XLR8

Things have been going so well at XLR8!  It seems like each week we're seeing new faces and the kids are loving it.  One XLR8 parent told me that his daughter didn't want to go to a fair that was in town because she would miss XLR8.  She had tears in her eyes because she was so sad that she would disappoint her dad.  It's encouraging to see how dedicated the kids are!  This term we are working through some of the parables that Jesus taught.  Below are a few pictures of what we've been up to.  

Working on a craft...we made a really big mess this day!

We learned about the parable of the Good Samaritan.  We had the kids put band-aids on a picture of a hurt person.  Some of them decided to decorate themselves as well!

One of their favorite games is a one where we have a race to see who can put together the Bible verse the quickest.    Each word is written on a notecard.  One by one the kids run down and grab a notecard.  Once them have them all, they have to assemble it in the correct order.  

Putting the notecards in order

Teaching the kiddos

A Few Things to Pray For

One of the cars had a dead bat on the front of it!  This brave girl picked it off!!

   Youth is in full swing and we have lots going on.  Currently we are busy planning fundraisers and getting ready for camp in July!  Last weekend we held a car wash/bake sale and raised $620!  The money that we raised will help reduce the cost of camp for the students.  It was a beautiful day to be outside and we were so excited about the number of people that came by.  Usually the car wash begins to wind down around noon, but cars kept rolling in!  We almost didn't have enough car washers.  But the kids did a great job and we praise God for the money that we raised!  June 2nd we are holding a dinner at the church.  Youth will be serving dinner, running games in between dinner courses and providing live entertainment.  Please pray for the dinner next weekend. Pray that a lot of people from the church would turn up for the event and that it would be a great night.  Also, pray for camp as we are planning!

Sean designed this for me.  I think he did such a great job!

Also, please keep praying for the purity event that I am planning.  Sean and I will be away next week, so this is my last week of planning before the event.  It is being held on June 7, 14, 16.  We will be talking to the girls about what it means to be pure with their mind, body and heart.  Please pray for wisdom for the leaders as we plan and that God would begin to prepare the hearts of the girls.  At the end of the event, we would like the girls to make a purity commitment and we are giving them rings.  The women's ministry is helping us with the event and they will come along side the girls on the final night when we are holding a special dinner in the girl's honor.  It is our goal to have at least 10 girls come to the event and we are up to 7 right now.  We would really appreciate your prayers!!  

Here are a few pictures from youth lately that I thought I'd share!

Ninja Sean playing jumbo soccer on the beach.

We had a game night at our house last weekend.  We love nights at our house because we feel like we get to spend more one-on-one time with the youth.  We had lots of different games going on at one time.

Blokus

Uno (which they pronounce "you-no"...strange right???)

Chess

Cluedo

Filling you in a bit!

Boy, lots has been going on and there is so much to update you on.  I think I'll do a little bit at a time so that I don't write a book.

Youth-It has been going really well.  We've had a few less kids lately because they are all so busy!  We are hoping to see them back soon.  We have a youth camp in July so we are busy planning fundraisers to help the kids for camp.  We are holding a car wash this coming weekend and on June 2nd we will be having a fundraiser dinner at the church.  Sean and I headed down to the venue where we'll be holding the camp in July yesterday and we are SO excited about it!  The camp has so much to offer.  We will be the only ones at the camp and they are so willing to cater toward exactly what we want.  We are in charge of the activities at the camp and we can't wait to get started with the planning!

Here is a link to one of our youth videos, it's probably one of my favorites!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=j8mlIWLsdr8

I am planning a purity event for the high school girls that I'm really looking forward to.  There are 2 other amazing ladies who are helping me plan who have a passion for purity. The event will be held June 7, 14 and 16.  Please be praying for this event while we work out the details.  I'll keep you updated :)

Bible study-  A while ago I mentioned that I was leading a Beth Moore Bible study for young adult girls on the book of Esther.  We finished the study a few weeks ago and we all loved it!!  We started a new on by Beth Moore last week called "A Woman's Heart: God's Dwelling Place."  It's all about the tabernacle.  We're all really excited about this study.  The tabernacle is something that none of us have studied before. We'd love your prayers for this study!

Picture Update

Sorry we have been a bit slack about updating lately.  We're still here!!  There' s just a lot going on and I keep forgetting to update the blog.  Here are a few pictures of what we've been up to.  We will make sure to fill in a bit more soon.  

We made hairy caterpillars in XLR8!  I will take a picture soon to show you how much these little guys have grown!!

2 kiddos with their caterpillars.  The kids loved making these!

One of our youth gave Sean a surfboard for his birthday.  Needless to say, he was VERY excited.  We went out on Sunday to give it a try.  

We had a beach day with the youth and played some soccer.

We played a game of tag with this doll, who has been named Cynthia.  It was really funny to see the kids running around the beach with this strange doll.

Sean's birthday cake!!  I made a Peanut Butter Buckeye Brownie Cheesecake.  It was incredibly rich but very, very delicious!

The church threw us a little party after church for both of our birthdays.  We love our church family!  We are getting ready to cut the cake here.