The Weekend

This weekend was really good, although it went by so fast! I left for Virginia Saturday afternoon and arrived around midnight. I stayed with the Sipher's, my second family. They are the family that first took me to church, and picked me up EVERY Sunday until I could drive myself. They are the reason that I am even a Christian, much less a missionary! I didn't get much time to talk when I first arrived, I was exhausted and went straight to sleep.

The next morning I got up and went to church. It was a great day to be at church! We had several families leaving for different places (Sudan, Congo and the Philippines) and one family just returning from China. It was missions Sunday, and we didn't even plan it! It really made me feel like a part of the community at the church and was such a blessing. I got the chance to share a little bit about what God is doing in Philly and everyone was so encouraging and excited. It was great!

After church I decided to try and surprise my grandmother. I haven't visited her in a while, and she was very surprised and happy to see me. We had a GREAT visit and I hope I can get back there again soon. Its hard since my parents don't live there anymore...

I ended the day with dinner at the Sipher's house with another friend Daniel. I really enjoyed being there and actually felt very refreshed when I left, despite the shortness of the visit. On my way back to Philly I stopped by another friend's house to talk through their trip to Philly this summer and didn't end up getting on the road until after 9. That put me back in Philly at 4 a.m.!!!! I went straight to bed and slept in until noon. It felt great. :)

This week is going to be a full week, but not nearly as busy as last week. I can get a lot of work done at home, which I really enjoy. Of course, my house is pretty messy because of the chaos of last week, so I think I need to take care of that first. I'll probably start on that tomorrow... :)

The Most Fun Day EVER!!!!

I have to say, the trip to Hershey Park was one of the best ideas that I have ever had!!! We had SO MUCH FUN!!!! There were 16 of us and we all left the park (after being there for 10 hours!), excited and feeling great about the day. Everyone had a blast and it seriously was one of the most fun days I can remember in my life!!!

Things didn't start out well as I was having a lot of problems getting vans for us to use to get there. I finally ended up renting one, but that even became a fiasco as the rental car company and priceline made mistakes that I am still working through.

Nonetheless, I got vans and drivers and at 8 a.m. we all met at the Hope House to leave for Hershey Park. Because of some drama (Linda forgot her bathing suit and some people were a little late), we didn't get on the road until about 8:45, but that was still okay. It was about a 2 hour drive to get there, and we didn't hit any traffic!! We decided to hit the water park in the morning, then go eat lunch and do the roller coasters in the afternoon.

As we headed to the water park we realized that we would need lockers for the morning, so we ended up spending $32 just on lockers to hold our stuff! That took up a little time for the leaders, so the kids decided to stand near one of the water coasters and get themselves splashed. They all got soaked. :)

The water park consists of a giant water playground with 7 water slides, and several other water rides that require inner tubes. We spent a while at the water playground before deciding to try one of the water rides. It worked out that we had one leader for every kid, which was PERFECT for the day! We each paired up, grabbed an inner tube and got in line. We had to wait in line for a little while, but it wasn't too bad, and it turned out to be the longest line of the day, which was awesome.

Before we got on any of the rides we measured the kids to see what rides they would be allowed on. The measuring system had the little kids as kisses, then Reece's, Hershey's, Twizzler's and the tallest were jolly ranchers. Paxton, Natasha and Miguel were all Reece's, Pedro was a Hershey's, Bonita and Adriana were Twizzler's and Linda was a Jolly Rancher. There were tons of rides for each height, which was awesome (I know I keep saying that things were awesome, but that's because they were!)

So, the water ride was our first official ride of the day. Frank, Brooke and I were all paired up with our Reece's crew, so we went on one slide while the other guys went on a different one. Our slide was still very exciting and made my heart race a bit! All of the kids LOVED their slide, but didn't really want to wait in line again. Plus, they were all getting hungry...and a bit cranky.

So, we started to get in line for one last water ride and then go to lunch when we realized that the wait was over an hour. It wasn't worth it for us, so we decided to go on the Falls Ride. That's where everyone is in a big boat that goes up a hill and then drops you down a waterfall, soaking everyone on the ride and the people watching. Our Reece's crew couldn't get on that ride, so Frank took them to a sandcastle water playground until we were finished. We all REALLY loved the falls and it was a fun thing to do as a group. I was a little nervous about our skinny kids flying out, haha, but they survived. We laughed so much together on that ride!

