Not so much a break...yet...

This week is the first week of our 3 week break from clubs before the summer starts, but it hasn't really felt like a break, yet. A big reason for that is the kittens. They are all doing SO well, growing fast and becoming very rambunctious. Their eyes have healed well, and they are all eating a ton. Still, they are a lot of work. Two of them are still being bottle fed, and they are all very quick and mischievous and need to be watched all the time. Tomorrow is Jen's last day at work (before she comes on full time staff at Cornerstone), so until then I am the one responsible for feeding, playing with and giving medicine to the kittens all day. Its actually a lot of fun, but kinda hard to balance with also getting my AIM work done. (I know those of you with kids are laughing at me right now...I just want to remind you that I am not talking about children, so the work doesn't have quite the same rewards as motherhood...although these kittens are really cute!) :)

In addition to taking care of the kittens, many other things have come up throughout the week. I have ended up staying up way too late every night, which throws off my day. I can't even remember why I was up late on Monday and Tuesday, but I was. Last night we had our girls prayer group (which went well) and then a group of us went to Applebee's after to say good-bye to Joy before she headed out this morning for a month in Thailand. It was almost 2 a.m. before I got to sleep!

The next few days show no signs of slowing down. Today is one of the teen's birthday so we are heading to Taco Bell to celebrate tonight. After that I will be up for a while creating a slide show for another teen's surprise birthday party on Saturday. Tomorrow I am babysitting the Hinson kids all day (which I am SO excited about! Paxton is going to help me with the kittens), as well as having L spend the night (the surprise party is for her, and her mom needs to set up for the party, so I am the distraction. She's coming to help me "take care of the kittens", hehe).

Saturday is L's surprise party, but it is also Bonita's actual birthday. So, we are taking Bonita out to lunch to celebrate. From there we will head to the church where L will think we are getting Bonita's present but really we will be going to L's party. I hope the girls and I can keep the secret, I can't wait to see L's face! Bonita and Linda are in on the whole thing, and we are having a lot of fun with it.

My house is destroyed, thanks to a busy schedule and mischievous kittens, so I am hoping to spend Sunday afternoon cleaning it up. I hate living in a disaster. I am heading home to visit my parents on Wednesday and staying until the following Tuesday. I plan on getting plenty of rest there, as well as hopefully getting a lot planned for Kids Club this summer. I feel like I have a ton of planning to do (leading 2 AIM trips this summer, as well as 2 groups at Cornerstone plus the teen mission trip..and my week long vacation with the kids that come in a little over a month!, so I want to get as much done ahead of time as possible).

Still, I believe that God is showing me that rest is just as important as planning and I am really trying to take that to heart...and I know the stress-free environment of my parents' house will help with that. I am hoping to spend some time with my mom looking at houses for her and my dad.

Oh, and I have another exciting piece of news to share, but I have to run for now, so I will keep you in suspense for a few hours. Stay tuned! :)

I'm a New Mommy!!

To four baby kittens!! (The woman in the picture is my roommate Jen).


Jen and I were coming home from a very long day (which I will tell you more about later) when we heard some loud meowing coming from a box outside our front door. When we opened the box, we found 4 kittens, all crying and looking pretty sad. They all had at least one eye crusted closed; one of them had both eyes shut. We immediately put them in the car and drove to the PACCA (the animal shelter).When we arrived we were told that we had 2 options. 1) Foster the kittens until they were old enough/healthy enough to be put up for adoption or 2) Give them to the shelter and they would be put to sleep. Needless to say, we quickly became foster parents.

There was a vet technician at the shelter who looked at their eyes and cleaned all the gunk off. Thankfully, we discovered that they all had good, working eyes...they were just infected. We were given instructions for cleaning and some medicine (that we have to put on each cat's eyes 4 times a day!). In about 2 weeks, their eyes should be fine. They also got their first round of shots and will go back next week for a check up.

So, meet the babies!!


