Impact Out of the Box--leader meeting

I mentioned in my last post that I was going to post about the incredible encouraging evening I had with the world's best co-leaders. 

That day I had been encouraged through and through. I felt loved and accepted. Even though I was extremely tired, I pushed through the last night of Out of the Box. I saw the work of Jesus countless times that day. He was so evident that day. It was literally amazing. That night after the middle schoolers left all of the leaders of Out of the Bos (about 20 of us) sat in a big circle and talked for about an hour on how amazing the day/night was. It was so incredible to hear how God was working through other people that day. After our amazing leader meeting we decided that we should do Affirmations for one another that night. We new Jesus was right there with us and there was nothing bad to say about anyone. It was literally the most encouraging thing I have been apart of. 

We sat in a circle for another hour and a half to two-ish hours...no one was counting. We affirmed each person in the circle. There was a box of tissues that every one was passing around, I'm pretty sure I used like half of the box but whatever ;). I cried when ever I affirmed anyone else. (If you don't know what an affirmation is--it is telling people what they do well and where we see there work and heart) Even the boys cried which made me cry because we do care for each other but not all of us like to think that every day of the week. We all like to act tough. 

Being affirmed was SO encouraging. I can't even tell you. I have been told by many people that I always take too much on my plate because I like to please everyone, which is a true statement but I want to help. I want to be the hands and feet of Jesus. I want to do anything. I just want to be there for others. That night I was affirmed that I had a servant's heart and that I would do anything for anyone at anytime without any hesitation. I'm even crying as I'm writing this because it is beyond the word encouraging. One said, that I had demonstrated it that morning as I stepped out of my comfort zone and on to the stage with line on a sheet of paper and some in my head ;). 

As I said before, I cried when I affirmed anyone else. I got very emotional when I affirmed my best friend, Audrey. She leaves for a conference this coming week for a month and I can only visit her one Sunday. It will be the toughest month of my year but I am keeping summer busy... anyways I teared up when I was affirming her. She has been my biggest rock besides Jesus this past year. She has shown me what a true friend is and always guides me to the Lord. I love her so much.

Needless to say, Thursday (Day 4 of Week 2) was the most encouraging day I have ever had. I love the Impact leaders SO much. I am blessed to be apart of such a great community,

VBS 2013 - Week 2

So, UALC VBS is so intense that we don't just do one week of VBS we do two! After, week one with starting my morning at 7 am and not getting home until 9:30 pm...these days were growing longer. Thank goodness I had the weekend to catch up on sleep...NOT! The weekend was crazy, busy, packed tight!! I was not ready for week two of VBS. As I shared in my last post about VBS 2013 - Week 1, I like to (typically) stay behind the scenes but my oh my this week was all about change. I was not going to be behind the scenes anymore, no more detail work.

Towards the end of week one, I was asked by the stage manager at VBS Mill Run to be a make-up artist for a day. Now, for any of you who have ever attended VBS at UALC...that's a big deal. I mean you are in the VBS show. It's every VBS student's dream! I took the offer and accepted the fact that I was going to dress up in costume and stand in front of a bunch of people on Wednesday. CRAZY. (For those of you who don't personally know me, I am not the acting type) 

Not only was I asked to be apart of the production at VBS, I was asked to cover the role of the professor in YKVBS at Lytham on Thursday. I was covering for a parent of a kiddo who was going under that day. I was nervous and excited. I willingly accepted this offer because this parent needed to be there for this kiddo, yet I have never memorized lines before in my life. And I was going to have to do that and learn the songs and motions to the YKVBS music. Not up my alley, but it is what God put in my plan. :)

So, anyway the Sunday night before Week 2 of VBS I learned that I was going to be teaching in the morning. Not in my plan but I was willing to be the hands and feet of Jesus that week. The first morning of VBS was the longest morning ever. I was exhausted. I just wanted to burst into tears. It was the toughest morning I had ever faced. I won't go into all of the details but it was just a tough morning. The afternoon was a bit better, but PACKED. I wasn't in a classroom but I wandered around doing little jobs here and there and memorizing lines! After, a long day at VBS it was time for something new to start--Impact Out of the Box. Impact is my church's middle school youth group. I am one of the leaders and during the second week of VBS at night we do a camp from 6-9. It's a lot of fun but this year it hit me like a brick. A lot of times in between the hour break from VBS to Out of the Box, I would travel to YKVBS and pick up friends/kiddos and take them to coffee to talk about life. There was never a break. Week 2 hours were from 7 am - 10:30 pm, even later some nights. 

