Scout Camp!

Hello, friends! 

Summer is officially here, which includes going to Cub Scout Camp! For the past 4 years, I've taken at least one kid to Camp Amikaro, about an hour outside of Omaha for a weekend of Cub Scout fun! This year, I took Ezra and Thaliea, which was bittersweet because it was the last time I'll be taking the two of them together. Next year, Ezra will have graduated to Scouting BSA and JoJo will join us at Amikaro. 

Friends, it was a HOT weekend. In fact, it was the hottest weekend of the year. But honestly, it wasn't all that bad. It was also super windy, which meant there was always a bit of a breeze to keep us cool. 

Cub Scout Camp goes like this: 

- Arrive Friday, eat dinner, then watch the camp counselors do silly skits, songs and dances at "Campfire" time. 

- Wake up Saturday and go from station to station, learning about nature, STEM, shooting guns, fishing, and swimming. There's also lunch in there and some free time for the scouts to play. We finish the night with the scouts leading "Campfire" time with their own skits, songs, and dances. 

- On Sunday, we have 2 more stations after breakfast (in our case it was handicrafts and archery), before a little more free time, lunch, and then we're done! 

Our pack grew a bunch this year, so we split camp up into two groups. I led our group this weekend (because of course I did...) and I'd like to think we had some fun! My biggest hope is that the kids would have positive memories of camp. I'd say it was mission accomplished. 

I could say more, but let's be honest, you'd rather see some photos... 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam

The End of Another Ministry Year...

Hello, friends! 

Well, we're here. It's the back half of June, which means we are almost to the official end of another ministry year. I started in 2007 as an intern, so I'm finishing up year 18 on staff with InterVarsity. This year certainly was unlike any other. 

Honestly, the first semester started out pretty normally. I had staff to coach and I was coaching out student intern at Bellevue. We had most of our staff team in tact and things were moving along. It was looking like it would be a "normal" year. Getting Phoebe was a new thing and there was some family stuff (as there always is) but honestly, even looking back at previous blog posts, there was nothing that jumped out at me from the first semester. 

The second semester was a different story. Looking back on the past few months, it's wild to think that all that got crammed into one semester. Here are a few "highlights."

- Staffing changes: Our Regional Director took a much needed Sabbatical, meaning that our staff team was going to be down one for the semester. Added to that, one of our Area directors decided to transfer to a different part of our National movement and two of our Regional Leadership Team members decided to transfer to New Zealand to continue doing college ministry. Thankfully, those transitions won't happen until next month but there was a LOT of shock to our systems as we processed all this. 

- Ministry changes: In January, I took a group of students to Ambition, InterVarsity's national planting conference. It was a personally fulfilling time but it also jumpstarted the InterVarsity work in Nebraska. At Ambition, we saw a student come to faith and two new bible studies start an the two largest schools in our state. We also decided that the time was right to restart Nebraska's Fall Conference and began planning and preparation for that. I didn't expect to be doing this much campus ministry this semester, but here we are. 

- Family changes: Jonah graduated from pre-school (and daycare) which was a big deal for us. Since we aren't doing any summer sports due to travel, we let Ezra pick up a second Spring sport (flag football), which meant we were VERY busy. Megan started a book club and we both resigned as elders at our church (we still go there though). This was added to Phoebe getting bigger and navigating that dog family life. It was a lot. 

In spite of all the changes, God is still constant and God is still good. We're so thankful for the ways that God provided for us this year. The kids are healthy and are growing. Megan and I continue to grow our kids and our marriage as best we can. The ministry work is still fulfilling. 2024-2025 was unlike any previous ministry year that I can remember but we made it. Onward to 2025-2026!!! 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam

St. Louis Trip!

Hello, friends! 

To paraphrase that great poet, Dwayne Johnson, "FINALLY, The Leongs are back in St. Louis!!!" =0). 

Last week, we went to St. Louis for a few days. The official reason was because we had Regional Leadership Team (RLT) Meetings in St. Louis but honestly, a lot of it was about a bit of a vacation and family time as well. On our way out there, we'd realized that since we didn't have RLT meetings last June, it had been 2 years since the kids and I had been to St. Louis. Friends, that's just too long! 

Our plan was to drive in Tuesday, be at the RLT meetings Wednesday through Friday, spend Saturday in St. Louis then head back on Sunday. The kids would have an extended time hanging out with Aunt Judi and that's where we would stay as well. 

Friends, our trip did not necessarily go to plan but it was still a huge blessing. 

Let's start with the weather. For a few days, the weather was actually quite nice. Unfortunately, those weren't the days that we needed the weather to be nice. We had to pull over twice on our way down to St. Louis because of tornado warnings and low visibility. What should have been a 7 hour trip turned into a 9 hour trip. On the way home, on the way out of seeing friends in CoMO, we got caught in another downpour. Thankfully, the storm passed quickly and we were good through the rest of the trip. 

Part of our plan for the meetings was to say goodbye to some teammates who will be moving to New Zealand to work with the IFES movement there. Unfortunately, they both got sick right before the meetings, so we didn't get to spend as much time with them as we would have liked. 

Still, everything else was such a good time. The kids enjoyed their time with Aunt Judi. We had some productive meetings and I feel good about next semester. We got to have some fun, including a Cardinals game and some Top Golf with the RLT. We were able to see friends in St. Louis as well as CoMO. Most importantly, I got to eat an Imo's pizza! It was a whirlwind of a trip but it was a very good one. 

My hope is that it won't be 2 years before we get back to St. Louis. It's a much longer drive than it used to be and we may not have meetings there for a bit since our coworkers left. Still, it was great to be there and I'm sure all the family, community, and culinary goodness will be waiting for me when I get there next. 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam