Amy Scott's Thoughts

Sharing the thoughts that bounce around in my brain!

Pain Management February 6, 2012

Filed under: Children's Ministry,Women in Ministry — Amy Scott @ 4:43 pm

At the moment, there are so many ways this blog could go. I haven’t been able to blog due to my schedule for the last bit so I’ve been storing up ideas and just waiting for this moment when I’m sitting with my keyboard in front of me and a blank page ready to be filled.  As a writer, I’m sometimes overwhelmed at the amount of thoughts I feel I need commit to a page. I write a lot… That is an understatement. If I don’t write it down in my blog more than likely I’ve given those thoughts pages in my prayer journal. There is a strong call within me to write. In my life, writing things down makes them real. It takes them from my head and into the world. This is a process that helps me release and also cope with all the thoughts that are bouncing around in my head.

Normally, I would pick a cheery topic. I have a couple in the stock pile of ideas to write on (and I will get to them, I promise). However, I’ve had one of those afternoons. You know the ones… nothing is going particularly wrong and then something happens that causes you to snap. Today it was the Costco Pharmacy. Now I won’t go into the details, but it took my somewhat okay mood and let’s just say… it crashed and burned into a sea of irritation. Not ideal.  I had a long car ride home and then a walk once I got home to think about things. Now the pharmacy incident really did bug me, but it also opened me up. I’m not sure if anyone else is like this, but once I start thinking something negative, it’s really easy for me to take a trip down negative thought lane.  My starting point might have been the pharmacy, but the road I traveled led me to a very different place.

As, I drove home, I started to pray aloud in the car (something I do when I’m really wrestling with my thoughts). A mix of questions and truthful statements started to pour out of my mouth as I let God know how I felt about things. In ministry I’m always trying to balance doing more with not doing too much. I’m trying to judge where the best place to put my energy is. I’m also on the eve of a major event that I’m 99.9% responsible for. Plus, I’ve some other personal challenges on the front burners of my mind. All this mental multi-tasking has left my noggin a little bit fried. I’m not on top of my game as much as I feel I should be.

So yes, I’m processing all of this when my brain takes another turn. I start to ponder all the hurt I witness in the lives of those I love and those I minister to. There are a lot of people going through some difficult times. There are situations that I can’t believe they’ve been placed in and it just isn’t fair. Now, I learned a long time ago that life isn’t fair. I’ve also learned that the church is made up of messed up people and that means we struggle with just as many issues as the outside of world. We’re not exempt from the problems that seem to be plaguing the rest of the planet. I started to contemplate how much my heart hurts for people. I’m constantly hurting over some issue that someone is struggling with. I know that God has made my heart soft to these cries. I know that I have compassion because He has given me the passion to serve people. It’s only natural to respond with empathy to those in need and those that struggle. After pondering and praying for faces that came to my mind, I had another question pop into my head. How much hurt can I feel for others before I hurt myself? I’m not sure if that makes sense to you, but I was left wondering how much pain can I feel for others before the pain becomes my own pain. I really struggled with this question for the rest of the ride home. I have to admit that I don’t have the answer. So my question of the day remains how much pain can I witness and feel for others before I hurt myself? Has anyone else worked through this? Does anyone have an answer or something that has helped them? I know that I don’t want to harden my heart and go numb, but at the same time, I’m not sure just how far is too far. Is there such a place? I concluded my time of prayer by telling the Lord that I trust Him and I really do believe that He works all things for good. A lot of the time (honestly, most of the time), I don’t know how that is going to happen. I don’t see the good coming out the bad. But I know without a shadow of a doubt that my God is trustworthy and faithful. Even in my pondering and questioning, there is one thing that I will never question and that is the goodness of my God. I know His character. Now I need to reconcile my own emotions, feelings, and facts in the light of who He is. Anyone who has walked this road and would like to share their experience is more than welcome to comment! I need some insight into this!