Day 2 of week two, I hit the wall. But it wasn't hit the wall Wednesday yet! I was pooped. Like literally exhausted. I drank 4 coffees that day and still fell asleep that night as soon as I walked in the door. I got way sassy that day. Tuesday was the toughest day out of all of them but I was rewarded because I got to leave VBS early and go home and hang out with some of my favorite kiddos. I snuggled with babies and got some sweet hugs. I was at peace when I returned to Mill Run for Out of the Box.

Day 3 of week two, I had so much energy. I know it came from the Lord but it was very unexpected because I hadn't gotten a lot of sleep the night before. But, I woke up early and bought coffee for five of my friends and had an amazing, life-changing day. Today was the day that I was going to be a simple make-up artist in the VBS production. Big deal remember ;) I had my costume all set. I was ready. It was also like everyone's birthday at VBS so we had a whole lot of celebrating to do...I like to celebrate! Being in the VBS production, opened my eyes to a new view of VBS. I had this amazing energy and yet a sense of calmness. It was a drama free day...hahaha because the production is also called the drama. No pun intended. After, an amazing day at VBS with a new perspective in mind--I had that quick hour-ish break. I hopped out of costume and went to go meet my new baby cousin, Hadleigh. It was a quick visit but I was excited to meet her. That night at Out of the Box, I was done. I was ready for it to be over because I still had lines and songs and motions to memorize. I can't memorize for the life of me.

Day 4 of VBS came up so fast. That day I was up at 5:50 am and left my house by 7 in costume for YKVBS. This was my BIG debut. I was scared. I was nervous. I was freaking out because I thought things that I shouldn't have been thinking like what if I mess up, they will hate me--they won't ever want me to come back to YK. But, my OH MY was I wrong. I showed up to Lytham and there was this sense of nothing. I can't even explain it. I was filled with joy. No nerves. I was just so excited. (This is not like me--I'm always nerves galore) I went downstairs and some of the cast members were getting there costumes on as I finished the details of the professor's costume with a lab coat and science googles. When I went up stairs, I saw one of my co-leaders and dear friend, Kate. She was so excited to have me at YK. She affirmed me that today was going to be a good day and that it was okay if I messed up. I learned something new that morning....I was going to have a wireless microphone on me. There is a first for everything. (I am an extremely loud person) I was surprised that another one of my co-leader friends was going to trust me (he's the techie) with a microphone on me because let's be honest I am a loud person and should probably never have a microphone. I have to admit I was really excited when the microphone was on...like really excited. YKVBS made me feel welcome and at home that morning. They made me feel like a part of the YK cast and family. I didn't feel left out at all. They included me in everything. They introduced me and prayed for me before we went on stage. It was SO encouraging words cannot even describe. I wanted to cry with happy tears but I was just too excited. We practiced that morning and of course I messed up a few times but Chip was beyond encouraging He might be the most encouraging person I know. It made me feel loved. Quick than a flash of lightning, my morning at YK was over. I was sad but encouraged. This was the best day of VBS 2013. Right after YK, I went to VBS and ate lunch with my bestest friends. They were all so encouraging that morning, texting me, calling me, loving me. I am truly surrounded by the best group of teenagers. That afternoon, I was so exhausted that I left VBS in the afternoon and went home to take a two hour cat nap before the last night of Out of the Box. That night at Out of the Box and after was incredibly encouraging...that's my next blog post!!!!

Day 5--the official last day of VBS. It was a weird, crazy day. It went by at a pretty normal speed. All day was good. Except for the fact that I got 4 hours of sleep the night before, I had some energy. I left right after VBS and went home and took a 3 hour cat nap. Woke up, ate pizza with my parents, watched a movie, and went back to sleep.

