Weekending

Linking up with Holly and Sarah for Hello Monday:

Had a nice, busy (for the most part) weekend.

I spent Friday evening and a good part of Saturday with our middle school youth group, helping out with the winter retreat. The retreat was mostly at our church though we did go offsite once. Friday was a tiring day as I'd woken up really early (before 5:00 am), subbed, and then had just a couple of hours at home before heading to the church. Friday evening with the middle school youth group was good; it was a mix of games, worship, and small group time where we delved into important topics to help grow the girls' faith (I helped out with a small group of sixth grade girls) and love for Jesus. Friday's session ended at 10:00 pm. Oh my, that was late for me in light of the early start to my day ;).

Saturday morning I was up early, ran, and then got ready to go back to the church for Saturday's portion of the retreat. We had a large group session, a small group session and then we all went to SkyZone. SkyZone was a lot of fun- how can jumping around not be?? (I guess getting hurt would stifle the fun but fortunately that didn't happen to anyone on Saturday). Our youth group leader, Nathan, asked if I would be able to drive a group of kids to SkyZone and then back to the church for lunch and some more worship and learning time. I used my GPS to get to SkyZone. I knew how to get there from my house but wasn't sure of the fastest way to get there from the church as SkyZone is in another town. On the way home, I used my GPS again, but I did a very "me" thing. Upon leaving somewhere, if I'm using my GPS, it's almost always to go home. So, yes, I used home as my destination not the church and it wasn't until I was almost home that I realized where we were headed. Fortunately, we only live less than ten minutes from the church so it wasn't a huge detour. We were the last ones to arrive at the church. Thankfully, the pizza hadn't all been eaten 😆. I would have felt terrible!! 

The girls at SkyZone in a rare moment of inactivity...

The girls paid to go into the hurricane simulator

Playing a game back at the church...

I arrived home late in the afternoon and was able to nap for about an hour and a half. It was wonderful! We met friends for a late dinner at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants and we had a great time seeing them and catching up with them.

Sunday was an early morning (I accidentally set my alarm for super early). I ran and then got ready for church. Church was good and then we spent the rest of the day relaxing.  One of my teacher friends texted me and asked if I could sub for her on Monday. Normally if I don't have plans and I'm asked to sub, I will. But, Alyssa and I had made tentative plans to spend some together after she got home from school and I knew I'd be super tired if I subbed so I said that I couldn't work. I hadn't spent much time with Alyssa over the weekend due to being gone so much. I'm grateful for a job/not job that allows me the ability to not work any day that I don't want to work. 

Sunday morning, I checked our mail (no one had gotten it on Saturday) and sandwiched in between junk mail was a small card addressed to me. When I opened it, I saw that it was a thank you note from a friend of a family whose daughter has recently began attending the youth group at our church. The friend had invited the family to church and encouraged the family to have their daughter come to youth group which she has been doing. The daughter, a girl in my small group, has been telling her family (who told the friend who wrote the note to me) how much she likes youth group and how welcome she has felt (she's a shy girl) by everyone. It was wonderful encouragement to receive the note. I'm grateful for the girls in our youth group who are so kind to everyone, including the girl who's recently started attending. I'm grateful for being thanked ;). It's a good reminder to me to be more intentional about thanking those around me who've made an impact in my life or the life of anyone in my family.