Carly Rae Jepsen, don't you EVER call me!

      I spent most of last week at The Edge conference with Westminster's junior high youth group, and let me tell you-- there is nothing like a van full of 13-year-old girls to ruin a taste for Top 40. Even so, I am thrilled that I went. I could write down everything that happened, but you wouldn't want to read that, so I'll just share some of the highlights.

•  Old friends. The conference was held at Covenant and I didn't tell anyone I was coming, so I got to surprise Hannah, Damarise, Leah, and even my brother, who was in Chattanooga for a different youth trip. Jonas was so shocked he slammed me into a tree. Ah, brother love!
• New friends. I attended my first youth group meeting at the beginning of my internship because I wanted to do something that frightened me, and kids are it. I am so glad I kept going back! I have rarely enjoyed a weekend so much, and I had a blast with this group of people, kids and leaders alike. Knowing them is going to make it a lot harder to leave in a few weeks. 
• Encouraging conversations. There were a lot of those this week. I was refreshed in my faith far more than I expected to be, and every day brought someone else who either told me exactly what I needed to hear, or needed to hear something I had to say. 
• Activities geared toward junior high students. I love the high energy and lack of dignity present in most middle schoolers. The Decade Dance and Water Fest were such a blast, and included all of my favorite elements for a good activity: at the Decade Dance, I got to poof my hair up and dance like a lunatic, and since I'm in college I am automatically cool, so I even got respect for looking like an idiot. Water Fest ended in being covered head to toe in mud and Vaseline and getting sprayed off with a fire hose. I couldn't have been more delighted.
• Sitting in a van for eighteen hours. This was, unfortunately, the Year of the Crisis for the group, so we wound up being on the road for about a year and got home at 4 a.m. on Thursday. Oddly, this drive falls into my "fond memories" list as well. There's something about a miserably long drive that bonds people together, especially when you're so tired all you can do is laugh.

      Photos to come.