Jr. High Youth

We have such a good time with our little Jr. High Youth Group. We meet with them every Wednesday night. December was a great month because we changed things up a bit. One week we walked through the neighborhood near the church towing our wagon. The kids went door to door asking for donations for the food pantry our church operates. It was great! Not only did the kids have a blast (they are a goofy bunch!), but it was so awesome to see how generous most people were (only 2 people said they didn't have any canned food to donate, and most people loaded up bags!). It was also a great way for our church to get out into the community so the neighbors know about our programs.

The following week we had a silly Christmas party. We sent out a text that day to dress in a silly/corny Christmas outfit. I was impressed with how quickly the kids pulled together costumes. Kate was the winner of the Starbucks giftcard. She wore a "White-trash" Christmas shirt made out of underwear! We played games, ate junk food, and stuffed our mouths with gingerbread marshmallow men.

And the week before Christmas we took the kids to a local convalescent home to sing carols and visit with the old people. We partnered with an adult small group from our church and they prepared song sheets and played the guitar for our sing along. We handed out cookies, and prayed that we didn't give any one a diabetic attack (the kids told me that after watching the elderly people eat a few cookies, they would announce that they were diabetic. One guy ate about 9 cookies!) Aubri got to tag along and did good despite her discomfort over the attention she got. All of the old people wanted her to sit on their laps, shake her hand, or give her a hug! I was so impressed with our youth for how they interacted with the residents there. One of our girls was so sweet trying to ask an elderly lady about her Christmas plans. After repeating the question 3 times, the lady said, "Oh yes, I used to go on lots of picnics!" The sweet girl just went on with the conversation. One elderly lady was giving our beautiful dark haired girls a talk about how men like popular, thin, blond haired girls. She also told them how she used to dress "sexy" when she was younger and how she preferred husky men. Oh dear!