Minor Panic Attacks

This year is Amy's last year working with Club 56. She's graduating in a couple of weeks and then going to work at a camp in Michigan for the summer. And then is kind of up in the air after that... but not back at our church.

So why does this have anything to do with me? Well I don't know exactly yet. I've been asked by the children's pastor to be praying about what kind of role I want to have next year with these kids. Every time I start to think or pray about it I get a minor panic attack. I think that I do very well as a helper. Amy is very obviously called in to ministry and being a pastor of children. I don't know what my call is. I just feel fairly inadequate to really be in charge. It's funny to me, but also not necessarily funny that the kids I think know more about being a Christian than I do because they've grown up in it. And I still have SO MUCH to learn. I'm not sure what exactly the children's pastor is thinking for next year.

BLAH! I'm not trying to be all negative. This is coming out fairly random. Basically I need to keep praying. I do know that I absolutely love these kids. And in the past 2 years of working with them God has helped me to grow SO much in learning how to teach and lead and love and just interact with this age group. I seem to continually be stepping out of my comfort zone. Just when I finally feel like I'm settling down there's a new stretch. I know that's how God works, but man! It would be nice to stay comfortable just for a little while!

So I really don't know. I don't doubt God. But I want what's best for these preteens. If there is someone better to lead then they should be in charge.

I don't think there was any kind of conclusion in that. Other than that I need to pray to see where God wants me. And if for some crazy reason He reveals to me that I should step up and take the challenge... than I need a lot more prayer to ease up on the anxiety attacks. For Him to continually guide me and speak and work through me.

We are supposed to get together to really talk about things as soon as the musical is over, which is in 2 weeks. Ok... trying to pray... and breathe.

Hepatitis A

There was a minor outbreak of Hepatitis A in San Diego. They figured out that all 6 of these people had eaten at the same Chipotle in the past month and a half. This happens to be the Chipotle right down the street from me. And I've eaten there twice in the time frame they mentioned in the news. Sweet!
So far however I do not have any symptoms so I think I'm good. Although apparently they do not always show up right away and the last time I ate there was Sunday.
Oh, and I learned something new. How do you get Hepatitis A you may be wondering? From "feces" transferred through food or in close contact. So either they have rats that are pooping in the food. OR an employee who isn't washing their hands.
GROSS. Chipotle is one of my favorite fast food places... but I don't know if I'll be able to go back to that one... too grossed out.

Busy But Exciting!

I have 2.5 more weeks of classes. Then a week of finals and then I'm free for the summer! It's kind of a crazy but exciting (and expensive) summer.

May 11 - Kids Musical
May 15 - Last 2 finals and end of the semester.
May 23 thru June 7 - London and Ireland for Corrie's wedding and a mini vacation back to my favorite city.
June 8 - 6th graders "graduate" from our Club 56 group (sad day!)
June 12 - Emily graduates from high school
June 23 thru 27 - Kids Camp
June 27 thru 29 - Go to Idaho for a family friends wedding
July 1 thru 31? - Road trip with my sister!

And somewhere in there I need to move since my lease is up July 1st. Crazy busy. But I'm so stinkin excited!

Women's Retreat

This weekend is our church's womens retreat. I'm pretty excited to bring the average age down quite a bit :) Amy and my friend Monica and I are making shirts with cartoon salt shakers and light bulb's since the theme is "Salt and Light". Yay for being cheesy!
A weekend getaway for free (being a poor college student has it's perks) should be nice :)

Busy Weekend!

Friday I went to breakfast at Denny's with Corrie. That was nice, I haven't seen her in awhile. Busy schedules... don't really live that close to each other... all that jazz.
Then I worked for a few hours. At night I watched 4 kids in the nursery (the oldest being almost 2) since there was a play going on at the church. Now, I'm not normally the one who is called to watch the really little kids. But apparently everyone else was busy. It was kind of an interesting night. I had one baby who literally SCREAMED every time I would put her down. As long as I was holding her she was fine. But anytime I moved to put her down whether in the swing or a crib or whatever she screamed and wouldn't stop. If it was just me and her it wouldn't have been a big deal because I could just hold her... but there were 3 other kids to watch. ANYWAY... fun night.

