D-Now Weekend

Let me start this post with a declaration. I tend to be crazy!

Adam has been leading a group of youth guys since we first arrived at Northwood Church. Last year his guys graduated and he had to start all over with a new crop of freshman. Back before we had two kiddos, we went to every youth event including MidWinter (a retreat), youth camps (2 weeks), and D-Now weekends (disciple weekends where you stay at host homes). We have done a lot, but have never been an actual host home. It just never worked out. But this year Adam knew and I agreed that it would be huge to have his new group of guys over for D-Now. Yes that meant eight 9th grade guys would be living at our house for a weekend. D-Now was this weekend, Feb 27- Mar 1st.

Many might be thinking wow that is neat. Where did pregnant Jen and the boys go while this took place at the house. Guess what? We stayed here too. Yup that meant 13 people lived in my house Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning. Is that "crazy" word coming back to mind?? :D But guess what? The weekend was a great success.

1) The guys did not completely trash my house. Nothing big was broken or destroyed. I did have to triple up my cleaning routines ie. wiping the kitchen down, dishes, bathrooms, vacuuming, and overall picking up, but no huge disasters.

2) Connor and Bryce had a blast! The boys had around the clock attention and entertainment. They had crazy amounts of time outside; jumping on the trampoline, playing soccer, and just running around. There was a load of junk food my children had never even seen and and learned to beg, get some, and scarf it down whenever I wasn't looking.
3) There was sleeping! The boys slept fantastically, partially because they were worn out and because they are very heavy sleepers. Adam and I slept in the guest room so that guys and college leader could use our room and master bathroom without disturbing the boys.

4) The guys seems to have really enjoyed themselves. And learned some great truths about God wanting to work in their lives.

Here are some new revelations I discovered this weekend.

1) Teenage guys are just as (and most times more) messy than babies and toddlers. I naively thought that one day I would not "need" to vacuum everyday. HAHA yeah right! On Saturday alone I vacuumed 3 times.

2) After 2 days of eating junk food (the youth brought their own snacks) even teenage guys want healthy food. They ate a weeks worth of fruit and healthy snacks in 1 day.

3) Trampolines, kiddy slides, cheap plastic balls, and kiddy cars can entertain 2-3 year olds and 14-15 years olds for hours.
4) I will never have a night sleep(as long as my children live in my house) without subconsciously always "listening" for something that is just not right. I also have the capability to jump out of bed at the slightest "weird" sound no matter what time it is.

5) Men young and old(ages: 3, 15, and 30) can watch a cartoon character race around cartoon tracks for hours. Did I leave out....while holding a steering wheel and "driving" the cartoon character? The Wii was a big hit!

6)My youngest and shyest little boy; Bryce completely fell in love with the college leader who stayed at our house. Anytime Bryce was awake he had found a way to be in Greg's arms. I was shocked all weekend.

7)Connor and Bryce have discovered "church" with the lights off and a rock concert playing. Kid's church and Big church cannot compete with church in the youth building.

Overall the weekend was fantastic! We had a blast and it was a real adventure. More importantly I pray that the youth guys learned something about their relationships with God and are leaving encouraged and inspired to continue their journey with Jesus. I also pray that one day my boys look back and truly understand why their parents served God by doing these things. I pray that one day the boys have a heart to serve others because they saw firsthand Mom and Dad doing it all the time.