From that ride we headed back out to the vans to eat lunch. We were all SO hot, SO tired and SO hungry! The kids were getting really cranky at this point and I was starting to think we were just going to have to head home (it was already 3:00). Thankfully, lunch seemed to change everything and afterwards we were all ready for more fun. (Poor Frank, though, was exhausted. He had stayed in the park to eat lunch with Paxton before realizing that he had the keys to the van that had our lunches in it! So after eating, he put Paxton on his shoulders and ran through the park to get to us so we could have the keys. He actually made it to us before we even had time to notice we needed the keys!!!).

At lunch we worked out a game plan for the rest of the day. We split the kids (and leaders) into 3 different groups. We had the "Wild and Crazy" group, led by Joy, Kirsten and Jenna. That group was going to go on all the big, crazy and fast roller coasters. Next we had the "Middle of the Road" crew, led by me, Brooke and Kareem. We were going to go on some roller coasters and have fun, but not necessarily all the crazy ones. Finally, we had the "Little Ones" group, led by Frank and Lindsay that would ride the kid rides and stick to the more tame things. Linda, Monique and Pedro joined the Wild and Crazy group; Bonita, Adriana and Miguel were the Middle of the Road crew, and Natasha and Paxton were the little ones. (Miguel should have actually gone with the little ones, but he is terrified of heights and they were heading to the Ferris Wheel first, so he stuck with us and just sat out of rides that were too scary for him). We all decided to meet up at a "Wild and Crazy" ride at 7:00 so that Frank, Kareem, Brooke and I would at least get to ride one really fun roller coaster. The "Wild and Crazy" group was responsible for deciding which ride was the wildest and then letting up know so we could all meet there.

So, we all split off and every group had a BLAST!!!!! The Wild and Crazy group rode 7 roller coasters and loved all of them. There was only one that Pedro wasn't allowed on, and he handled it SO WELL! Actually, he shouldn't have been allowed on another one, the Storm Runner, but the guy at the front of the line didn't want to turn him away after he waited in the long line, so he let Pedro on...which was so great because it turned out to be Pedro's favorite ride of the day!

My crew had a really really great time. Miguel was able to ride every ride that he wanted to, although since he is so scared of heights, he didn't want to ride too many, haha. We did ride the Pirate Ship, which rocks you back and forth really high in the air. We realized a little too late that this was going to be a really scary ride for Miguel, so he spent the entire time with his head buried in my arm asking when the ride was going to be over. He survived, although as soon as he got off he commented, "never again in my life!!". I told him I was really proud of him for making it through the ride though, and he spent the rest of the day telling people that I had been so proud of him. :) He also commented that he was Wild and Crazy because he went on the pirate ship, haha.

We rode a few other fun rides (swings, etc) before we got to the Comet. It looked like a simple roller coaster, but Miguel was still shaking from the Pirate Ship, so I stayed back with him and played some games while the others went on it. Turns out, the Comet has a few pretty big hills that made it a pretty scary ride, though it was also a lot of fun! Kareem's heart was racing when he got off, haha. Right next to the Comet was the Super Dooper Looper, which the Wild and Crazy crew had told us was really fun and not too scary (although it does go upside down). Miguel again wanted no part of it, but Adriana and Bonita were willing to try it. This time Brooke stayed back with Miguel and the rest of us got on it. We were actually pretty nervous about it; it was our first big roller coaster of the day, and it did not have any shoulder harnesses. Bonita decided at the last second (literally) that she didn't want to ride it any more, but it was too late to get off and I assured her that she would have fun. Thankfully, I was right! We all loved it! In fact, we decided to ride it again, and since there was no line we got back on almost immediately. The second time Bonita even opened her eyes when we went upside down!

When we got off the ride we were a bit dizzy and wanted to sit for a few minutes. Unfortunately, Miguel had discovered the Tilt-a-Whirl and wanted to ride it over and over again. We were all still recovering, so he rode it by himself once before finally talking Kareem and Bonita into riding it with him, for his 3rd time.