 

A new year and another year January 7, 2012

Filed under: Children's Ministry,Family Time,Recollections,Simply Me,Women in Ministry — Amy Scott @ 9:28 pm

Right now I’m smack dab in the the middle of the New Year and my 26th birthday. It’s a very contemplative time as I ponder 2012 and turning another year older. What will this year hold? This might sound strange, but I’m not a fan of odd numbers, so I’m always happy when I enter an even calendar year and even year of age. As much as I don’t want to be another year older, I am somewhat comforted by the fact that it will be an even year. Like I said, I’ve been thinking a lot… it’s something I probably do way too much in general. Here is what has been bouncing around in my head…

When asked what my new year’s resolutions are I had to say none. I have no goals set for 2012. My mom said this was healthy since according to her I’m scary when it comes to goals. I will be the first to admit that I like to be working towards something and that I have pretty high standards for myself. I’ve been thinking about a lot about my standards. I’ve been looking back in my mind to the standards I set for myself as a  youth student. I’ve been remembering the things that I was passionate about and that shaped the adult I’ve become. I was blessed with a group of friends and family that held me accountable to the high standards I set for myself. Because of the high standards I’ve always had in place, I find that I hold others to equally high standards. Now I don’t judge when someone isn’t like me or not on the same page as me. I just care a lot about my friends and family. I want the best for them. This leads me to holding a pretty firm line in some areas of life. It’s been a challenge for me to watch some people that care about deeply make choices I don’t always support. I can give my two cents when it’s asked for, but really, I’m not in control of others (DUH!) and I’m not responsible for their choices. As a teacher at my church, it’s hard when this happens with students. I feel in some way that I let down in my training. While, I know that isn’t true, I feel the weight of their choices.

As I’ve been pondering the standards that I hold for others, I started to evaluate the standards that I currently have for myself. If you’re going to teach, the Bible says that you’re going to be held to the standard of your own teaching and higher. I started to look at myself deeply and wondered if I’m really walking the walk that goes behind all my talk. Now, I haven’t had any major revelations about poor standards in my life, but I have come to the conclusion that I need to do better. I have so not arrived yet… I’m so far off from being the person I need to be. Even today, I had to apologize for a blunder I made and a lapse in judgement. I’m still human no matter how hard I strive to be perfect. Tonight at church, we sang two songs that mentioned weakness and being weak. In the car ride to church I was praying about that is how I felt, so it no surprise for me to see the theme of weakness coming out in worship. I feel so weak. I know that in my weakness God can do great things. I also know His strength and power is revealed in times of weakness. I just don’t feel like some strong spiritual giant. I feel small. I’m a bit of a control freak who has through a lack of control in life turned a bit paranoid. I can see healthy tendencies in my thoughts and perceptions. I know there are roads I don’t want to go down. I need to refresh my mind and my way of thinking.

All being said, here is what I came up with as my solutions and in a way somewhat my resolutions for the this coming year. I need to pray more. I find that I’m good when I have time to write out my thoughts, but I need to be praying a lot more than I am now. When I try to do things on my own, I fail. I need God to be a conscience part of my every moment. I need to invite him to live each day with me. I know the lines of communication need to be more open for me to see growth in my life. I believe that a focus on prayer coupled with my Bible reading will be a backbone for growth in me this coming year. Bottom line – I want to be better. I want to be a better wife, sister, daughter, friend, employee, teacher, mentor and overall follower of Christ. I know that the people in my life and my Savior deserve my best. I pray that God will give me the strength to make changes in my own heart. If I start with making a difference in my life then I can truly do a better job of making difference in the life of others. This is what I look forward to in 2012 and hope being 26 will be defined as – a year of change – a year where I get better. I believe the this desire to get better will be something I struggle with every year. I think it’s the desire for eternity in my heart. It’s my desire to be truly made right and whole by the love of my Savior. I will someday know this feeling to the fullest, but for now I will make small strides towards the woman God wants me to become.

 

Fa la la la la la la la December 15, 2011

Filed under: Children's Ministry,Women in Ministry — Amy Scott @ 3:07 pm

Last night I had a chance to go caroling with a group from my church. I’ll be honest and say that caroling really isn’t my thing. Back in high school, I was in choir so I was daily practicing my singing voice. Nowadays, driving in the car is the only time I sing loudly. Needless to say, my skill level has taken a drastic change for the worse. I was never the greatest singer and now I’m really not the greatest singer. However, I know that I didn’t need to have the best singing voice to bring cheer to those in need this time of year.

Jeremy and I lead a group to a seniors apartment complex in Chehalis, WA. We are both strong leaders, but not strong choir directors. Our group walked the halls of three floors of apartments singing as we went. Since no one in our group was a really strong singer, we all kind of floundered our ways through the songs together. The good news is there was enough of us to fill the hallways with sound. It’s nice to sing in a group where you’re voice isn’t standing out because the group is too small or too quite. We were able to make a joyful noise and that’s all that matters.

