SpringFest

Here it is already Thursday and I am just now finally getting around to my promised SpringFest post! I have been very busy the last few evenings, so didn't have time to work on this. Oh well, at least I'm getting it done before this weekend, which was my ultimate goal anyway! ;)

As you look at these pictures, I am sure you will not be able to help but notice how COLD everyone looks! That's because our 'high' for the day was 30-something and the wind was blowing at 25 mph! Snowflakes floated down most of the day, but thankfully they were pretty dry and didn't stick!

The day actually started the night before for most of the teens as all the boys slept over at the Carpenter's and 3 of the girls slept over at the Maule's. So, at least 8 of the 9 teens had only 2-4 hours of sleep the night before! But, they all managed to be up bright and early and meet at Northland at 9am! We registered and then had orientation before they 'released' us for our first 'activity session.' There were carnival games set up outside for us to play, but it was so cold out we decided that our first stop should be the Daily Grind!

Tasha & Emi

After getting some caffeine in our blood, we decided to brave the weather to play some games.

Kevin Brownfield preached once in the morning and once in the afternoon, and we were all challenged by his messages.

By the time it was our turn to go to lunch, we were all starving and glad for an opportunity to get in out of the cold for a while!

Jessie

Nate, Jake, & Davy
(I don't think Davy wanted his picture taken! Ha!)

Joyanna & Courtney
(Joyanna was our wonderful 'Teen Rep' that Northland assigned to our youth group! We had so much fun with her!)

Emily & Natasha

After lunch, we decided to do our 'group' activity so we all headed over to play Human Fooseball together. While we waited, the snow really started to come down! We girls had fun trying to catch the flakes on our tongues! Heehee!

Natasha, Courtney, Emily, & Jessica

Here's a video of some of our activities featuring Dodgeball (Guys vs. Girls), Jordan's Stilt Skills, and Human Foosball:

This year, there was a 'workshop' hour in the afternoon. We chose the workshop that Carissa Belford was teaching to the teen girls. We made sure we got there early, so we could get good seats! ;) Carissa did a study based on Nancy Leigh DeMoss' book Lies Young Women Believe. It was a great challenge, and I'm really hoping to get my hands on the book sometime soon so I can read it myself!

After the workshop session, we had a group activity that included all 800+ teenagers that were at SpringFest! It was so cold, but the teens still managed to work up some energy for the competition! As you can see, the teens from our church were very enthusiastic! Haha! :D

Here's a few parting shots of the girls! Poor things! They were so cold by this time!

Emi, Tashi, Courtney, & Jessie