Games, Pizza, and brainstorming 2/28/10

We're not a competitive group! Riiiight.

Put a challenge in front of us (adults too!) and we'll try our darndest to figure it out! Guesstures was the hit of the night- requiring our ever-so-shy (not!) group to act out words before time ran out and the card slipped away. It's a variation of charades, and we found that Jared Moran and Ethan Hetrick are quite talented at acting out words that the rest of us can guess.

The brain teasers were a challenge, however, Susan Moran and Karly McCauley could figure out multiple ways of solving the three-cup 'test' without finding the answer that actually came with the instructions. True 'out-of-the-box' thinkers.

Thanks to the Morrows, we had pizza in our bellies, and thanks to Jill Hart and the McCauleys, we had yummy desserts to follow. Oh, and what's a movie night without popcorn- or was that our vegetable? Not sure who made the lemonade, but thank you.

The 5th graders and below got to snuggle up and watch a movie on the big screen while the older Youth and parents brainstormed with Kristen about what the SOH Youth Group should entail and what fun events we should schedule.

If the activities everyone came up with come to fruition, we will have a BLAST this year (bowling, dinner and movie, ski trip, hiking, pool hopping, random acts of kindness, visiting Brighton Gardens, camping, Christmas party... etc. etc.)

Hey, who ordered the rain?!!

Valiant effort... :-)

We scheduled it, created shifts, signed up, brought all the right stuff... we just forgot to consult Mother Nature!

Thanks to the generosity of a couple of church members, the Youth were able to wash two cars before deciding the weather was not going to cooperate.

The dark sky was a pretty good hint. The swirling wind got our attention. The sporadic raindrops eroded our confidence that "it would just pass". Managing to pack everything up before the deluge, we considered ourselves lucky even though the actual car wash was a bust. There will be plenty of other sunny days for car washes.

Regardless, we managed to have fun!

Chocolate Sunday!! 2/14/10

Chocolate! Chocolate! Chocolate!

A chocolate lover's delight! Thanks to the DeGrassi's expertise and generosity, Shepherd's youth were able to decorate chocolate pizzas once again! Choosing their "paint"... M&M's, licorice, Skittles, candy hearts, red hots, ... unique pieces of art were designed by all. Every kid's dream! As if that wasn't enough, each child was also invited to make a milk chocolate heart sucker. What a treat!



Thank you to the teenagers for helping the younger kids and for selling the baked goods and raffle tickets.

Without a doubt, this is one of the most favorite days of the year at Shepherd- for the Youth as well as adults!!

FLASHLIGHT TAG and Marshmallow Roasting!! 2/13/10

On a cool February evening in Arizona, what more could you ask than some friends to come over with nothing but warm clothes, flashlights, and s'mores fix'ns... Makes for a great night at Shepherd! and Whoa! What a fun-loving but competitive group! Plenty of laughing, spying, plotting, scheming and team- playing! Capture the flag was definitely a highlight!

Operation Christmas Child

After church on November 2nd, SOH Youth hosted Operation Christmas Child where they wrapped 60 shoeboxes filled with toys and fun stuff for needy children around the world.  Many people from church participated either by donating gifts to be added to the boxes or by helping wrap.  Personal letters were written and enclosed inside most of the boxes.  

Did I mention that we wrapped SIXTY gifts?!  What a great feeling!

And... THANK YOU TO THE RACK FAMILY for coordinating this event!  We couldn't have done it without you! 

Washing Cars!!  What a great turn out!  Despite it being Fall Break, the Youth Group really turned out in force to earn money for future Youth Group activities.  Sudsy fun was had while doing an amazing job of cleaning church members' cars in the back parking lot.  We thank our church members for being incredibly generous with their donations!!  It was great fun and wonderfully successful!  Thank you to everyone who came out to help!

We're Mission It!

During Fall Break, the Youth who were in town worked on a beautification project for the  cooperative preschool on SOH's campus.  The Youth painted the fence that surrounds the playground.  Looks professional!  Thank you to the Hetrick's for organizing and hosting this event!