I dressed in light layers since I knew the apartments would be warm, but wow, I could have dressed for the tropics and still been too warm. I felt slightly self-conscience as I walked the halls with my red, overheated face being flushed. Many of the residents kept their doors shut (I wonder if our talent had something to do with that?), but for those that opened their doors we had great conversations. I’m amazed at how many sweet old ladies have bowls of candy ready to pass out to children! The kids in our group loved the free handouts and gladly accepted them!

We were given a handout with the lyrics to about 8 classic Christmas carols. As we walked the halls we cycled through the songs. When we stopped at a open door we often asked if they had any requests. The kids would rattle of the list of songs we had words for. The best part was when one of the kids said “Hank the Herald Angles Sing” because the cursive font made the R look like an to them. Moments like that make for fun memories. Once we made it to the third floor we were getting pretty tired. A lot of walking and singing had worn us down and our singing quality had gone down. As we awkwardly tried to hit high notes that would no longer come out, we would start to giggle at how bad we sounded. Once the giggles took hold it was hard to recover the song. I think the giggles might have come from the lack of oxygen we were getting while singing.

The smiling faces and the conversations made the night worth it. It’s important to bless those who might be widows or away from family during the holiday season. Many in these apartments have limited mobility so it was nice to be bring a blessing to them. It was a great opportunity for families to do something special together. There were a lot of great teaching moments for the kids throughout the night. After a couple of years of caroling at the holidays, I can’t say that it has gotten easier. I still get really nervous about my voice and the interactions with people.  It’s not in my comfort zone to show up unannounced at someone’s door. I do know that I was asked by my pastoral team to lead a group with Jeremy. I knew that I had a obligation to my team and to my congregation who would be taking a lead from my excitement level. Sometimes in ministry you have to do things you don’t love to do, but they are a blessing to others and they are opportunities to deepen connections with people. I’m glad that we went and I’ll have some good memories to go along with my sore throat. Overall, I learned that it doesn’t matter how well we did the job, it was just that we did it with a cheerful heart.

 

Class Christmas Party! December 7, 2011

Filed under: Children's Ministry,Cooking Experiments — Amy Scott @ 2:17 pm

Tonight is my class Christmas party for my 5th/6th grade girls. This is one of my favorite nights of the year! We have so much fun! We’ll have a gift exchange. It’s always fun to see who is brave enough to steal a gift from her fellow classmate. At this age, most are really sensitive to their friends, so the stealing is always very dramatic! As an adult and many years of gift exchanges, I can steal a gift without much remorse. I’m not sure if that is a good thing, but I figured it’s a rule of the game and it’s just a game. It’s interesting to see what the girls go home with. After class I let them barter for gifts they might have wanted but didn’t get. There are often many trades. It’s all apart of the experience!

After the gift exchange, I have worksheets for the girls to do. The first one is to put the 12 days of Christmas in order. When did the pipers pipe or the lord’s leap? They’ll see if they know! The other worksheet is matching “Merry Christmas” in 8 different languages to the correct language. I’m pretty sure they’ll get “Feliz Navidad”, but will they get “Mele Kalikimaka ” or “Buon Natale”. We shall see! After the worksheets, we’ll make a magnet craft and enjoy some yummy snacks!

It wouldn’t be a good Christmas party without some great Christmas goodies. A special treat seems to make the Christmas cheer shine just a little brighter, so I spent my evening yesterday working on the snacks for tonight. The first snack I created was a chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting and peppermint crumbles on top. I used peppermint discs and realized that candy canes might have been a better option. Pettermint discs are pretty are hard to break… I learned this by beating on them quite loudly with a rolling pin. The rolling pin came out dented from the sharp edges of the crumbles. It was intense. Next time I will use a thinner peppermint candy and I’m sure that candy canes will fit that need.

