Finally! An Update!

I know I haven't updated in a while, but honestly I have been so busy that I haven't even had time to think about what to write. There is just so much going on!

The Teen Camp ended and it was incredible!!! The teens have really been changed and I am so excited to see the fruit from what God has done. On Saturday, after everyone went home, however, I found myself getting depressed and questioning a lot from the week. Thankfully, I immediately recognized it as an attack from the enemy. This has happened to me every time I come home from a mission trip. Oh how Satan sucks! In fact, I talked to several of the teens on Sunday and they had been feeling the same way!!

Church on Sunday was incredible and the worship was the best we have ever had. It was so amazing. The teens have taken things to the next level and we as a church have no choice but to follow!!

This week is turning out to be a much busier week than I thought it would be. Several people from my home church are still here finishing up my kitchen...and so much more! They are fixing all the walls and painting them, refinishing the floors...and I wouldn't be surprised if they did something else crazy.

I'm going on 2 months of not being alone at all and it is starting to get to me. I have come to the realization that I am an introvert. Not an extreme introvert, I do enjoy being around people and at times am energized by them. However, I have my limits...and I have reached that limit. This Saturday my church leaves, we don't have a new group in and no one will be living in my house except me and Gizmo...I can't wait! :)

I don't anticipate getting real rest until after the mission trip. We have God's Girls next week and I am co-leading an AIM project, and we have the Reading Rocks Party on Thursday. Then we have a week to get ready for the mission trip, then there is the week of the mission trip and then staff retreat. We have so much momentum coming from the teens right now that I don't want to rest! I'm praying for the energy to really push through the next few weeks, cause I don't think God is finished!!!!

Awe Inspiring

I still don't have much to say, but I have more pictures. They say it all much better than I could...

No words to describe...

Okay, so I don't have much time, but I HAD to write because this week has been AMAZING!!! Both groups are incredible and God is rocking our worlds! I haven't spent as much time with the Ohio group, except when they have been running Reading Rocks and Kids Club... and doing a great job. They are working a lot with Frank at the Miracle House and they LOVE him. :) Thanks to Frank I don't have to do much for them. I have spent most of my time with my home church and the teens are we are seeing some incredible moves of God! I couldn't even put it into words if I wanted to!!!! So, here are some pictures:

They start their morning with devotions:

After devotions the different groups head out to do different service projects. The only group I have seen has been the one working on tearing apart my house (don't worry, they are going to put it back together next week). Here are some pictures of my house:

This is a before picture...

And now....

Here is another before...
And now...

Here is the ceiling in the kitchen and the floors in the living room...

After lunch they do team building activities:

From there we have some free time, dinner and then head back out as a whole group to play some crazy fun games. I don't have any pictures of the group games yet because I always play them, haha. But so far we have played Push Ball (each team tries to push a GIANT ball into the goal...so the 2 teams are pushing against each other) and Human Foosball (which I actually wasn't there for, but I heard it was hilarious).

After the game time we head back for worship and a message, both of which have been amazing all week. Last night I saw the spirit of god move in our teens like never before as they all surrounded one another and prayed for hours...literally hours. They worshipped God with all their hearts and sat in His presence. God's Spirit descended upon our church, and we were all changed. It was incredible!

Mostly Pictures...

I don't have a lot to write, but I have some fun pictures that I want to share with you! Reading Rocks continues to go really well and I am so in love with this program! If you remember, last week on Wednesday we did "Pastor Reading Day". Pastor Andy and Pastor did so well, the kids are still talking about the stories!














This week we had even more fun! We split the kids into 3 groups. Each group read a story and then made puppets of the characters. Once all the groups finished they each performed their puppet show story for the group. It was AWESOME!! The teens each took charge of a group and led the puppet making and story telling. They were great. They especially loved it when I referred to the groups as their "class". The kids did an amazing job at creating the puppets and the performances were wonderful. It was SO MUCH FUN!!! It worked out really well too because it rained on Wednesday, so we couldn't send them on the playground like usual. The puppets took up a good amount of time, so the kids were never bored.

Next week is the last week of Reading Rocks, and I am going to be so sad when its finished. I went over to Shannon's house today to see all the book bags and school supplies that we have, and this will definitely be the best year yet for the party! Pedro came today and earned 30 points, the minimum necessary to get invited to the party. Its actually a huge step for Pedro to even want to come...and the last 2 years he has earned barely 30 points over the entire summer, so 30 points in a day is awesome! Yay Pedro! Bonita is tied for first with 373 points. Unfortunately, she will be at camp all next week and won't be able to earn points. She really wanted to be first this year, but is okay with trying again next year. She worked so hard and I am SO proud of her!!

