Several weeks ago the young people invited their parents to a Sweetheart Banquet. All that the parents knew was what was on the invitation - the date, time, and place! Imagine our surprise when we walked into a very lovely decorated, candle lit room, with soft music playing and all the young people dressed in white and black, taking our coats, telling us they would be our servers for the evening, and seating us.

Totally on their own, they had come up with the ideas, planned, and put the manpower into pulling off a truly successful evening. One of the young men was the very capable MC for the evening, informing us of what was on the agenda and keeping the evening moving smoothly. After another young man was called up to lead in prayer, our children very mannerly and attentively served their parents. There was water and punch in red sugar rimmed glasses as well as coffee. In between the courses of the delicious meal, the parents were asked to write some poetry about their sweethearts, families or good memories and they were later judged, some of them were read aloud and heart shaped boxes of chocolates given out as prizes. They also asked the parents to separately write down the answers to some questions they asked about the times when the parents were dating, and into their early marriage. Then the couple was to compare their answers and see how well they remembered their early days together.

There was a compliment card written by the young people telling their parents some of the things they were appreciated for, enclosed in a decorated envelope in front of each place setting. The formal part of the program was completed with a special sung by the young people thanking God for what He has done for all of us.

The focal point of the room was a table with all of the parents wedding pictures arranged on it. After the meal it was fun to look at them all, figure out who they were, see the resemblances between the parents when they were younger and their children now, and then wonder how the young people had snuck the photos out of the house without the parents knowing! There was a table set up where they cleaned the parent’s wedding rings and did a hand scrub for the mothers. The evening was completed with a photo session of the parents and then a picture of them with their children, in front of a red background they had assembled with lights and hearts behind it.

At the end of the evening, the parents were overwhelmed with what an amazing job the young people had done, of making them feel so special.

Ever since the Revival Month in September of 2009, the pastor of our church has really been encouraging the young people to take part in the Young Foundation quizzes for the tapes. He has even recommended that the parents take this opportunity to listen to the tapes with their children. Not only does he remind us when there is a new tape up and when the quiz is due, but he also prints off quizzes and brings them to church for those that don't have the internet. The completed quizzes can be returned to him and he will submit the answers online for us as well. After a quiz is over, he will publicly congratulate us for participating, sometimes reading a list of the young people from our church that submitted quizzes, while other times he tells how many participated.

Prior to this, there were only a couple of people in our church faithfully doing the quizzes, whereas now there are consistently between 15 and 20 participating.

This revival month he had a bulletin board put up at church to let everyone know what the tapes are each week. After each quiz has been completed, the names of those participating are added alongside the name of that tape. In addition, any others in the church that have listened to the tape at the same time, but haven't submitted a quiz to Young Foundations, are encouraged to sign up on the bulletin board as a "Sojourner" with the young people that have participated.

So many have commented on how much they have gotten out of the tapes and it is so nice to see entire families listening to the tapes together. Not only are the young people growing spiritually as they listen to these tapes, but the families and our church are growing closer together.