From there we headed to the Log Flume (called the Coal Cracker at Hershey Park), which is mine and Bonita's favorite ride to ride together at amusement parks. It is a water ride, but you don't get too wet and its a lot of fun. Brooke didn't want to get wet at all, so she didn't ride it, but we actually talked Miguel into riding it with us. He sat in the front of the log with Kareem and I sat in the back with Adriana and Bonita. It was another really fun ride that we all loved, and decided to ride again (again, there was no line!). Miguel wasn't going to go on it again, but finally decided that it wasn't too scary, so we all 5 rode together again. This was one of the rides where they take your picture while you are going down the drop, and we all had such fun looks on our faces that I bought the picture (Miguel kept his head down, so you can only see the top of his head in the picture, which to me made it priceless). After the Log Flume, we had just enough time to drive some old timey cars around a track before we were supposed to meet everyone at the Storm Runner for our last ride and then head home.

Unfortunately, a storm started coming through and they shut down all of the roller coasters so it didn't look like we were going to get to ride the Storm Runner. We were disappointed, but it was in no way going to ruin our amazing day. Oh!! I forgot to tell you! The Little Ones crew had a blast during their time as well. They even rode the Comet!! Paxton was apparently pretty scared, but he made it through! He mentioned that the Comet was his wild and crazy, haha. Miguel wouldn't even go on that!!! Natasha not only went on it, but she loved it and begged to go on again! (Did I mention that her 17 year old brother had been a little scared on that ride?!?). These kids are amazing!!!

Since the coasters were closing, and we didn't know when they would reopen, we decided to all meet at the Log Flume. From there we were going to head to the Hershey Factory and do the 12 minute ride/tour and then head home. However, as were were walking out, we again passed the Tilt-a-Whirl. Of course, Miguel wanted to go again, and so did Paxton, so we decided to stop there. At some point while they were on the Tilt-a-Whirl we started to notice some of the roller coasters running again and realized they were open!!! The Wild and Crazy crew was insistent that we ride the Storm Runner, so we headed that way. On the way, we passed the Comet and Natasha wanted to ride it again. Pedro wanted to try it, and since we knew he wouldn't be able to sneak on the Storm Runner again, Jenna and Lindsay took them on the Comet. Adriana and Bonita decided to stay too, they weren't sure if they were ready for the Storm Runner. When we got to the Storm Runner we saw that there were tons of little kids rides all around, so Joy offered to take Miguel and Paxton on those while we rode the Storm Runner. Those boys had so much fun together!!! They rode every kids' ride there, and both were so excited about how much fun they had! Miguel couldn't stop telling me about all the things that he and Paxton had done. They even rode the kids Pirate ship, which was a lot more fun for Miguel than the other one had been. :)

So, that left me, Linda, Monique, Kirsten, Frank, Kareem and Brooke to ride the Storm Runner. The line wasn't too long, but long enough to really build up the anticipation. By the time we actually got on it, my heart was about to beat out of my chest and I thought I might wet myself, haha. Here is the official description of the ride: "This one-of-a-kind coaster will launch you from 0-72 mph in 2 seconds flat. 18 stories straight up, straight down. And that's just the beginning. You'll fly through a 135 foot cobra loop, barrel rolls, and a dramatic flying snake dive so fast, you won't know which way is west." Crazy!!! In all, I think the ride lasted about 30 seconds, but they were terrifying. I was SO proud of Linda, Monique and Pedro for going on it!!

While we were waiting in line Frank and I were commenting on how, as you get older, its actually even scarier to go on these rides. Frank, Kareem and I were all second guessing ourselves until we actually went on the ride. We LOVED it!! It was just as amazing as everyone had said it was and I am SO glad we went on it!!!!! It was great!

Finally, though, it was really time to go. It was after 8, and I had planned on leaving by 7, haha. We still wanted to do the Hershey Factory tour/ride, so we went there before heading home. It was short, but a lot of fun for everyone and we all got free candy. After that ride we headed to the cars and went home.

I ended up having all of the kids (except Paxton) spend the night at my house, which wasn't as crazy as you might think. They all pretty much passed out when we got home, and woke up this morning, ate breakfast, played video games and then I took them home. They were still talking about all the fun they had yesterday.

In all it was an AMAZING day that I would absolutely love to do again. I doubt that I will be able to afford it again any time soon, haha, but it was worth the money. Thank you Lord!!!!!

Now I am about to pack, return the rental car, clean up the other van and then get on the road to VA. I am speaking at my home church tomorrow and then having a luncheon afterwards. I should be heading back to Philly last tomorrow night or really early Monday morning. I just added up my work hours for this week, and I'm almost at 70 hours! I am most definitely taking next Friday off...not doing ANYTHING!!! :)

YAY!!