Today we also did some more Extreme Team stuff with the teens. Today was our Track and Field day. We spent the morning running, jumping, playing ultimate frisbee and then throwing water balloons. It was a really fun and I am so excited about all the teens that have been participating in the Extreme Team this summer. Most of the will be participating in the leadership camp next week, which should be amazing.
Speaking of next week, its almost here and I am TERRIFIED. Running 2 groups doing 2 completely different things, staying in 2 different buildings...there is just so much room for failure here. Its kind of a Catch-22 for me...if next week goes well I will know it is because of the incredible help I had (thank you again Hinson family and Brooke!), but if next week is a failure, I will take all the blame on myself. It is so easy for me to get caught up in logistics and especially what is expected of me and forget the God that is the center of all of this. Please pray for me throughout this week...I am already struggling with thinking that I have to do everything rather than simply trusting in Him. I am really struggling with people pleasing...I feel like (and this is probably all in my head) there is a lot expected of me in a million different areas and I don't want to fail anyone. I just need to remember what all of this is about...cause its definitely not me! :)

Some General Musings...

I don't have anything major to update, but I do have a few things that I wanted to share that will probably only be appreciated by people that really like me. So, if you only sorta like me...or don't like me at all, you can stop reading now. :)

So, I sprained my wrist a few weeks ago and its gotten pretty bad. I think I did it when I fell at the church picnic (my wrists kept my face from hitting the ground, haha). Anyway, later that day I played volleyball for several hours, apparently aggravating the injury. Since then I have just kind of ignored the growing pain as I picked up kids, played more volleyball, climbed rocks, etc. Unfortunately, I have pushed it too far and I can no longer really use my right hand. I am positive nothing is broken, I can still move all my fingers. But, for now my right hand is useless...and in a lot of pain.

The funny part about this story is that about a month ago I decided it would be really cool if I was left-handed. I don't know why, but I think lefties are cool and I want to be one. So, I started practicing writing with my left hand. Seriously. I took notes with my left hand, wrote in my journal, even signed for things with my left hand. Who knew I would soon actually have to write with my left hand?!? My handwriting is still very childish, but it is legible. :) Despite being much cooler now that I am a pseudo lefty, I am icing my hand at night and looking forward to using my right hand again soon. I love to write, and its much more tedious with my left hand.

I am very ready for Carisa to come home. Things are going really well and I don't feel overly stressed out (although I am extremely busy), but I just hate leading things! I love being behind the scenes and being able to help make things happen...I love having Carisa lead things while I do whatever she needs me to. We work well that way, and I'm ready to get back to that. :)

Despite being really ready for Carisa to come home, the last week and a half have gone much better than I expected them to. Sunday School was the thing I was most worried about, it generally doesn't go well when Carisa isn't leading it. To my surprise, though, this week it went very well. I actually enjoyed it, which usually doesn't happen when I am leading it.

Reading Rocks has also gone really well with at least 20 kids each day. The teens have been coming consistently and I have really enjoyed watching them interact with the kids. I have also gotten the chance to read with kids each day, which is always fun. I just can't believe that we have over 50 kids that have chosen to spend their summer days reading books with us! I'm sad that next week is the last week, but also pretty excited about the party coming in August!

My time with the teens is going GREAT as well!! I am meeting with several for mentorship and I am seeing such a hunger for God! We have several young believers in God Squad that are so hungry for God, and its so amazing! We also have several teens that think they know everything and have become very complacent in their faith, and I am hoping these "younger" teens (some are older in age, just younger in Christ) will set our "older" teens on fire.

Next week is going to be INSANE, and preparing for it has become pretty intense as well. My home church, Grace Covenant, will be here running a leadership camp for our teens. We will have 2o of our teens, along with 15 of their teens staying at the church participating in service projects, challenge events, spiritual challenges and amazing teaching and worship. While this is going on, we have another group of about 20 staying at another church building doing work projects, running Reading Rocks and doing other outreaches as well as prayer walks and anything else we need. I am in charge of BOTH groups. I have a lot of help (praise God for the Hinsons and Brooke), but its still going to be a lot of work. I am so excited about both groups, though, so it will all be worth it!

