Summer Missions

Luke and I just returned last weekend from a week-long mission trip in Cincinnati with 17 middle school students and 2 other adults (entire group shown below).

Most of the students who went had never been on a mission trip before, so it was great to experience things through their fresh eyes that week. Our team was split into four different crews for the week, so during the day we went to various work sites in the area. My crew and Luke's crew worked at a inner-city private school with a preschool teacher, Evangeline DeVol, who had us do various work projects around the school, preparing it for students to come back this fall. Evangeline is an amazing Christian woman, and I believe she is one of the reasons God placed us there all week--so that we could watch her and learn from her story. She shared her testimony with us and challenged us to "make our mess our message" as we share our own testimonies with others, which I thought was great advice! On the last day we were there with her, she treated us to Graeter's Ice Cream and gave each of us a copy of the "Starfish" poem, which she shared with us while we were there. Here is a picture of our work crews with Evangeline:

Tuesday night of the trip, we had a free night to do whatever we wanted to do together as a youth group, so we went to downtown Cincinnati, walked across the Purple People Bridge, ate at a pizza place, and then let the kids play in a fountain. It was such a FUN night!! Here are some pictures from that night:

The Whole Group (minus me behind the camera) on the Purple People Bridge!

Part of the Group next to the Ohio River during Devotions. (Purple People Bridge in the background)

The Girls Hugging Luke after Getting Wet in the Fountain

We ended the Cincinnati trip by spending some time at the Creation Museum on the way home. The picture below shows our group in front of the museum. It is such a cool place!

Now that the Cincy trip behind us, we have this week off from trips, and then we leave again on the high school mission trip this weekend to Milwaukee, WI. There are 31 of us going, including adult leaders. The cool part is that the other church going to the same site is the United Methodist church from Columbia City!! We didn't even plan it that way...God is good! Two of my cousins, Ryan Peppler and Sam Lipply, will be going with that group, so CC will be transplanted in Milwaukee for a week. I am excited to see what God has in store for us there!

Memorial Day Tribute

Today, on this Memorial Day, I'm reminded of how sacred our time here on Earth is--of how special our time with family and friends really is. Last week, I learned that a 2010 grad of Huntington University, Courtney (Beerbower) Knox, recently lost her husband, JaBraun Knox, who died serving in Afghanistan on May16th. JaBraun and Courtney have a 6-month old son, Braylon. You can read a full news article about them here. I will warn you, that article is a tear jerker!! I didn't know Courtney well at HU, but definitely knew of her. This story has really ripped at my heart and has been a great reminder of how short life can be. If you think about it, please pray for Courtney, her family, and JaBraun's family as the viewing is today and the funeral is tomorrow.

Family Time

This past weekend was GREAT! Luke and I got to spend extended time with his family on Saturday for Mother's Day. The weather was perfect, so we sat outside most of the day. Doesn't get much better than that! For Mother's Day, Luke's sister, Brianne, made Deb a video slideshow of pictures of them growing up. Thought you might enjoy seeing it as well: View Video.

Sunday, for us, had a bit of a different feel because there wasn't youth group due to Mother's Day, so we spent some quality time with my family at my parent's house. Again, with more time outside in the sun! When we came home, I spent the evening planting flowers, which I'll be sure to post pictures of soon. Our front porch is full of life again!

The best part of this week is knowing that I have all of next week off of work with no plans! I can't wait to actually have the time to get stuff done around the house and spend more time outside! Ahh...summer is in the air!

Where has April gone?

It's hard to believe that May is just around the corner! As you can probably tell from my lack of blog posts recently, we have been pretty busy around here lately! Although things never really slow completely down for us. Plus, in March, the weather was WAY too nice to be inside blogging! We spent our time grilling outside instead!

Luke only has three regular youth groups left before the seniors graduate and we break for the summer, which is hard to believe! In addition to regular youth pastor responsibilities, Luke started grad school in January and is now 20% done (as he would say)! He just finished a class and won't start his next one until July, so he is pumped! For him, that means a break from reading and writing papers. For me, that means a break from proofing papers!

As for me, this is one of my favorite parts of the year for me at work. High school seniors are making their college decisions, which means I'm beginning to figure out who will actually be coming to Huntington University this fall. During the months of May-August, my work load is much lighter, so I'm looking forward to some time off for youth mission trips and time to get some stuff done around the house. Like Luke, I will also be starting grad school this fall, working towards my MBA at Grace College. The best part is, it's essentially FREE! Because of my job at HU, I was accepted into Grace's MBA program on a tuition exchange, which means the tuition fees are waived! I only have to pay a small fee for each class. It's been amazing to see how God has provided and blessed Luke and I financially with grad school. We'll both be done within two years! God is good!

In other exciting news, Luke's sister, Brianne, is getting married this July, and her first bridal shower is this Sunday! We are so excited for her and her fiance, Matt!! They're keeping up the Diehl tradition by getting married in the month of July. Luke's brother, Brady, married his wife, Christa, on July 25, 2009. Luke and I got married July 31, 2010. And now, Brianne and Matt will complete the cycle by getting married July 14, 2012!

Well, I think that's all the news for now! Wish I had a picture to make this post more exciting! Guess I'll have to work on that next time!

Winter Retreat Update

Our second winter retreat with the middle schoolers was awesome! God answered our prayers because none of the 70+ students got hurt or injured, which I think is amazing! It was a great weekend! Many students either made commitments to put more effort into their daily walk with Christ or made first-time commitments. I've included some pictures below.

The Whole Group!

My Cabin of 6th Grade Girls
Can you tell they're having a good time?

Some of My 6th Graders Eating Icicles on the Last Day

Winter Retreat - Round 2

Well, Luke and I are off again for another weekend winter retreat at Spring Hill Camp! This time, however, we're taking middle schoolers...about 70 of them, in fact! So many signed up that we are now taking two charter buses! Even though there's no snow here at the moment, Evart, Michigan (where Spring Hill Camp is), got 5 inches of snow last night and are expecting another 2-4 inches to fall today. That's a sure sign that we are in for a fun weekend. Please pray for our safety to and from Michigan, that no one gets sick or hurt, and that lives will be changed. With the size of group we have, I think that will be a miracle if we do come back without something like that happening. Thank you for checking in and for praying for us! I will be sure to post pictures when we return.

Winter Retreat Pictures

Here are a couple pictures from the senior high winter retreat last weekend! The weekend turned out be pretty awesome--two students accepted Christ!! The only negative thing that happened was early on Sunday morning (the day we left for home), Luke and two other students got the stomach flu. Fortunately, they didn't got sick on the bus ride home and no one else got it after returning home!

The Whole Group!

Me and Most of My Freshmen Small Group Girls
(Kaitlyn Sheets, Nikki Aumsbaugh, Summer McEvoy, & Amy Spencer)