Oh Hey Friday! #2

FIVE ON FRIDAY… READY, GO!

ONE

I lead a weekly Bible Study at Panera Bread for my Life Teen students. Slowly over the past year we have been growing and developing as a small group. We started with a solid one or two girls last year and now we are up to five or six this year! Youth Ministry fluctuates each year, but I am happy to see where we are headed. I am a big believer that youth ministry is not about numbers, but it has been cool to watch my girls evangelizing and reaching out to their peers. The Holy Spirit is at work and it is awesome!

Life Teen just released a new book called Ascend, which is a companion to the Sunday Mass readings. We tried it out for the first time and the girls really enjoyed it! Plus – the readings for this Sunday are incredibly beautiful. Check them out here to prepare your heart for this weekend.

Yes, under that black coat is my student who despises getting her picture taken… we’re working on it 😉

We also had our Advent party this weekend and it was such a good time. I am thankful for my organized Core Staff for preparing a great evening for the kids. We had a great time! Come, Lord Jesus, Come.

TWO

Steven and I chaperoned a Life Teen outing Wednesday night. We paired up with Faith Lutheran Church, our next door neighbors to Saint Hilary Catholic Church. It was our first go at an ecumenical event and it was a great success! We went ice skating at Lock 3 in Akron. It’s one of my favorite places. You can’t beat their $3 skating + affordable concession stands. My teens had a great time and it was cool for them to meet kids from the Lutheran Church next door. Bonus – S and I LOVE ice skating, so it was a real treat for us! Next week we are baking Christmas cookies for a local nursing home together. We are excited to hang out with our new Lutheran friends again.

Blurry photos mean you are having fun, right?

THREE

I added jingle bells to our Christmas presents and I just love how they look! Our home is so cheery and I adore looking under the Christmas tree and seeing the gifts for our family. I feel incredibly blessed that we are able to share our love with our loved ones this way. We are firm believers that this season is more about presence than presents, but it is a real treat to be able to share both. Also, Target has the cutest wrapping paper this year!

FOUR

It has been a big week for the Bacher family. We mailed out our first ever Christmas cards! Check that off the 101 in 1001 and December Goals lists! We decided this year to take it slow and only mail out 20 cards. We sent them to our parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and siblings. We just wrote over 100 wedding thank you notes and we could not imagine sending more than 20 Christmas cards. Although, as I was writing them, I was a little sad I did not have more to send to friends. Lesson learned for next year. Marriage is all about the learning and growth, am I right?

But – look at HOW CUTE they turned out. Thank you Shutterfly for your free $20 discount card, free shipping, and Black Friday deal – which all helped us to get 20 cards for less than $8.

FIVE

I have been listening to this song on repeat. It is so catchy and is really getting me in the Christmas/Advent spirit! It’s called Jesus Savior by Chris August.

Have a great weekend, friends!

Linking up with 5 on Friday