Starting Sunday I am moving out of my house for 2 weeks. I will be staying at the church for the leadership camp next week along with the teens, and the following week I will be staying with my friend Chris while my kitchen is demolished and rebuilt. My friend Shera is babysitting Gizmo so he won't be in the way. :) Bonita, Linda and M also leave for camp this Sunday, so I have to get all of us packed up...adding to the busyness of this week. After my kitchen is finished we will be heading into the week of God's Girls, then mission trip planning (I am supposed to prepare VBS, which I haven't even begun to think about), followed by the mission trip and then staff retreat. I am looking forward to every single one of those things, but I am also excited to get through all of that and hopefully visit my family for a little bit of rest. I don't want to call it the light at the end of the tunnel because I don't feel like I am in the tunnel...I guess it will be the icing on the cake.

Okay, it has taken me a ridiculously long time to type this with only my left hand...good night!

Now I'm Extreme!!

Today I participated on probably the craziest hike of my life. And I finished it! I doubt I will ever do it again, haha, but I did it! I, along with 3 other leaders and 19 teenagers from Philadelphia completed one of the hardest climbs of our lives!

We left the church around 8:00 this morning (we would have left earlier but Dario took a very long time finding his shoes) and drove to Blue Rock Camp Grounds, about an hour and a half away. I was under the impression that we were going to go on a somewhat leisurely hike for a few hours and then swim for a little while before heading home. I was wrong.

We started the day with a boulder climb. Yes, we climbed up a mountain of boulders. Here is a picture from the bottom looking up...

You can't even see the top from this picture. The climb took about 45 minutes each way. Some people went slower than others, but we all completed it. There were a few minor falls, but nothing serious. We were all just so excited to complete it!!

From there we ate lunch and we assumed that we would head to the pool afterwards. Instead, there was another hike planned. We decided to split into 2 groups...one would go on an easier 2 mile hike while the other would head up the mountain on about a 4.5 mile hike. I asked if there was any difference between the two hikes besides that distance and was told that there really wasn't. I was pretty energized from the boulder climb so I thought I could handle a 4 mile hike...plus I really wanted to be extreme. :)

It wasn't long after we started the extreme hike before I realized that there was more than a distance difference between the 2 hikes. The first mile and a half of the extreme hike was straight up! I am not exaggerating at all...we were going straight up! It was the steepest climb I have ever done!! Many of us were surprised at the severity of the climb and thought about turning back several times, but decided to push through. I did not move fast, I rested often...but I made it. We all did!! It was hard, we pushed through and made it to the top of the mountain. And the view....

As we were climbing the mountain (when we weren't out of breath), we had some incredible conversations about God. "How do you get anywhere in your spiritual life? You struggle". That is a quote from Jonerik's last sermon that has been ringing in my head for the last few days. I thought about it a lot recently as I struggled with my sin, and I thought about it today as I struggled up the mountain.

Neither struggle was pretty, and I wasn't too excited that people we watching me struggle. I would have much rather gotten to the top of the mountain without anyone seeing how hard it was for me to get there. However, when I got to the top...when I saw the incredible beauty before me the struggle didn't matter any more, and neither did the fact that people watched me struggle.

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" ~Hebrews 12:2

I want to get somewhere in my spiritual life...I want to get to the top of the mountain and behold the glory that awaits me there. How do I get there? I struggle. But I will make it. :)

The Weight of Sin

Today has been a rough day. I am sinful. I am full of sin, and a ton of it came out today. It was gross, ugly, and hurtful.

I have been feeling the weight of that sin all day. Usually I try and push that weight off. I don't like feeling the weight of my own sin. I can usually justify brushing over my sin...I am busy and I don't have time to sit under the weight. If I allowed myself to truly feel the weight then I wouldn't be able to get things done, and I always have to get things done.

Today, though, was my day off. I didn't have anything to do but feel the weight.

There is a difference between this and condemnation. I don't feel like a horrible irredeemable person, but I do feel like crap. I AM redeemable; but I need to be redeemed. What I have done needs to be redeemed.

As I felt the weight of my sin I picked up the CS Lewis book, "Weight of Glory". There is an entire section called "Forgiveness" and I headed straight there.

There is no excuse for what I have done. Often times I have an excuse, "Things are hard...", "I have a lot going on...", etc. This time, though, I have no excuse. I-in myself-sinned. I do it much more often than I realize, but today I realized it. Actually, someone else realized it and pointed it out to me, and he was right.

