5:51pm - Final preparations are being made. Joe and Cherie and Jay-rod have been working hard all day. The kids will arrive in just over two hours. I'll blog as things happen!
7:10pm - Pick up is at 6am. Scary, huh? It's worse if you haven't slept at all!
7:37pm - Kids are starting to arrive. The charge at the door is $5 per student, but it's not like we'd turn anyone away!
8:11pm - People are still showing up. The band has been warming up–which is fun to listen to. We're going to play some ice breakers here in a bit, then it's worship at 9pm.
8:30pm - On the one hand, we have a great adult-to-student ratio. On the other hand, we have a much smaller crowd than in years past. We've often had upwards of 80 or 100 students and we're looking at less than half of that number tonight. That said, we have huge number of adults that are ready to have fun!
8:37pm - Zach B., the youth minister from Wallula, is starting some big ice-breaker-type group games. He's a lot of fun.
9:24pm - The kids are having a lot of fun. So much so, that we're starting worship late. But we are starting with Jarod, Cory, and Eric on guitar, Phil on bass, Jake on drums and Becky singing.
10:09pm - I just finished a devotion on authenticity from Luke 21:34. Jarod is continuing worship as I type this, then we'll eat and play more games.
10:29pm - Tacos!
11:54pm - The kids are playing ultimate frisbee, video games, ping pong, and just hanging out.
12:00am - Happy New Year! January 1, 2009 May God bless all of you.
12:01am - Okay, back to frisbee and basketball and lots and lots of Mt. Dew!
1:28am - We've been playing dodge ball for awhile now. It's so much fun! The adults are involved and holding up well against these young kids. I've also learned to play Sequence, which I've never played before.
2:15am - Dodge ball is over and the basketball tourney has started in earnest. A few people are getting a little sleepy eyed, but the kids playing Guitar Hero and Mario Kart are going strong.
3:49am - The kids (and adults) are holding up surprisingly well. I've been playing marathon games of Sequence and there seems to be a diverse assortment of activities still buzzing along. I think ending at 6am makes the night seem much shorter.
4:30am - One of the last places in the world where it's still 2008? American Samoa! It's only 11:30pm there; that seems cool this time of morning. Jarod and Zach are organizing a game of "human foosball." You sit in chairs set in a pattern like a foosball table. You can't leave your chair while you play a game of soccer. It's silly fun at this hour of the morning especially.
5:08am - We're winding down, just fifty minutes left (officially). I'm at the end of my rope, not feeling too well at all (my family is home sick; I hope I don't have anything). The evening went really fast thanks to Jarod Anderson's good schedule. Thanks go to all the adults that stuck it out through the night and those who helped behind the scenes. Finally, thanks to all the parents that let us have their kids through the night. God bless.
2 comments:
Last night was such a blessing. The adults had a great time and spent the entire evening making sure the kids had a great time as well. I could just look around the room and see reminders of why I love our church family, as well as our "extended" church family.
We may not have had as many kids as in years past, but the kids that were there were amazing.
Post a Comment