yl banquet 09

I am so tired this morning. I totally woke up on the wrong side of the bed, probably because it was a 6am and my baby was crying. You would think by now my body would naturally get up at 6am, but it doesn't. Andy got up to get him and I really wanted him to be able to sleep in however because I woke up on the wrong side of the bed...he ended up dealing with both our kids at 6:30am and giving me a chance to "wake up" 20 minutes later. I am now drinking my very strong coffee {which I love} with lots of cream {vanilla caramel} with a splenda. The boys are now playing in Wyatt's room {that looks like a tornado came through}, Andy is a sleep on the couch, and the Today Show is on {for me} for a very brief moment.

I know Andy is exhausted. Tired from going and going, hardly slowing down, working hard at his job and being a college student. He's a husband, a best friend, and a hero to our two little boys.

Now that I have caffeine/coffee in my system-I should be able to function better.

So why did I want Andy to be able to sleep in? Because we had our Young Life Banquet last night and it ROCKED. It was such a great night filled with great food, great people, great kids, great stories, and a GREAT God.

{just before guests arrived}

We laughed out loud at Clay and Tyler, friends from Blount County YL, who were our entertainment for the evening.


We heard stories from kids that would break your heart. Stories that would bring tears to your eyes. We heard about pain, fear, hopelessness, darkness. We heard about divorce and death. We heard about lies and deceit. And then.....

we heard how the Lord is redeeming it all. He takes the pain and covers it with his hands. He takes the fear and gives security. He gives the hopeless-hope. He replaces the darkness with light. He gives comfort through death. He forgives our sin.

Our pastor, Brad, last week is starting a new series called "Relentless". He painted a beautiful picture of the love the Father has for us. We think we found God but really we just stopped running and turned around. I love that.

And that's what we heard from our high school friends last night. That they stopped running and turned around and found the Lord was right there waiting on them with opens arms.

So we will continue to serve. To love on kids. Love on leaders. To be loved on by our committee and our friends. We will share our lives and our home and our time...because our God loves us so dearly and is so so so faithful.