll find a minimum of four stuffed animals on her bunk (Mo, Jo, Yoda and Fairbanks) and she'll ask to see your stuffed animals too because of course you must still have stuffed animals regardless of your age. She's weird and one of the greatest people I know.

My friend Julia is weird. She's in HS and still enjoys coloring with markers and making lists. She's choosing to be gluten free because she doesn't want to get the shot to find out if she really needs to be and the food she misses the most is pretzels. She tries on overalls in Goodwill but doesn't end up buying them. She'd rather wake up at 4 in the morning to do her homework than just finish it at night. Her left pointer finger goes crazy when she makes friendship bracelets. She has a love/hate relationship with being touched. She's weird and one of the greatest people I know.

So many of my friends are weird. Brookie, Liz Koch and Cecilia are such weirdos. Chloe Green and Maggie Shadid are straight up kooky. Hope Vigren,  Mel Lang and Erin O'Farrell are definitely odd. And I wouldn't want a single one of them to be any less weird.

Tonight Julia, Molly and I got to be weird together at Chipotle. Then something really weird happened. Molly and I were looking through Julia's stockpile of bracelets when a woman approached our table. She asked what we were looking at and we told her they were friendship bracelets. We don't think she'd never seen any before. 

She told us she thought they were really neat and she's in retail. She thought maybe we could go into business selling them. She told us that maybe we should put a few of them on Instagram and just see what people think about them. If people like them than maybe we could sell them. We asked her how much she thought we should charge and she told us that Julia could sell them for $1.50 because she's in HS and Molly could do $2.50 because she's in college. 

The woman and her friend were leaving Chipotle but once she got to her car she turned around and came back inside to give us information about her business. You know, in case we want their help in starting our friendship bracelet business if people like what they see. Weird. Awesome. 

We parted ways with Molls and Julia and I continued our weird adventures. We surprised a few friends on the way home with lists of why we love them. The first recipient came out of her house jumping up and down-- she's a weirdo like us. The next friend opened her door and just looked at us and said, "You guys are weird." She knows us well.

I hope that today you will be weird. I don't think you will ever look back on your life and think, "Wow, I really should have been more normal." It's the weird things that set you apart, that make this world more awesome, that make you shine. In the words of Kelle Hampton, "Let your freak flag fly."

"Diet Pepsi is just not the same. Every sip I just keep hoping it'll get better. It never does. It just never does."

A few weeks ago at Northview we watched a video about the church's partnership with Brookside Community Church and Brookside Community School. Not only are they working with the congregation but with kids in after school programs, helping people in the community find work and equipping people with what they need. The video asked us to find a way to get involved. Immediately I thought of the FBC gang and how we could jump in.

Today after school Kcraig, Mrs. Freund and I drove 10 FBC/Wyld Life girls downtown to Brookside Community Church. Usually the HS volunteers from Northview and their Brookside student buddies work on homework, but today they didn't have school. FBC was one of their options of activities this afternoon.

As kids came into our room the FBC girls helped them cut string and then taught them how to make tornado or candy stripe bracelets. Both the FBC and Brookside kids showed such patience and persistence as they were teaching and learning.

It was a super beautiful thing to watch these girls from Fishers, IN interacting with kids that are living life in a different world than they're used to. Initially, they were all a little nervous but quickly discovered they're a lot more alike than they originally thought.

KCraig met a girl named Allison who is actually the niece of the pastor of the church. She goes to HS in Florida and every Spring every student in her school spends a week doing service. They can stay to do a project in their home town or go on a Service trip. This year Allison is working with the Brookside Church. How cool is that?

It didn't take long before the FBC room was packed with so many Brookside kids and their HS friends. I was so impressed with the kids who didn't give up or get bored but stayed and finished their bracelets.

Makayla became friends with several of the FBC girls this afternoon-- she's a sweet one.

I love talking with these two girls. They're in 7th and 8th grade and were telling me all sorts of stories. Both of them did a great job with the candy stripe bracelet and took it with them to finish at home.

Sydney was flying around the meeting everyone but gave a bracelet to this little girl. I think they're kindred spirits.

Anthony was the only boy that spent a lot of time in our room. He was all about getting the ladies but eventually he settled down a little bit and tried to make a tornado for about 5 seconds. I think he did manage to make a few knots. Maybe next time he'll work with us again.

