The Haps
Finally, I found a few moments to write my promised update on life here at the Tol House. Here’s a peek at what we’ve been up to for the past few weeks:
Adoption Update: There’s really not much “update” to offer, as we’re still waiting for our referral. But Bethany continues to receive referrals, and our name slowly moves up the list. We have been gradually stocking up on some new things for our trip: luggage, video camera, a baby carrier.
I continue to enjoy “meeting” other adoptive families through the Bethany web forums and adoption blogs. I never tire of reading about their adoption experiences. Many have walked this road before us, and it’s encouraging to hear their testimonies about God’s faithfulness along the way. We know there will be great joy in this adoption–but there will be struggles as well. God supplies what we need, when we need it. We continue to lean on that promise.
Orphan Ministry Possibilities: One of the things I’m very excited about right now are the possibilities for beginning an orphan ministry at our church. We are so very honored and excited to be called to adoption and I’m in awe how God is knitting our little family together. Yet, my heart is heavy for the many other children who will remain left behind in orphanages.
Now I know it’s a huge problem and I feel so very, very small. But over the past year or so, I’ve just felt like God may have a part for me to play. So I’ve prayed about it a lot. And then a couple months ago, I was contacted by someone else from church with a question: “Would you pray about and consider being part of an orphan ministry at our church?” Umm . . . yes! I’d been waiting on God, and that phone call just felt like confirmation that he does, indeed, want me to get involved.
So the wheels are starting to turn, slowly. We held a special lunch at our church a few weeks ago to share information about adoption and orphan ministry, and to recruit some other people who’d be willing to help launch an orphan ministry. The whole endeavor is very much in the “baby” stages, but I’m eager to see what God has in store. I’d really appreciate prayers about it all, as I feel very inexperienced and unqualified to be a leader in this. Yet despite my insecurities, God seems to be calling. I guess I just need to keep following and see where he leads.
Pie: We continue to enjoy helping out with youth group. This winter, we launched a special project called “Rice Bowls.” It’s an organization that works with orphanages in India, South Africa, and Haiti to provide food supplies. One of their fund-raising projects is to send out small plastic banks shaped like little rice bowls. Groups can hand them out, then collect spare change in them and send it back to the Rice Bowls organization. (You can learn more at http://www.ricebowls.org.)
To motivate our teens to collect change, we made a little competition involving pies: If the guys collected more change, they could throw a pie at one of the female leaders, and if the girls won, they’d get to throw pie at one of the guys. We added one more twist: Any student who collected at least $60 in change could throw a pie at anyone.
Well, the motivation seemed to work, because we ended up having seven pies getting throw around at youth group this past Sunday. Prior to the big event, several youth group kids (and leaders!) had threatened to throw pie at me. I feigned great offense and concern about this, so we had fun joking around about it. At one point, it looked like I’d be taking five pies! In the end, I only had to take one pie. (I wasn’t surprised by this: Because, really, once someone is completely covered in pie, isn’t it more fun to choose a clean target for the next pie?)
It was all great fun–and the best part is that we raised over $900 to help feed orphans!
Noah: Noah continues to be a busy, active little boy. Never a dull moment with this one, that’s for sure! He’s been loving the new barn Grandpa Leep built for his birthday, and the many trucks and tractors he received for Christmas and his birthday. I’m continually amazed at his great imagination and the creative ways he uses his toys. (Why not build the GeoTrax railroad right through the Little Peoples barn? Great idea, bud!)
As the weather finally has gotten warmer, he’s been spending some quality time back in the sandbox and out at the park. As the mommy, I’m thrilled to finally get outside again for walks and playtime. Noah’s also jabbering like crazy now. (Hmm… I wonder where he gets that trait from?) We’ve had many interesting “conversations” lately. Here’s one of our recent chats that has me a little worried about his involvement at church:
Me: Do you like Children’s church, Noah?
Noah: Yes! Fun.
Me: What do you do there, buddy?
Noah: We have big fire.
Me: Really. What do you have a big fire for?
Noah: Put toys in fire!
Well, I’ve rambled on quite enough for one post! I guess that’s what happens when I don’t update anything for so long. Thanks for reading.
EDGE-y Wisdom
I guess my posts have gotten a little too reflective and serious lately. Brian has commented that I need to lighten up a bit, for fear that our faithful blog readers will fall asleep while reading. (Okay, so he didn’t say the sleep part, but I think it was implied.) Well, always wanting to be a faithful wife, I have decided to attempt a more light-hearted post. And where do I turn when I when I need funny material?
Well, I’m a youth group leader. Enough said.
Brian and I have been helping out with EDGE–the youth program at our church–for almost a year now. This stint began with a youth group trip to Colorado last summer. At that time, I shared a post about the top ten things I learned from a week with teens in Colorado. It was mind-blowing, really.You should read it.
So just imagine how much wisdom I’ve gleaned in the months since. Without further ado, I present “The Top Ten Things I Have Learned As An EDGE Group Leader:”
1. Seeing teenage males in their mother’s Christmas sweaters is the stuff horror films are made of. Sure, it guarantees them a win in the Ugly Sweeater Contest. But it can also haunt dreams.
2. For some reason, the concept of throwing pie in my face is a very strong motivator for many members of this group.
3. During youth group retreats, its important to withhold Mountain Dew from certain female members of our group after 9 pm. Unless, of course, you really enjoy hearing conversations about the science of coughing at 5 AM in the morning. Or you like functioning on 1.5 hours of sleep.
4. If you leave a message on a teenager’s home phone, you’ll be lucky to get a response within a month. If you write on their Facebook Wall, you will likely hear from them within minutes. And I suppose if I actually texted them on their cell phones, I would enter a whole new realm of warp-speed response. But you have to put your foot down somewhere.
5. Surprisingly, guys don’t do much trash-talking when playing fantasy football. (Well, unless you lose your starting QB in the first game…but that’s another story.) I say, what’s the fun of playing in a league if you can’t casually remind the other players when, say, you happen to annihilate their team by more than 40 points. (Yes, I’m talking about Alden here.) Come to think of it, this might explain #2 above.
5. Mountain-top romances last a lot longer than you might think. They also require some unique retreat rules such as: 1.)no pillow sharing allowed, and 2.)no, we are not going to let the guys and girls sleep side-by-side in Meeting Room #2.
6. Apparently, there is barbed wire at the top of the Ladder of Love. (Don’t worry, you get a key to remove the wire when you get married.) When dating in high school, it’s better to just carry a step stool.
7. The youth have led me to some arithmetic principles I was not aware of before. As in, “a girl must be at least 3/5 hotness in order for a guy to ask her out,” and “I’d rather be 7/3 funny than 3/5 hot.” (Is this part of that “new math” I’ve heard about?)
8. Lest you think all we discuss at youth group is dating/sex/love, let me just say that I’ve learned a surprising amount of color theory as well. For example, black is not in our youth pastor’s color palette. Apparently orange is a girly color for a video camera. And being nick-named “grandma” makes me feel blue.
9. If any female members of our group mysteriously disappear, I will look for them wherever the Grand Rapids Griffins happen to be playing. But really: Hockey players, girls? You know they don’t have teeth, right?
10. Being an EDGE leader is eerily similar to my high school experience: I often hang out with a large herd of teenagers, I consume large quantities of caffeine (although I’ve switched from Mt. Dew to coffee), and I’m constantly harrassed, picked on, and teased. At least there’s no homework or tests . . .
As you can see, helping out with EDGE has warped molded me in many ways.
But seriously, God has blessed me through these experiences. It’s such a privilege to know these teens and to watch them grow in God. And of course, to share lots of life and laughter along the way.
Colorado Stories: Oscar
Time for the first of those Colorado stories I promised you all. In the lead off position we have: Oscar.
Actually, this is two-stories in one. Look at me be the over-achiever.
