April club in Huntington Beach was fantastic!  For starters, it seemed like a reunion of sorts as a lot of moms from years past were all able to be there with their children and everyone was catching up with one another.  It’s amazing how much older and “grown up” kids look even after 6 months of not seeing them!!  A Life Group from Branches HB church made a delicious spaghetti and meatball dinner for everyone.  This Life Group has been providing a meal every other month all year and I noticed how they don’t just drop off the meal and disappear, they sit with the moms and dads and their children and spend time fellowshipping with them.  This HB club really does have a family vibe going on.  After dinner was our usual game time.  Abby Clark and her “Vana White’s” – Kelsie and Jill- always bring the fun through the games.  And hats off to them as they got pretty much EVERYONE up and out of their seats to be participants!  That may be a club 1^st and the candle prizes might have been an added incentive but at any rate, we all got up and played, looked silly and laughed.  It’s so good to just laugh isn’t it?  It’s good for the soul.  Remember that the next time you try and hide from being a game participant; you will miss out on some laughter.  After game time we settled in and things got a little more serious as we had “Real Life Talk” where 4 incredibly vulnerable and courageous people shared their stories.  Eddie has been coming to club as a volunteer for 2 years now and he hangs out with the dads at breakout time, Jana is on staff at Branches HB and she also has been attending club to volunteer, Abby is another volunteer and this was Pastor Santos’ first time to our club but we hope not the last.  Each story was different but each story shared the person’s struggles and trials, heartaches and danger and each one had a common theme – God bent down and intervened in their lives and changed the direction of each person’s life and possibly spared some from an early death.  And that is the power of a story.  Yes it’s a little frightening and can cause some anxiety at the thought of sharing your story, but when we get real and honest with other people, we all understand that we are not the only one who has hard times, confusing times and sad days.  We get to be encouraged and reminded that God doesn’t ever take His eyes off of us, and when we call out and wait for Him, He will comfort us, fill us with wisdom, catch every tear and show us the way out.  Just like He did for the 4 people who shared their stories at club.  After story time we had our craft time.  Seriously, Tracy Sumner brings  the most creative and usable crafts every month.  This month was purse sized bottles filled with rose water.  Some of us didn’t make it into the craft time because we were catching up, processing what was shared and receiving prayer so Tracy hand delivered us all our own bottles.  Like I said, it really is like family at club and all are welcome!

-Chick