And...Number Three!

Tonight was the last Kids Club Christmas party. The 5 & 6 year olds had their party and it was, of course, so much fun! Because of Prayer Pals, I was only there for the second half of the party but it was still a blast. It was fun to see a bunch of kids that will be moving up to 7-10's Kids Club soon!

Other than that, today was a pretty uneventful day. If you look to the right you will notice that I have become an Amazon.com affiliate. Basically, if you click on my "widget" and get to Amazon.com and then order anything from them, Amazon will give me part of the profits!! Its not much and I don't expect to make a ton of money from it, but I figured it can't hurt. So, if you ever order from Amazon, just get there through my blog and you can help support me!!

I actually mainly joined because I love music, books, TV and movies and I love to share the things that I love! So, you can check out some of my favorite things. My music, TV and movie tastes might be a bit different from yours, but I would HIGHLY recommend all of the books that I have on my list (except maybe "Invisible Man", its pretty intense). I'll try to keep my list updated, so if you are ever looking for a good book, you can check it out!

Number Two

Today was a day of number twos. It was kids Christmas party #2 (the preteen party) and it was my second try at a Christmas Card picture. I liked the picture we took before, but it wasn't great, and I really wanted to get Mercedes in the picture (the newest addition to my clan). So, we tried again tonight. It didn't quite work out like I hoped...Let's start with the preteen party though.This party was really fun for me because I didn't really have to do anything. I just got to sit back and watch the kids have fun. I took 5 kids; Bonita, Linda, Pedro, Monique and Mercedes. They all had fun and got the presents they wanted.

I lost a dollar to Pedro at the party. I saw a spiderman football that I was sure he would pick, so I bet him $1 that I could guess what he would get. I told Mercedes my guess so she could prove that I was right. Unfortunately, I didn't see the Megatron Transformer on the stage, which is the gift he actually chose. I should have known better!! He and I have the same taste in toys. :)

I also didn't get a picture of Linda with her gift. She picked baby dolls that she can give to her niece, but she was too embarassed to have her picture taken with the gift...in case people thought they were for her. I didn't get a picture of her though; how beautiful is she?!?

I can't believe I didn't get a picture of Mercedes with her gift!!! We saw a sewing machine in the mix when we were setting up the presents and as soon as we saw the sewing machine, we knew she would LOVE IT! She was in the later group of kids to get to pick presents because she has only been coming to Kids Club for about a month. So, we kind of hid the sewing machine behind some other gifts hoping no one would pick it. It was still visible, just not right in front. :) One other girl expressed interest in it, but decided it wasn't really worth it since she doesn't know how to sew. So, Mercedes got it and she was SO excited. She is such a sweet and wonderful girl and I am so glad she is a part of my life now!!!

After the Christmas party we decided to attempt the Christmas picture again. Shera came along to take the picture for us. I piled everyone into my little Jetta and headed to Bonita and Linda's house. (I REALLY need a van!! Please pray with me that God would provide one! I regularly pile 6-9 people in a very small car meant to seat 5). It took us a while to locate Miguel, and we all actually had fun in the car in the meantime. We finally got everyone and lined up for the picture. We did get one picture in which everyone was looking at the camera and smiling...

I'm pretty sure I'm still going to use it...Miguel with his finger in his nose is pretty appropriate...that's just Miguel. Plus, I really like that you can see how tall Dario has gotten in this picture with him standing next to Linda (who is the same height as me).

I was completely exhausted today (that crazy party took a lot out of me), so I didn't get nearly as many errands done as I planned. My friend Catherine and her baby Ephraim are coming on Friday and I need to clean my house to at least make it presentable for them; as well as get the oil changed in my car, drop clothes off at the dry cleaners, pick up some Christmas presents, look up my 3rd great grandfather at the archives (for my mom), meet with Bill...and so on. I also have to figure out how to get a copy of my 2004 tax return. Virginia is claiming that I owe them taxes from that year, but I lived and worked (and paid taxes) in Pennsylvania that year. In fact, I haven't lived or worked in Virginia since 2002. Not only that, but VA is claiming that I owe almost $700 in taxes. I have never earned enough money to owe that much. Oh Virginia...

I have also decided that I want to take Dario, Luis, Bonita and Linda to my parents' house this summer. The boys ask about my dad all the time and I just think it would be a really fun trip. Especially since they are all older and much less high maintenance for me. Its months away, but I'm already excited about the trip!!! :)

It really IS the most wonderful time of the year!!!

