Full Update

I still can't believe that I am back in my own house. It feels SO SO good!! Its very different, living farther away from the church, and not in a church building. I am feeling a bit disconnected, but its worth it because I also finally feel like I am home.

To catch you all up on everything, the move went really great. I had several teens help me which made it go pretty quickly, and I only had to buy them pizza as payment. :) So far the only thing that has been lost in the move is all the bolts for my huge bookshelf that I had to take apart...whoops. Hopefully I will find them somewhere...

On Sunday night my friend Jenna arrived. She came to Philly last summer on a week long trip with AIM and fell in love with the city. She is working with AIM for the summer, but doesn't start until June 20th. She couldn't wait that long to get here so she came a month early to do an internship at a hospital and get to know the city. She is young (just finished her freshman year of college), and getting used to life "On her own", but it has been really nice having her around.

Next Wednesday Brook arrives, our Cornerstone summer missionary. She will be living with me until August and working with the church, mostly with the teens. I am really excited to have her come as well. She has been to Philly before, but I don't remember meeting her. It will be nice to have roommates around for the summer. I am also babysitting a friend's dog for a month in July, so I am going to have a full house! Yay!

I haven't even come close to completely unpacking, but that is mostly due to my lack of motivation. I hope to have it all finished by the end of the weekend. Its pretty hot outside, so staying in the air conditioning is pretty appealing. :)

Things are still very up in the air with me in terms of the fall. I go back and forth everyday and I don't feel like I have a clear direction at all. I do know one thing, though, Satan is on the attack. I almost feel like Wednesday night was God's wake up call to me not only about the neighborhood that I live in, but of the war that I am a part of. I have been seeking God's direction but not really trying to battle again the forces trying to keep me from His will. I temporarily forgot that God is NOT the God of confusion, that all comes from the enemy and I need to battle against that!

Unfortunately, that still hasn't left me with any clear answers. Despite our "break" from programs, everyone around me is still very busy (or on vacation) and so I haven't really been able to talk to people much. I am still keeping my eyes open for jobs and just talking to God a lot.

In the meantime, summer is almost here and there is SO much to do! We have Extreme Team for the teens, Reading Rocks for the kids, missions groups coming, our mission trip that is going, plus all of our regular activities...including Kids Club in which I am supposed to be planning a weekly activity for the Reading Room. I forgot about that until just now...hehe. I don't feel overwhelmed by all of it, I just need to really get on it! First, though, I have a college group coming to work with us for the first week in June and we are going to do a special after-school week with them. I haven't even started to think about that yet. I don't usually procrastinate, but I think my mind is just kind of overloaded with life.

Things have been pretty calm on my block since the shooting. I have talked to everyone in my family and they have been amazing! I was fully expecting to see my dad and brother drive up to my house, throw me in a car and speed off never to return me to Philly, haha. My dad admitted that he would like to do that, but actually wasn't too freaked out about what happened. He was more worried about my heart and how I was handling the scare than about my safety...he told me he trusts God to take care of me, he just wants to make sure I am emotionally okay as well. I LOVE MY FAMILY!!! My brother is planning on getting me a dog to make himself feel better, but other than that he wasn't too freaked out either. Its really awesome to see my family become more and more trusting of God and supportive of me being here.

Please keep praying for the people that were shot though, 2 of them are still in critical condition.

Okay, I think everyone is officially updated on my life. Don't you all feel better now? Haha, well I think now I might go out and enjoy the nice weather. Or...take a nap. :)