I mentioned in my first post that we stayed at the beautiful Quaker Ridge Camp overlooking mighty Pikes Peak. It’s a powerful and tranquil place: lush evergreen foliage, Pikes Peak in the background, and a wonderful little pond in the middle of it all. (Actually, the pond will make an appearance in an upcoming story…)
Quaker Ridge’s beautiful comes at a price, though: it’s way the heck off the main highway. I mean, way off. After you turn off of C-67, you drive up a bunch of switch backs. Then you drive up a bunch more. Then you slow way down, take another hard right, and drive up a few more.
And that’s when you pass through the gate to enter the camp’s property.
The gate, though, is false joy (like a certain presidential candidate I can think of). The gate is, like, only halfway to the actual camp.
So you drive up a few more switch backs, take a few more hard curves, and finally you arrive.
Hopefully you get the picture: downtown Manhattan it ain’t. You’re in the middle of nowhere. Sure, it’s absolutely beautiful nowhere, but it’s still nowhere.
And where you get nowhere, you also get wild animals: birds, chipmunks, squirrels, teenagers, bears… you know, the usual.
Actually, we bused in the teenagers, so I guess they weren’t so wild. Or, at least, they know how to pick up after themselves. Most of the time. (More foreshadowing there, folks.)
I’m fairly certain the bears were wild, however.
The first bear showed up around 6:00pm on our first day: he wondered into camp, looking for some bear fast-food–otherwise known as a trash can.
Now, when you see a wild bear, in the wild, what is your first instinct? Mine is to stay away–far, far away. I think that’s healthy and normal. I trust you agree.
Teenagers, on the other hand, have an odd sense of courage stupidity. When our friendly bear showed up, more than a few kids — mostly guys — walked towards the bear. In fact, quite a few of them. Here’s the proof:
I take some comfort that the kids in this picture weren’t from Holland Heights — I’m pretty sure they were West Lafayette Indiana. (Even more foreshadowing.)
This was doubly stupid because this particular bear–the camp staff nicknamed him Oscar–was obviously a cub. Mamma bear was out there, somewhere, lurking about. Luckily for us all (especially our geniuses from Indiana) Oscar knew that Mamma didn’t like fast-food, and therefore snuck into camp without her knowing it.
The camp staff was extremely professional, and promptly encouraged Oscar to move along through the use of loud noises.
Bear #2 (I never learned his name) showed up on day two around 9:30pm. He, too, was looking for a tasty trash can. This time a camp staffer treed him with more loud noises and a broom. (Really folks, I’m not making this stuff up: it was a college kid and a broom: nuttiest thing I’ve seen in a while).
Again I ask, what would you do with a treed bear? And, again, I would suggest staying away is a pretty good idea. And, again, some of the teens had a different idea. We actually had kids walking underneath the tree to take pictures.
Scared bear. Bright flashes. What could go wrong?
Thankfully, the camp staff was johnny-on-the-spot, and prompted encouraged the teenagers to move along through the use of more loud noises and a broom. (Ok, I made that part up: it was just loud noises.)
Oscar showed up for a second time on day three. This time the staff decided their insurance wouldn’t cover our teenagers, so they used a few louder noises (blanks from a shotgun) to encourage Oscar and friends to find a different fast-food joint. It worked: we didn’t see the bears again for the rest of the week.
So that was the end of our live bear sightings. But that’s not the end of our bear stories:
On Wednesday our group drove to the top of Pikes Peak (which was in-and-of itself an eventful trip). On the way there we stopped for gas in Manitou Springs, a sleepy little town outside of Colorado Springs.
On the way through town, we passed a store that specialized in carved bears. Here’s an example:
(The bear is the one of the left.)
That got the kids talking, and the conversation when something like this:
“Hey, there’s one of those carved bear shops.”
“Yeah, those are cool. We should get a bear for our youth group room at church.”
“Yeah! That would be awesome. We should call him Oscar.”
Laughter.
At this point, our fellow youth group leader Dan, aka Hefty, got a wry smile on his face, and piped in:
“Yeah, that we be cool. We should get a crouching bear.”
Puzzled looks.
“Why’s that, Hefty?”
“Because then we could call him Oscar. The. Crouch.”
And… SCENE!