This year of VBS was a roller coaster. It wasn't what I signed up for but yet it was the most rewarding year of VBS ever. I loved every second of it. I am seriously really excited for what next year has to hold because I won't be doing what I typically do...I know that for a fact. 

I encourage you to be the hands and feet of Jesus even if it far from what you want to do because in the end it is so rewarding because it draws you closer to Jesus. I couldn't have made the past two weeks without the Lord on my side. I needed energy, strength, perseverance, and God. That was all.

Here are a few (LOT) snapshots of Week 2--

Photo bomb. Awesomeness.

Hit the Wall Wednesday coffee!!! All my girls minus the ones at YK :)

It was Miss Marsha's birthday so her daughter...one of my best friends and I decided to celebrate by making her a Watermelon cake!! So fun and easy!!!

Inside the watermelon cake....literally SO FUN!!! Perfect for summer.

With my best friend, Audrey....another make-up artist in the VBS drama!

I am not a make-up person but I have to say--I did an awesome job ;-) hahaha!!!

Meeting my new baby cousin, Hadleigh Sarah!!
I love crafting and girly things so I made her this headband because every girl needs hairbows!!

YKVBS--me in my Professor costume with the wireless microphone on me with my best friend Abby!!

VBS 2013- Week 1

Oh dear, where do I even begin?!?! First off, it is already the last day of June??? Where has the summer gone? Just two weeks ago, I was preparing myself for the best/tiring two weeks of my life. This year was different but I was blessed in more ways than I can handle....let's start from the beginning.

The night before VBS, I normally don't get sleep because I am too excited about singing, dancing, praising Jesus, and spreading God's message. This year was different though. Typically, I do a lot of the behind the scenes work...the months and weeks of planning before these two weeks. I still did that but I typically hang out in a room filled with wonderful people but because this year we were running low on volunteers they needed me to teach morning and afternoon of the first week of VBS. What? I cried. I freaked out. I did not want to do this. This is not what I signed up for people!! But that is where the Lord wanted me placed. I cried the night before VBS. Sobbed.

It was the first morning of VBS 2013. Nobody was in the building except for me, my sister, my neighbor, and about four other people. There was a sense of calm in my heart after an intense night of crying prayers. I knew that this is what the heavenly father wanted me to do. I drank a FULL cup of coffee and then people and kiddos started to arrive.

I got placed in VBS 56 (a special curriculum designed for graduated 5th and 6th graders). I was nervous and on edge. But, I work with middle schoolers so I was placed perfectly. Later in the week, I realized why God had placed me where he did. I had some of the best kiddos in that class...two of which I baby-sit for! 

Lunch on the first day was stressful. We only had about 20 minutes to eat so we ate quickly and headed back to the Sanctuary for the afternoon session of VBS.

The afternoon session, I was prepared for. I was teaching with my best friend, Audrey. I mean I sort of couldn't be upset. We taught first graders...so cute and little! A lot different than 5th and 6th graders...that's for sure! I really enjoyed teaching the message of God's GRACE with my best friend. It was an awesome experience for the both of us. 

After both morning and afternoon sessions of VBS were done for Week 1... I went from the Church at Mill Run (VBS) to our church at Lytham (YKVBS--Young Kids Vacation Bible School). My day never ended. Thanks to everyone who surprised me with coffee throughout the week--it was much appreciated! When I got to YK at 5ish I would go see my little man, Stoyan, who I was going to hang out with and help this week. His parents are dear friends and leaders of mine and I taught bible study to his sisters. They are a like another family to me! Stoyan was a little trainee in the YKVBS show. So, we ate dinner each night at 5:30...got dressed in costume by 6:15, hung out with the rest of the trainees(K-5th graders) and then went on stage at 6:30. This little boy brings SO much joy to my heart. Every time I watch him doing the motions and praising Jesus it brings tears to my eyes. He has taught me so much in my walk with Christ even though he is just going into 1st grade! At 7, the opening show would be over and we would go back into another room and hang out with the trainees. We read books, played games, took pictures & videos (Stoyan's personal favorite), and played with little match box cars. Some time....I like to think at 7:30 we started closing. The trainees weren't in closing but we still got to watch it. All of Stoyan's family was also in YK. He loved watching his mommy, daddy, brother, and sisters on stage. He would point them out and tell me which character they were. He and I would sing and dance to the songs in the back. At 8ish the closing ended and we would form a hug line fot the preschoolers and their parents...we had a blast! Then, we changed and had the YKVBS Cast meeting. I was blessed to be a part of this community for this one week. 

