sproutsgiving.

last tuesday night was sproutsgiving. it was a night full of my favorite people, laughter, lots of yummy food, pictures and sharing what we are thankful for.
first. what the heck is sproutsgiving? sprouts is our small group. sproutsgiving is our small group thanksgiving. this is why we are called sprouts. we are always looking for a catchy name for our small group. earlier this semester we were reading in mark about how jesus plants seeds. and the seeds sprout. even when we dont understand how they could possibly sprout. or how the harvest could be so good. so we started talking about what our sprouts are. what is the harvest in our life that amazes us and we wonder how & why the lord would choose to produce such a harvest for us. mine is my ministry with younglife at hva. never did i expect to have several friendships with high school girls already. i really thought it would take a long time. but jesus planted the seeds and the seeds sprouted. they sprouted into the most precious friendships in which i get to love on and pursue high school girls. and just hang out with them. and mostly love them like jesus and tell them about the god that loves them so deeply. i am so thankful for that. after we all shared our sprouts we kind of decided that our small group was a sprout. jesus planted a seed at the beginning of quest and then a whole year later here we are. still sitting together once a week to talk about life and jesus and to laugh together. they are my best friends. we dont understand how we deserve the was jesus allowed that seed to sprout into something so beautiful. but we sure are thankful. so now, we are the sprouts.
sproutsgiving. we all contributed to the sproutsgiving feast. and boy. it.was.good. we had dinner together and then, of course, shared what we are thankful for. it was a sweet time. we played some games and laughed a whole lot. and of course, took some pictures. i am so thankful for small group. it is one of the sweetest things in my life. my heart is so thankful for steph, maelena, taylor, rebecca, audrey, steph g, cayce, audrey, kim, jane, jess, brooke & abbie. i love that each one of us is SO incredibly different. but it just works with us. we all get along so well and encourage each other and love each other so well. we know each others struggles. we know each others trials and triumphs. and were not really afraid to say hey suck it up. or hey well its really your fault that this happened. i love that. i dont always love hearing it. but i love that we can do that for each other. i just really love the sprouts a lot.

we sprouts live for tradition & holidays. and this was a good one. a really really good one.