We're going to Hershey Park!!!!!!!!! (Please excuse the hair, its been a crazy week...)

EXHAUSTED!!!

The last 2 days have been SO busy! I can't remember the last time I felt this tired...and the rest of this week is looking just as busy at the beginning. Ahh!!!

I have been getting up around 7:15 to go to the girls' house and make sure they are going to school (which they are). From there I head back home to get work done. On Monday we had a college group from AIM come and clean the Hope House. Carisa, Brooke, Joy and I met during that time to get things started with Reading Rocks. I was with the group until about 1. The group is also running a special after-school week for me at the church. We have 25 kids signed up...and I forgot how much preparation goes into after-school! :) So, when I left the Hope House at 1 I had just enough time to run to the church and do some set up, head home and eat a really quick lunch and then go pick up the kids for after-school. After-school ran from 3:45-5:30. From there I took the kids home, went to my house to grab a very quick bite to eat and then head back to the church for God Squad. We finally got home around 10 p.m....completley exhausted. Jenna was in my room using the computer and I came in, sat on my bed and immediately fell asleep, in my clothes and nowhere near a pillow, haha. I didn't wake up until my alarm went off at 7:00 this morning!!

Today was pretty much a repeat of yesterday, with a few changes. Instead of having the group cleaning I spent the morning getting things ready for Kids Club next week, After-School today, Prayer Pals tomorrow and some stuff for our groups coming later this summer. Then around 1 Brooke and I met up with Jenna and Jenna and I got tattoos!!! :) I LOVE mine, its the word "Redeem" in Hebrew on my wrist. From there I did all my final preparations for After-School and then headed to pick up the kids. Unfortunately, I didn't take the time to eat this morning. Usually this wouldn't be much of a problem, but apparently getting a tattoo drops your blood sugar and if you don't have anything in your system...well, you get a bit light headed. Haha, I did NOT pass out, but I did have to stop and drink a coke half way through getting my tattoo. This was my 3rd tattoo, but the 1st time that has ever happened. Whoops!!

So, we had after-school and then went straight into family night. We again got home around 10. Tomorrow will start the same, with getting the girls to school, staff prayer, Teen Leadership meeting, After-School and then Prayer Pals. Prayer Pals is over at 7, so at least I will be home earlier tomorrow. Thursday will include a similar schedule, with Teen Club getting me home after 10 p.m., and then Friday we head to Hershey Park for the day!! Its insane!!

After-School is going REALLY well this week, and despite being very tired, I am REALLY enjoying it. I have the kids paired up and each pair has an adult leader. Its been so fun to see the kids bonding with each other and getting the attention that they desperately want but that I can rarely give them. There is one family with 3 girls that I really love that I have a hard time really reaching out to. They are all 3 very different, but I love all 3. I don't know how to show them that, but I am trying to learn. I am really glad that they are around this week and they seem to be enjoying themselves.

I will try and post some better pictures from After-School this week if I can ever find the time. Next week is looking pretty busy with clubs back in session, but I won't have an After-School program to prepare and run, so hopefully I will have some time for other things. Jenna, Brooke and I haven't even been able to find the time to go to the grocery store! We are coming up with some creative things to cook and eat in a hurry though. :)

What a morning...

It's 8:00 in the morning and today has already been an amazing day!! I had so much fun this morning, hehe.

I told you all a few days ago that Bonita and Linda haven't been going to school and their mom and I had a plan to try and change that. So, the plan was for me to come to their house at 7:15 this morning. I talked to Dario and Luis on Saturday and told them that I was also coming to make sure they go to school too. I also had a really long talk with them about how important school is, and they really seemed to get it.

So, this morning I got up early and got to their house at 7:20. Both Dario and Luis were up and dressed and ready for school (they have to be at school earlier than the girls do), and were sitting in the couch waiting for me to come. They were so excited to see the girls' reaction to me being there (the girls did not know that I was coming, haha). I walked in the house and the boys told me that the girls were up but refusing to get ready for school. I walked up stairs, knocked on their door and then walked into their room...

The looks on their faces were priceless. There was no way to capture them for you all to see, but they will forever be etched in my mind. They knew they were busted and that there was nothing they could do. Bonita looked at me, shocked, then smiled and immediately walked to her dresser to get ready for school. Linda hid her face for a minute, tried to fight going to school for a few seconds, but they she started getting ready too.