"Real forgiveness means looking steadily at the sin, the sin that is left over without any excuse, after all the allowances have been made, and seeing it in all its horror, dirt, meanness and malice, and nevertheless being wholly reconciled to the man who has done it. That, and only that, is forgiveness, and that we can always have from God if we ask for it" ~CS Lewis

I spent much of my day looking at that sin, and so many others in my life. It wasn't exactly fun, but it was freeing. God's mercy is very readily available, thank God. But, I don't want to stay in the sin rut. I want my mind transformed, my heart made more like His. I know I will never be sinless, but I don't have to continually struggle with the same sins. And, I definitely don't have to keep hurting people.

Another thing that I have been examining are the places of unforgiveness in my own heart. It is very sad to say that it takes my desperate need to be forgiven to realize places in my heart where I need to forgive; but that's what happened.

"To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you. This is hard. It is perhaps not so hard to forgive a single great injury. But, to forgive the incessant provocations of daily life- to keep on forgiving the bossy mother-in-law, the bullying husband, the nagging wife, the selfish daughter, the deceitful son-how can we do it? Only, I think, by remembering where we stand by meaning our words when we say our prayers each night, "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us". We are offered forgiveness on no other terms. To refuse it is to refuse God's mercy for ourselves. There is no hint of exceptions and God means what He says" ~CS Lewis

To refuse to forgive is to refuse to accept God's forgiveness. There is no other way.

I need to forgive. I need to be forgiven. I need to stop sinning. All 3 of those things go hand in hand.

Lord, help me to be vigilant in my walk; to seek your face and your glory. I choose to feel the weight of your glory over the weight of my sin. Thank you Lord for forgiving me...for redeeming me.

Heartbreak

So, other than the up and down chaos of the camp situation, it appears that my week has been pretty good. And, it has been. However, this post is one of the most devastating for me to write.

Today around 1:00 p.m. I got a phone call from one of our God's Girls. She was calling to tell me that last night she was caught by her father about to have sex with a 13 year old boy. She is 12. I was speechless. I still am.

The story has changed several times and I think her embarrassment started to take over. Originally she was claiming rape, but now admits it was consensual. Praise the Lord they we caught before they had gone too far, but just barely.

She likes the boy and really wanted him to like her. At 12 she decided that this was the only way to get him to like her. She is devastated. She is embarrassed. She is hurt.

The situation is a complicated one. The boy was a friend of her brother's who is very involved with our church. The girl, D, is very involved as well...as is her brother and MANY of her family members (5 of our most solid teen guys are a part of her family). So far there has been no retaliation toward the boy. I pray that it stays that way.

His story is different from hers and I still don't know exactly what happened. What I do know, however, is that there is a 12 year old girl that is so desperate for love and acceptance that she was willing to give herself away for even the tiniest hint at love.

I know this is a huge struggle for a lot of women. The struggle to be loved is a fight every girl fights, and too often they accept the poor substitute of lust and passion for the unconditional and never ending love of Christ. I know she is not the first to fall into this trap, and she won't be the last.

It will always hurt to see this happen. Carisa and I have always said that if any of our God's Girls get pregnant as a teenager we will be devastated. We know it will probably happen someday, but that doesn't make it easy. Even if it happened 20 times, it will never be easy.

This was the first time for us. We are devastated. We are heartbroken. We weren't prepared for this (I don't think we ever could be). She is only 12.

I am Loving the Teens!!

My ministry with the teen girls has sky rocketed this week, which is a huge answer to prayer! Monday night at God Squad, the girls in my group all opened up and were really honest with what is going on in their lives. We had the best discussion that I think we have ever had. It was amazing!

Over the last few months I have really struggled with the teens, especially my God Squad group. They wouldn't open up at all and it was like pulling teeth just to get them to talk. This week, however, was completely the opposite. All of the girls expressed a real desire to grow closer to God and they agreed that they will have to really work at it...and part of that includes being honest with one another. I can't wait until God Squad next week!

One of the girls, MC (who actually isn't in my group but I have been getting close to) had an amazing breakthrough this week. She has 2 jobs so she can't come to a lot of the events that we have, but she comes to church and God Squad faithfully. She has really been growing and seeking to grow even more. Unfortunately, she had her mom don't get along well and her mom doesn't really approve of her involvement in church. I approached her about meeting with me for discipleship this summer and she got really excited. I gave her a book to go through and we made a plan to meet next week. We prayed for her mom and that God would change her heart and I even made a plan to meet her mom next week when we meet.

