D-Now

As I said in my previous post, this weekend is being consumed with Disciple Now, aka D-Now. What is D-Now? I'm glad you asked =) Disciple Now is a weekend event our church sponsors for the youth in our church as well as our community. Various people in our church volunteer their homes for the weekend to house kids. Each school grade is divided boy/girl and then are assigned to their homes away from home for the weekend. Count 'em, that is 14 different homes. The kids arrive at the church on Friday evening at 5 for pizza dinner, then move to the sanctuary at 6 for a mini rally. At 7, they head to the host homes, for the night. Once at the host homes, they have a group bible study. We are hosting the 11th grade boys. Why boys when we have daughters? I'm glad you asked =) Girls are TERRIBLE! We were host home to 6th grade girls when our oldest daughter, Haley was in 6th grade and it left me scarred for life. They pair up and yes, they already have their "clicks" formed then. There were a couple that were way too experienced and wanted to educate the others on sex and what they do in the movie theater-which DOES NOT involve watching a movie (IN 6TH GRADE!!!!!!!)and there were some that had decided they wanted to be witches and would only wear black, girls take 48340950495 showers and we NEVER had hot water. From that year on, we have only hosted boys. They are wonderful. Feed them, they are happy. If they fight, they take it outside and roll around the yard a few minutes, and then it's over as if nothing ever happened. Depending on the age you may have to force them to shower, but our 11th graders bathe like normal people. There is a down side in that they are not shy about sharing their bodily functions with you, lol.

This morning they got up, had breakfast, a bible study, and then headed to the church at 11:30 for sub sandwiches. After lunch, we divided up in grade teams and headed to our assigned area of the community for a scavenger hunt. We went door to door collecting nonperishable food items, baby items, school items, toilet paper, etc. Each item has been assigned a point value. Once all the items were turned in, someone is counting them as we speak and the points are added to see which grade wins. (Hopefully 11th grade=)! ) In just these few short hours, we collect enough food to support our local mission center for a whole week. Now, THAT is alot of food. We have just gotten back to the host homes to "rest" for a couple hours. We'll then head BACK to the church for chick-fil-A supper followed by a huge rally. Alot of decisions will be made and alot of lives will be changed. After the rally, a basketball tournament is held to determine who will have bragging rights for the next year. After the game, they will head back to the host homes for the night. I would say to sleep, but very little of that is done by any of us this weekend, lol. In the morning, we will head back to the church for breakfast and then worship together. After church, they will all go back to their homes and their own beds and I will most likely take a NAP, a really long nap! It is an exciting weekend, it is a busy weekend, it is a no sleep weekend, but it is a fun, rewarding weekend that I wouldn't miss for anything. We love these boys. This is the 3rd year we have had this same group. This year we have 12 boys and 2 leaders. That is a small number. One house has 41, yes 41, boys!! Another has 37 girls. We are thankful for our 12, lol. Last I heard there were 250 something 6th-12th graders participating in D-Now. How awesome is that? Well, that's all for now, my 2 hour "rest" period is up. Time to head to the church for supper, and the rally, then (hopefully) to see my 11th graders win us bragging rights at the basketball game.

=],

Gracie