SENIOR NIGHT

This week I attended Sr Night for Abbey at FHS volleyball and Megan at FHS football. It was much like I remember my Sr Night at SHS minus the big, bright yellow chrysanthimum corsage with a black "S" in the center bobbing up and down as we walked. It was similar to the night Charlie and I walked with Catherine onto the floor of Carmichael Auditorium for her Sr Night with UNC-Chapel Hill women's basketball.
It's a night of pride for the student's personal achievement, for parental support and for other friends who have made the journey special.
I'm glad we have held on to some traditions. While the flowers have improved considerably, the tingling feeling as the honoree's name is called has not changed one bit!
Way to go SENIORS.

SENIOR NIGHT

Speed bump

My purchase of an iPad this week is a reminder of our culture's obsession with speed. Now don't get me wrong this technology is amazing and addictive. You can navigate from place to place in no time at all.
However, I think there is an important analogy to be made to living our daily life like a wireless communication device.
When we rush through life---we fast forward through some important steps. Our desire for quick results, says everything about our need to control our own story. But scripture clearly admonishes us to wait, to be still, to slow down and to be open to god's plan.
I think about my own life and how quickly I rush and stress with my own daily agenda. I am constantly having to remind myself to stop, pray, be still, love/ serve others, listen to the voice of God's calling on my life. At youth Bible study last week, we discussed how living according to Christ's example must be second nature, not an after thought. On our fall retreats, we learned the more familiar we are with the "go to" book, the more passionate we would be about living the message.
Look at these scripture references about speeding: Lamentations 3:25- "The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him"
Psalm 46:10 "be still and know that I am God", Psalm 37:7 "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him"
So what part of this do we not understand? Maybe instead of speeding, we should slow down for the SPEED BUMPS!

Mid Hi Valle Crucis-Saturday night/Sunday

Sorry--this post is a week late! -Anne

Saturday night was a roller coaster of emotions. We were alternating between laughing and crying! We ran around measuring things with hot dogs. Then, Lacretia, Alexandria, Shaniqua and some other “girl” showed their talents in the Annual Miss Valle Crucis Pageant. There will be no photos attached. We watched clips from “Soul Surfer” that reminded us that we will often make difficult decisions to put God first. Jennifer Adams collected bottle caps to help us make bottle cap crosses to remind us that TODAY GOD IS FIRST. For our closing, we listened to the song, “Who Am I” and watched the “Zilch Prayer”. The Zilch Prayer is amazing. It’s a unique, peaceful way to capture the spirit of prayer. It’s always different, and always special. Eighth Grade spotlight gave each person a chance to receive positive thoughts from their friends. Most of the girls were emotional when thinking about all of the great memories with one another. Then, we passed out our ROCKING PJ pants! Sunday morning we had a wonderful worship service. We sang, played Bible Brainstorm, and took Communion. We celebrated the weekend with Anne’s wonderful slideshow. Each person received pillow cases embroidered with TGIF to remind us to put God first from the rising of the sun until the time our heads hit the pillow. Valle Crucis 2011 was a great bonding time—the best trip EVER! See ya next year!!!

TGIF Valle Crucis Saturday

Saturday started bright and early with a yummy, full breakfast. We then gathered back together and Lisa and Bee led us in singing, "Romans, What?!" and "Sanctuary" and "Praise Ye the Lord". We played many fun games such as Broom Hockey and Blanket Race and Hot (shoe) Potato! Our devotion for the day started with discussing how we see ourselves and how God sees us. We decorated paper bags with words and pictures from magazines. On the outside, we put things that we think describe ourselves. On the inside, we put things that describe how God sees us. For most us, it is easier to put yourself down or be negative, so it was harder to do the outside. But when we think about how God sees us, we realize how priceless we are.

We then discussed how the Bible should be our "Go to Book"--the place we go to for guidance. This led us to a game of "Bible Pictionary". Our groups had to choose a silly band to help us to divide into groups. We drew pictures about Bible verses or characters.

We watched a neat video of two guys who made a one minute video summing up the Bible. Each group had to come up with a skit or rap about a story in the Bible. We had scenes from The Good Samaritan, Genesis 1, Noah's Ark, Loaves and Fishes.

In addition to knowing who God made us to be, and how he wants us to act by knowing the Bible, we must also PRAY. So, we made prayer beads. Each prayer bead included the letters TGIF to remember our weekend, but then our creativity took over! "If you don't know what you are doing, pray to the father, he loves to help"-James 1:5-8.

Following lunch we went to the Mast Stores in Valle Crucis and now we are enjoying some free time. Later, we are hiking to the waterfall. Tonight we are looking forward to 8th grade Spotlight and getting our VC pajama pants! More later....

Linnea J and Holly M

2011 MID HI RETREAT

Retreats are a special kind of tired, making memories with friends, learning about God and exploring our faith. Please pray for all the youth and counselors as FUMC journies to Valle Crucis for the 35th year. The second longest tenure on record at Valle Crucis. What a rich tradition!

TGIF Valle Crucis 2011 Friday

After driving through the rain, it stopped just in time for our arrival. When we got here, we went straight into games and devotion. We played our own version of "Minute to Win It". Our theme for this year is Today God Is First. Our youth counselors and leaders asked us to find a five dollar bill hidden in the room. This activity was related to the Bible verse Proverbs 2:4. The verse is, "If you seek it like silver, and search for it as for hidden treasures-"

To think about Matthew 6:33 we were divided into groups by grades, and we discussed if we put God before everything else in our lives, then all the rest will fall into place. Later, we gathered around the bonfire and everybody took one penny. Paul Avery shared a story about how every U.S coin states "In God We Trust". This is something we can carry with us always as a reminder.

Finally, early in the evening we talked about having a good attitude in everything you do. Becky showed us a trick with the word attitude.

A-1

T-20

T-20

I-9

T-20

U-21

D-4

E-5

1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5= 100%

Our goal for the week is to put 100% of a good attitude into everything we do.

Emily A and Anna-Taylor H