An Attempt at a Well Needed Update

Caroline here, first to apologize for the lack of news lately.  We've all been very, VERY busy, especially Jesse and Dawn, and I have just been called upon to sort of, take over the blog.  Hooray? We'll see. 

So needless to say, a lot has happened since our last update, and I'll do my best to remember it all.

First of all, let me start and say that I am Caroline, Dawn and Jesse's "little helper".  I graduated from Cocoa Beach High School last year, and my sister Chelsea is a senior still in the youth.  I also help out and sing with the praise team at the First Wave service on Sundays.  As I am currently at BCC and always here, they asked me to come back and help as an "adult leader," and I've certainly appreciated that.  

Okay, so here goes. 

The youth group has grown tremendously!  It's truly amazing to see God working in these young hearts.  I could try to give you a head count, but I run out of fingers. :P  Since the last post, we have added Jake, a senior, the Bobo twins, Laura and Emily, juniors, and Rachel, who I believe is a 7th grader.  There may be more, forgive me if there is. They're really starting to see each other as family rather than a group of mix-matched friends with little in common.  Many of the kids are greatly looking forward to our mission trip to Birmingham this summer. :) 

We've also received another wonderful gift from God.  A few months ago, we had an individual donate a CAR to the youth group!  And no, not to teach the little ones to drive!  We used it as a fundraiser to help raise money for our mission trip this summer!  Well a few weeks ago we finally sold the beautiful blue Firebird!  To be honest, I don't remember the exact dollar value, but I consider this gift to be priceless.  To think that we were in the hearts of this person enough for them to give us a car?  It's truly incredible. 

This Christmas season we decided to enjoy dinner at a nice restaurant instead of our typical progressive dinner.  It was a good shift from the norm, not to mention the fact that it was my 19th birthday :P.  We went to Gregory's Steak House in Cocoa Beach, and filled a rather long table full of happy, hungry kids!  It was a very memorable evening.  For Christmas this year, Dawn and Jesse blessed the youth with a WONDERFUL gift: tickets to see MercyMe in concert in February!  More on that one later :)  Some of the youth helped with the children's Christmas Eve service.  Daniel, Chelsea and myself got to play around with puppets, and we found out that Jake is quite the wise guy, or shall I say Wiseman.  Its great to see the kids reaching our even to the little ones in our own church and community. 

Now to the concert. :)  It was held at this HUGE mega church in the Orlando area, Northland Church, and it was amazing!  The opening group, Addison Road, has become a favorite among the youth.  And MercyMe was phenomenal, as to be expected.  It was a very moving experience for many.  :)

This past week we did not have a lesson, as it was Chelsea's birthday.  Instead we enjoyed some Shepard's Pie and lemon bundt cake, as per Chelsea's request.  Most of us enjoyed the hot tub, but a small handful dared to conquer the pool, which was rather chilly.  The week before we watched the film "Fireproof" and it was really good.  Many "aww!!" moments among the girls!  As far as anything before, I'm just like everyone else who can't remember what they ate for breakfast, so I really couldn't tell you.  More to come this week, after we meet on Thursday.  Sorry for the sporadic attempt at an update!