So, the annual (first to me!) High School Ministries Fall Retreat was last weekend, (Is that a mouthful or what? Whew!)and it was a blast.

We ate, hung out, talked, played Rock Band, played soccer, volleyball, football, stayed up way too late, had great sessions that challenged us in our faith, and generally had an amazing time. Some kids that we had to practically knock down their doors were saying by the end of the weekend how incredibly glad they were that they decided to come. What a blessing! Of course, there were challenges… like how I got kicked (pretty hard) in the shin while playing doubles soccer, how I spent the weekend trying to figure out how cool I need to be to really relate to these kids, how I wrestled with how late to stay up and tried to keep my eyes open later than the 5 months pregnant youth pastor’s wife, and how I kept my eyes peeled through the entire drive back on the bus for teenager boy/girl cuddliness.

But on Monday we had the day off and I spent great time with the Lord- thanking him for all the amazing relationships that were started or grew on the trip. Retreats like this can serve as relational incubators- and it sure did this past weekend! Here are some pics from the weekend…

this is us chilling at the retreat!

Here’s some hard-core paintballers before the battle…

and here is my boss and one of the youth kids, who both dressed up as “stay-at-home-moms” for “what-I-wanted-to-be-when-I-grew-up” party.
Ah, youth leaders 🙂

Have a great weekend, everyone!