"It's the greatest underdog story in dodgeball history."

During my prep period this afternoon I got to sneak outside to the 8th grade celebration. They took a class picture in the bleachers before their party started. I'm such a fan of this class and will miss not seeing them as regularly next year. 

After school today 19 teams battled in our annual school dodgeball competition. Kids draft a team of 4 boys, 4 girls and 1 teacher. My favorite team uniform this year goes to Mr. Couch's team that wore his Harley Davidson tshirts. Couchie for the win.

My team rocked jerseys, neon hats and potholder headbands and the most enthusiasm. I have historically never won a single game so I was mentally prepared to lose in the first round. We even brought our own medals and trophies because it would be ironic. But somehow in our first game against Mr. Brown's team WE WON!!!!! We were screaming and jumping and hats were flying.

I was pretty stoked with a single victory. Next we faced off against Mr. Runge's team AND WE WON AGAIN!!! Our strategy was to let Tyler, Jake and Ben use our 3 life cards, while the girls just tried to stay in and not risk throwing a ball and having it get caught. Adam, the one with the clipboard, was our coach and biggest fan on the sideline through it all.

In the 3rd round, aka the Final Four, we battled Mr. Klobusnik's team and once again everyone was sure we'd get out. But our boys were awesome once again AND WE WONNNNNNN!!!!!!

For the championship game against Mrs. Hauser's team we moved over to the main gym. Everyone that had played us couldn't believe we made it this far-- neither could we. Our guys rocked again and then Benny Boy threw the balls like cannons when he was the last boy on the court. WE WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP.

Pretty unbelievable. I think I'll be in shock for awhile and this will never happen again. So proud of these kids. YEAH SPORTS!

It's my very last night in Fishers before I head off to Tecumseh for the rest of the summer. I quickly sorted and packed up the rest of my stuff in my apartment. Hannah and Julia came over for one last adventure and then Maddie and Cecilia showed up too. They were hesitant to help me carry all of my stuff to my car but I bribed them all with friendship bracelets. Gotta do what you gotta do. 

After a whole year of being the best of friends, Julia, Han and I got to hang out one last time. Dinner at McAllister's, snow cones, precious conversations, singing in the car, plotting for assassins and being sad about leaving each other. I love these two so much and am so thankful that I'm lucky enough to be part of their lives. They've made me a better person and taught me so much about loving people well.

"I just love when I get to see you."

Today for our last 10 Minute Write of the year I asked my students to make a list of memories from the past school year. Here are some of the ones that came to mind...

1. Sydney and Emily leaving post it notes on my desk during passing periods.
2. Dance party at the Wyld Life Lock Out, playing 8 straight games of laser tag with Maddie, and being Team America with 8th grade girls. 
3. Taking a lap through the upstairs hall to see 8th graders before 6th period.
4. Eating "wishing seeds" aka apple seeds with Olivia Vicory, Cecilia and Fudge after lunch.
5. Cheering at cross country races, track meets, basketball games and softball games. 
6. Campaigners in the cubby room with Sophomores and Seniors every Monday night.
7. Siblings Club was the wildest night of YL ever and every one we knew showed up.
8. The DC Field Trip-- getting to lick the wall of the White House, picking up DC cupcakes, running into Maggie and Fitzie, dance party at the hotel.
9. Seeing Rend Collective live with Liz Huston.
10. Becoming so close with Hannah Conrad all year.
11. The Winter Staff Reunion with Claire Smedley, Abby Bien and Michelle Mooney.
12. Attending StoryLine in Chicago with Ben and getting to hear/meet/see Bob Goff, Shauna Niequist, Glennon Doyle Melton and Donald Miller all at the very same time.
13. Making 420+ friendship bracelets in one school year and giving over 150 away to people at HSJH and YL.
14. Taking FBC girls to volunteer at the Brookside after school program.
15. Going to the State Fair with Brooke and Emily.
16. Watching HS and Junior High volleyball games.
17. The Camp Tecumseh Field Trip-- so many awesome HS counselors, Rachel spilling a table of cupcakes, nightly dance parties, tasting baby food at the lake, hanging out with YL kids and leaders.
18. CILT Winter Reunion-- best 24 hours of the year. Love tanks, small groups, Newlywed Game, dinner dance party, new lyrics to Bad Blood, singing at the new chapel.
19. Over 200 pink monogram FBC sweatshirts, exclusive Varsity FBC frockets, collector's item FBC tanks for the summer. 
20. Friday morning bible studies with 8th grade girls reading Cold Tangerines.
21. Surprising Arielle in Colorado over Spring Break with Smooney, Ellyn and the Happ twins.
22. Wyld Life Campaigners at Mama Bear's every other week.
23. Meeting and become friends with Cassidy Leum, Katie Timmons and Ashley Rohr. 
24. All City Young Life Club at the Pacer's game when Julia and I won the upfront game and she got a wound on her shin and I chugged hot sauce.
25. All City Wyld Life Club at A+ Gymnastics when all the kids went totally nuts on the beams, rings, nets, pits, trampolines and bars. 
26. Visiting the Ice Tree with Liz Koch, Julia and Han.
27. Rewatching all of Grey's Anatomy, Gilmore Girls and Parenthood.
28. YL Leader Summit at Michindoh with our HSE team and friends from all over the region.
29. Trips to Chicago to visit Tecumseh friends-- counselors, Blazers, CILTs and DC counselors.
30. Family Christmas ski trip at Crystal Mountain.
31. Photo shoot and Chipotle for Julia's birthday party with all her best friends. 
32. Best snow day ever with Katy, Grace, Julia, Ciarra, Hope and Abby.
33. Making a Friendship Bracelet Christmas Tree for the teacher hat contest at HSJH.
34. Traveling to NH with mom, Katie, Linc and Red to visit Grandma.
35. Katy, Hope and I surprised Julia at her lake house after her concussion.
36. Going to the movie premiers of Mockingjay and Insurgent with Audrey, Lulu, Julia, Elise and friends. 