Well, God decided to answer our prayer right away! MC went home from God Squad that night and showed her mom the book I gave her (Pastor Andy put it together and its a wonderful discipleship tool) and tole her mom that she was working with a mentor for the summer. That simple act from MC led to an incredible conversation where her mom admitted that she didn't like MC going to church because she thought she was only going to be with her boyfriend (who also attends God Squad). When her mom realized that she was pursuing this on her own she got very excited and fully supports her!!!! How amazing is God?!?!?!?

MC called me on Tuesday so excited about what happened and she is now even more motivated to deepen her relationship with God. I have really been praying that God would raise up some amazing women of God from within God Squad, and He is definitely doing that!!! Please pray for MC, C, and L...the three girls that I will be mentoring this summer. They are so beautiful and wonderful, and I want to make sure they know that!!

Reading Really Does Rock!

Reading Rocks has been going really well all summer. In fact, its been going so much better than we ever thought it would! We have over 50 kids on the roster and haven't had any less than 20 kids come on a given day. Sometimes we have close to 30!

One of the best parts about Reading Rocks is that Carisa and I do it together. When I first came on staff with Cornerstone the plan was for me and Carisa to work together on almost everything. Because of many different things it hasn't really worked out that way. The result is not exactly what I expected, but its still great! Nonetheless, I always enjoy the things that Carisa and I do get to do together. I learn so much from her and really enjoy working with her. We work really well together.

I was pretty nervous about this week, though, because Carisa is out of town. In fact, she will be out of town for 2 weeks, which means I am running Reading Rocks alone. Well, not really alone...we actually have a lot of help from the teens...but I'm always nervous about running things without Carisa around.

Thankfully, I am very happy to report that Reading Rocks has been wonderful this week!!! Kids area earning points like crazy and I am amazed at how much they love the program and are growing in their reading skills. Wednesday was my favorite day so far.

On Wednesdays we do special reading events at the church instead of the normal read and earn points. This week we did a "Pastor Reading Time" and it was AWESOME!! Pastor Bill read the kids some of his favorite poems and they loved them. He did funny voices and was very animated, and wonderful. The teens really enjoyed his story time as well! He even kept little A's attention the entire time, which I don't think has ever been done before! :) Pastor Andy read an amazing book with great parallels to Christ and the kids really enjoyed figuring out what each character in the story represented. It was so great to watch the light bulbs go off as they realized that they were like some of the characters in the story and that God had a special message for them. It was GREAT!!!

The only really hard part has been all the questions I am getting from kids about after-school. Reading Rocks reminds them of after-school and they keep asking when it will start up again. I don't have the heart yet to explain to them that it isn't going to happen so I just keep telling them we will have to just wait and see what happens.

Another plus is that for the first time in 3 years of the program, Bonita and Linda are fully participating. In the past they have come once or twice but that's it. Now Bonita is on contention to be the top points earner and Linda isn't far behind (she would be even closer to Bonita if she didn't sit with M every day...they tend to distract each other). :)

She's going to camp!!

The craziest story of the week has a happy ending, thank goodness! Yesterday at staff prayer J mentioned trying to get an extra scholarship for one of our pre-teens to go to camp. I suggested M and even said that I would be willing to pay full price for her to be able to go. I have really enjoyed watching her blossom over the last few months, and recently she and Linda have become really close, which is so great for both of them. So, the idea of M going to camp with Bonita and Linda was so exciting.

J said that if we were able to pay full price then it shouldn't be a problem at all to get M in. Unfortunately, in my excitement I assumed way too much and it came back to bite me. I immediately called M and went to her house to get all the forms signed. She was SO excited! By the time I got to her house she had already told her neighbors all about it. :)

About 20 minutes later J got a phone call that camp was full next week. I was devastated and knew that there was no way I would be able to tell M that she couldn't go to camp. I immediately started praying as J tried to find another solution. We found out that there were plenty of spaces available the following week and I decided to switch Bonita and Linda to that week so that M wouldn't be at camp alone. (J, another girl from our church, will be at camp next week. This will be her 3rd year at camp, though, so she will be okay without Bonita and Linda).

Then we got a call that the camp the following week was for 7th-9th graders. Linda is going into the 7th grade, but Bonita is going into 6th and M is going into 5th. M is actually turning 12 in September and should be going into 7th, she is just 2 years behind. We asked for special permission for Bonita and M to be allowed to go the 2nd week, but we had to wait for the camp to make the decision.