Saturday I went to The Wild Animal Park with my friend Brandy who had free tickets and her parents and 2 year old nephew (it was kind of a kid filled weekend). I woke up late and then hit really bad traffic (really?? on a Saturday??). It was fun but stinkin HOT. And her nephew was doing pretty good, but he is 2. Needless to say we didn't stay the whole day. Then I went to a friends birthday dinner at Buca di Beppo in downtown. Yummy yummy food.

Today after church we had filming for the musical. I don't know if I mentioned this before... but we decided to do something new this year and film the speaking parts for the musical. The singing will still be live... as will a couple of the scenes. But the rest of the speaking will be on camera. It was fun but LONG and again HOT. We filmed on Mt. Helix since it is a "hiking" musical. The microphone man last minute wasn't able to make it so I was the Mic holder. When we finally made it back Amy and Monica (who works with the 1st-4th graders) and I needed to do something NOT involving children. So we went to see "Smart People". I actually found the movie HILARIOUS. Very real, in all it's awkwardness.

And now I SMELL really bad and need to go to sleep because I'm exhausted. Good night!

Color

Cerise upon seeing my mascara: "You totally bought this mascara because the tube is hot pink didn't you?"

Me: "No..."

Alright yes. Why is that bad?

Fact

I am a crappy phone person. I stink at calling people back. I stink even more at keeping in touch. I often stink at answering the phone.

I promise it's not cause I don't love anyone. I just am not a good phone person. So here is my apology in the form of an excuse to anyone that I haven't returned a call to lately, or haven't called just to say "hi" when I should have.

Sorry!

#1

According to a recent Harris Poll ranking America's top 10 favorite books, the Bible ranked #1.

Cool.

Boring

Do you ever feel boring? Well I feel boring lately. After Thursday my life gets more exciting. But for now... I'm boring.

I'm at the point in my life...

Where my friends are either getting married or having babies.

WEIRD.

Responses / Answers

Hey friends sorry for not answering questions! So lets see...

The musical the kids are performing is called Rock Solid. I think it's RELATIVELY knew... but I don't know for sure. It's supposed to be a Stomp type musical.

Apparently with the penguin the bus actually drove all the way back to Lake Arrowhead where their school was. And someone from Sea World drove out to get him. That's about all I know... haha.

AND lastly (I think) the interest for Child Abuse Prevention just kind of came from being around children. I learned about it from Amy and appreciate the cause. I do not currently know any children who have been abused or are being abused. But I DO have friends now who grew up in abusive homes and are STILL suffering. I recognize now that mental or emotional abuse... and even what may seem like minor physical abuse... can be very damaging. It is very sad to read any of the statistics... here's just a very small few:
Abused children are 25% more likely to experience teen pregnancy.
Nearly 2/3’s of the people in treatment for drug abuse reported being abused as children.
1/3 of abused and neglected children will eventually victimize their own children.
In 2003, there were 906,000 child abuse convictions AND the rate of child abuse is estimated to be 3 times greater than is reported.

So I THINK that answers all questions? In the future I'll try to actually respond right away... thanks for reading!

April is...

Child Abuse Prevention Month.

This is taken from http://www.co.pierce.wi.us/Human%20Services/Child%20Abuse/Child_Abuse_Prevention.html

What is Child Abuse Prevention Month?
Child Abuse Prevention Month is a Presidentially declared observance that is celebrated every year in April. It focuses on the importance of providing children with a safe and nurturing environment in which they can grow to their full potential as responsible adults and members of society.

What is the purpose of this observance?
Child Abuse Prevention Month aims to encourage everyone to play an active role in identifying and preventing all forms of child abuse.

The symbol is a blue ribbon. Wear one! Here's why it's blue http://preventchildabuse.com/blue.htm