Thank God for Hannah Conrad and Ashley Rohr. I was experiencing a Diet Coke drought over at the Junior High and they saved the day. Thanks to their finals schedule, they got me the largest Diet Coke they could find and brought it to me at school. I love these girls.

8th graders have finished their year with their traditional teacher caricature posters. Maddie brought me my first one today. I love these drawings and can't wait to hang it up in my room at Fall Creek next year. 

We met early Wednesday morning with KCraig for our last devotion together. Hopefully next year we'll be doing this every week as KCraig hops from school to school.

Before heading off to camp for the summer, I got one last night to hang out with two of my oldest camp friends. Emily and I walked her dog Auggie, went to dinner and then saw Rachel. I miss when we were all working in the Riv together but am so glad we all live in the same place. 

"Love one another constantly."

 Sports-- I may not play them, but I think I attend more sporting events than anyone else that I know. One of my rules for life is that I show up as often as I can in the lives of people I care about. These days showing up means attending a whole lot of sports. Tonight I traveled up to West Lafayette for the Girls HS Track Regional's Meet. I knew I would get to see Han and Shu jump, Grace run and the Johnson girls race. I'd tried to see Kristen and Lauren run in the Fall but they never ran at the meets I was able to go to. But tonight I would get to see them all.

THEY WERE ALL AWESOME! Han cleared 5' which was exciting, the Johnson's dominated their races, and Grace was dang fast. 

I ended up seeing so many more people than I expected too. Evan, the 3rd Johnson triplet, was working the meet. Rachel Yuska ran two events and Maggie was there to cheer her on. Grace and Chloe Lachmund were there to support the team. Cailey Daluga came as a West Side alumni. I got to say hi to so many other random camp friends like Chloe, Sarah and Julia. 

I loved seeing Grace run in the 4 x 800 and the 4 x 400-- she is one of the best encouragers I've ever witnessed. Oh my goodness--watching Lauren Johnson run the 2 mile was just amazing. That girl got out of the pack after the first lap and then just led the way the rest of the time. I loved seeing Kristen race against Rachel and Bippus in the mile. Nichwitz will always amaze me. Courtney is such a fighter. These girls are so mentally tough and it makes me tired to think of all the miles they've put into training.

Once high jump was over I got to hang out with Katie and Han the rest of the night. We stood over the fence and screamed and cheered for all of our friends. Since we were so far away from home, I didn't plan on staying but ended up being there till the very last race. It was totally worth the drive to be there with these people. I love (the people in) sports.

Dear Miss Wright

At the end of each semester my students spend a day writing a letter to one of their favorite teachers. I get to deliver their letters to all of the other teachers in the school and I love how excited they get to read what their students have written about them. After five months together these kids can still surprise us with what they think and remember. I wanted to share some of the funny and interesting things some of my students wrote about me.

One thing I learned about life from you was to always look at the positive side of things. Whenever there was a bad situation, you would always be the one to find something good about it. You are always meeting new people or coming up with something fun or adventurous to do. You're more than a teacher to my friends and I-- you've become our friend.

You are always so eager to greet your students when they walk into your classroom. Your kindness makes others want to be kind too. 

I love when we get all our work done and you let us watch Ellen videos. Then I end up walking out of your room laughing or giggling on my way to lunch.