All day yesterday different scenarios ran through my head (I'm a big time planner). What do I do if M can't go at all? What if we can only switch Linda to the 2nd week? Can Bonita and Linda go on different weeks? How in the world am I going to tell the most excited 11 year old girl in the world that she can't go to camp?

Thankfully, none of those questions had to be answered. We found out today that Bonita, Linda and M will all be about to go to camp the 2nd week!!! THANK YOU JESUS!!!!!! Bonita and Linda are a little upset that they have to wait an extra week before they get to go, but they will be alright. Another exciting piece of news is that Linda will be allowed to go for the entire time! She has summer school and is only allowed to miss 3 days. Camp will make her miss 4. Today we also got special permission from her principal for Linda to miss 4 days and still be able to pass.

God loves these girls SO MUCH!!!!

He's Back!

One of the most exciting things of the week for me has been the return of Dario!!! Dario is Bonita and Linda's oldest brother and used to be very involved with things. After the kids moved out of my house Dario slowly drifted away and wasn't around much. I would invite him to church and God Squad, but he rarely came. In fact, I have hardly seen him in the last 2 years.

I didn't realize how much I missed him until he started coming around again. He has really grown up and is a very sweet and kind boy (almost man I suppose). He still loves cars and motorcycles, and has grown up SO much!! I have enjoyed him so much and I am praying that he will stay around. He came to God Squad on Monday night and the Teen swim party tonight. His best friend backed out of coming to the swim party, but Dario came anyway! We have an Extreme Hike planned for Saturday that he is planning on attending. He has also signed up for the Teen Leadership Camp that my home church is hosting in a few weeks, and I can't wait!

I really love him so much and I can't wait to see what God has in store for him. Please pray that he will continue in his faith and stay strong!! He has made a few friends so far, but the one he is closest to will be leaving for college on the fall. Please pray that he will make some other friends that will help him stay involved and on the right path.

A Roller Coaster

The last few days have been a crazy roller coaster of emotions for me. There have been many amazing highs in ministry, but also some very difficult lows. I think it might be too much to put into one blog entry, so I'm going to split it up. So, the next few posts will all be everything that's been going on for the last few days. I hope you can follow. :)

Fun Fun Fun!!

This is a picture of Ashely, Jenna and Brooke drinking Shirley Temples at a restaurant in Washington DC. What a fun weekend! We left Friday morning to head to DC for the day and had a blast. When we arrived we ate lunch and then headed to the Holocaust Museum (the purpose of our trip). It was AMAZING and I highly recommend it for everyone. It took us over 2 hours to go through it, and we didn't finish. Each of us walked through it at our own pace and just met up at the end. It was incredible. I learned so much and afterwards we all went back to the hotel and just spent time journaling what we had seen.

Brooke's dad was in DC with his youth group and had an extra hotel room, so that is where we stayed for the night. The 4 of us went to a great dinner (where we drank Shirley Temples, haha) and then spent the rest of the evening hanging out in the hotel (it had a pool on the roof). We all really enjoy one another so much and we have SO MUCH FUN!!!

We left DC at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday to get back to Philly and head to the church picnic for the day. It went from 11 a.m.-8 p.m. and Brooke and I were there the entire time...along with Bonita, Linda, Dario, Luis, Pedro, M, and N. It was a BLAST! The girls literally spent 4 hours in the pool while the boys enjoyed exploring the woods and catching many various creatures. (The kid on the far left of the picture is Lindo, Dario's best friend).
It was REALLY nice to have Dario around for the day, I miss him so much. He is really growing up, and I am proud of the man he is becoming. He said that he wants to be more involved in church and I am going to pick him up for God Squad tomorrow, I really hope he comes.


We ate lunch and dinner at the picnic as well as played tons of games and really enjoyed one another. Tons of people from church were there and it was a really fun day. I loved it. It was also exhausting and we all pretty much collapsed when we got home. Bonita, Linda, M and N spent the night with me and while they planned on staying up late, it didn't happen. Despite the early bed time, though, we were all still very tired today. It was a full weekend!!
Today also turned out to be a great day, though very unexpected. Sunday School and church went well and although the girls wanted to spend the day with me again, I needed to sleep!! So, after church I took the kids home and then went home to take a nap. It ended up being a pretty long nap, but it felt SO GOOD!! When I got up I realized that I still had N's purse at my house and I had promised to take it to her. Brooke and I got in the car to go by her house and then get ice cream, but we never actually made it to get ice cream.