Tonight was the Kids Club Christmas Party...and it was so wonderful!! I worked forever on the party, planning and stressing (and I had a ton of help!). In addition to organizing the evening, we also had a ton of set up to do, and some shopping. Yesterday we spent close to 4 hours setting up all the gifts, school supplies, etc. Praise the Lord for Shera, Denise and Patsy!! (And Pastor Andy who can pretty much do everything!) We bought our final gifts this morning and got the final touches done around noon. I was up pretty late last night getting things done (including my AIM stuff), so I decided to take a nap this afternoon. I ended up having a nightmare that the party went horribly and I had to leave it 3 times crying because things were so bad!! It was one of those dreams where I woke up and had to convince myself that it hadn't actually happened. Thankfully, the party went very well; nothing like my dream. I felt better after the party when Carisa and Bill (the Kids Club leaders before me) told me that tonight was the most stressful night of the year for them as well. The planning was absolutely worth it, though, everyone (including me!) had so much fun!!!

We had 93 kids in attendance!! Every one of them got to pick a toy...

a ton of school supplies...

a box of Frosted Flakes, some Handi Snacks and chap stik (we have some random stuff at our church!) :) Oh, and they all got a new sweatshirts. Aren't they cute?!?

I think most of the kids were very happy with their gifts. They got to pick their gift one at a time, the order was based on attendance. So, the kids who came the most went first, and on down. Even the kids that went at the end got really great gifts!

It was a much easier night for me in terms of kids tagging along. Usually I have 7 kids with me on a Tuesday night. However, 5 of them are preteens so I only had Miguel and Tasha with me tonight. Next year Miguel will be a preteen too, so it will just be me and Tasha! It did make things a lot easier to not have to keep up with as many kids before or after the party. I will be taking the other 5 to the preteen party tomorrow night, but I don't have any responsibilities at that party.

Finally, I have to share this with you. While we were setting up all the gifts I found one that perfectly describes my life...Its a bride...she comes with a ring bearer and flower girl ready to go...but no groom. :)

(If you want to see the rest of the pictures from the party, click here)

I have Lost My mind

There are SO many reasons for the title of this blog. :) I will go through some of them, haha.

I got back to Philly on Tuesday around 2:30. Denise, my Kids Club co-leader called me around 10 (while we were on the road) to tell me that she had been called into work and wasn't going to be able to do the lesson for Kids Club that night. Not a problem, we have several movies we can show, and I have no problem doing that. However, I suddenly had the idea of playing a game to review things from the last semester with the kids. So, I spent a good part of the rest of the ride preparing the game...which included needing a wheel (kinda like wheel of fortune). Thankfully, we had one at the church that just needed some modifications!! But, the prep for Kids Club took me from the time I got home until right as Kids Club started. The game went well and everyone seemed to have a lot of fun, and it was a really good review for the kids. In fact, I think I will do it again at the end of next semester. Still...the movie would have been much easier. :)

When I finally got home on Tuesday night I checked my email to discover that I was WAY behind on my AIM work (like 57 emails and many phone calls behind). Now, because of my personality, waiting until Wednesday to do my work would have been very difficult. So, I proceeded to respond to all the emails I could and saved only the phone calls until Wednesday. That took me until about 7 a.m. I got completely caught up though!!! I took a quick nap and then headed to staff prayer at 9.

Thankfully, because I got caught on Tuesday night, I didn't have to work extra on Wednesday and when my AIM hours were over a 2 p.m., I immediately took a 3 hour nap. That had me rested and ready to go for Prayer Pals. I also pretty much went straight to bed after Prayer Pals, so now I am caught up on my work and my sleep!!

I know the staying up until 7 wasn't the best idea I have ever had...which means it continues with my theme of losing my mind. :)

I am really glad that I got caught up though because the rest of this week and on through about the middle of December will be extremely busy. Here is the quick run down:

Doctor's appt. tmw
Grocery shopping and house cleaning this weekend

Next week will be a "normal" week (which is still pretty busy).
Next Friday is the Cornerstone Adult Christmas Party

The following Monday is the Kids Club Christmas Party (which I will be planning for most of next week).

*** Something to pray for with that...the church that usually donates the presents for the party is talking about giving us gift cards to shop with...they will have the gift cards to us on Dec. 10th. The Christmas party is Dec. 10th. PRAY THEY SEND US MONEY INSTEAD!! Either way, we have to shop for about 200 Christmas gifts OURSELVES this year!! (Hopefully we don't have to do it the day of the party!)

Tuesday is the Pre-Teen Christmas Party (which I normally don't attend, but this year 5 of the kids that I drive to kids club are all in pre-teens! So, I will be going this year).

Wednesday is "normal"

Thursday is the Teen Club Christmas party.

My friend Catherine comes to visit on Friday. We will be driving to see her family in CT on Sunday, coming back on Monday.

That Wednesday is the Prayer Pals Christmas party (which also requires planning and probably shopping).

That should be the end of the chaos. I will head home to visit my parents in the 23rd or 24th, coming back to Philly on the 27th or 28th, depending on ticket prices.

Somewhere in there I also have to fit in a movie date with Paxton, a skating date with several kids, a shopping trip with Miguel and Bonita, a separate one with Tasha as well as my own Christmas shopping. Oh, and I am trying to keep going to the gym regularly and I work 9-2 everyday. Whew!!