Whenever a loud, unexpected noise happens, like a fire alarm, you always jump and are shocked. I remember at Campaigners when Syd put all of the chewed gum in her mouth and you were cracking up which made me laugh. You never exactly taught us to be ourselves, but your personality shows the real you. You always know what to say without sounding rude, can stand up for yourself, can always say what you feel and be a really good friend to others.

Your classroom is the perfect example of your personality. All of the bright colors, motivational quotes, paintings, Taylor Swift post covering the clock so no one sees the time, and pictures show who you are and what you like as a person. Every day you are working on a new bracelet, sipping on Diet Coke and reading a blog. 

I really enjoy walking by you in the hall because you always say hello to me. That brightens my day a little. 

I love how you could not care less of what other's think of you, I really need to start following you on that. You try to make a difference in a positive way. Remember that sign in your classroom that says, "Make Yourself Proud"? I've been trying to remind myself of that since I saw that sign and that has made me a happier person already. 

I will never, ever forget the time you took me and some other girls from FBC to a less fortunate school to teach them how to make bracelets. The kids were all so kind and it made me feel good inside. I can't wait to go to Castaway with you this summer and give away all of my bracelets to make other people's wrists less boring!

You always invite people into your life, and you don't judge either. You love to smile which makes other people smile. I'll never forget the way you really look at people-- like their personalities. You always tell people how awesome they are and how much they rock. 

You are a role model and a trend setter. When you came to my dance competition I knew you were more than just a regular teacher. You were special. You were a teacher who was willing to drive for an hour to see a couple of students. I will never forget that. 

I have a question. How can you make so many bracelets in one day? 

When I first came to your class, I was nervous and shy (I still am), but you taught me to always be happy and smile. I have always had a hard time making friends and keeping in touch with my other friends but this year seemed really rough for me. In the beginning of the second semester, you showed me that i need to not be as shy and that it is okay to make mistakes. Just yesterday, I was brave enough to go to our neighbor's house and introduce myself, only to find my friend living there. 

You are a total "rock star" to me. Thank you for making my life awesome. 

"If I had to choose anyone to be on an island with, I would choose you because I know you would not only have enough friendship bracelet string to become friends with the islander people who have never seen humans before and don't speak English, but also because you would inspire me to not give up faith and keep believing that help will come."

A few weeks ago Fudge asked if she could "reserve" me on Memorial Day for some kind of a secret adventure. Of course I said yes. A few days ago I found out that this surprise would happen from 10-12 but I still didn't know anything else. When I showed up at the Andritsch house this morning I was happily to find 10 more girls from our bible study waiting to surprise me. 

These girls had orchestrated a whole morning of adventure and kept the whole thing a secret from me. Unfortunately Fudge has a really bad concussion from a fall at her track meet on Friday night so she wasn't able to join us. She was there is spirit and we brought along her little sister Ava as a mini-Audrey in her place. 

Grace and Vicky drove all of us so I was totally clueless about our destinations. It was very odd to not be the person chauffeuring all the girls around. Each spot we went to had a hidden plastic bag with a few handwritten letters from these girls inside.

Stop #1-- Mama Bear's is the location of  our bi-weekly Wyld Life Campaigners

Stop #2-- HTC movies where we've gone together to the premiers of Hunger Games, Divergent, Catching Fire and Mockingjay.

Stop #3 Starbucks has been the spot for so many coffee dates and friendship bracelet sessions.

Stop #4 HSE Junior High-- It's wild that this will be the last week at this building for all of us. The girls are about to move over to HSE High School and I'll be moving to Fall Creek Junior High. I have loved being their teacher, leader and friend in these halls.

Stop #5-- Brooks School Park doesn't hold a specific memory for this group, but we do love to play. Something I love about this group is their willingness to still act like kids, be silly and goofy and just play.

We ended the adventure back at the Andritsch house with picnic lunch inside. I got to sit with Fudge for awhile in her concussed state and tell her how everything had gone off perfectly. When I finally got back home I read all of the girls' notes and was just so overwhelmed by their kindness and love. I can't tell you how much their words mean.

Hannah and I went to the HSE Softball Sectionals game against Carmel in the afternoon to cheer on Ashley, Carly, Madi, Shelby and Katy. It was humid and hot, the crowd was loud, the girls fought hard but it just didn't play out in our favor in the end. It was a sad loss for the girls and just not the way they wanted their season to finish. But I'm so impressed with their hard work and teamwork this year. Han and I grabbed dinner before she had to go to track practice--can't believe we've only got three more days in the same place before I leave for Tecumseh all summer.