Hokie



Phoebe



Beyonce



Simba


These kittens aren't out of the woods yet. Phoebe is the only one that is eating as she should, though Beyonce has started eating. Hokie and Simba have to be force fed, and even then they don't get much. There is a very good chance that one or more of these kittens won't make it, so please be praying.

We are not going to keep these cats forever. They should be old enough for adoption in about a month, so we will give them back then (unless we find someone to adopt them on our own...anyone want a kitten?!?). I really don't think I will have a problem giving them to a good home, Gizmo is enough work for me. I don't think it will handle it well if any of them die though.

(And in case you were wondering, Gizmo has NOT met the kittens. In fact, he isn't allowed near them since they may carry diseases that he could catch. He can't come near them until they have finished all their vaccinations. He has heard them meowing, however, and has not responded well...lots of hissing. I want him to meet them at some point, though, to remind him what he was saved from. :) )

My Favorites

I just have to share with you two of my favorite pictures!! Carisa came to the Hope House during Prayer Pals to take some pictures, and I fell in love with these too. Again I ask you, what part of my life is a sacrifice?!?

Grace

Absolutely nothing we do is outside the grace of God. We are capable of nothing outside of God's grace, and at the same time, with it we are capable of anything.

My running (or lack there of) has really shown me this recently. I was doing really well with my running a while ago, enjoying it and working hard. Then I twisted my ankle, got sick, got busy...and the running stopped. Then I started to struggle personally and didn't want to run. I went months without running.

Then my roommate Jen moved in and she started to motivate me. She is a real runner (averages 6-8 miles a day!) and absolutely loves it. She's very encouraging of me as well, so she helped relight that spark. But, I was worried. I haven't run in so long...

We went on Sunday night and I couldn't go past 1/4 a mile before needing to walk. That frustrated me a bit, but I knew it was my own fault. I could have been running for the last several months, but I wasn't, so I expected to have to work.

I ran on Monday and Tuesday as well, with pretty much the same result. As I ran I spent time in prayer...confessing a lot mostly; I have really been struggling.

On Wednesday I had a particularly rough morning and spent some good time with the Lord. I felt Him wanting to shower His love on me, but I was convinced that I only deserved condemnation.

(I promise I'm getting to the point). On Thursday I went to the gym and started to run. I got past 1/4 of a mile (for the first time this week) and kept going. Then came 1/2 mile, 3/4 mile...1 mile and I was still going...it wasn't until another 1/2 mile that I finally started to feel tired and stopped to walk. I ran a mile and a half!!!!

I have not put in the time and effort needed to get to that point, yet by God's grace, I did it.

I am continuing to run and train to be able to go even farther. And, while my training and perseverance will help me reach my goal, not even a step would be possible without God's grace.

It seems to simple, yet when you really think about it, its huge...and very humbling.

I know you're dying to know, haha

I know its Friday and I haven't posted anything this week, but there really hasn't been a whole lot going on. Here are the highlights though:

Tuesday night was the LAST Kids Club of this semester! We have Family Night next week and then a break until June. I can't believe I have survived 2 seasons as the Kids Club leader, and no one has fired me yet! :) I am trying something new this summer, wanting to talk to to the kids about being bold with their faith. Hopefully I will actually have some time (and will actually TAKE the time I do have) to plan some things out for the summer.

Wednesday night was really fun. First, with the weather being warmer, Prayer Pals is more fun. Every week we go outside and play a group game together...which I referee and is a lot of fun. This week I also found a map of the US with stickers. We had to locate the states, their capitols, and major attractions in those states. We all worked together (yes, ALL the kids at Prayer Pals doing geography together!!) and got almost everything right! (Sorry if we weren't supposed to open that Carisa, haha). After Prayer Pals I went to our Girls' Prayer Night where we cooked and ate dinner together, and again had a blast! That night is quickly becoming my favorite night of the week.

