Discovery Weekend

I knew I would have a fun time at Discovery Weekend, but it was really amazing! The staff that designs and arranges this program is fantastic and I didn't have much to do except hang out with the kids- my favorite part! I think our church does a wonderful job including all types of kids and especially training middle and high schoolers to be leaders. The high school students do all the talks and lead the discussions for the middle schoolers. We're just there to help and guide when needed.
The picture is the one I promised. The worship service on Sunday morning for the whole congregation is always transformed this weekend. We go to a contemporary service that has a big stage, smoke, full band, stadium seating, 2 jumbotrons (I know- hard to believe I love this service), etc. There is also a big fancy traditional sanctuary and service, too. But, all the families and young kids come to the contemporary service, so that's the one we take over on Sunday morning of Discovery Weekend. As you can see, we all had our canary yellow (Amanda said Daisy yellow- whatever- it's school bus yellow to me) shirts with the theme for the weekend- God is Good (taking from the Life is Good logo). We all sat in the front middle of the church to sufficiently "take over" and it's always a blast. Normally there is a conga line and the wave during the praise music time, but those didn't happen this year in lieu of beach balls. The picture above was at the end of the service when a lot of the kids went on stage to sing/ dance to the final song. My favorite sight was a really old guy in the next section whopping a beach ball- a la Misty May- back into the crowd- hilarious.
I didn't have an active youth group in high school and Jason did. We both so desperately want our youth group to stay "cool" and be a fun place to be when Ollie and Henry get older, so that's why we volunteer now. Since we are in that in between age for the youth, I think they still think we're semi-cool. And they love our kids and we find the best babysitters. So, all and all, a great deal! We have an amazing group of seniors this year and I'm already sad that they'll be leaving, but I think we'll have a terrific year this year!
A special shout out and thank you to my sweet hubby who hung out with the kids most of the weekend while I was out playing. Your turn again next year!