The second snack and the inspiration for my peppermint theme was a white chocolate dipped marshmallow that is then rolled in peppermint crumbles. These were very easy and fun to assemble. I crumbled the peppermint first. I put lollipop sticks into marshmallows before I melted the white chocolate. Once the white chocolate was fully melted, I set off dipping and rolling. It’s important to let as much extra chocolate drip off as possible. Rolling the marshmallow in peppermint was a little trickier than I expected, but it turned out great. I let the marshmallow pops cool on wax paper. Once the chocolate was set, I wrapped the marshmallows in plastic wrap and tied it close with red ribbon. There was some excess plastic wrap on the pop, so I cut around the pop so the wrap didn’t completely engulf the stick. Tying the ribbon into the bow was the final touch. I knew I needed a creative way to display these pops so I purchased some foam from my local craft store – the kind that they use for floral arrangements. I wrapped the foam like a present and then pushed the sticks through the wrapping paper into the foam. It’s really great for presentation as well as practical for transportation.

I’ve never really used peppermint in baking other than peppermint extract. It was a lot of fun to take something very seasonal and tweak it and create something new. It’s been a fun journey for me as I branch out of my “usual” baking projects and try something new. Peppermint is a very Christmasy flavor. It also has the right Christmas colors with the bright red and white. These goodies are sure to spread Christmas cheer on multiple levels!

 

Christmas: The True Story December 1, 2011

Filed under: Children's Ministry — Amy Scott @ 3:06 pm

It’s officially December first and the Christmas season is in full swing here in the Scott Household. I was super excited to open my advent tree today and pull out of the first of my candy cane kisses! I’ve also undertook some Christmas baking for my kiddos. This time of year I make Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies with Andes Mint Chips, but this year I got a little extra creative and added some mint M&Ms to my Andes Mint cookies. I shared my goodies with my girls last night and they were a hit. It’s great to have a cookie that acts as an after dinner mint! I love the color that the green, red and white M&Ms add to the cookies. Things just seem more festive when you can splash some holiday color in with the yummy holiday flavors.

The holiday schedule has a way of changing and getting added to… This year is no exception. Normally my class Christmas party for my 5th/6th grade girls is the second week of December. However, this year, our church has decided to go caroling to local nursing homes and the hospital that night. We’ll be canceling our children’s and adult classes that evening so the family can go together. I’m all for caroling to those who are in need of holiday cheer, but it put my Christmas party into a pickle. As strange as it sounds, I’ve moved my Christmas party to the first Wednesday in December. It’s a holiday tradition too wonderful to just cancel even if that means celebrating more than two weeks before Christmas.

Now the Christmas party night is always just about fun. We have a gift exchange where the girls bring a $3 or under wrapped gift. I bring extra gifts in case someone forgets. Normally I play along and walk away with some teeny-bopper flavor of lip gloss. It’s not glamorous, but I love playing right alongside my girls. We’ll do a fun Christmas craft and we’ll play some Christmas games. Of course it wouldn’t be a Christmas party without Christmas goodies which I’m excited to make next week. The celebration and fun fills the entire night.

Being down one Wednesday night made me adjust the schedule. I’m a planner so I know exactly what my girls are going to be doing in December when I start the new school year in September. I didn’t want to leave the Christmas party as the only emphasis on Christmas. So last night we did our lesson around the true story of Christmas. It’s amazing to find that most kids don’t know where the Christmas story is found in the Bible. Most think that the wise men showed up at the same time the shepherds did. Thanks to Nativity sets and “We Three Kings” they believe that there were three wise men.  I love the Bible and I’m passionate that kids know God’s word. We jumped into the Christmas story starting in Matthew. We read about Joseph and the wise men. We flipped over to Luke and read about Mary’s response to the angel. We followed into the traditional Luke chapter two account of the birth of Jesus.

I love doing lessons like this because you can see the wheels in their brains turning! They have so many good questions! I love getting asked how we know the 25th was the day that Jesus was born. The first Christmas might not be accurately portrayed in Nativity scenes, Christmas carols or television programs, but we have the truth. We know the true story. It’s all in God’s word. It was a great night to remember why Jesus came and what it means for us. It’s perfect to close with the reminder that Jesus, who was God and knew the greatness of heaven, gave it all up to be born on earth and live among us. He did it so he could die for our sins on the cross and make a way for us to have eternal life and an eternal relationship with him. It blows my mind!

It’s important that is the midst of Christmas music, Christmas movies, Christmas baking and Christmas shopping that I remember the true reason for the season. There are a lot of great traditions and moments that come with this time of year, but it all would mean nothing if that special gift hadn’t been given that night of the very first Christmas!

