Sr. High Mini Golf and Go Karts

A week and a half ago, we took our Sr. High group to the Aurora Sports Zone for our monthly activity. After chowing down on some pizza and pop and hopping on the bus, we arrived at the Sports Zone ready to go.

The weather was perfect - which meant many other people wanted to play mini golf and ride go karts. But even though it was crowded and we had to wait a long time in line for go karts, we still had a great time- and of course waiting around simply meant more opportunities to talk, which most of our group would rather do than anything else.

Here are some pictures from the night:

Our fearless leaders

Kathleen taking a different approach to the hole

Ryan talking to his pink ball - it wasn't listening

Interesting stance Ben!

The following pictures are of people picking their ball
up after hitting it off the "course".

In the grass...

in the bushes...

even in the water!

Embarassing enough to try and keep your picture from being taken

Like I said - we had a lot of time to kill in line for go karts

So overall, we had a great trip and a great time. As you saw, there were no professional golfers on hand, but lots of fun - that's for sure!!

Youth Room Renovations

Sorry for taking so long to put up a new post. Things have been very busy lately and one reason is because we have been trying to finish up renovations with the youth room. We are almost completely finished now. We just need to touch up a few things and over the next few months we will do a little here and there to finish it up. So here are some recent photos from the youth room renovation:

Scraping up the old tile

Tile Scraping group with their "weapons"

Starting painting - Green wall

Painting the rest of the walls - Brown Bread

We were going for the splotchy look - not really

Arielle and Andrew painting

Liz painting the trim

Rachel rolling the wall

Rachel trying to roll Becca's face

Walls are finished - some of the tile down

Walls and tile finished

Another angle

So, a lot of work has been done and finished and there is still some to do. Thanks to everyone who has helped with the work. Thanks to Mrs. Sheehan for helping with all the color schemes. Thanks to Dave and Jim who laid the tile and put in the base boards - and Dave did a lot of other stuff too.

Now we get to enjoy it!!

Six Flags Great America

On Saturday, July 26th we took our Sr. High group to Great America. This year we had the
largest group we have ever taken - 26 people (leaders and kids). We also must have gone on the busiest day of the year because I don't think I have ever seen so many people in one place in my life.

After waiting in line for almost an hour just to park (and talking to each other from car to car while we waited), we ate lunch at our cars and

ventured into the park where we found more lines to stand in as we waited to get on different rides. The lines were so long that I think we only rode 6-7 rides all day. We were there for 6 hours.

Even though the lines were long we still had a great day. One thing about long lines is you have plenty of time to talk to each other - and our group never is at a loss for words - kind of like their youth pastor. For a few people this was their first time on the big roller coasters and so of course we used peer pressure to help them overcome their fears. After rides like Batman, Raging Bull (one of the best rides there in my opinion), the Eagle, the Demon, and the Viper you either get over your fear or you get sick to your stomach. Thankfully we didn't have the latter.

Unfortunately we didn't get to ride what I think is the greatest ride at Great America - the Giant Drop. The wait was 1 and half hours. So we opted out, especially since only about 6-7 were going to ride it.

After the day at the park we stopped at McD's on the way home for dinner and then drove home while receiving prank calls from some crazy girls (I won't mention any names). Overall, a long and tiring day of waiting in lines, but a fun day of being together. Next year - we will pick a rainy day. :) Here are some pics of the day.

Our group

Eating lunch in the car

Batman: Those are some our group's feet in the front

Coming down the roaring rapids

More roaring rapids

They survived; although much more wet than when they started.

Ben was also a little wet and not too thrilled about it

What a nice looking group of young people

The O's: 2 of our fearless leaders

The Raging Bull

The Viper: Some of our group is on this one, but I don't know where

And the winner is...

So, we finally have decided on what our Youth Tshirts will look like. Here is the winning shirt:

The front says "Rooted in Christ; Growing in Him". The back is the verse Colossians 2:6-7 and under that it says Central Bible Church Youth.

Now we just have to get them ordered. So if you are interested in having one of these Tshirts and haven't signed up for one, find me at church or leave a comment here with your size (S, M, L, XL). The shirts will cost you $5.

Thanks again to Elisa for a great job designing this shirt. We might see this design again in future posts about the youth room renovations.

Your Favorites

All right, so I have recently added some music to this blog for you to enjoy while you read about what is going on. I have included about 30 songs so far; I can include up to 100 - not that I will, but I could. These 30 (besides Toby Mac and Switchfoot - those are two I know the youth like) are songs I enjoy. I realize that not everyone likes the same music as me - surprise, surprise.

So if you come to this blog and have a favorite Christian song or two that you would like me to include in the playlist, leave me a comment, and if they have it available I will add it. Then when you come here you can go to the bottom of the page and click on the song you like.

By the way, this is a free playlist. If any of you are interested in making one and adding it to your blog or facebook or something, just follow the link off the bottom of the playlist and get started. It is pretty cool.

Enjoy!