Monday, August 25, 2008

A Weekend for All Ages


I had a great weekend! It truly was a weekend for all ages and I was blessed beyond measure!!
I had the wonderful honor, privilege, and responsibility to help in the Youth Girls Retreat at our church on Friday night. Our really great friends, Jeron and Kristine, are the Youth Ministers at our church. Kristine did an outstanding job putting this retreat together. The theme was sexual purity and the retreat was titled "i promise." Through a video series several topics were covered from std's, virginity, as well as emotional, physical, and spiritual applications of purity.Kristine had asked if I would lead a small group discussion after the girls watched some videos. I was going to have some of the 8th grade girls. I was so nervous and prayed for a week over the retreat, my words, and my group. Some of these questions were deep and made me a little nervous to discuss with the girls. But I understood the need for purity to be addressed to our young people. So although I was nervous, I welcomed the opportunity to be stretched and serve these young girls. I want to do it again!!!! They split up the 8th grade and I had 5 girls.These girls were precious, a little quiet in the first session but they opened up in the second session together. It was freezing cold in our room so we cuddled with blankets!!! Thankfully one of the girls was the daughter of a couple in our Sunday School class so that gave us some familiarity.
For the past 2 years now, Jeron's mom goes with me to the retreat. I love Carla. She could be my mom. She has often played the role of a mom and friend both!! Last year I left her house at 7:00 am the next morning. We had talked the night away literally. We never went to bed until 7:30 when I drove back to my house. So this year we were determined we would get in bed earlier this year!!! I took Carla home around 1:00 am and we talked until 3:00 am. When I went to start the car, my car wouldn't start!!!!!! I had to call Bryan at 3:30 to come get me and move our car. After we moved the car, Carla fell hard into some mud and hit her head and face and had mud all over her!! She was inches away from a concrete sidewalk when she came down on her head. We are so thankful she was not hurt terribly bad. But afterwards all 3 of us laughed so hard at the event. I was rolling!!!! Carla said she went to bed shaking because she couldn't stop laughing!!! I told her I so had to blog about this and post these pictures!!!My car is fixed. Luckily it was only my battery. It just went out....just like that. I had saved my receipt from the old battery so we saved us $50 bucks!!!!
Then, on Sunday Bryan and I had extended session duty at church. It was so much fun. Here is a picture of my little boy trying to figure out the battery operated touch drum.

We had a small group of kidos yesterday. They were outstanding!!! All of them played so well and laughed, laughed, and laughed some more.The little boy in the striped shirt gave me such a fragrant gift via his diaper!!!! But who cares!! He was cute and all of them let me love on them. No one cried one time!! Luckily I had planned ahead and wore pants and Bryan wore jeans so we just crawled around the floor and rolled around with them. We were blessed!!!!

I was just rewarded so much this weekend from non-material things! It was so neat to look back on the weekend and realize I had spent time and was blessed by someone from infancy, to youth, to a mother!!

19 comments:

Megan said...

That is so great that you were apart of that retreat. We need more women like you who are willing to form relationships with young girls and address this topic. It is so important! I wish there were more opportunities for me to connect to youth girls but right now our church is small and we don't have a lot of youth kids. What a great weekend you had!
P.S. What church do you go to?

Faith said...

This is so neat! I remember doing "True Love Waits" when I was in youth. You are right, it is very much needed to be talked about in the church and I'm so thankful you were willing to share with them!

Glad you had a great weekend!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you had a wonderful weekend. The girls you had in your group are so blessed to have you to help them with a topic that so many teenagers are misinformed and confused about.

Heather said...

What a great weekend! I agree with Megan, I think the retreat topic is very important. I've been out of it recently, and I feel like I've been out of touch with you. We will have to get caught up soon and talk, especially about the Bible study. Let me know what works for you.

Candy said...

What a great post, Julie!!! I'm so glad you had such a great weekend. You are such a sweet, sweet person and I just love that you were able to connect with all ages this weekend and be a blessing in each of their lives! :)

Megan L Hutchings said...

What a GREAT way to end your post ;)! I am so proud of you for leading those girls! In today's society, that topic can be TOUGH!

I am glad Carla is a okay :)!

Laura said...

I am so glad that you had a wonderful weekend! It looks like the Lord is using you in so many ways right now.

I admit. I'm a little on the naive side and it just bothers me that our world has become so "bad" that we have to talk to 8th grade girls about holding on to their virginity. That was the last thing I thought about in the 8th grade!! What an eye opener!!

Guyla said...

Julie, I was praying for you this weekend. I'm so glad to hear that the retreat went well. I love the picture of Brian and the drum. Caleb loved that toy when he was a baby!

Kelly said...

That is so neat that you helped with that retreat. That is SUCH an important subject for young girls.
So funny about Carla falling the mud - only funny because she is okay!
Glad you had a good weekend!

Angela said...

That looks like a great weekend. That Carla must have a good sense of humor. I don't know if I would be laughing after falling...I'm a wimp I guess :).

MiMi said...

I am so glad that you were able to help with the retreat. Our young girls need more godly ladies like yourself to be good role models for them. I'm glad that you had a great weekend!

petrii said...

What a great opportunity to share God's love with young people, and to teach them about His standard of purity ~~ Just GREAT!!

I used to work in the toddlers at my church ~~ it was so fun!!

Have a GREAT week,
Dawn

Leigh Ann said...

What a great thing to talk to those girls about such an important thing. I'm glad you were able to be a part of the retreat. I'm glad your friend didn't get hurt falling in the mud. That is so something that would happen to me!

Linda said...

The girls in the youth are lucky to have such a great program. These times are hard for young teens expected to live up to all that they hear and see on TV and even at school. Thank you for investing your time in the lives of future generations.
Your friend is a good sport to allow you to show her muddied pictures. Sounds like it was a great time.(I am glad she didn't hit that concrete and that your car didn't need too much work)
Blessings,
Linda

Jessica and Eddie said...

Sounds like you had a great weekend. Those girls are blessed to have you. Thank you for your encourging words and prayers. I've also been praying for you. Hope you have a great rest of the week.
Jessica

The Hickmans said...

I am so glad that you were so blessed this weekend. Teenagers can be so annoying, but such a blessing. :) The story of your friend falling in the mud is hillarious- I can't believe that she let you take pictures!

Alana said...

Very cool! If I had a daughter I would love for her to attend something like that.

Ginny said...

I loved that class, those were my kiddos I taught before I had the baby. I came back to a new class with only ONE kid in it. I love teaching that age. That is the age I teach for preschool, and it's so sweet when they repeat the Bible verse back to me. Smart move on the pants, that's why you never see me in a dress. A dress and one yr old don't match up to well. Maybe because I'm on the floor ALL the time. I'm glad everything went great at the retreat!

Unknown said...

Hey Julie! I was really glad that you were the leader ofmy group at girlsretreat! you made it really fun!