Here are a few pictures from Week 1:

 Day 1--The McGuire Girls.

That sense of calm feeling...before anyone had arrived.

Some of the trainees!!

Day 2--Thrift Day Tuesday

Yes, I dressed my sister.

My girlies.

My leader Katie, me, my best friend Audrey, and my sister Marleigh.

MY BEST FRIEND.

Watching Stoyan share God's message of Grace through singing, dancing, and smiling! 

My sweet Stoyan.

The Schuster's!! This was on their Anniversary!!
(Stoyan's parents)

My dear friend, Salem was ducky!

Day 3--Wacky Hair/Hat day!!

Yep, we are awesome. 

Both of these lovely girls are in my 7th grade small group on Wednesday nights. It is SO cool to watch them grow in their faith and to lead them. That week was so cool because they were serving Jesus.

My best friend, Abby.. YKVBS!!

Stoyan and his sister (Xan-trainee, Kyla--soldier?!)

Stoyan and his big brother,  Micah.

After YK with the Schuster kids....bath time, cuddles, and bed time!

This is normal. Nerd day Thursday.

The Delcamp's! The face of UALC's VBS.

Day 4-- Nerd Day Thurday.

Sisters in Christ. My sweet, dear friend Katie.

Yep, that's right we are a bit nerdy.

OH MY GIRLS.

Best friend Bonnie, Katie, Me, Sister Marleigh, Best friend Audrey.

Day 5---we look a little tired?!?! ;)

Love these girls so much. I was so excited when these girls arrived at VBS. They are moving to California right now but they have been such a big part of my life the past year. I love them dearly.

Day 5-- Dress Up Day at YKVBS...

I dressed as Tick (Tammy--Stoyan's mom). 

Tock, Tick Jr, & Tick.

I love watching this sweet boy.

Some of the YK kiddos that I love!

My best friend Audrey and Christopher.


Next blog post on Week 2!!!

Giraffe Baby Shower

Babies. I love babies. I love celebrations. So, baby showers are perhaps my favorite!

When my Aunt got pregnant, my uncle gave her a giraffe stuffed animal. Cute and adorable! My aunt started talking to my grandmother (Mia), my mom, and I about her baby shower. She and my uncle were not going to find out the sex of the baby which knocked out any pink, purple, glitter, and blue in my mind. That meant that we were limited on the color sceme. My aunt told me that the colors of the baby's nursery were going to be gray, orange, and teal. Somewhat neutral. A couple of weeks after talking with my aunt about what she wanted. I started to dream about a cutesy baby shower. Not girly though... My mom and I spent countless hours on Pinterest and Etsy trying to find a theme just right for my aunt because she is not a cutesy, girly, etsy, pinteresty kind of person like I am...so it became pretty complicated. Suddenly, I saw a baby shower with yellow and orange the two colors that had come to my mind a lot considering they don't know the sex of the baby. Then, it came to me...why not have a giraffe baby shower?? My aunt and uncle loves giraffes...they will be in the baby's nursery AND it is a GENDER NEUTRAL theme which is hard to come by these days.

Giraffe Baby Shower it is!!

 I started with drinks because the ONLY thing I wanted for this baby shower was paper straws. How ridiculous. But, I care about the details so that was my detail of this party. The orange straws!! I went to Party City and bought yellow and gray paper (coffee) cups for our beverages.

 I chose Lemonade as one of the beverages because it is yellow (one of the colors I chose) and because the shower was a lunch and how perfect!

 I bought loads and loads of washi tape and only ended up using like a little bit of each roll but it ended up so cute! I washi taped the sign on and the edges to the lid so no one would pull it off.

