High School Lock-In

There are several amazing things about my call - in fact at the moment I can't imagine doing anything else. However with my call (associate pastor for children, youth, & family ministries) there are several "job hazards" one of them is lock-ins - the other which is often closely associated with the previous is pizza. This past Friday night I got the joy of both.

Really I do enjoy spending time with my youth because they are amazing to say the least however, I really like my sleep too - I enjoy sleeping - lockins = no sleep. This last lock in however a colleague and I wised up and partnered up so that we could be locked into the church with both of our sets of kids and a couple of other adults and that together we could get through it - it worked - it made life much more happy to have a friend alongside me. I honestly have the world's best colleagues.

Anyways, our evening was filled with pizza, games, movies, laughter, worship, prayer, games, and we did a service project for a neighboring ministry who helps youth who are often marginalized. We went over to their building from 10:30 pm - 3:00 am and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned and organized and organized and organized. I fear people could smell the cleaning products miles away. It was a gift to be able to help another local ministry, to have our kids helping kids much like themselves, kids who just need a little extra help. It was wonderful to be able to free up some of the people who work at this ministries time to do other things than clean - it was great to be able to help take inventory for them and come alongside them.

Here are some highlights from the night:

• never ending games of Romans and Christians
• several rounds of sardines
• helping out a partner ministry and cleaning their building until it shined
• amazing conversation with the youth
• yummy pancake breakfast
• laughs, laughs, and more laughs
• Brave (the movie)

Sometimes I think I am far too old for these sleepless nights. I came back to my house and slept for a couple hours and then I went out to camp to haul beds. Blah. I was then in bed that night by 9 for sure and passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow.

I hate missing a nights worth of sleep but love the relationship aspect of lock-ins - I guess for now I will keep doing them until I really can't stand it any more. The youth love them. They nearly drive me crazy.

Showered - overly blessed

This past weekend I traveled back home and was spoiled by not one but two different bridal showers. Seriously. It was crazy. It was tons of people who I haven't seen in a while (soooooo good to see everyone) and to have the chance to catch up a bit. I wish I had more time to catch up with people, but it just wasn't possible in that short of a time. It was fun to be back in SD for sure. I wish I got back there more often - a piece of me wonders if some day we won't end up back in SD, although who knows what will happen. Currently I am still loving northern Minnesota other than the distance from my family.

I LOVE these girls - we have grown up together - they are wonderful

Highlights:

• Hanging out with my Hartj
• taking Dakota to the dog park (even though it was ridiculously snowy)- Brainerd seriously needs one of these
• spending time in South Dakota
• seeing family & friends
• I seriously have the world's best friends and family
• I got to meet two of my new baby cousins that I haven't met before (they are ridiculously cute) and they have mastered the skill of snuggling 
• sooooo many new things 
•  now it's time to go through the old and get rid of what I can and donate what I can
• I now get to send all sorts of thank yous
• I LOVE writting letters and sending snail mail
• hanging out with my parents

Everyone loves to snuggle the new babies
Anna & Jack

Downfalls:

• I don't like knowing that my family is so far away
• My drive on the way down was AWFUL due to the super craptastic weather & took me 3.5 hours longer than normal 
• The weather was less than desirable - who knew in mid April I would have issues with traveling due to weather. This is ridiculous. Spring please come.
• The trip was a whirlwind
• I wish I could have spent a week there
• I didn't get to see quite everyone that I wanted to

Play dough Recipe

I had the world's hardest time finding a great play dough recipe for an upcoming Family Faith Journey project and searched all over the internet to find one, and eventually ended up calling my mom for her recipe for play dough (I seriously remember helping her make this when I was a kid) so thought I would post it just in case any one else is looking for an easy easy easy play dough recipe. (& so next time I need it I can find it)

2.5 cups flour
0.5 cup salt
3 tablespoons corn oil
1 tablespoon powdered alum

• Mix ingredients and pour 1 2/3 to 2 cups of boiling water of it.
• Stir till ingredients stick together.
• Kneed till soft and consistent.
• Divide into as many sections as you want and color as you please (you can use food coloring or paste coloring)
• Store in a plastic bag

It was ridiculously easy to make and I tripled the recipe and it still worked out great!!!


I seriously enjoyed making playdoh, I don't know that last time I got to play with it, I find it a bit theraputic.

Anything from your childhood that you still enjoy playing with from time to time?

Crosslake Dam Run Review

Crosslake Dam Run 5k or 10k is race number 2 in the Crosslake Run series. I wore my run series shirt and was entered for extra prizes. One thing that I have loved so far about the 2 races that I have run in this series is that there are quite a few people but it isn't at the overwhelmingly large race size yet. I do enjoy some of the big races that I run, however there is something fabulous in the simplicity of some races too! The people who have organized these two races have been spot on and the details have fallen together wonderfully.
I will admit that I was a little confused when there was not an address given for where registration and the start of the race would be, it said it would be in the town square north of the business district, and I am not all that familiar with Crosslake. My fears were gone when I saw all the beautiful signs directing me where to go.
Before the race was chilly (which I prefer over the wicked hot weather we could have had) and I was slightly concerned about rain. I felt bad for the race organizers with about ten minutes to race time a ton of people showed up & were upset with them for having a line to pick up bibs. I am not certain why they thought they could show up at the last minute and still make the start on time.
Thankfully for the late comers the race organizers delayed the start about ten minutes for all these people. The start was about a half a block from the registration and finish line.
The race went well for me, there was a 5k and a 10k race, the races were well labeled and there were a few individuals standing at the splits to direct people. On the 5k race there was a water station about half way through, which was plenty.
I was happy with my time in the end which is good, I needed a good run. They do door prizes and prizes for those who come in the top of the age brackets. Part of the perk of running the race series is you get entered into a bonus prize pool with some decent prizes. I won a free car wash from the race series prizes, I would guess about half the people who were in the race series got a prize.