ciy '08

i went to ciy with my church from home this week (hence, the no posts for a week) and just got back late this morning. it was a BLAST! it was probably one of the best ones i've been to and that is saying a lot (it was my ninth ciy! five as a student and four as an adult leader!) there are more things that frustrate you as an adult because some of the key organization wasn't there, but other than that (and it was mostly just things starting on time and not having the adults as informed about one certain thing as we would have liked to have been) it couldn't have been better! i'm not always a big fan of the worship band that's been there the past few years (the aaron pelsue band), but really, when i can just close my eyes and focus, they do a really good job. the main issue i have with them is just that it is hard to focus if i don't close my eyes because the band is distracting. i think the funniest thing about the band is that they put Genevieve (the baby who came with our group to ciy) to sleep almost every session and they rock out so loud! it kind of became a joke by the end of the week! the baby's mom bought their CD for her to help her fall asleep at home! with the mention of a baby, you are probably wondering how much baby time i got... no worries, mindy and i had lots of baby time! we sat with the mom at most meals and sessions (not just because of the baby... we've known her our whole lives... she's one of the few people we actually know!) and whenever mom had to run errands or take a nap, guess who got to babysit? yep, me and mindy! and since you all know how i feel about babies, here's a picture of her!



also, i have to put up a picture of me and mindy's d-group! they were great! i think i'm more impressed with them every year! they just rocked my world! i know i get frustrated with teenagers a lot (like multiple times a day during the school year), but i do just love them like crazy! they're so fun to hang out with and talk to! and our group was just hilarious and so much fun and so, here they are!



also, side note, i am so old it isn't even funny. i just can't believe some of the kids who are old enough to go to ciy. i saw one kid on monday or tuesday and and someone said, "nick" and i look at him and in my head go, "no way, no frickin' way" so i lean over to Kayla, Genevieve's mom, and ask who it is and oh yeah, it's that nick. his mom used to work in the church office with my mom when he was a baby (like four months old) and i haven't seen him since he was a toddler, but let me tell you, i had lots of baby time with him even though i was only like 10... i always played with him while our moms were doing stuff. i just can't believe how much kids grow up and how fast! i told my mom he was there (and she knew because she had actually just seen his mom this morning) and she told me i was getting old! i mean i know i'm turning 25 in november, but still!

oh and one more super cool thing! so we have these kids in the youth group whose last name is "greene," right? and so i had this instinct (or maybe my mom mentioned it once) that they could be Mrs. Greene's kids (Mrs. Greene was my 8th grade math teacher... basically, she's the reason i'm a math teacher... i wanted to teach 1st grade until i had her and ever since then, it's been math!). so last night, a kid is saying something to kayla and he's a few rows in front of us and then he turns around or something so i lean over to kayla and ask who he is (apparently i do this on a regular basis) and so she tells me his name and he is one of the greene's and he must have heard his name or had turned back around and was facing us and goes, "are you talking about me?" and i go, "i was just asking who you were" and he goes, "you're the math teacher, right?" (all the leaders had to introduce themselves the first night and so i mentioned that i teach math and i may have said that if anyone wanted to talk about math, i'd love to talk to them about it! ha ha, no worries, i told them i was kidding about that last part!) anyway, i say that yes, i'm a math teacher and he says that his mom is a math a teacher and i go "mrs. greene? at grissom?" and he goes, "yeah" and i go, "she's the reason i'm a math teacher!" and then i see him on the phone a few minutes later and then he goes, "did you write something about her in high school?" and i go "yeah" (i had to write her a letter for a class i was in) and he goes, "she remembers you, she loved you" and i said that i had loved her, too. she really was my favorite! sometimes i just really miss eighth grade. i could write a whole post on the awesomeness of mrs. greene (and our other 8th grade teachers), but i won't. just know that she let erin come to our study hall every friday and that on our 8th grade picnic, she walked around the track with us and told us what boys she would like in our class if she were our age! seriously, she rocked! (maybe that's why i'm so comfortable telling people that'd i'd have a HUGE crush on this kid alex if i were in high school! ha ha! i think i just told that to a couple of adults after he had walked by once!)

okay, that is all. sorry for this insanely long novel!