Youth Conference!!

Brad and I were asked to be "parents" to a group of nine teenagers for our church's annual youth conference.  Since camping isn't really my thing, I had my reservations about spending three days living in a tent with no running water (aka no showers), but we forced Jess and Pep to go, so we couldn't really say no.  

I am so glad we didn't!  We had such a good time, and grew to truly, truly love the kids in our "family".

When they first arrived, we played some Get To Know You games.  None of these kids really knew each other, so it was a little awkward at first.

There was some down time in the afternoon, where the kids just kind of hung out and played football, soccer, volleyball, etc on the big field.  Some kids opted to try out this rope swing.  A few of them landed in the muddy puddle, which is just how you want to start a three day camping trip with no showers.

After dinner, we headed over for a fireside.  This picture was taken as we waited for the fireside to start--you can tell everyone is still a little tentative with each other.

Once it was completely dark, we all went on a night hike.  The leaders asked us to avoid using flashlights as much as possible so the kids would have to rely on their other senses and each other as we hiked around a lake and through the woods.  It was AWESOME!!  Our family really bonded as we looked out for one another and made sure nobody got lost.  By bedtime, it was like we'd known each other forever.