Goodbye, Annie-kins

Today is the last Sunday that our "new" youth director will be with our church. She was "poached" by another church that is closer to her hometown and family and can provide benefits and salary for her that our church can't. Annie was only here for about 9 months, but she made a huge impact on our youth and many of our adults, too.

God has great things planned for her, I know. Our little church was just a step on the way to those greater things she will accomplish. She has a heart of gold and a soul of service and sacrifice. Many of our kids are bitter about her leaving because they bonded so tightly to her, but it is a life lesson for them, too, that things change. We are having a summer kick-off pool party this evening and I will be reminding them all that what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. It's not too soon for these teenagers to learn about heartbreak and sadness. At least Annie will still be in touch on the Internet.

The youth leaders asked me to make a card for all the kids to sign, but I went one better this time and made a mini accordion book. It's a 6x6 handmade book that was repurposed from another project I had started (I made a bigger book for that one). Here's the cover:

The rest of the book can be seen at my 123scrap.com gallery.

I really do wish Annie the very best as she moves on. Good-bye, Annie-kins.