I ended up bringing them to my house to get a shirt for Linda before dropping them off at school and was able to have a really good talk with them. They are both going through adolescence and its a really hard time for them, and it reminded me that I do need to be around more for them even though after-school is finished. The next few years are not going to be easy for any of us, haha, but I know that they will come out on the other side beautiful women of God. They are already so amazing! Their mom told me they have been really good in every other area...helping around the house, etc., but school was a struggle. I was encouraged by that and I know we can get through this year, and hopefully start next year fresh.

So, the girls are at school today and will not miss another day this year (except Friday when we go to Hershey Park). I found out Miguel hasn't been going to school either (which is really heart breaking because he is an honor roll student), so I am going to have a talk with him later today. There are only 2 weeks left of school, they can do this!!!

On a different note, our block was struck by lightening last night! Isn't that crazy?!? Around 10:30 Brooke, Jenna and I were all in the living room watching TV when we saw a VERY bright flash of light come from the kitchen (I half expected to see an Angel standing in my kitchen it was so bright!) and then heard the loudest clap of thunder that I have ever heard in my life. It set off every car alarm on the block!! I talked to my neighbor this morning and he said that sparks were flying all throughout his house!

So, in the last 2 weeks there have been 3 shootings and one lightening bolt on my block. Its looking like this is going to be an exciting summer!

SO MUCH FUN!!!

Yesterday was one of the most fun days that I have had in a long time. The entire day was a blast!! I realized recently that I have lived in Philly for 5 years and I don't know a lot about the city. So, we all decided to spend the day out in the city yesterday! The group started with me, Brooke, Jenna, Ashley and Joy. We got on the El and decided to just pick a stop and try and find something cool from there. None of us wanted to pick a stop so we called Kirsten and just asked her to pick a number between 2 and 60. She picked 43, so we got off the El at 43rd street.

Unfortunately, there wasn't anything at that stop, so we started to walk. We headed back toward 30th street, near the University of Pennsylvania. We finally stopped and asked someone where some good restaurants are and she pointed us in the right direction. (We had been walking for over an hour, but hadn't realized it because we were all having so much fun!). We found this little side street with some restaurants and coffee shops and finally picked this little Irish Pub. The food was INCREDIBLE!! After we ate we walked around a little, went in a few bookstores, stopped at a coffee shop and then headed home around 4. We had done a lot of walking, and had SO MUCH FUN!!

After we got home we had about an hour before we needed to go to the church for Jared's graduation party. Joy headed to the church to help her family set up for the party, while the rest of us grabbed a newspaper and checked out all the fun stuff going on this summer. We have made some big plans for the summer to see and do a lot of the fun Philly things that none of us have ever done.

Next, we went to the church for Jared's party and had a lot of fun. The party ended around 7:30 and then we headed back to Center City for First Friday. Every month, on the first Friday, all of the art galleries in Center City are open for free, and they have live music and food. We only got to enjoy it for about an hour and a half, but we had a lot of fun. We saw some amazing art (even met one of the artists...she was amazing. She listens to music and then paints what she is hearing...its awesome!). We also saw a really great folk band, some belly dancers...it was just a really cool night!

We finally got home around 10 p.m. and we were all pretty exhausted. We left the house at 11 a.m., and were gone for over 11 hours! We all had so much fun together! We laughed A LOT, but also had some great conversations about life and the Lord. Incredible is the only word I can find to describe the day!

Today should be another really good day. I am going to pick up the girls in a little while, and I haven't seen them in a while. Its actually not going to be too fun for them, but they don't know that yet. I found out yesterday that they haven't been going to school for the last 2 weeks, and they are about to get it. Their mom and I are working together to make sure they go for the rest of the year, and they will face some serious consequences if they don't go.

After that, though, Jenna and I are heading down to South Street to get tattoos! Well, at least talk to someone and get some ideas. We both know what we want, but we aren't sure exactly what they will look like, so we're going to check things out. If we don't get them today, we're going to go back later this week, so we're both really excited. Also on South Street, they are doing some really cool art exhibits and painting at Whole Foods, so we are going to check that out too. I think Brooke is going with us too, but I'm not sure. We don't have any big plans tonight, which is fine with me...yesterday was such a busy day, I don't mind relaxing tonight.

There is an AIM group coming tonight that is going to work with Cornerstone next week and will be running a special After-School week for me. I am SO excited about it! We have 25 kids coming each day, and its going to be a blast!! The summer has definitely started, but so far so good!