When we pulled up I got out to give N her purse and several kids came running to me. Some other kids that I love live next door to M and N and they were outside playing when I arrived. L and A are cousins and L was looking very sad when we arrived. She shared with me that her mom had a new boyfriend and she didn't like him, but she had to go to his house every weekend, which meant that she couldn't come to church, which she really didn't like. She also said that she was supposed to be going to summer school but her mom wouldn't take her and she was afraid she was going to fail. She looked so sad that Brooke and I decided to park the car and hang out for a while.

We ended up staying for over an hour and having so much fun!! I offered to take L to summer school, but her mom said no so we are praying that she will be able to pass anyway (that has happened to Bonita and Linda before...the dysfunction of the Philadelphia school system can work to our advantage!). M and N were down the street in a water fight with some other kids, but came and hung out with us when they saw we were there. The kids performed dances for us and just acted silly and laughed a lot. We took lots of pictures, but they are on Brooke's camera, so I will have to post them later. Other kids, B and J, came out and played with us for a while too and we all loved it. I am SO glad that we went by there and I hope I will have the time to do that often. All of the kids told me that they wished I lived on their street, haha. Honestly, I kinda do too...Bonita and Linda would love to play with them all the time, and I would love to see them all the time!

This week shouldn't be too busy, but surprises seem to always come up. Carisa is out of town for the next 2 weeks, but I think I can keep things together for that long. I have found myself really struggling with jealousy and anger recently and I NEED to take time to spend with the Lord. It has become very easy for me to focus on the things that are hard and only those things. I miss my family a lot and I am jealous of the people that get to see theirs. My family is having a hard time right now and I really wish I could go home and help them out. My dad is living in Washington, NC trying to find a house for him and my mom while my mom is still in South Boston, VA trying to sell that house. Then there is the packing and moving, combined with the stress of my parents living in different states. I know it is so hard on them and I hate that I can't go and help...but there is just no way I can leave Philly any time soon. It has become very easy for me to focus on myself and find many things to be upset or angry about, and I hate that. That leads me to not liking myself and its just not a good cycle to be in. I don't like feeling this way and I need it to change. So, despite my busyness I am really seeking to spend a lot of good time with the Lord. Brooke is going out of town on Thursday and won't be back until Saturday night. I am turning everything off on Friday and just hanging out with Jesus. I can't wait!

Happy Birthday!

I had a very happy birthday...for the last 3 days! The celebration started Monday night with an awesome dinner at the Schultz's (with AMAZING cupcakes). Tuesday was my actual birthday and while I had to work most of the day (Reading Rocks and Family Night) I still had a lot of fun. I got a lot of birthday wishes and even had the teen guys sing me Happy Birthday in 3 part harmony. :)

After Family Night, several of us went over to my friend Chris' house to eat ice cream and play games. We stayed until 2 a.m. and had a blast!

Since I had to work most of yesterday, we decided to "officially" celebrate my birthday today. I woke up to orange pancakes for breakfast and got to take it easy around the house all morning. Around lunch time; Shera, Brooke, J and I headed out to a buffet lunch (at one of my favorite buffets) and then went to see the movie Transformers. I have been waiting for months to see that movie, and it was so worth it! I LOVED it!!!

After the movie we just hung out for a while before ending the night with my mashed potato cake (which you see pictured above). It tastes SO GOOD! We had planned on going to watch fireworks, but they got rained out, which was okay with me. I didn't mind staying in.

I also got a lot of wonderful presents and cards. My parents sent me a "Magic Bullet" juicer and blender (that I love!). Chris gave me a sympathy card about elephants that made me laugh so hard I cried. Brooke made me a cookbook (with recipes to be included later, hehe) and Shera made these awesome pillows for me. (I think the "Kiss Me I'm Irish" shirts really look like, "Kiss Me I'm Trish", so I have always wanted a shirt that said that, haha)

So, in all it has been a fun few days. I have also been spending a lot more time with 2 of my favorite kids, M and N. They have recently memorized my phone number, so I hear from them a lot. They both remembered my birthday and got me a card and some candles. The card almost made me cry...they wrote "To our favorite god mom who cares about us". Apparently I am slowly becoming god mother to all the kids in church, haha. I am currently god mom to Dario, Luis, Linda, Bonita, Pedro, Miguel...and now M and N. Whew!

