Wednesday Night Fun (Church)

It seems like all my posts lately have been about church.  Maybe not all, but most of them.  Are you seeing a pattern in our life?  Our church family and home are very important to us.  It's not necessarily about the programs, but just the way we do life together.  If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times: I am so thankful for my church family.

Wednesday nights at church are fun for me, they always have been, even when I went to different churches.  Wednesday night was always a big youth night for me growing up, and now that my boys are at that stage of life, the same is true for them.  I had amazing youth pastors growing up, and I can say confidently and with all of my heart that the same is true for them.

These people are part of the village it takes to raise our boys.  We count on them being there for the boys when they need a non parent person to talk to, and they have never once let us down.  We love these people so much and I pray for them everyday in my quiet time.

That being said, last night, we had a really fun youth event at church called Post Exam Jam.  It looks a little different each year because of the weather, but this year it was held in our church gymnasium and we had a Memphis icon popsicle truck from a place called Mem Pops.

The flavors are different and strange combinations, like some of the ones you see listed in the picture above.  Because they were free to us last night, we had a handful of choices to choose from, but I tasted three.  The strawberry, the blackberry and Greek yogurt was DELICIOUS, and I got the Mexican chocolate.  It had CAYENNE pepper in it, y'all, and it was amazing.

Also available for the students and friends they bought were a bunch of fun games that don't get pulled out that often.  My Drewby was there helping set up yesterday afternoon, along with some student interns that have recently been hired.

I love nights like this because I love to fellowship, and I love being with these teenagers.  As in, I prefer being with them over adults, because sometimes I'm awkward around grown ups.  Not even kidding.  I don't just love one particular grade, either, but I love ALL of them.  I had so much fun going around and just getting to catch up for a few minutes with the ones I don't see that often.  I am so thankful that I get to be a part of youth ministry!  I could have come home and cried, my heart was so overwhelmed with gratitude.

I don't love just the youth at our church, but I love our church pastors and staff.  Look at these guys!

How many pastors of huge churches and worship leaders/choir directors do you know of that would willingly just came and hang out with the youth on a Wednesday night?  And not just hang out, but learn to play crazy games like Spike Ball?  I know many, and not many I know would be willing to do this.  I love these guys so much!  Left to right are AJ (our awesome middle school youth pastor), Brother Chuck (head pastor), Chandler (cool youth staff person and one of my most favorite people of all time) and Travis (our new worship leader/choir director).  I love that they commit to spending time with our youth and that they hang out and get to know them on their level.  Because of nights like this and their antics that you see above, this is why all of my kids would go knock on our pastor's door in a second if they ever needed anything or a listening ear.

They're just there and they're available.  They admit they're not perfect and they're all humble about it.

We are so fortunate to have found the beloved church home that God placed us in.  When we first started here six years ago (WHAT?!), I never thought I'd fit in here enough and love it enough to call in my beloved church home, but I am here to say that those are true words.  I hold these people in high esteem and I pray for them all the time.

Well.  I have to run!  I have a busy day, all of a sudden.  I'll explain more about that tomorrow.  Love to all!