Dear Family,
Every year rain or shine I am blessed when the youth
group comes to help spread bark dust.
It’s a big job for just me, but for us all, it is a pleasure. I am so glad when the community bands together to
accomplish a task. I can’t describe to
you the joy our youth brought as they were willing to carry and dump bark dust repeatedly
in the rain. Their excitement was only
heightened each time someone new joined.
They were so glad to see each other.
It was just like youth group. The
greetings were infectious with delight.
One even had an epiphany during the several hours they worked, “I
have decided to help with VBS.” His
friend exclaimed with delight, “Yes!” The
fun continued with a game, Kinect Adventures. Their
enthusiasm peaked again as they took turns and battled for the best score. Pizza gave them a break and then, “Apples to Apples”
rounded off for a fabulous day. Youth
group kids are our fountain of youth. If
we never look old, it’s because of them.
One silly part, a boy insisted he really wanted to shed
his itchy pants once inside the home. He
feels very comfortable with us that’s for sure.
He really didn’t see the need for pants even though I’m a lady. We convinced him to wear a pair of Seth’s
drawstring pants.
Community coming together doesn’t just accomplish a goal
it bonds our hearts together. Bobby and
13 others joined to help Pastor Marcus move out of his house. I was amazed to hear it only took 2.5
hours. Wow! Good job!
Seth helped with bark dust and found the kids interesting
as well. He was fabulous and I am
blessed with his hard work.
Because it is Spring break the youth group had a games
day instead of the regular youth group on Wednesday. We enjoyed many games, and my two favorite
quotes will follow with some explanation.
We talked about how I eat chips and Cheetos with a spoon because I
don’t want messy fingers. A young man
said, “I have God’s napkin!” He then
proceeded to lick his fingers, “My tongue.”
The next quote was from another young man during the game of
things. The question was, “Things that would surprise you if it
didn’t happen.” One person wrote, “Not
growing physically.” He answered the
inquiry, “Was it you who wrote that?” With another favorite quote, “Yes, it’s obvious?” And I thought that was quite adorable because
it is obvious when the youth haven’t hit their growth spurt yet.
Bobby’s favorite apples-to-apples
moment was when the green card we all had to match was, “Wee: ‘small, tiny.’” He guessed mine which was "speed bumps". As he was walking away, I did have to tell
the kids, “I used to love flying over speed bumps but that’s a bad idea, parts
fall off your car.” It was amazing how
fast the time went. Three hours, blip. And that is life!
Celebrating Adriel’s Birthday at “JoJo’s Restaurant” in
Portland was really yummy! Adriel has matured
so much and my heart was so full being with her and my parents. I can’t describe how much love we packed into
the couple of hours we were together.
May you find time with others to be meaningful as
well. May your joy be complete when you interact
with people. May God fill your hearts
that you might fill others. Much love,
Cristy
P.S. My heart was filled again during Palm Sunday. Whenever our little ones sing up front I cry tears of joy because that's what spills out when my heart overfills.
I did notice during the communion speech about this being a celebration and remembrance of belief (so only take this if you are a believer, no one is judging, this is a safe place . . . ) that several deacons had weird quizzical faces. I asked Bobby what that was about and he said it looked like there might not be enough communion to go around. I mentioned to Seth that dad and I would refrain even if it made us look like unbelievers because we were concerned the crackers might run out. His response was to agree that he would refrain as well with, “I wear sandals to church, you can obviously tell I don’t care what others think.” So we didn't take the bread and I pretended when it was time to Seth saying, "Really?" and me giggling. We did notice that there was some leftover so we did take the grape juice. I had to chuckle when Bobby told me someone did ask about us not taking the bread.
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