Externally Processing My Way Through Life

I finally got inspiration last week: courtesy of my husband. He told me what he wanted, and that was the grocery list and meal plan. Made my life simpler.

Last night we had chicken terriyaki sandwiches. Chris says this is one of his all time favorite meals, and admittedly, it is really good. My inspiration was the chicken terriyaki burger from Red Robin. It's really good stuff (mine and theirs).

Tonight we are having chicken chow mein. I've never made this before, and I'm excited to see how it turns out. It's easy, relatively inexpensive to make, pretty healthy, and quick. What more could you ask for?

Meal preparation timing is getting to be more and more of an issue for me, what with having more and more going on in my life, I'm having less and less time to spend on fancy meals. Not to mention to spend 45 minutes to an hour at the stove just doesn't go so well with an 8 month old and almost 4 year old underfoot. I'll get back to gourmet cooking in the high school or college years!

Now for my serious part of the post. I have been meaning to update on my involvement with high school ministry (called The Point) for awhile, but just haven't had a chance. Here it finally is:

Getting to a point where I could be involved in youth again was actually a walk of faith for me. I have always loved working with high schoolers. It was something that always just came naturally to me, starting when I was an upperclassmen, trying to offer any guidance that I could to the younger class men. I felt like both through my own life, and through observing the life of others, I realized how critical that period of time in your life is. There are so many challenges, questions, and confusions during this period, not to mention this is a time where important decisions are made, particularly those regarding your faith.

Knowing all of that, sometimes doesn't make it any easier. Particularly when you are still someone who is young and haven't quite gotten all of your views on life issues figured out. This was particularly true in my case. I had a couple of instances in my early experiences of working with youth where out of my wanting to care for someone, gave too much of myself, even to the point of being held responsible for their decisions. This is the extremely short version of some stories that rocked my world as a young adult.

So I stepped away, for about 7 years. Then we came here. I thought I was done with youth, and that I would fill my heart for that age group by supplicating it with the college ministry. Well e-mails about college involvement never got returned, and it seemed virtually impossible to break into that world, and yet mention of the high school ministry was all around me. I had finally opened my mind to the possibility when I got a message on my FB site through our chuch's FB group informing me of an open night at The Point looking for new volunteers. I thought about it for awhile, and finally gave in, figured I'd suck it up and go.

I'm SO glad I did. That first night was essentially orientation, showing you what you were in for. Our high school pastor is AMAZING! I don't remember even encountering someone who is so gifted at speaking and relating to these kids on their level and yet being so biblically based and RELEVANT! I cannot imagine how different my life would have been if I would have encountered someone like this in HS. I'm so excited that these kids have this opportunity to be impacted in this way.

There are almost 400 students each week that attend, and it's growing each meeting. We have small groups after the worship and message, and the group of girls I meet with are freshmen girls. I LOVE IT!!! I always joke with Chris that hanging out with my girls is like my night out. It came at a great time in my life, after having two boys and feeling sometime overwhelmed by the amount of testosterone in the house, it's like I've adopted 15 girls!

I can't say enough about these girls, they have such passion, and excitement for life (and boys!), they are beautiful, and funny, thoughtful and kind... I don't understand how any one can be discouraged by the upcoming generation if they have really looked at them. Me, I'm excited, I think these girls have so much to offer the world, and I just want to do whatever I can to help them along the way, be there for them, support them, and answer any questions they have.

I know that when my kids are that age, they won't always feel like they can talk to their mom about everything (and sometimes, that's okay!), I pray that there will be godly people in their lives that they can be encouraged, poured into by, and have answer questions in a way that will impact them differently than something their mom (or dad) would say.

I hope I can do that for these girls.