Student Link
It's been a season of thankfulness and remembering a birth that changed the course of history. Each year, the holidays sneak up faster, and I have loved the regular meetings with these Student Link groups that continually brings our focus back on the reason for all the celebrations. We've seen how "busyness" tries to take hold of our schedules, and yet, when we come together, we are all encouraged. I love watching these ladies walk with each other in discipleship, keeping one another accountable and coming alongside their friends when seasons feel cloudy.
Love when my co-leader is back from college to join this group again!
Over the past couple months, the girls and I have looked at themes of "friendships" and "choices." It has provided a lot of great discussions, and I love hearing these ladies ask each other their thoughts and pour into what the Bible says in regards to these topics. It seems that every meeting these two months has been in a different location - the coffee shop, two homes, and even a quick check-in call when the weather was uncertain.
When one student has a litter of puppies, it seems the most reasonable response is to do Student Link with puppies! We all loved having sleeping pups curled up next to us as we studied together. One of our favorite spots for meeting on the comforts of the couch with piles of blankets, and (of course) Jack the dog, who thinks he is one of the girls.
Quick check-in video call when Minnesota weather makes it difficult to meet (so grateful for the technology to connect!).
On Wednesdays, we are regularly meeting for Student Link with anther seven students. We have a really fun time discussing the themes together and diving into deeper principles. I enjoy how this group isn't afraid to jump in with their own thoughts, analogies, and questions. These high school students are such a huge encouragement to me and the other leaders as they show the desire to grow deeper in their faith and keep themselves accountable. My favorite was hearing last Wednesday, "Kendra! You will be so proud; I'm improving!" I joined this student in with celebrating his accomplishment in meeting the goals he had set for the week and let him share how these regular habits are giving him a growing excitement in his faith. These students enjoy spending time with each other outside of Wednesday nights as well, and it is really fun to see how their regular connection with God also brings them closer together.
Toddler Tuesdays
Seeing the holidays through a child's eyes is one of the most beautiful parts of this season. We looked at a theme of thankfulness during the Thanksgiving season and talked lots about different things we are thankful for. For many of these little kids, they could not yet think of things abstractly, so I loved the things they were thankful for that they saw right in front of them - toys, shoes, and each other. As we talked about all the things we are thankful for, we thanked God for giving us these good things.
After Thanksgiving, we moved into a theme about Christmas! These toddlers and preschoolers had a lot of excitement around Christmas and shared all about the different decorations that were going up in their homes. One of the main decorations they talked about were the Christmas trees. I asked the littles if they had a star or an angel on top of the Christmas tree and shared how these were the "invitations to Jesus's birthday party." The kids really liked that God sent these invitations so the shepherds and kings could come celebrate Jesus's birthday. I shared how putting these toppers on our tree is a way we can remember that God invites us to celebrate each year the reason for Jesus coming to Earth.
The last Tuesday we met before Christmas, the toddlers and I made many different nativity scenes. They worked together to create Bethlehem with the Little People toys and gave each other roles in the story by assigning who would be the angels, shepherds, kings, and animals (my favorite part was when the herd of camels and one lonely donkey came to carol for baby Jesus!). We continued this lesson by making baby Jesus's in mangers; however, the craft had been sitting in the storage closet for a while and the stickers had all dried out. I quickly grabbed some glue sticks, but the cardboard mangers were too stiff for the glue, so I resorted to stapling them together. The whole time, the preschoolers were saying, "This project isn't going well." "I don't think this one will work." "This is not how I thought it would go." So, I used this as part of the lesson asking the kids, "Do you think everything went as Joseph and Mary had planned when Jesus was born?" The kids all shook their heads and agreed Jesus' birth wasn't as his parents had planned. "But God had a plan! And look, your baby Jesus' are all wrapped in the manger now ready to be brought home!" Sometimes our plans look like they aren't working, but that doesn't mean God isn't orchestrating it all for His plan.
Our final nativity recreation was a classic felt board. I had all the characters out of view and asked the littles to recall who should be in the picture. As they remembered the characters, I'd let them place the people/animals/angels on the board. Then, after all the characters were in place, I gave each of the students a (very 70's looking) child character and asked them to place themselves in the manger scene asking them, "If you could have been there, where would you be to see baby Jesus." I love how these littles put themselves into the story because even though we weren't there physically, God invites us all to celebrate Jesus's birth in our hearts in remembering the reason for Christmas.
Youth Group
Volunteering with these 6th grade girls on Wednesday evenings is never enough time with them! I am so grateful for the time to connect and pour into their lives as they ask big questions. These girls don't shy away from going deeper and pursuing Jesus together. All their different personalities mesh so well together, and as leaders, we love to see how this group continues to grow in knowing one another.
We end each youth group time with a special handshake the girls made :)
Christmas party with all 15 girls and 3 leaders!
With close to 15 students regularly, this group can get big for discussions! We've started randomly dividing the girls among the leaders to create smaller groups so they have more opportunities to share their thoughts and questions after programs. It is working really well.
With the holidays, there were a few weeks that we have missed for regular Wednesday nights, but we always celebrate ahead of time with the youth kids! There was a special worship and games night for Christmas, and Thanksgiving was accompanied by "Pie Night" - a tradition where the youth and leaders bring/bake pies to share. As the leaders had been giving challenges to the students about making pecan and pumpkin pies, I side mentioned in a youth meeting that it would be a real challenge for the kids if they made gluten-free, dairy-free, and nut-free pies for those with dietary needs (myself in that mix included). I had offered it almost jokingly believing none of the students would have the determination to make that work, and was overwhelmingly surprised by the loads of kindness as nearly ten little bakers came on Wednesday night with a pie that was allergen-friendly. My heart swelled with joy (and my belly filled with pies!). I am so grateful for these kids and their compassion and love to serve others.
Mini-pie bites!