 

 

Occupational Harzards Part 2 November 11, 2011

Filed under: Children's Ministry — Amy Scott @ 6:43 pm

As I mentioned in a previous blog, our session that we taught at the Fusion Children’s Leaders Conference is now on iTunes for free download. I listened to it today and I have to admit I’m please with how it turned out. I do say “um” one too many times, but overall I think Jeremy and I  presented our material well. You are more than welcome to have a listen for yourself! Below is the link, but you can also find it by searching under NWMN Children’s Ministries. This was a great first time speaking opportunity and I’m happy to share it with the blogging world!

http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/fusion-2011-occupational-hazards/id268644283?i=105378257

 

Give Thanks November 10, 2011

Filed under: Children's Ministry,One Thousand Gifts Challenge — Amy Scott @ 1:47 pm

There is a craft that I love to do every year around this time.  November is the perfect time to focus on thankfulness and I love crafts that really highlight being thankful. Oriental Trading offers a great craft called Tree of Thanks. I just call them Thankful Trees. The tree is easy to construct and then the leaves are attached with glue dots. The glue dots make the craft mess free and make sure that the leaves don’t fall off – which will happen with regular glue or glue sticks.

I encourage the girls to use all their leaves and write one item they are thankful for on each leaf. Some of them moan like this is an impossible task, but I think it’s good to push them to think hard about what they are thankful for. For me, I feel like I could have used double the leaves I was given. Obviously this foam tree can’t hold all that I am thankful for. The one thing that I learned from doing the One Thousand Gifts Challenge is that there are so many gifts in each day. Yes, there are things like my home, family, and friends that are constant things in my life, but each day the good gifts of the Lord abound. The things I wrote on my tree are some of my top blessings and some just random ones- like pajamas.  My heart always feels so light as write down each gift the Lord has given to me. I look forward to this craft night every year. It’s a great visual reminder of how blessed we are and it’s a call to thankfulness.

Last night overall was a great night! We started of with part two of our Whoonu tournament. It’s a game all about your favorite things and we are taking turns to make sure that everyone in class gets to pick her favorite things. This game is great for getting to know what the girls like and don’t like. Our lesson time focused on prayer and what it is. I want the girls to come away with the idea that prayer is talking to God just like they would talk to their friends. Nothing fancy, but simple, honest communication with God. We celebrated Audrey’s birthday by singing “Happy Birthday” and each blowing out a candle. They loved it just as much as I thought they would! We closed the night by working on our Thankful Trees. As I left the church last night, I could help but smile as I thought about how blessed I am by my class and by the youth helpers that share it with me.

 

Audrey’s Birthday November 9, 2011

Filed under: Children's Ministry,Cooking Experiments — Amy Scott @ 2:31 pm

Let me tell you a funny story… At the beginning of the school year, my class helper, Aimee, made up Audrey. This imaginary student really took off with my class of girls and now we talk about Audrey every week. She is our class imaginary, special friend. The funny thing is I get confused from time to time and call her Aubrey… Good thing she’s not a real student or that would be bad news! It’s been a bonding experience to have Audrey be apart of a our class. The girls have really rallied around her and love to make up stories about what she likes and what she’s been up to. It’s quite hilarious! The class decided that today is Audrey’s birthday a couple of months ago. No surprise that is is on a Wednesday night so they can celebrate it.

I try to make something special for the class when I know there is going to be a birthday. Audrey’s birthday is no exception. Originally I planned on making yellow cake with chocolate frosting. It was easy. However, my creative side just had to take over. I’ve got a couple cans of pumpkin in the pantry that I’ve been dying to play with. So of course, I looked up recipes on my handy Betty Crocker app and found one that sounded good. I turned plain yellow cake mix into Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Pumpkin Spice Frosting.

I followed the cupcake recipe to the letter – except when it came to the pumpkin pie spice. I don’t own that spice, but I do own all the spice that make it, so I quickly threw together my own pumpkin pie spice. When it came time to think about frosting I was in a bit of a pickle. Most pumpkin recipes call for cream cheese frosting. I didn’t have any cream cheese frosting and I felt no need to run out and get some. Instead I used the basic vanilla butter-cream recipe and added pumpkin and spice! Thus creating Pumpkin Spice Frosting!

I tried to make the frosting really thick, but I found that when I started to pipe it onto the cupcakes it started to soften just a little too much. Instead of completely frosting the cupcakes I decided to go with a drizzle effect. The pumpkin on pumpkin flavoring is good, but I thought less is more in this situation. Once the cupcakes were frosted, I used holiday sprinkles to add the finishing touch.

