Jumonville Retreat

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind and we have done so many things, I have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to blogging. Two weeekends ago, I went on a high school retreat to Jumonville and it was a wonderful weekend! The weather was beautiful and I really enjoyed getting to know some of the students better. It's amazing that I have been here long enough to see how much some students have grown in their faith over the past two and half years. The girls kept a Mt. Carmel tradition alive by dressing in crazy outfits for the Saturday night activities (that should explain the weird clothes in one of the pictures). Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Pens Game!

Last Thursday, Nolan and I had the exciting opportunity to go to a Pens game. A couple from our church gave us the tickets, and they were incredible! We were in the third row from the ice, right next to the Penguins bench...you know your seats are good when a group of Steelers is sitting a few rows behind you! Yes, I am THAT Steelers fan who asked for a picture with Jeff Reed! Although, the game wasn't too great for the Pens because they lost pretty bad, we had so much fun! Of course we loved Betty and Jim before, but giving us those tickets sure didn't hurt! Here are a few pictures from the game:

Where the Wild Things Are

A lot of the students in my ministry and other people have been talking about this movie, and I was very curious because of the variety of responses to it. Nolan and I went to see this film last night, and I have to say I don't even know what my response to it is! It was very strange...the plot was a little boring, but the cinematography was really incredible!

The movie does, however, raise some interesting issues about being a child. The main character Max seems a little crazy when he goes into rages of anger, but the film does a good job of setting the scene and making it very logical for a child of his age to act the way he does, considering his situation. The movie is also a good reminder to be grateful for the people and things we have in our lives, because so often we don't realize how important they are until we don't have them anymore. It's been years since I have read the picture book that this movie is based on and I want to get a hold of a copy now that I have seen the movie.

Anybody have thoughts on this very weird movie??

Laurelville 2009

This past weekend, Nolan and I took the middle school students on the Laurelville fall retreat. This retreat is always a favorite! We had lots of fun playing in the mud and also getting to know these students in a deeper way. I am exhausted today though! Less than two weeks and I will do it all over again with the high school students!

We got a Mac!

Nolan and I both had broken Dell laptops from college, so for the past months we had no computer of our own to use. We have been wanting to become trendy mac users for a while now and knew someone who was selling his so we took advantage of the opportunity! We are still learning to navigate the computer, but so far we love it. This means we will be able to do more from home and hopefully be able to update this more too! We can also take silly pictures which is always a plus!

Current Happenings

Life is very busy right now...and it seems that it will only get busier for the next few months. Nolan started his new job this week which is really exciting! He is working at the Pittsburgh Project in the Northside of Pittsburgh in a mentoring/leadership program for local high school kids. He has already met a lot of people and I think it will be a really great experience because he is so good with high schoolers!

This past weekend was fun because we went to Geneva Homecoming. Eventhough we see a lot of our friends often, it was fun to walk around campus and to see some people who we haven't seen for a while! On Sunday night Nolan and I took some of the youth group kids to see Toy Story in 3D and that was really fun! It's refreshing to watch a movie that really requires no thought and is just silly sometimes!

I have two retreats coming up in the next month: one with the middle school students and one with the high school students. We are also looking forward to going to Florida to spend Thanksgiving with Nolan's family and hopefully go to the Gators game! That's pretty much an update from us. I am also loving fall and my drive to and from work because the leaves are so pretty!!

Reading

So Nolan and I have both been on a major reading kick lately. I think it is partly because of the chilly fall weather...there is nothing better than relaxing on the couch under a blanket with a good cup of coffee and a good book! I love Fall! I recently stumbled upon a book that was an old favorite of mine, The Giver. I probably read it in 7th grade and remembered loving it, but I didn't remember why. So on Saturday afternoon, I read the whole thing! I never remembered how weird this book was! If you haven't read it, it is a very interesting and quick read. It takes place in a "community" where everything is controlled and everyone is the same in their structured and loveless lives. It raises some very mature questions about humans ability to love and to make choices. I enjoyed reading this with more life experience under my belt!

Mt.Carmel Road Rally

A few weeks ago, Mt. Carmel had their annual Road Rally. This is the first time I have ever participated in a Road Rally, and it was really fun! There were about 20 teams of people all different ages. You had to follow a map which took us all over Beaver County, all the while looking for activity stops along the way. At some of the stops you had to complete a task that corresponded with that stops Scripture and you also learned more about one of the missions that the church supports. It was a long, but exciting day. I competed with some of the high school girls and our team name was "Pretty Young Thangs." Nolan was on a team with some of the middle school boys. Here are some photos from the youth teams: