Escape 2012: Marvels

 "Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous deeds among all peoples."  Psalm 96:3

I cannot believe that I did not write about this sooner...I nearly forgot as life has swept me on to other things.  However, our middle school retreat last month is worth telling you about, so here is goes...

Our "Super" staff :)

Over 200 American middle schoolers living on military bases across Germany gathered for Escape 2012: Marvels.  It is an annual retreat that students look forward to each February.  Between our two middle school groups, we brought 22 kids along with 6 adult staff (including me!).  I was really excited to be back at Escape!  I have not been at Escape, working directly with students, since before I had kids.  I went along as camp support staff for a couple of years when they were babies, but I had not attended at all in the last 3 years.  This year, friends graciously took our two kids in for the weekend so that I could be free to go and be with students.  I must admit, it was a harder transition back to camp than I thought it would be.  I'm getting old!  I know that sounds silly coming from a 32 year old, but it took me a lot longer to bounce back after camp than it used to...having two young kids in the house waking me up early didn't help.  :)  I forgot how utterly exhausting 4 days of nonstop students is....but totally worth it!

My small group

Anthony's small group

I have been volunteering at one of our middle school youth groups this school year, so I had some relationship with the students going in.  However, there's nothing like a weekend away together with lots of games, meals, and talking sessions (not to mention cleaning up vomit in the middle of the night) to bond you!  It was a great opportunity to get to know girls better and hear what is going on in their hearts and lives.  Many of our students are searching to make their family's faith their own.  They just aren't sure how to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ even though they believe in Him.  It was exciting to see their young minds and hearts stirred as the Lord spoke to them through our daily sessions. 

What 200 middle schoolers praising God looks like

Who God is to them...

Game time

Our own children did really well with us away for the weekend.  It was fun for them to get a weekend with friends, and bonus for us, our friends finally got Masami eating more regularly and over a hump with potty training. It was such a gift to be able to be a part of ministry and feel like my kids were getting a fun opportunity too!  Just for fun, here are their goofy faces...