M also showed me her final report card, and I was so surprised!! Her grades improved dramatically between the 2nd and 3rd grading periods, the exact time she joined after-school. Her reading grade went from an F to a C, and she went from being on a 3rd grade reading level to a 5th grade reading level (she was in the 4th grade). All of her grades went up and she was able to avoid summer school; and even have almost all A's and B's! I am so proud of her!!

Seeing her report card made me pretty sad to not be having after-school in the fall. With my new job I know for sure now that there is no way that I will be able to continue, but I am praying about other options.

Right now I am strongly leaning toward doing a teen tutor program where I will have open tutoring hours for teens to come and get help. Jeff, J and Pastor Andy have all expressed interest in being a part of something like that. It will be nice because the teens will only come if they want to, and I won't have a program to plan. In light of today, I think I might see if one day a week I can do something similar for kids. For example, if it was a day that both Jeff and J were tutoring teens, I would be available for kids. Really the only kids that I am concerned about are Bonita, Linda, Pedro, M and N (Miguel doesn't really need help). I can handle helping them once a week...We'll see what happens though.

Tomorrow its back to life as usual. Friday I am heading to Washington DC with Brooke, Jenna and Ashley and we are all SO excited. We have tickets to the Holocaust Museum and a free hotel room for the night! Brooke's dad will be there with his youth group and they had an extra room, so we are taking it. We have to head back to Philly early on Saturday though because its the church picnic!! I am taking ALL of my kids and I am so excited. We go to a place with a pool and tons of other things to do and its always a fun and relaxing day.

I try to be extreme...

Today was the Extreme Team Bike Hike and I discovered just how NOT extreme I really am. :) Now, keep in mind that I haven't ridden a bike since last summer. I go running regularly and am getting better at it, but biking uses different muscles...muscles that I only exercise when I am lifting weights, which is a much shorter amount of time than an hour long bike ride!

I approached this hike thinking I would do pretty well. Like I said, I have been running and building up my endurance. I did pretty well on this same hike last year, and I had hoped to be even better this year. Alas, it was not to happen. See, last year I started going on bike rides for fun around February or March, so I had been riding for 4 months before the Bike Hike. Not this year. Today was the first time I had gotten on a bike since about August of last year.

Not only did I get on a bike today, but it rode it for 12 miles. I went very slow and was one of the last to finish (although I wasn't TOO far behind), but I did finish it. And I had a lot of fun...although I am having a hard time walking up stairs now. :) The Bike Hike was really about the teens, though, and they all seemed to have a lot of fun as well. It was a BEAUTIFUL day, probably the most perfect day for a bike ride ever. We rode at a state park with beautiful little waterfalls and incredible nature everywhere. It really was a great day!

The Bike Hike came after a crazy morning for me. Kaira started summer school today and I took her to make sure she was registered and had everything she needed. I planned on dropping her off at 8 and being home by 8:20 at the latest. That didn't happen. The school had messed up and not given any kids their room assignments, so we all had to stand in line to get them. However, there as no master list of classes, so each student's name had to be typed into the computer to find their class. There were only 2 people in the office working on this. I finally left Linda around 9:00 (the exact time I was supposed to meet for the Bike Hike) and I was assured that she would find her class. There were a lot of very angry parents there, I was glad to leave.

In other exciting news, I got a job!!! AIM was looking for someone to help with some administrative things and offered me a part time paid (not support raised) position where I can work from home doing something similar to what I did before when I worked for them. I will have to keep strict office hours, but I can travel and work (I can work from my parents' house when I go to visit them, for example). I will get to do a lot of the things that I loved about my job before, which I am really excited about. I honestly can't think of a better job, and I am SO excited! I am still praying that my support level will rise and I will be able to really save a lot of the money I will make with AIM. I'm really okay with whatever God has though.

I am a bit nervous about getting overworked...working a 20-25 hour a week part time job in addition to everything that I do at church. I have been learning a lot about perseverance, running the race and hard work recently, though, and I think the Lord is preparing me. In fact, tonight at God Squad we learned about Ruth and we talked a lot about how hard she worked collecting grain everyday for her and her mother-in-law. She worked all day every day taking very few breaks so that she could be prosperous. Her hard work is what got her noticed by Boaz, her eventual redeemer. So, I am praying for the strength and endurance I need for this upcoming season of my life!

Speaking of changing seasons...tomorrow I turn 27. Its crazy. All my life I assumed that I would be married by 27, possibly even with children. How did I end up here? Why in the world was this the plan that God chose for me? Why me? Why am I so blessed?