Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving y'all!!!!!!

Hope you all have a wonderful time with family or friends today.

(Just a little rebellious about all the Christmas decorations already being out. It used to be bad manners to decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving. Or maybe I am just getting old.)

I desperately need y'all to pray for a sweet girl in my youth group. Her father was killed yesterday in a car accident. Her mother passed away two years ago with cancer. When I arrived at her house yesterday, she was understandably heartbroken. This child is 17 and the sweetest thing in the world. She has an older sister that lives at home with them and commutes to college. They desperately need your prayers.

True Love Waits Date Night

Friday night, we took the Cross-Eyed Youth on another True Love Waits Date Night. We teach the study every February, and then for the next year, we take those who completed it and took the pledge out on date nights. We are trying to redefine what dating looks like to teens. God should be a part of every aspect of our lives - not just on Sunday mornings! Last night, we took the kids to see "Game Plan". Some of the kids had to be cool, and gripe a bit about seeing a "kids movie". But those kids laughed all the way through the show! I laughed at them. It was a really cute movie. I would recommend it to anyone. The only questionable part was during the partying time of his life, but even that was mild and portrayed as the life he wanted out of. We then went out to eat. And of course what would a date be without going to WalMart! Yes, we might be rednecks. Seriously, as the kids were loading the bus at the restaurant, they were asking, "Are we going to WalMart?" Too funny. Just part of living an hour from a city, I suppose. I just love these kids so much. They feel like part of my family. Thank you God for leading me into youth ministry!

VBS

Hi all! This week is VBS at our church. I am in charge of doing the whole youth department! That's right: crafts, rec, lesson, and anything else. It's been a bit of a challenge this week. We started off with some behavior problems. I didn't handle them well. I got frustrated and intimidated. Only a few times in ministry have I gotten "shook". This was one of them. The main "problem-child" is big. He's well over 6 feet. Wayne was outside preparing the building (crafts) part of it and I just teach better if he is in there with me. Anyway, the second night went better, but that was because they "problems" didn't come back. Please pray for me as we have the next 3 nights still to go. I want to show them Jesus, not scared frustrated Leah. I want to show them love, hope, peace, gentleness, kindness - I want to represent my Savior in a good way. Not "crazy church lady". Anyway.

I have been checking out Steven Curtis Chapman's family's blog of their trip to China! I thought you all might want to see it, too. Go to http://chapmanchannel.typepad.com/asiaandbeyond/.
if you want to follow along, too.

I'm Back

Hello! We just walked in the door from taking our youth to summer camp. We spent the last week at Southwest Baptist University at Super Summer. We had a blast and God spoke to each of us greatly. Right now we are piled up on the couch looking at the pile of luggage and laundry and bedding still to be dealt with. Ugh! I'll post more later!