Carnival!

This was Dave Seely's last Sunday as our youth minister after 16 1/2 years. Dave and Karen are our best couple friends. Dave has been a wonderful minister-steady, appropriate, encouraging, patient, incredibly fun and just the kind of person who you want your kids to hang out with. Someone who will let them walk out on the branch a bit, but not into dangerous territories. He truly loves teens and has a genuine interest in playing with them and learning what they are "in to". I am grateful that all of my children experienced many years in his presence. He continues to be supportive of them.
I'm sure I've posted before about the fantastical evenings for Youth Banquet each year. It is more fun than prom (without the dancing) and I look forward to it every year, I can only imagine how cool it is for the kids. At least I hope it is. It is HOURS of work to imagine and execute. Maybe only adults can appreciate it truly. The theme is a secret every year, but if asked, the response was alway "Oh, it's a HOBO theme- beans out of cans for dinner......" Everyone knew it was always something so spectacular that that couldn't be true. So it became the joke.  BUT, this year, while not the theme, the hobo was there-Dave was the hobo at the CARNIVAL! It was one of my favorite themes. ( I got to be Madame Elizabeth-Fortune Teller!)
As a gift several people at my request, worked on two large scrapbooks of various youth ministry activities to present to Dave, who said that he would be thrilled if someone did that when he retired. He and Karen take NO pictures of events! I had planned in the back of my head for this, but true to form, I waited until a month before his retirement to do the books. Thankfully, I had a stash of stuff: religious scrapbook papers, stickers, quotes, pictures, bulletins, programs and doodads, but not nearly comprehensive enough and I knew I couldn't do it alone.
Margaret is an incredible organizer and a wizard at spread sheets and scanning and printing. Being more hands on, I had a file folder box by year. Between the two of us we organized by year and by category.
I was able to locate pictures back to his first year, though the last 10 were best documented. I'll scan some pics of the books, which I didn't get to prior to giving them to him as I was still gluing at the last minute. I look forward to re-visiting it myself, especially the pages I didn't do. My life has been paper and glue for a month and only now can you see my dining room table again. Thankfully, too, there were seven scrapbookers who contributed their talents to the project. Gift of love for a wonderful person of God. Dave, we love you and thank you for your gift of ministry to kids and look forward to seeing what vision God will give you in Worship and Music now that you have all of your time to devote to that ministry.