the one about gooth’s year-end event

sunday night was our year-end event. and what a night it was. we played about a dozen different outdoor games, and only one of them bombed completely! pretty good odds, if you ask me. we played:

• the spontaneous-keep-the-4-foot-beachball-in-the-air game – we had a huge, 4-foot beach ball that we’d see how long we could keep it in the air. we got it stuck in the tree twice. ian climbed up the tree to fetch it once. we kept hitting the ball on the roof, but it would roll right off. pretty cool. jacob said, “this ball is one of the best things to play with!”
• light sabers (with noodles) – using 3 different colors of noodles among the youth, they used them as light sabers with one another…when one got hit on the leg, they dropped their noodle and picked up one of another color and dueled with someone new. jacob said he liked this game a lot.
• flying noodle relay – using two noodles, you launch one into the air with the other, spinning it off the end…we used this method as a relay race…kinda like the blow-up-the-balloon-and-let-it-go relay…wherever it landed, you picked it up and spun it into the air again…until you crossed the line.
• finger tag – hold one hand with a partner, try to tag their knee with that finger while they do the same
• toe tag – hold both hands with a partner, one tries to tag the toes of the other
• triangle tag – too hard to explain
• inchworm – a rather close & intimate activity, but cool to do and see…several were quite accomplished at it!
• rock, paper, scissors tournament – Molly won
• group juggling – with several objects, including the 4-foot beachball
• QUIDDITCH!! – rather chaotic, but fun to play and watch. basically 3 games happening at once: ultimate frisbee rules, using a ball as the quaffle and hula hoops on poles for the goals; dodgeball for the bludgers & short noodles (1/3 length) for the beaters bats; and keep-away with the seekers for the snitch. two teams played each other, while two other teams lined the sidelines and keep the bludgers flying (dodgeball) and playing keep-away with the snitch. fun times!
• a variation on dodgeball – this is the one that bombed. poor explanation from the leader (that’s me).
• bear (a.k.a. point) – basically, wrestling while trying to get from point a to point b.

then we had a cookout that 3 of the parents had prepared for us. Meredith came to eat with us. she is doing much better, but still having some struggles. it was her first time to the church since her surgery.

overall, it was a great night. the storms stayed away (unlike last year’s year-end event), we laughed together, prayed together, ate together, played together, celebrated together, and grew together, all while making memories that will last a lifetime.

ps – the cardinal in the window is still hanging around, pecking on the window and chirping at me.

 

the one about meredith

many of you are now aware that one of my GOOTH members is in the hospital awaiting surgery. meredith was taken to the hospital on tuesday evening, and after a battery of tests, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor, surrounded by a cyst. her mother, penny, sent an email to friends and family this morning describing the current situation:

The good news is she is fine right now, just some headaches periodically. And the other good news is that all indications are that the tumor is benign, probably a craniopharyngioma (for those of you who need more information).

The bad news is that the tumor is located deep her brain between her pituitary gland and her optic nerve. The tumor itself is very small but a characteristic of these tumors is that cysts grow off of them and that is what has happened to her and that is what is causing her symptoms now.

The goal of surgery is to drain the cyst to relieve the pressure on her brain to get rid of the headaches and to get rid of the tumor so that it doesn’t “grow” any more cysts. The hard part of that is getting the tumor out without damaging surrounding structures (ie. the pituitary gland and the optic nerve).

the family is “hanging in there right now” by the grace of God and the support of friends and family. through prayer, words, and acts of encouragement, their “spirits are good,” according to penny.

after visiting with meredith several times, it seems hard to believe that she has a brain tumor and will be having a craniotomy tomorrow. one wouldn’t know that she has this tumor in her head by her outward appearance. she is fully alert, fully competent, fully dressed, and unhooked from all the monitors. so many of her friends came to visit today. she said it was like an all-day party. she is the life of the floor. when a couple of her friends came in late this afternoon, all they had to say at the nurses’ station was, “we’re looking for m-” before the nurses pointed over their shoulder and said, “that’s her room.” all the nurses know who meredith is. she has so many people praying for her and offering encouragement…in the midst of this major surgery, God has placed her among a thousand angels to look after her and lift her up on their wings.

please pray for meredith and her parents and sister. because of meredith’s current pre-surgical state, it is difficult to grasp that this is a life-changing event. while the prognosis and hope are that meredith will fully recover from the surgery, this is still a big event in her young life that will forever mark a period of struggle. she is currently a member of our confirmation class and will miss joining the church with her fellow confirmands this sunday. but i know that this event will not keep her from completing her confirmation journey and joining the church at a later date. her class has pledged to stand with her on her confirmation date in the future as a sign of their solidarity with her in faith.

i am so glad to have her as a part of GOOTH and of the confirmation class. she is a bright, sharp, quick youth with a thirst for learning and a faith that is ever-growing. i know this surgery will mark a moment of struggle in her life, but i also am confident that she will grow in faith as a result of it. both at GOOTH and in confirmation class, we have talked about how our faith journeys are made up not only of “mountain-top” and other high experiences, but also of the deep valleys and struggles of our lives. it is in our doubts and our fears that our trust and confidences are built up.

please join me and our church family in praying for meredith and her family. as penny also said in her email:

Again, the power of Christian love in a crisis is a miraculous thing. In my 24 years taking care of people in crisis, I have seen it so many times and now have the opportunity to experience it. While I would rather my family not have to go through this and with everything in me wish that my Meredith didn’t have to go through this, I know that God will grow us all and one day perhaps we can look back on this day and see the lesson learned.