Weekend update

It was a WONDERFUL weekend. WE FINALLY were able to go outside, seriously, long long long overdue. We FINALLY spent some time outside on Saturday and Sunday. Friday night and into Saturday I was on retreat with our seventh and eighth graders from church as well as four neighboring churches at a bible camp not far from us. It is always great to get together with the groups from our area. We had a great time and the weather played along as well, last year at this retreat we got stuck part way home and had to extend our trip a day due to horrible weather. This year we had a great time. The kids got to play games outside and go sledding what more could you really want?! Not to mention they were EXHAUSTED from all the time spent playing outside. Fresh air is a gift for sure.

   On Sunday, Marc, Dakota, and I were able to spend almost the whole afternoon outside! IT WAS AWESOME. It was good for the soul for sure. (We gave in and bought new rainboots for Marc and I, due to our new living location, and the need and desire to get be able to slip shoes on and run to doe stuff outside without having to worry about getting our shoes all muddy, when mud season finally arrives.) We started chipping away at the ice that is nearly a foot and a half thick on our drive way, it took us quite a bit to get a bunch of it chipped away. The problem is we still have a LONG ways to go. We were only able to get so much chipped away because of how hard the ice was. We did get some of it done though and were able to chip into some of it in places so that when the sun shines hopefully it will help to get it melting faster.  I also started chipping away at the ice on the deck, which is also obnoxiously thick. Marc scraped away the snow and ice at the door/front entryway so that we can finally use that door without falling on our bums. Dakota thought she had died getting to spend so much time outside. Although there was still a serious challenge in running around in the snow.








How was your weekend?
Do you still have snow on the ground? (we still have a TON of snow on the ground here)
Did you do anything wonderful this weekend?

January Photo Dump

January really was a wonderful and FREEZING month for us. We were in Puerto Vallarta for a week, which was not nearly long enough and a lot of cold weather, crocheting, reading, and trying to occupy a 2.5 year old puppy in the cold. I also spent a weekend on retreat with some of my 7th and 8th graders. 

a blanket for myself

one morning on the way to work
this doesn't figure in wind

banana bread

Middle School Mission Trip

        After our day at LutherCrest we headed to Milwaukee on a CHARTER BUS (I was fairly certain we were taking a school bus). The trip was wonderful. While we played lots and lots of bus games, made many a good bracelet out of string, I welcomed the opportunity to put in a movie and allow the kids the chance to space out, be entertained, and sleep. While we were in Wisconsin we got to serve in six different locations, take in a Brewers game, play some putt putt, and enjoy some fellowship.
       
I love working with middle schoolers, they are at such a funny point in their lives, life is awkward and wonderful, life is what it is at that point. I also love that middle schoolers will always always always tell you exactly how they understand the world around them, they don't sugar coat it. When I first began working with middle schoolers this was a really really hard lesson for me to learn - they don't mean to be mean they rude or abrasive, they are just saying it how they see it.
     I was also impressed with how hard these youth were able to work. As projects were put out in front of them - they were determined to get a job done and do it well. This by no means that there weren't moments of complaining - but overall our youth were ridiculously hard workers. They got each and every job done that was set before them. One strange job that we had that fascinated all of us was that at a community garden in Milwaukee gets over 1,000 pounds (yes, 1,000 pounds) of crushed garlic and we got to help haul it and lay it down and incorporate it into the soil. Our hands smelled like garlic for days despite how much we washed them. Another project we had was to haul mulch for the foundations of an orchard that will be placed in the middle of the city. We had two huge mulch piles that we were got to spread around. It was a little nuts to see how much mulch these youth could haul. As we were getting to the bottom of some piles it was funny because the youth thought they had completed the job when another huge semi pulled up with more mulch and the youth rallied and got all the mulch laid.
      At a homeless shelter called "the Guest House" we got to make sandwiches for the residents and we got to prepare for a fourth of July party. The youth had an amazing time making cards and decorations for the house. I hadn't taken into consideration how much of a celebration I am accustom to, I gather with family and friends, enjoy a BBQ that is much more than we can eat, and enjoy watching the city fireworks. I can't' imagine not having those opportunities. I am excited that we were able to help these men be able to celebrate and enjoy the day like I will.
      All of our serving opportunities were great foundations for being able to have outstanding conversations with the youth. They were asking all sorts of great questions and have a great gifts and talents that they too get to offer to the world. I am thankful for the chance to help foster their growth, I am thankful for the parents who leave me with their most valuable (or one of) things in the world. I know that these youth mean the world to their parents and I am humbled to have the chance to walk alongside them in the midst of these important milestones in their lives. I am thankful for the chance to have these conversations with the youth as they discover the world around them. I am thankful for my call to serve.
     I will admit being married does make these types of trips harder. It was hard to be away from Marc for a week, knowing that he was back at the house with my sweet puppy. It was hard to not be able to go for a run with him as we normally would and to be able to share our days as we normally would. At the same time, he was over the top supportive and open to phone calls at crazy times and text messaging from time to time. He was sneaky and left notes in my bag, backpack, and sleeping bag.
   I also will admit that these trips are challenging because I don't get to control what I eat and have the opportunity to run, swim, bike, and workout like I would like it. It is hard to not have the chance to go for a long run during the week. Sometimes while I am away I do get in a run maybe two but they are never to the distance I would like and I can't fully relax knowing that I am ultimately responsible for these youth. But it is worth it.



