how can that be?

We have been in Morgantown 3.5 years. That equals 7 semesters of school. At the end of every semester, Ben and I look at each other and whole heartedly agree that "this semester has been the hardest yet." I'm not sure how we can keep saying that, but we do. There hasn't been one even remotely the same as another. It's all been very different kinds of hard - financial, rebuilding ministry, poor choices by people we love, health issues, growing pains of ministry, death, hurting loved ones and a host of other things.  I would say the Fall of 2011 and Spring of 2013 were two real doozies. This semester was right up there with it. We are ready for Christmas break, a break in semesters and some change for the coming spring.

These are the things I've missed writing about this Fall:

20 Years of Mountaineer Area Young Life: In October we celebrated 20 years of Young Life in the Mountaineer Area at our annual banquet. Former staff and alumni attended the banquet and we did a video of alumni, too. It was such a blessing to be part of.

past kids, committee & staff

Mountaineer Area Young Life Staff

Stacy & Matt Santen, Amanda & Jay Teodoro

Molly & John Aderholt, Laura & Ben Tuel

New Job: For a little over a year I have been the office administrator at South Ridge Church. In October and November, I transitioned out of that position into a brand new role. I'm not sure that we really ever decided regarding an official title, but I'm helping people get plugged into serving around the church and also doing outreach projects for the community. It's a bit of a transition as in it's a brand new position. In all my past jobs, I've followed in sometimes footsteps. I'm figuring out what this is going to look like and what I need to do. I'm looking for two more larger service projects to the community - one in the Winter and one in the Spring. I will continue to do Big Kick Soccer Camp in the Summer and Party in the Park in the Fall. With this new job I have gone down to working 3 days a week at the church. I like that.

Young Life Role: I'm also working part time for Scott Berg (our YL WV State Director) and helping Ben do a lot of admin stuff. I mostly do this on Monday afternoons, Fridays during the day and several nights after the kids go to bed and Ben is out with committee meetings, Clay-Battelle YL or other things. I really love being able to help them so much. Sometimes, like around camp trips, it gets a little crazy but this is by far one of my favorite things to do. I have also taken on a much bigger role in spending time with our girl leaders. I meet with three girls on a bi-weekly basis and others as the want/need to. I really, really love these new YL roles in my life. After about 6 years of not leading and not beings super involved, it has been great to find my niche again.

Fall Weekend: We had a great Fall Weekend the weekend before Thanksgiving. It was a lot of work. We had 90 kids from the Mountaineer Area and 450 kids total from all over the state of WV. Fall Weekend trended on Twitter with this newsclip. Here's the recap video Rusty put together. WV has some pretty amazing staff. I'm proud of them and honored to work with them. Ben ended up speaking for the weekend because our original speaker got sick at the last minute. JB took over music for Ben. Scott and Brad doubled their role as kid leader and head leader. I was the other head leader and did most of the leg work in getting the weekend put together.

Mountaineer Area Young Life Leaders

Loss: In the early Fall, we lost a Clay-Battelle High School friend. She died in a car accident on the way home from Club. We are starting a new ministry in a very small, rural school. It was one of our hardest losses ever. Thankfully, we know she met Jesus at Young Life camp about 3 months before. 

Thursday Morning Bible Study: I started a women's bible study at South Ridge. I love it! Although it's another thing in my schedule, it's not a lot of extra work and I value the women and the time we spend together. We did "Makeover: Revitalizing the Many Roles You Fill" by Jen Hatmaker. It was a very appropriate study for this time in my life. It's one of her very first studies and I really liked it a lot. This semester was a bit of a trial run - I believe we'll keep going.

Monday Night Bible Study: Every other Monday night, I've been getting together with some friends in Morgantown. I love these women. Since I've gone back to work, both my kids are in school and I don't go to church with them, I don't see them much. But we spend a couple of hours together every other Monday night. Sometimes we do a bible study. Sometimes we talk for 2 hours. It is for sure a highlight of most weeks.

Growing Pains: We've experienced some growing pains in ministry this year. We have lots of leaders and lots of first years coming around. Everybody doesn't know each other anymore. Teams are bigger. It allows for new distractions and changes in how we lead. It's all a learning and growing process, but these growing pains have taken up a significant amount of time this year. 

Laundry: This may not be so much a highlight as much as it is a constant battle. I always have clean laundry. It's just rarely folded and put away. It's one of those things I just can't seem to get a handle on. We have recently taken to dumping hampers of clean laundry on the floor in the living room to dig through for things to wear that day. I'm not really proud of it. It just is what it is.

Amazon Prime: Amazon Prime is my new secret weapon for skit shopping. Those things like goggles and squirt guns that you need out of season and can't be found around town - amazon. The glow sticks you need for each club to have a rave club - amazon. Two day free shipping - amazing!  I will do 90% of my Christmas shopping online this year and I will spend so much LESS. I have a list. I'll buy what's on the list. I won't impulse buy anything else.

Homework Parent: I am a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad homework parent. My background is teaching. It's shameful, really.

Hurting Loved Ones: This fall has been particularly tough for so many people we love so much. Cancer has been a life changer this fall for four women we know and love. Unemployment. Late in pregnancy miscarriages. Death of a child. A couple of things too personal to write here. Sometimes my prayer time on the drive to work is absolutely overwhelming.

Date Mondays/Family Dinner Night Fridays: These are the two things that have kept me sane this semester. Ben and I decided when school started that Monday mornings would be ours. We both take the morning off and no two Mondays look the same. We always end our morning off with lunch out somewhere. I love it. It's been really good for us and we're figuring out how to best use that time and what it looks like. Sort of accidentally, we started having Friday night dinners as a family. By the time Friday rolls around we're all shot. Our Saturdays have been spent traveling or doing the parking lot and leadership takes up a large chunk of Ben's Sundays. So Friday night is our family time. Since everyone can be civil in public places, we usually go out to dinner and then come home and play games. What happened accidentally has now become something we're hanging on to.

So, there you have it. Our semester in review.