Eversmashing

Well, we survived another busy weekend!

This weekend the youth group tackled a major youth center remodel!  We picked out new paint, new tile, and started on our renovations!  Saturday was our painting day.

Away with the purple and pink... on with the teal and orange!

Then yesterday (Sunday) we got together a group of hard workers once again to rake leaves for some of the older members of our church, who would be unable to take care of that lawn maintenance on their own.

Afterwards we picked up some fried chicken and headed back to church for a hot meal, pumpkin pie, and pumpkin carving!

Jon decided not to carve a pumpkin.  He was too tired.

Happy Harvest-time!

This past Sunday at our kick-off picnic at church, we were presented with the annual gift from the congregation, given to a designated member for their hard work at the church... or something.  We were very appreciative of this honor, but had to step back and ask ourselves...

What exactly does one do with a pig's head?

Well, apparently, if you're the new youth and outreach pastor.... you mount it on a stick in front of the Youth Center.

Unfortunately, it didn't last very long -- not even long enough for all the kids to see it.  Because it had been cooked with the rest of the pig, it immediately started crumbling and falling apart.  Ew.

Last Saturday, Jon & I woke up bright and early to help volunteer at our church's eighth annual 5K Race for the Prize for charity.  I had signed up early for the best job ever -- event photographer -- and when we got there, Jon got talked into being the MC.  He did a swell job coming up with a zilion different ways to say "someone's coming toward the finish line" and "good job; nice run!"  There were about 100 runners, as well as a small group of little kids participating in the kids' race afterwards.  There were also snacks, including frozen yogurt (yum!)  We both had a good time, but ended up feeling quite exhausted when we were done!  And we didn't even run!

So, about a month ago, Jon & I went and spent an entire afternoon picking out furniture at an office furniture supply store.  We studied the pieces, crunched the numbers, debated back and forth, until finally Jon picked out the final pieces of furniture for his office at church.  Unfortunately, they take three weeks to deliver, so up until last week, he was working off of two card tables and chairs borrowed from the youth center, with his theological books all in boxes around the little back room designated "pastor's office," which most people still thought of as a small-group meeting room.

Finally, the day came for the furniture to arrive!  Introducing.... pastor's office!!!

We're still on the lookout for some art to hang on the big, blank, empty wall, but Jon is very happy to finally have a workable, usable, professional-looking office!

Saturday was a very busy day around here for us.  Not only did we have to go grocery shopping and have a youth group leaders' meeting to plan the youth group activities throughout this coming school year -- such as an arcade/laser tag/go-kart lock-in, bring-your-own-board game night, winter Olympics retreat, a hockey game, and a progressive dinner -- but we also that afternoon took a dozen of the youth group members out to play paintball!

Fortunately, I uploaded my pictures before The Great Computer Crash of '09, so I can share some of the fun that Jon and the teens had paintballing (Baby and I sat out and took pics... the netting and rain made it a bit difficult to get good ones, though) --

Getting ready...

Having fun...

This weekend was the summer youth retreat!  I felt like we had gonefrom "one on the way" to being parents of 19 teenagers-- overnight!  Wemust have done an alright job, since no one was hurt, injured, lost, orneeded CPR!

The core of our weekend was the four Bible studies and a church service that we had throughout the course of the three days.  Jon did anawesome job with keeping the kids' interest and getting everyone involved.  They did a lot of small-group discussion in the Bible studies, and it was neat to see how it brought everyone together over the weekend.  The theme was "Survival!" and he had put together topics about surviving conflict, surviving disappointment, surviving an identity crisis, and surviving social awkwardness... they all seemed to go over well with the teens, since they were issues that they could relate to.  The socially awkward one was particularly fun; everyone got really into it with telling their stories about times when they were socially awkward.

The kids spent a huge chunk of the weekend swimming and hanging out in the water on the trampoline raft and the slide.  I even braved the water for a bit, though it was a bit colder than I'd like and with my extra weight and awkward balance issues I found swimming a bit more exhausting than it used to be!

Other than that, we played games.  The teens 'favorite was a new game called "Mount, Dismount" which was like musical chairs with half the group being the chairs (or, in this case, "horses").  It was hilarious to watch.  We also played Hug a Tree, Nuke 'Em, Blind Nuke 'Em, Volleyball, Basketball, Horse, Capture the Flag, 4-Way Tug of War, Mafia, Ping-Pong, and did some survival challenge team-building activities.

Hug-A-Tree

Mount, Dismount

Nuke 'Em

4-Way Tug of War

Overall, I think the weekend was a huge success!