Sweet 16

We decided to combine a big 16th birthday party for Heidi, with a youth group function and here are some pictures of the fun event. We think we counted 56 people here at one point. Of course we invited Max and Sherry and Tom and Chrystal and family. Then we also had U. Dwane and A. Gwen and Ken and Judy Thomas and their family. The rest were young people. And I am so impressed with these kids. They all had a great time and were very respectful of our property, etc.

Wouldn't you know it snowed last night and most of the day today, so we had to alter our thinking and deal with the cold.

Here's the cook, he grilled 80 hamburgers and 40 hot dogs and was a humongous help getting things done around here.

Thad Newton, Jeremy Ridenour, Ben Glenn, Jacob Ison (behind Ben), Ted Gillson eating supper.

Thank the Lord for Andrew's shop.... it is big enough to accommodate a large group of people. I had thought that we could all eat outside but with the snow and cold it was better to eat in the shop.

We had a soccer ball pinata for Heidi. It was kind of funny because I thought the kids would all think it was too childish for them. But they got into it pretty good. Several people tried to hit it with the bat, then Renee Langworthy knocked the hook thingy off of the pinata.

So, after Renee knocked the hook off, we had Ron Hunt pitch it to Thad .......

Then all the candy fell out.....

And nobody thought it was childish at all to jump onto the pile of kids on the floor trying to get all the candy.... soooooo funny!!

Standing around eating candy.

Ooooops ..... we fixed waaaaaaay too many hamburgers and hotdogs. We had almost as many "baskets" left over as Jesus had after his miracle feeding of the five thousand. :)

I wish I had a picture of the devotional time we had around the fire. Thad talked about God's goodness, His mercy and His truth, then there were several testimonies and we sang lots of songs and choruses. These kids all really seem to have a desire to serve the Lord. Many asked for prayer in areas of their lives that they need help with. They are honest and open. It was a very precious time and I'm glad I got to be a part of it. I hope we have many more times like it.