I hope it doesn't sound like I am complaining, cause I'm not. This is always a busy time of year, so I am prepared for it. We don't start clubs back up until the end of January, so I will get some good rest time as well as prep time in there.

Still, the next few weeks are going to be interesting...especially if my mind stays gone. :)

93 Kids!!!

We had 93 kids at Kids' Club tonight! That is the biggest group that we have had since I've been here!! It was insane!!! Actually, the kids were pretty well behaved, the leaders were the ones with the problems, haha. We had several leaders come late, a few not show up and some fun computer things to work out. At one point Frank told me to stall so I resorted to counting kids and getting them excited about how many people we had there, haha. They were VERY into it and we now have an unofficial competition going on to see which age group will be the biggest (the 10 year olds always win hands down, but that doesn't seem to faze the younger ones). So, despite the technical difficulties, we had a GREAT night!!! I am hoping we can break 100 next week!!! I'm finding myself really enjoying Kids Club, even the upfront part. I had the fleeting thought today that I would be willing to take Kids Club over...but there is no way I could do that as long as I have a part time job. And some recent events have made the need for that part time job even greater. In fact, I'm trying to figure out how I can swing working more hours for AIM while not completely burning out. :) We'll just have to see what God's plan is!!

Another exciting thing for me tonight was Meredith (her name has been changed here). She is a friend of Bonita and Linda's that came to church with us on Sunday because she spent the night with them on Saturday. She is 11 so she came to our Sunday School class and LOVED it! She also really loved church and went to lunch with us after church. She was sweet and fun and I really enjoyed having her around. And tonight, she came to Kids Club!!! She has already asked me about Prayer Pals and wants to come to church every Sunday. She also attends a kids church program at another church on Wednesday nights that she has actually been taking Linda to. I really hope she sticks around, she could even be in Gods Girls this summer!! Its so fun to see Linda and Bonita reach out to their friends...and SO comforting to see that the have chosen a really good friend. Meredith is a beautiful girl that I am very excited to get to know!!

Tonight and tomorrow I am kicking the cleaning into high gear. I really want my house CLEAN!! I seem to still be a little messed up in the head trying to balance everything, haha. Not sure what's going on, but hopefully I will get my act together soon...Lord only knows what I will forget next! (Hopefully its not a kid!)

Oh What a Night

Tonight I did the only thing left on my "I will Never" list...I led Kids Club. I actually taught the lesson!! I probably shouldn't be writing this now, I haven't had a lot of time to process, but I guess here is my first impression.

To start with, I was ridiculously nervous. Not quite as nervous as I was when I preached at church, but a very close second. I was pretty much up front the entire time, and that is my least favorite thing to do. I really don't like being up front. That isn't so much a humility thing as it is an insecurity thing...although even at my most confident I still prefer to be behind the scenes. However, once I am up front I usually find myself pretty comfortable, which is what happened tonight. I hate going up front, but once I was there, I was fine.

I was pretty excited about the lesson I had planned and while I didn't do it exactly how I wanted to (I doubt I will ever get it perfect), overall I was happy with how it went. We talked about how Jesus lived before He was born...how He left heaven to be with us. I have no idea what the kids thought (they always seem to have the same look on their faces) but I made it through. It feels good to have done one and hopefully it will make the next one easier. I really just have to get past the looks on the kids faces, I always think they are annoyed and/or bored. I remember always being riveted by Carisa's lessons but seeing those same looks on the kids faces, and I know the kids love Carisa's lessons.

I don't know what the future holds for Kids Club, but although tonight went pretty well I am not feeling a pull to making this my new job. We'll see how the rest of the season goes. I really enjoyed being in the Reading Room tonight. We are doing Mad Libs with the kids, teaching them what verbs, nouns, adjectives, etc. are. It was really fun tonight!

Bonita and Linda are spending the night tonight, which is funny to me. On Kids Club nights they pretty much go straight to bed, but they still love to come over. Works for me, I don't have to do much!! We will be getting up very early tomorrow though. I have jury duty (AGAIN!!) and have to be downtown by 8 a.m. So, I have to drop the girls off at home by 7, which means we get up at 6:30. Whew!

I have a lot of work to do over the next week or so for my job with AIM, but it comes at a really good time because I don't have to prepare my next Kids Club lesson for 2 weeks; next Tuesday is Family Night.

So, now that clubs have started back up I am getting a real look at what the next few months are going to be like. I'm really glad I got to ease into it...starting with AIM before clubs start up and things going a little slow with AIM in the beginning. Its already starting to pick up and get busier, but I still feel really good about the way things are going. I'm really excited to make it to Saturday, Hershey Park!!!! (I love my days off!)

On a completely different note...I really like my neighbors but I don't enjoy their music 24/7.