Blake, Justin, Mike, & Shad 

Katie, Shauna, Mindie & sisters 

May 2004 - Jamie, Rachelle, Laura & Amy 

Our fearless leaders. My haven't they changed. 

The 1st GC Leadership Team way back when it all began. I was on it to but you all know what I look like. 

Two princesses - Sophia is absolutely adorable.  

2003 Harvest Party - Jamie, Rachelle and Austin dressed as a woman. 

Young Adults bowling 2003. We do alot of that in a small town. It's either bowling, movies, or? Anyone have any good ideas! No cow tipping please.

Bryce & Sophie - amazing how quickly the little ones grow. They are buds. 

This is Rachel Davis and you all know Sabrina. Rachel is one of my dearest friends here in Roseburg. Although she is 16 she is an incredible woman of God. This was taken at a Young Adult/High School picnic back in 2003. 

Wednesday Night Small Group

As you can see I take frequent pictures throughout the week. This last Wednesday we had a small group with the Junior High & Senior High Ladies. It was a beautiful night so we went to the park to play and talk. Sabrina made a stop and bought us all some yummy ice cream (thanks Sabrina). Also, we left one of my junior high girls behind at the church and I felt horrible. Anyway, we had a nice small group. Normally there are more girls but it was the Holy Spirit that knew who needed to be there that night for our discussion. Sabrina read following scripture:

Proverbs 13:20

20 He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.
21 Evil pursues sinners, but to the righteous, good shall be repaid.
22 A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.

We talked as a group about how many of us have friends in the the world that try to pull us down with them who are going the wrong direction in life. They admitted that they have friends who are not serving God who are screwing up and going the wrong way. They knew it would take discipline and saying no to some things they were compromising to and turning around completely and following the right path that leads to life! How exciting to see young women hunger and pursue righteousness and not give in to the temptations that they are daily faced with. You could say I've been pretty sheltered growing up and some of these girls see and deal with things I could never imagine (ie: drugs, abuse, divorce, etc.). What a tough age to be a teenager. It seems like those years went so quickly for me.

I am truly blessed to be involved in such a wonderful church and leadership team at GVCA. I was approached by Matthew & Sabrina over a year ago with the challenge of leading a junior high small group and at first I honestly didn't want to do it. But I said yes and it has been an extreme blessing and honor to work with them and such a wonderful group of girls.

At times I have felt overwhelmed and inadequate at leading them but I realized that I am human and just need to be myself and connect with them on their level. It's not that hard. They can be hyper and giddy at times but what young (and old) girls aren't. We've had many good times together over the year and I pray we continue to grow and impact this community and our schools!

If you are not involved in some sort of small group or connected in a church and growing spiritually and feel empty; I challenge you to give it a try and find a home. Many have felt that they don't belong or feel uncomfortable but it's up to you and me to do something about it. JUMP IN! I am posting pictures of some events over the last few years of the young adults, senior high, and junior high kids! I enjoy taking pictures and now have the opportunity to share them with you all! Believe it or not I have not been into the Creative Memories thing (scrapbooking). It takes alot of time and money. It is much easier to do it online! Yeah, I get to show off my pictures to the world.

I have to thank God for his faithfulness in my life. No matter how many times I've wanted to run when things get hard He has kept me in the race. I've fallen, failed and sometimes take awhile to get back up but He has never left me. I still screw up (who's perfect?) but I've learned that it is better to get over it and get up quick. Thanks to my family and friends who have stuck by my side through the good, bad, and the ugly sides of me.

Well, this is probably one of the longest blogs I've posted but that's ok because I can! If you didn't want to read it you wouldn't. Some of you can talk to. It's weird to journal online the things going on in my life because I feel like I have to edit and be careful what I say. I don't want to get too personal. It's kind of funny.

I hope you weren't too bored of reading and for those who were, tough. It's sad, but I feel like I am learning more about Sabrina through blogging and she lives less than a mile away from me. We definately need to hang out more. (BTW - Taco Del Mar wasn't that great to me). I am looking forward to seeing all my friends soon for the 4th of July. I need a little vacation! Talk to you later! Love, me.

Sabrina runs for the frisbee and catches. We tried to see how many times we would catch it without dropping it. 

Listening and pondering. They were all open and had lots to share. 

Now, on a more serious note. We had a group discussion and shared our thoughts on the scripture Proverbs 13:20. 

Group picture of Junior High & Senior High Ladies 

Taking a ride on the helicopter and being crazy 

Alicia & Julia (my two little sisters) 

Jamie & Matt - Kickin' back and enjoying the evening hanging out. 

More pics by the fire. We played the question game to get to know each other better.  

Oooh, yummy smores toasted by the fire. 

Sittin' around the fire and getting warm. 

My friends hanging out at my place having a good time! It's amazing how many people I can fit in my living room. I love having people over and plan to have more get togethers to play games and have fun. 

Sarah Weinberg & Matthew giving it a try. They all did a great job at acting. 

John & Jamie trying to guess what the heck the movie is. 

Charles acting! 

We decided to play charades again because it is so much fun. Each team is writing down names of movies to act out. We had some good laughs. I had to act out Wayne's World.