All Church Birthday Party

Thanks so much to our Family Ministries team for a GREAT All Church Birthday Party!

Thanks to Ms. Janice Noble for these pictures!

Alicia and Ms. Carla working on November.

January Table

May Table

John Hatler (our bingo master) hard at work.

Jillian and Mary Anna

Russ and Grayson Gilliam

SNOOOOOOW DAY!

Every year, our Children's Committee, led by Children's Director, Jennifer Vincent, hosts SNOW DAY for our PreSchoolers. They came together, "skated" on our own little skating rink, made snow globes, made pretzel and marshmallow snowflakes, and learned that Jesus loves them "SNOW" much! It was a great day!! Thanks to Ms. Jennifer and all her helpers for loving our children enough to teach them about Jesus' love for them.

Making pretzel and marshmallow snowflakes!

Mary Anna's snowflake is just about done!

Grayson gets some help from Ms. Alicia!

Michael and Cara Brooke

More pictures from Snow Day to come! Check back soon!

more pics..snowy pics

Beauty and the Beasts

Cause baby its cold outside...

For perhaps the first time the five years we have taken this trip, the youth had to deal with being in the bitter cold the second day. With wind gusts up to 25 mph, snow cannons going, and about 20 degree weather, it was pretty chilly. They were coming down the mountain with red faces and purple hands. Needless to say, the Ski Shop made hundreds of dollars off us that day!

Hope (floats) :)

Bryce and J.D. ready to head down the mountain or rob a bank. You decide...

Zach aka Ninja Skier

Magen (warm yet still ever so stylish)

"It's like trying to ski through glass being shot at you by a cannon"

Our second day of skiing, they decided to start making snow. Needless to say, the kids didn't that like too much. It was painful to ski through and some of them came in with their outer layers too frozen to remove and hair that had to be thawed out under the hand dryer in the bathroom. However, it did make for some beautiful pictures.

That's a wrap!

Hey all...

Becca here. Russ made the mistake of giving me the password for the Blogger account!! SO, first things first, I would like to defend my choice of DVDs as I was selecting from the DVDs the youth brought (so quickly they forget what they own)! And if you want to know more about utilizing Hannah Montana as a form of torture, just ask Bob Shumake, he is the expert. :) It is certainly good to be home and be rested up (well, sort of). I would like to thank all of the adults who traveled with us. You hung in there and were such a tremendous help to me. Its never an easy decision to cut a trip short and come home in the middle of the night, but your help made it fairly painless for us all. Whether its gathering shoes, handing out meal tickets, checking rooms, searching for cell phones, giving out meds and first aid, proving that a Twinkie can (in fact) be eaten in one bite, giving out hugs and advice, or maintaining a blog so everyone at home can join in on the fun, it all works together for a great time. YOU ARE APPRECIATED!

And the youth... you are truly the greatest in the world. You do all I ask of you and more, thanks for making my job wonderful.

Family time...

Jenise and Michael Butler

Zack and Rene'

Max and Carmen

Monica, Bob, Hayley, and Russ

More pics

Lake Junaluska in the morning
Enjoying the view of a portion of our apportionments

Last Day, Long Day

First of all you would think being in a bus with 50 people, mainly hormonal teenagers, would be total chaos. Well, suprisingly you're wrong. We have many reasons to be proud of the MYF'rs of our church, but the way they behave in public is totally against the way I see a lot bus groups of kids behaving. Except for a couple of lost cell phones (one found) ,a lost dirty garbage bag full of my daughter's dirty clothes in Becca's office, and the fact Becca's choices of DVD selections leave something to be desired, the trip's notables were of the positive kind(at least we did not have to watch "high school musical")(but there was almost a mutiny when 'hannah Montana came on). We are too be proud of our kids and can't wait to travel with them again!

Bus was loaded by 7:15am and we were on the road to ski after breakfast by 8am. Snowmaking was not done in the night but were turned on when we got there. If you have never skiied thru a snowmaking gun, it is nothing to be desired. As decent as the skiing was the day before, this day was just tough. Visibility was horrible (just ask Hallie Butler). You'd have to clean the ice/snow off your mask a couple of times on the way down. Much I'm sure to Bro. Tate and Erica Bell's (a Wisconsin fan) chagrin , Rocky Top was sang loudly and proudly in the ski lodge celebrating the Vol's victory.

We left the ski resort about 3;30pm for the bus ride home, some of us still in our ski clothes. To Ms. Janice Noble, your chochlate chip cookies were the hit of the bus. After a couple of stops, we arrived home about 12:40am in colder weather than up in the mountains. Thanks again to all the chaperones, Becca, and the youth for a great time. Ya'll are the best!

P.S. on a personal note, I did not fall down once the first day......that is until Bob Shumake plowed in to me. THanks Bob!

The iceman cometh

Shea flying by

There goes alex!!

Megan cruising thru the snowmaking machines

Last morning ;(