 The other beverage we decided to serve was iced tea. Unfortunately the morning of the baby shower the drink dispenser (like the lemonade one) started leaking so we had to turn to these glass pitchers.

 The water bottles with the wrappers that literally took me 2 hours to do. I sat and glued and sat and glued. And yes, that is what a devoted party planner does. ;)

 These are the ladies of my mom's side of the family.

(Auntie Sheila-from GA, my sister Marleigh, my Mia- GA, the guest of honor- My Auntie Ry, my mom, and me!)

 My mom and her sister.

 My grandmother and her two daughters.

 My grandmothers, her daughters, and daughter in-law.

Mia & Auntie Ry.

 Marleigh & Auntie Ry.

 Auntie Ry & I.

 This was my mom's favorite part of the shower, the banner. She was so obsessed with it. Well, I was too. Any cutesy detail, I like!

 The mama to be chair.

 Reserved for THE Mia. We call our mom's mom (our grandmother) Mia because it means mine in Italian.

 I might have a slight obsession with mason jars but who cares. I like them. So, I decided to mason jar EVERYTHING for the baby shower. We put these adorable yellow and white flowers in a couple of them.

A vase turned into a washi taped vase because to me it was way too boring.  

 Washi tape & a mason jar---ahhhhhhhh love.

 The lighting in these pictures is really bad but whatever. We had a luncheon and so we decided to go with these foods (I was in charge of dessert and decorations--the lunch was left to my mom and Mia)

 Yellow peppers, orange carrots, and well we snuck some red pepper in too! Served along side with roasted red pepper hummus.

 There was no such thing as berries on this day because they did not go with my color scheme. Because I am a very particular person and I like everything to be perfect, I wanted cantaloupe(orange) and pineapple(yellow). 

 The croissants with some of the left over cupcake toppers!! So cute. 

 Greek chicken salad with olives. Amazing. My mom made loads and loads of this salad!

 Because like I have said over and over again, I am a detail person. There had to be giraffes everywhere. Not cheesy but cutesy. So, I framed this print and placed it next to the dessert section of the table. The orange forks in a mason jar with orange and yellow ribbon...ahh!

 The lemony pasta salad that my Mia made. We had so much pasta we had to freeze it!

 My aunt's favorite cake flavor is Carrot Cake so because the shower was for her...not me, I wanted to personalize it to her taste. I made her homemade carrot cake cupcakes with homemade cream cheese frosting. My mouth is watering because they were SO good. Everyone was asking for the recipe :). We topped the cupcakes off with a cupcake topper...personalized!

 I wanted the shower to have some more cutesy stuff so I got some candy for the dessert section. Yellow rock candy was a hit...especially for my little cousins who came in town!

 Orange gumballs too! The cuteness factor.

 This is the cake. The cake that I spent countless hours designing. I would design one and throw it away....design, design, design. My drawing skills aren't the best but I drew a perfect plan. My mom wasn't sure it was going to go with the shower, but I knew this is exactly what I wanted. This exactly. The Tremont Goodie Shop nailed this cake. My dream came true.

 The giraffe matched the giraffes on the banner shown earlier :)

 Our house was seriously built for parties. We have an open floor plan and so we set up two card tables and had the rest of the chair facing where my aunt was sitting...to the left of this picture in front of the fireplace.

 Okay, sorry--I'm sort of obsessed.

 The table scape. I'm literally so happy how this turned out. There may have been a few arguements with my mom but it all turned out the way I planned. I tend to not like change therefore I don't like other people's ideas once I have my mind set on something....not the best quality.

 The dessert section of the table...the center of attention because let's be honest....the cake was the center!!!!

 The table scape from an angle.

 More dessert section.

 One of the two "games" we played. Night-time diapers.. write messages to Ryan on the diapers to make her laugh in the middle of the night like..."Isn't it Scoty's turn?!?!"

 The straws. Can't get enough!!

 Present time was awesome. My aunt and uncle have some amazing friends and family. This baby is loved so much already....so blessed.

 My aunt and one of her dear friends...both due soon!

Overall, the shower was fun. Everyone loved the theme especially my aunt. She wasn't allowed to know anything about the shower until she arrived.