Tonight I plan on bringing birthday candles and putting one in each on the cupcakes. I’ll let each girl blow out a candle in celebration of Audrey’s birthday. Since she is a special friend to the entire class, I figured that they all can take a unique part in celebrating her birthday.

 

Occupational Hazards November 7, 2011

Filed under: Children's Ministry — Amy Scott @ 7:30 pm

This was the title of the workshop Jeremy and I taught last Friday. As mentioned in my previous blog, I was pretty nervous about teaching a workshop at our network’s annual children’s leaders conference. For a long time Jeremy and I felt that we should teach a session and this year the opportunity presented itself. Jeremy was asked to speak and he quickly added me into the mix.

Now teaching adult is something I don’t do very often and co-teaching with my husband is something I don’t do very often. This combination had me on edge. It would have been easy to skip the experience and tell Jeremy to do it on his own. I’m very familiar with the role of being the cheerleader for my husband and staying behind the scenes. However, I knew that I will never grow beyond my current skills if I say no to new opportunities. One of the things I was told by a mentor was seize all opportunities – that meant beyond my writing ambitions and into the platform of speaking. I’m much more comfortable behind my keyboard, but I decided to step up to the challenge.

Before I tell you how the actual workshop went, let me give you some background. Jeremy and I offered four topics that we could speak on. The hardest one was chosen – working closely with your spouse. That is why we decided to call the workshop “Occupational Hazards”. We’ve learned a lot from working so closely together in ministry. Our workshop was set to highlight the good and the bad of partnering in ministry and how to set boundaries so that way your marriage stays top priority and thrives.

Jeremy and I had a lot of fun putting this class together. We laughed a lot! We’ve walked through the frustrations of shared space and spending a lot of time together – more than the average couple. We love being able to do ministry together, but we have learned from the ups and downs. Preparing this class alongside Jeremy was a great experience for me. Jeremy affirmed my call to ministry numerous times and really validated the role I play as his partner. Even if no one heard our class, just the experience was preparing it was a good one for me.

The day of the workshop, Jeremy and I slipped off campus from the conference and went to lunch. We went over our notes and made sure we knew who was speaking to what points. I went into the workshop session feeling fairly confident that we knew our stuff. I was right – we were totally prepared and I feel like we present our material the best that we could. The one downside was we presented to a group of six people. I was expecting at least thirty in my mind, so the reality of six was a little disheartening. However, we had a couple stay afterward to talk and ask us questions. I felt that even if we touched only six people, maybe those six really needed to hear what we had to say. Maybe only two did. I don’t know. All I know is that I did my best. I feel like Jeremy and I succeeded in our mission for the class. I’m not too concerned that we didn’t reach the multitudes… what we did was our best and that is enough for me!

Side note: The session will be podcasted on itunes. Once it is up and I have listened to it – I’ll post a link so you can hear it as well. Maybe the podcast will reach farther than the class itself. If not you can at least hear my first attempt at public speaking outside of Bethel Church.

 

There go the marbles November 2, 2011

Filed under: Children's Ministry — Amy Scott @ 1:57 pm

What a week this has been! Start off with a major event, add computer problems and not being able to work on important projects, add needing to prep for being out of the office at the end of this week… It just all feels like a lot for only 3 days! My office to-do list and my home to-do have both been long and with many boxes that needed to be checked off.

The stress of the week has taken it’s toll, but at least as of this afternoon I’ve made some sense of lists. The biggest thing still left on my plate is prepping for the workshop that Jeremy and I will be teaching on Friday at a children’s leaders conference. We attend this conference every year, but this will be the first time we’ve been presenters there. I think this new challenge is putting some extra nervous jitters into my frenzy of activity.

I teach kids. I like that dynamic. I know what to do. Teaching adults – totally different ballpark! To be honest, adults scare me! With a kid you have authority because you are older than them. With adults that is not the case. Jeremy and I don’t often co-teach, so that too will be an interesting element. The workshop we’re doing is called “Occupational Hazards” and it’s all about working close together in ministry. We hope to discuss the good and the bad of being so involved in the same ministry. Please pray for us as we finalize the details of this workshop. Also please pray that our presentation goes well on Friday. I’ll update you after the conference on how it all went!