All too soon it was time to pack up our supplies and say good-bye to our new friends at Brookside. For not knowing what we were really getting into today, this was a major success. Cami, Sarah, Grace, Hannah, Sydney, Elise, Meric, Cecilia, Jules and Maggie are such rock stars and I go on another FBC Adventure with them any day. 

p.s. Did you know that KCraig, Sydney and I having matching coats? KCraig and I also have matching CR-Vs so maybe Syd should look into that when she turns 16.

We got to say good-bye to a couple kids like Diego on the way out. All of the FBC girls brought bracelets with them to give away to the knew friends that we made today. I think every kid in the FBC room was given at least one bracelet. One of my girls came up to me and said, "Miss Wright, I just gave my bracelet to that girl over there. It just feels so good to be nice." YES! THIS IS LOVE IN ACTION. 

The FBC girls can't wait till we can return to Brookside again for more bracelet making with our friends.

We made it back to Fishers just in time for KCraig and I to make it to leadership at Taco Bell. This month's YL Club is making a location change to the local Taco Bell. Our kids may have been skeptical, but they leaders were all psyched.

Conner usually only comes to Wyld Life things but tonight he was here partying it up with us. Not sure if it with the quesarito or the YL kids that pulled him here but does it really matter? Soon the HS friends like Angela, Blaire and Kendal were spilling into the restaurant. 

Let me preface this whole Club report by letting you know that we had planned all of this with Taco Bell in advance. They were okay with having a large amount of HS kids invade and creating chaos in their dining room.

Check out Ryan's whole Boy Squad over here. They quickly ordered some tacos, burritos and chalupas before setting up camp in a couple booths.

The first event of the night made some brave volunteers smother their face in cheese and then have tater tot wedges stuck to it. There were all sorts of strategies going on around the room and a whole lot of screaming.

Next each class battled in a 5-Taco-Trivia-Relay Race. My money was on Team Senior.

Each participant had to scarf down a taco and then answer a random trivia question from the leader at their table like, "Name 4 kinds of toothpaste," before the next team member could start eating.

The room was an eruption of screaming and cheering for people to eat their tacos faster. It ended up being a photo finish with the Seniors, Juniors and Sophomores completing the challenge within seconds of each other. 

One of the best parts of the whole night was when everyone joined Ryan in singing Ed Sheeran's Thinking Out Loud. Sometimes at YL we sound like a choir--seriously, harmonizing and everything. Tonight the Taco Bell workers behind the counter even joined with their arms around each other's shoulders and their phones up in the air like at a concert. It was a beautiful scene.

Hannah Schank and James Conaway battled in our gender competition next. They each had to take a drink of pop and then gargle a song until their half of the room could guess it. Hannah was a rock star and we quickly guess Jingle Bells, the school fight song and the Star Spangled Banner. Victory for the girls.

The last event of the night called for a few volunteers who still had an appetite. Mark, Conner and Jimmy bravely stepped up to the plate. 

Their blindfolded partners Chloe, Grace and Blaire were blindfolded and spun around five times before they made their way across the room to their partners. Once they reunited, the girl fed a bean burrito to the guy. Jimmy was the first to eat the whole thing and Blaire's finger only got accidentally bitten once.

Tonight Ryan got to give the Club Talk in the middle of Taco Bell. How beautiful is that? He told us about stealing a pair of bowling shoes when he was in HS and how his dad took him back to the bowling alley the next day to return them even though he really, really didn't want to because he was embarrassed he'd screwed up. Then Ryan told us about how God handles our screw ups, about grace and about what Jesus did for us on the cross. He told us about the brutality of his death and the joy of the resurrection. He invited everyone to come back to Campaigners next week to finish this whole Easter series together.

Thinking about whether I'll come to YL each week is like Natalie drinking Diet Pepsi and Baja Blast at the same time-- why not? It's an easy decision to be part of all of this-- this community and family that laughs together, grows together, learns together, plays together and prays together. 

People like Chloe, Julia, Molly, Katie, Hannah, Kegley, Kaelyn and Natty have each made a profound impact on my life and are main characters in my story. I love that we get to live life together whether that's out at the barn, at their sports games, side by side in church, talking at my apartment, over coffee or at Taco Bell Club. Life is better together.