Pottery Night

Last Wednesday Night, we had a Middle School Night at church. I took a group of girls to a local place where you can paint your own pottery and then we went out to ice cream. 8 girls came which was a really great turn out and it was a lot of fun! Nolan took 5 boys to a Pirates game and they had a great time as well! Unfortunately we only have one camera, so here are some shots of the girls:

Seniors 2009

In youth ministry, the end of the summer means saying goodbye to a class of students as they prepare for the next phase of their life. This year, our youth group had a very large group of graduating seniors that will be greatly missed. As a farewell to the seniors, I planned a night out in Pitttsburgh for them before they all head in various directions this fall. We went to Station Square and had dinner at Buca di Beppo, took the incline up Mt. Washington, and then had ice cream sundeas back at the church where we prayed them out and gave them a gift. This was a bitter sweet night because I have really had the opportunity to get to know some of these students over the past two years at Mt. Carmel. I am so excited for each of them and the things that they are headed off to this Fall! Here are some pictures from the night:

Yikes...I officially stink at blogging!

I am afraid that I may have lost my very small group of blog followers due to my long lack of blogging. But now that things are settling down a little and our schedule is becoming mroe regular I would like to get back to the whole blogging thing.

We have been married for over two months now, and life is wonderful! We have finally unpacked and made our apartment feel more like "home." It has definitely been fun adjusting to living with a boy instead of a house full of girls!

This summer has been full of craziness: moving, our wedding, honeymoon, mission trip, getting a new pastor, New Wilmington Mission Conference, Nolan looking for a job, various friends' weddings, and the list goes on! All of these things have made for a really special time in our lives and a great beginning to this new phase!

The good news is that Nolan starts a new job today! He is working part-time at the Starbucks in Moon Township...and yes this means a free pound of coffee every week which is a huge plus to me!! He is still on the hunt, however for something a little more permanant and something that may fit his ambitions a little better.

Pictures of our apartment and our summer to come....

Sorry for the Silence!

I realize it has been quite a while since I updated this, but I have been rather busy getting married and all! I won't say much here except that the wedding was truly amazing and I would not have changed one single thing about it (except maybe that the day was longer!!) Nolan and I just got back from our honeymoon and are settling into life together. Our apartment is great and our neighborhood is so much fun! I am trying to be patient waiting for the wedding photos to come which is not easy, but for now here are few of my favorites from our honeymoon in Sarasota, FL.

My American Idol Thoughts

So until this year, I hadn't really gotten into the American Idol thing, but this year--I am hooked!! Danny and Kris were a few of my favorites from the very beginning so I am happy they made it to the final three, and I was sad to see Danny go.

Unfortunately, I missed the live show last night so I had to watch online today, but of course I am routing for Kris!! Not only do I think he's great, but he's kinda the underdog in this competition. Even the judges seem to have it out for him. He totally got jipped last night when the "theme song" was chosen, because it is such a better song for Adam's voice than Kris'!!

My prediction for tonight: KRIS ALLEN. I'm not just saying this because he is my choice but, I think that the people who vote the most (young girls!) are Kris fans. I also think that the people who were voting for Danny, will now vote for Kris over Adam. Let's see what happens! :-)

PS...on a completely different note: I AM GETTING MARRIED IN TEN DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!

The wait has almost come to an end!

This week brought some very exciting news for my church, Mt. Carmel Presbyterian Church. We have found a new pastor!! Ever since I started at Mt. Carmel, we have been without a pastor. It has been truly incredible to see the ways in which people have stepped up in leadership and the church has grown in numbers and in faith! It has also been very challenging for me as a brand new youth leader to be without the accountability, mentorship, and leadership that a pastor can provide. His name is Mike and he has two kids who will be in the youth group which is also a bonus!

One of the incredible ways God has revealed Himself in this process is the timing. This coming August it will be three years since the church's previous pastor left the church. This is the exact same month that our new pastor obeyed a call from God and started seminary! Talk about God choosing someone and preparing them for His work!!

He still has to preach before the congregation so that they can vote him in as the official pastor, but hopefully this part of the process will go well!

Job Shadow

Mallory is one of the Senior girls this year that I have had the opportunity to get to know. She attends a different church, but has come on a few trips with us and comes to various events. Mallory will be graduating in June and going to school for youth ministry (wahoo!) As part of her senior project, she had to do a job shadow with someone who does the career she would like to pursue, so she asked me! She came in and spent the morning with me in the office doing odd jobs, asking questions about being a youth leader, and she even wrote an article for next month's youth newsletter!

It's so exciting as a youth leader to share life experiences with my students and it's such an honor to know that some of them want to do ministry! It was a fun day with Mallory, and she is one of the many seniors I will dearly miss next year!

I love my youth group!

Somedays my job is crazy and stressful, but then there are moments where I sit back and realize that I think that I have the best job in the world! Wednesday afternoons are often a highlight of my week because my high school girls come hang out in my office for small group. Yesterday, I thought it would be a typical Wednesday, but my youth group girls decorated our youth house and threw me a surprise wedding shower!!! It was so sweet and lots of fun! They had yummy food and awesome presents! Thanks girls! This is a picture of a few of my girls raiding my office! They made this picture the background on my computer and it makes me happy every time I look at it! Rachel is the girl in the middle. She is a senior this year and leaving me soon!!! She is the one who put the shower together and I love her! The other two are Jordan and Lauren who also helped with the shower. They are sophomores so I get to hold onto them for a little while longer!

Update

It has been awhile since I last updated, sorry about that! A lot has been going on around here lately, and things have been very busy!

Last weekend I took a much needed trip to Philadelphia to visit my best friend Abbie. We had a really great time and it was so nice to just not have a schedule for a few days! We did lots of shopping and I bought two dresses that I absolutely love for my shower and rehearsal dinner.

That brings me to what else is new....our wedding is in less than 2 months! Ah! I am looking forward to this day sooo much...and I won't be sad to say goodbye to all the planning, although its been fun! I decided to change the look of my blog for a little while to reflect the wedding (green and brown are the colors).

In a little over two weeks I will be going to Colorado for about 5 days to train for Teen Community Bible Study. I am really looking forward to this trip because I have never been that far west before!

Hope to update again soon!

Climbing Higher Retreat

This past weekend, a small group from Mt. Carmel joined some other youth groups in the area for a retreat called Climbing Higher. This was a really great weekend, and the small group of Mt. Carmel students really provided the opportunity to get to know each other better. It was also really fun to see all my MLUPC friends who I don't get to see very often!

The band "Brother" led worship, and each session was really amazing! The students learned some new songs that impacted them and it was such a blessing to see my students really getting into worship and praising God. This is certainly an exciting thing for a youth leader!

The speaker focused on these verses from Romans throughout the weekend: "Therefore, I urge you brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing, and perfect will" (Romans 12:1-2). It was so interesting to hear the students' perspective on what the pattern of this world is and how we can change our lives to reflect the pattern of God's world. Here are a few pictures from the group sessions this weekend.