 Do you get to travel anywhere fun soon?

Low Ropes & High Ropes

This past week, I and 26 of my favorite middle schoolers (seriously, I love all middle schoolers - life is so weird at that age) and a few other adults traveled together to Milwaukee with a stop at LutherCrest Outdoor Ministries in Alexandria Minnesota. As part of our trip our youth (and the adults and I) had the opportunity to spend some time on their low ropes and high ropes challenge courses. I love love love taking my youth on challenge courses. It is amazing to see the ways in which they are able to work together, to overcome adversity, to rise up with leadership skills that boggle my mind, to problems solve, to believe in each other, and most importantly believe in themselves.

   I could tell you countless stories of kids who upon seeing the high ropes course told me that they wouldn't go past the ladder, or would only climb the pole, and successfully completed the entire element. Were they scared, probably. Is it hard work, yes. Did some come down part way through, yes. Was I proud at how hard they worked and how they pushed themselves past where they thought they could, yes, I was over the top thrilled for them. We don't force the youth to do anything, they are free to choose their own challenge and name when their challenge is over, however, I do allow myself the freedom to push them a little, to have them take just one more step if they can or climb one more rung higher, or try to get onto the floating islands. These youth are AMAZING. 

   These skills that the youth gain while doing crazy challenge activities feed them for a life time, they realize they are capable of more, that they can do hard things, that they do have leadership skills, that they are rockstars. Middle school is tough. Life is hard. Life is messy. I love the opportunity to provide youth with the chance to succeed to do more, and to celebrate their victories. I was so impressed with my youth as they supported one another, as they worked together, and as they celebrated everyone's victories no matter how big or how small they were. I wish I could take more youth to these types of events. I want everyone to be able to experience them. I also am hoping to get something set up where we can take entire families (middle school kids on up and their families) to ropes courses, I think it would be amazing to see how the families could come together, rally, and work together to overcome big obstacles. 

    While we were at LutherCrest our youth got to experience three different elements, a floating board type element where people on the ground got to help hold the board in place. There was one youth on each end of the board and they could turn the board and spin the board and pull them closer and further away. The kids got to work on communicating and to help one another. They worked their way across the planks and got to hit the wall and then were lowered down. On the other element we walked across this small wire and held onto small ropes which helped to provide supports. At the end of the wire we then climbed up on a plank and got to zip line down to safety. It was ridiculously fun. It is hard to hold still while up on the wires and my legs, abs, and arms were all clenched in tight in order to help stabilize. It was wonderful.

   I highly recommend if you ever have the opportunity to experience a high ropes or low ropes course - DO IT. I know I am always looking for adult leaders to come alongside the youth and myself to help with our youth. I have gotten to see many an adult experience ropes courses for the first time several times. Much like the youth we all have fears that we get to overcome and expectations. I am thankful for these types of experiences. 