I made some more art this weekend for some sweet girls. I get to surprise them with these canvases at school tomorrow--hopefully by sneaking them into their lockers. Each one reminds me so much of the recipient and I will miss seeing them all the time when they go to the HS next year.

"Oh did they all bring their pouches?"

Brunch with Libby-- I got to brunch with Libby at Patachou Saturday morning after the Barn sleepover finished up. Libby goes to Cathedral and I don't get to see her as often as I wish. It was good to talk about life and summer and her Wilderness trip. I can't believe she's about to be a Senior. 

Camp Training-- All of the leaders who will be going on HSE YL trips this summer (Wyld Life, Wilderness or Castaway) were asked to come to a training meeting at the Barn Saturday afternoon. We sat in a circle in the yard, got a little burnt and learned a lot about what leading at YL camp for a week entails. Some of us have been on many camp trips but a lot of our leaders are going for the very first time. 

Chipotle with Alli-- Her car might have been towed this afternoon when it wouldn't start, but Chipotle does make the day a whole lot better. I can't believe that in just about a week Alli and I will get to hang out all day, every day, all summer long. We're pumped. 

Abby's Birthday Surprise-- Although her birthday was a few weeks ago, Sunday afternoon I got to help Katy and Grace pull off a birthday caper. They kidnapped Abby from her patio, blindfolded her, and then brought her back to Katy's house. Rachel, Emily and I were all waiting there with squirt guns ready to soak her. We had a water fight, sat in the hot tub, ate pizza and adventured to visit Fudge. Rach and I had to leave, but the rest of the girls were joined by Ciarra and went on to go go-carting. 

Wyld Life Party-- KCraig hosted an end of the year dinner Sunday night for all of the Wyld Life leaders at her house. We sat around the table together to eat and shared our highs and lows of the year. It was the first year that all of the HS kids had been part of this team and they've learned and grown a lot along the way.

We ate and laughed and played Family and Mafia and talked about important things and our time together was just really valuable tonight.

KCraig told all of us that at this point we're fired. If we want to come back again next year--great. If we need to invest our time somewhere else--great. Being part of this team should be something life giving, not something we feel like we're just expected to do because of whatever reason.

I know this team will probably look really different next year, just like we' changed so much since last year. Hopefully with each year we're improving so we can love God and serve kids even better.

"I'm a little nervous about if the cabins will be freezing at night."

This morning this large bible study met for the very last time. We've been gathering together since the start of their 7th grade year and now they're about to become freshmen. I hope that in our mornings and weeks together I've been able to point them to Jesus, introduce them to awesome people like Bob Goff and Shauna Niequist and help them think more about what God wants for their lives. 

The neon FBC tanks were all over the school today because we're just so excited about them. Maddie and Tori were pumped in class, Taylor and I ran into each other in the hall and I got to hand out the last few. These collector's items are a hit. I predict I wear it every single week this summer... maybe twice a week if I can swing it.

Year books just came in at the HSJH-- check out this FBC spread.

I popped in at the County Junior High track meet to cheer on Fudge, Sami and the rest of their team early Friday evening. They've had an awesome season and were ready for their last races around the track. I admire these girls' hard work, determination and camaraderie. They are rock stars.

The rest of the night was devoted to a Pre-Camp Sleepover at the Barn. We invited all of the female kids and leaders who will be going on our trip next week to come to an overnight so we could get excited and get to know each other better.

The anticipation is off the charts at this point.

Many of these 8th graders came with us to Michindoh last summer and they can't wait to return to camp. They've brought along more of their friends and now we'll have three whole cabins of 8th grade girls.

Our 7th graders haven't been to camp yet, but they're so excited about the trip and getting to go to Castaway in Minnesota. I love their enthusiasm and spunk and can't way to overlap for a week this summer.

Camping is in my blood and one of my very favorite things in the world. As a Young Life leader, camp is so special because you go to camp with kids that you already have friendships with, experience something totally amazing as a cabin, and then come back home to keep living life together. Our stories are all intertwined and we get to encourage and support one another.

We'll be leaving for camp just five days after school ends-- I can think of no better way for them to start their summer. I can't wait for Julia, Natalie, Julia and Rachel to all experience Wyld Life camp for the first time. They're going to love it.

Friday night was full of silly games, a choreographed dance off, an abundance of snacks, an unforgettable cabin time and so much laughter. I'm thankful for our leaders and for each of these girls.

We squeezed all 50 of us upstairs-- piled up in the loft, tucked into the bunks and lined up on the floor. I read a story from Cold Tangerines, just like at camp, and somehow most of them fell asleep. I can't imagine ever having a cabin group this large, but I can't wait for Castaway with a cabin of 12 girls in just a few short days. It's going to be awesome.