Yesterday also proved to be pretty fun, at least with me and Pedro. He came to Teen Club again this week, this time by himself. I pretty much never hang out with him one on one, so it was REALLY fun to be at Teen Club with him. We ended up playing a little one on one basketball at the end, and drew quite a crowd. Most of the teens were shocked that I can actually shoot a basketball and shoot it well. Of course, the fact that Pedro is a foot shorter than me kinda helped me out a little. :) After our one on one he and I teamed up and won a very decisive game. We had a great time!

Of course, the most exciting part of the week (for me at least) was Jen moving in!!! YAY!! She is still getting settled in, but we are already having a blast together, laughing a lot. We are pretty different in many ways...she goes to bed early and gets up early...and I do neither, haha. I also really like TV, and she doesn't watch quite as much as I do. (She also doesn't think The Office is that funny, but I'm working past that). We get along great though, and we are both so excited for what the Lord has in store!!! (It will take her some time to get used to Gizmo. He likes to jump in her lap as soon as she walks in the door...and she isn't the biggest fan of cats, haha).

AIM stuff has been CRAZY this week. I am one of 3 administrative people that work in the short term missions department, and over the last 3 weeks the other two people have left (on good terms). So, we are reorganizing things and I have a lot to do to help get things taken care of (I am NOT taking on all of their responsibilities, but I am taking on more responsibility and helping decide who should take on what). I'm actually enjoying it (way too much), but it is a lot. It reminds me why I loved doing business in college...and also why I didn't go into it full time. :)

That's pretty much it for me. My weekend looks pretty low key, yay! I am leading the teen mission trip this summer and am presenting it to the teens this Monday. We are going to an AIM location this summer, which means we get a lot of the benefits that AIM provides (they take care of food, lodging, etc) but not the expense of an normal AIM trip (cause I'm taking care of the things that usually constitute the overhead AIM cost). I am REALLY excited about it, and REALLY nervous. Frank has lead the trip over the last few years and has left some big shoes to fill (those Hinsons like to do that to me, haha).

Jen and I have also decided that we want to take some of our girls on a weekend retreat before the summer starts. We are looking at dates, locations and topics. So, we are staying busy during out "break' (and did I mention I'm trying to plan some new stuff for Kids Club?!).

I'm also getting more and more (and more!) excited about the vacation I'm taking with the kids. It looks like Dario might not come (he's a teenage boy...), but I'm praying and trusting God with that. There is another family (brother and sister) that I may invite if Dario does not come. Their parents have moved in NY, but they are still here in Philly staying with a friend. They are GREAT, and get along great with my kids and would be a fun (and helpful) addition to our trip. And, I think it would really bless them to get to be a part of a family. (Their parents have not abandoned them, they are supposed to be moving with their parents this summer. Still, they've been without family for several months).

So, that's about it for now. I'll try and have something exciting next time!

Now it's Linda's turn!!

I can't believe it, she is 13!! She had a sleepover at my house on Saturday with her and 7 of her friends, and it was so great. She had a "Superstar" party, played fun games, ate lots of food and stayed up really late. I thought I was just going to be locked in my room for the evening, which I was ready for. Instead, I had girls running in my room every 10 minutes laughing and telling me something funny that just happened. I can't complain at all, though, it made me smile.

The girls even did a really good job cleaning up, leaving me to only take out the trash. Yay!!

My favorite part of the night was the "Do you know Linda?" game. I had a list of 10 questions about Linda. For answer wrong, the girls would have to put a piece of Bubble Yum in their mouth. And, any time all of the girls got the answer right, Linda would have to put a piece in her mouth. It was hilarious and a lot of fun.

After the game, and cake, I retreated to my room and read a book while being often interrupted by smiling and laughing girls. The party was definitely a hit and Linda had a great birthday.

I let the girls use my camera for the night, so there are a lot of really great pictures. I have posted them on my Phanfare site, you definitely want to check them out!!