Have you ever gotten to do a high/low ropes course?
Have you ever been on a zip line tour? (My family did one in Cancun a few years ago, it was awesome too)
Do you like heights?

Mission Trip Prep

Prepping to head out on a mission trip with middle schoolers is always an interesting endeavor, I feel like there are about seven layers of stuff to get ready:

• the kids forms and paperwork, the activities to pull out of my bag as I may need them, the med kits, the snacks (just in case a kid gets hungry - which leads to crabby kids), and a few miscellaneous type things for kids to do
• the work I will miss while being out of the office - this is just a strange layer of stuff - I have to make sure that all the stuff I would normally do in any given week gets covered by someone and that they have everything they need and that they are well prepped for my absence (I realize I am not the end all be all and that I am not perfect or have all the answers, however, I know there are just certain things I do without thinking about them that help to make things run more smoothly) - also I like to leave my office with a clean desk (it is easier to tell what has been piled on it while I was gone) - set up the auto reply on my email to let people know if they need something that they can either contact my colleague or call my cell
• pack for myself - this is actually probably the easiest piece for me - most of the clothes come out of the "mission trip" tote of clothes that I just keep in my closet - I know it may seem strange to have a tote full of mission trip clothes but it makes sense to have a bunch of clothes that can get painted and stained and look a little crappy with who knows what on them - and if I have to throw them away it seriously is no big deal - also the packing piece seems to be the easiest for whatever reason - I pack WAY on the light side - I have the haul enough other stuff for the kids that I don't want to have to haul anything extra for myself
• leave Marc a list of all the stuff that he may need to know - he just moved into my place and hasn't quite yet learned the schedule of when the recycling and the trash needs to go out - when Dakota needs fed - where the key to the lawn mower is - the number of the plumber who is working on fixing the sump pump in the basement etc... - yeah it doesn't sound like much however - when everything is new I would rather leave him a list with all this stuff than expect him to remember it - not to mention I think we are going to try to sell my house and it will go on the market at the end of this week --- soooo just want to make sure he knows what's happening there and what not (yes, yes, we have talked about all this and he agreed that a list would be best for him)
• return & renew the library books that I have (seriously I am anal retentive and have never had a library fine in my life and hope to keep this streak going) - I LOVE public libraries

Do you have any particulars when you go on a trip?

I love traveling with my youth but why does it always seem like more work to be gone than to stay home?

Do you get to travel anywhere fun this summer?

Frustrating

After coming back from a major youth trip I am now finally able to see my desk again (woot woot) and am now seriously working on planning for the next year (yay)! I thought I was ahead of the game and began looking at youthworks sites, but some are already filling! I hate the feeling of being behind the 8 ball. It is only August and already feeling behind. I am excited to explore a new avenue for my middle school youth, mission trips through LutherCrest bible camp. I just couldn't believe that people (lots of people) are already ahead of the game and have their sites booked for next summer.

In exciting news I do actually really enjoy the season of planning and dreaming. I love the season of hope for the future, a season of preparing for growth, a season of tending the fields and evaluating the last year what went well and what needs help. My South Dakota roots have taught me the value of tending the field and cleaning up last year's field before beginning next years.

It could be that part of my planning joys is in knowing that I am not going anywhere next year, I am not moving, I get to continue to walk alongside the same people, I get to keep my roots planted. I have led a very nomadic life since graduating high school and so there is great comfort in building longer term relationships and remaining in the same place. I love that I just rolled over all my leftover mission trip money (very small amount but some none the less) from this past year to the 2015 youth gathering - knowing that there is a very good chance I could be here then! I love it!

Total side note: I rearranged my desk yesterday and there is something liberating about rearranging stuff. I am not yet committed to keeping it the new way but I am already liking it better because I can see out the window and I am not staring directly out my door. I love being able to look outside even if it is into a parking lot, I am loving not looking out my door and having to stare at everyone who comes in the office, people are more than welcome to come in my office but I don't have the strange need to look up every time our office door opens. It is glorious.

A view from my newly arranged desk looking out the window.
Sorry about the not amazing photo- it was taken on my phone