This Blog: Rated "Arg" (for Pirate and Adult Advisory)

So the retreat this weekend was awesome. We had 20 or so high-enthusiasm, high-octane youth this weekend at what they call YoCo (Youth Council, instead of the PYC title found elsewheres). The youth were brilliant and hyper-creative, adrenaline pumping high school kids who took this weekend to bond and get to know eachother and us "adult" leaders while begining the brainstorming and planning of the retreats and rally day for this year. The theme was "Pirates of the Lake: Dead Man Risen" and included alot of Pirates of the Carribean (and Harry Potter) theme elements including a pirate sorting hat for assigning committees. The YoCo Coordinator is Adam, and he is a 4th yr in the dual degree MDiv/MACE program at Union; Liz was here for a yr before going to VCU as she is a dual degree MACE/M of Soc Work; and then there's Erin, Lindsey, Tiny, and myself also here at Union. So yes, Union is running the adult side of YoCo in the Presbytery of the James. The kids ran me ragged with treasure hunting, obstacle course stuff, swimming, running, dancing, music, skits, and the most hardcore game of Ultimate Frisbee i have ever been involved in (that's saying something). i'm excited about how this will go this year and for the kids. Please shoot them a prayer if you get the time. They're really good kids. They also knew Emily Riehl, so we got to have fun catching up on that.
Last night a bunch of us went to our burger joint we like before a worship service. While we were eating out on the patio area, this cute lil asian girl was whirling around dancing and i was watching her, until she fell and scraped her knee on the gravel. She seemed okay until i asked her if she was and she looked at her knee. In true little kid fashion, she then burst out into tears. She came over a few minutes later and looked at me and said "i have a boo boo on my knee." So i gave her a little sympathy and told her i saw her dancing. She pointed to her mother and her mother's friends ans said "i was giving them a movie (whatever that means)." i nodded and she said "i was showing my... i only have a mommy (smile)." We all tried to keep from giggling at how cute she was, and "mommy" came and got her as their group left: "haha, now that you know all that, you can enjoy your dinner," mommy said embarassingly. So we all waved out goodbyes. This made all of our womb's ache (not just Noell's).