Let me start this post with, I AM OKAY!! In case you haven't heard (and I would be shocked if you haven't) there was a 7 alarm fire early this morning 2 blocks away from me. The reports on the national news have only mentioned Kensington and Potter St...which has worried many of my friends and family. The fire was on the corner of H and Potter, I live at F and Potter. Praise the Lord, no lives were lost, but several homes were damaged or destroyed. Hundreds of people have been displaced and need a lot of prayer. Bonita and Linda's oldest sister lives on that block, with her boyfriend and 2 kids (3rd one on the way). Thankfully, none of them were at the house last night, but they are not allowed near their home for a while. There have been rumors of robberies on that block since the fire, but nothing has been confirmed.
My tenure as a juror was very short as the entire trial was over and decided by lunch on Tuesday (it began just before lunch on Monday). Unfortunately, it was a frivolous lawsuit that never should have been filed, which made our decision as a jury very easy to make. I was sad to see the court system abused in the way it was, but also very happy to be going home and back to normal life so quickly.
Well, I WAS happy to return to normal life...until normal life got insanely busy. Actually, I am still so happy to be doing what I am doing, but I can feel the stress level in my mind slowly raising by the minute. There is just SO much to do and no time to rest, process, relax. I am finding it hard to quiet myself before the Lord, which I desperately want. I am hoping to have next Friday off. If I do, I am going to leave the city for the day and hopefully will be able to let my mind wander to Christ and not to my to-do list. Of course, I am praying that will happen sooner than next Friday....
My case ended Tuesday afternoon and I made it back to Kensington in time for the afternoon VBS. It was fun and from there I went straight to Kids Club. Kids Club was a little chaotic with many visiting leaders, but in the end it worked out and I had a blast, as usual. Tuesday was also Kareem's birthday, so after Kids Club Brooke and I took him, along with several other teens, to see Oceans 13 to celebrate. It was a fun time, but we didn't get home until after midnight (all of the boys fell asleep on the car ride home).
I got up early this morning to get to staff prayer and then helped the group with their morning VBS. The morning VBS is for kids aged 3-5, and yesterday they only had 3 kids come. It was pouring down rain at 10 a.m. and I was worried that no kids would come. Instead we had 7 kids, the highest number all week! It was really fun playing with the kids and watching them have fun, so it was an enjoyable way to spend my morning.
After that VBS I had a few hours to make phone calls and get some things done before leaving to pick up Bonita, Linda, Pedro and Miguel for the afternoon VBS. I didn't stay for that one (Carisa is in charge of the afternoon VBS, I am in charge of the morning one), so I had about an hour to get stuff done before Prayer Pals.
Prayer Pals went really well and I had a lot of fun. After Prayer Pals, Brooke and I planned on eating dinner together and then relaxing for the night while we worked on Reading Rocks. We were actually looking forward to our first night off in at least 5 days. Our plans were quickly changed...
I went to take 2 Prayer Pals home, M and N, but no one was at their house. I finally got in touch with one of their brothers but he was going to the church to play basketball. I decided that it would probably be more fun for M and N to hang out with me rather than watching their brothers play basketball for a few hours. So, I kept them until basketball was over.
We ended up having a really fun night! The girls at dinner with us and we laughed a lot. After dinner we decided to get some ice cream and took A with us. A is a 4 year old boy that I have completely fallen in love with. (Paxton is still my favorite 5 yaer old, but A has become my favorite 4 year old!!!) His dad is really involved with the church and I love being able to help him out...not to mention I really really love A!!! A, M and N had all won a free trip to get ice cream at our last after-school challenge, and we all enjoyed them receiving their reward tonight! I can't remember laughing this much in a very long time!!!!
Brooke and I finally got the house to ourselves around 10. We still got a lot done, but not as much as we had planned, which I am trying to be okay with. I had a WONDERFUL night, and I know everything that I need to do will get done...and the stuff that doesn't is not the end of the world. Its times like this, though, that I sometimes wish I had one of those jobs where I could leave at the end of the day and not think about work until the next day. My "job" is definitely not like that, but the pros most definitely outweigh the cons.
Please be praying for me tomorrow. Tomorrow night is Teen Club and I have really been struggling with Teen Club recently. Teen Club is our teen outreach, so we don't always have the nicest or most respectful teens there. I need to see these teens through Christ's eyes and have Him fill me with His love and patience. If I try and do it out of myself...well, it isn't pretty.
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