God has blessed me with a wonderful Week 4. I feel as if I am beginning to actually see and experience some growth in working with my kids. I sense they are beginning to understand that I am not going anywhere and I love them. I am learning so much from working with these kids in patience, compassion, grace, and unconditional love. I am being stretched and challenged more every day. I want to share with you in the conclusion of Week 4, some funny, interesting, and great stories about my days with my kids.
Let me begin with a somewhat funny story. Remember the TV that almost crushed one of my kids? Well, when I walked into my classroom on Monday morning, there sat not 1, but 2 TV’s. My immediate reaction was “Ok, God, Reallll Funny”. Haha I say that in a very sarcastic tone, but for the rest of the week, whenever the kid would go near one of the TV’s, I would ask “did we not learn our lesson the first time?!?” haha God has a sense of Humor!
Another interesting story comes from Week 3 that I forgot to share in my last post. While reading the book “I Love My Pirate Papa” to my children, the ending made the statement from the Pirate Father to his little boy that with all the plundering and treasures he had, the one he treasured most of all was his son. I talked with the kids a little about it, and told them that God loved them in this way – that He created everything and yet valued and loved them more than anything! Simple, sweet, and affirming right? Well, one by one my kids started asking questions about this statement and about who God is – mind you, they are between the ages of 8-10. Well, we spent about the next 30 minutes talking about things, which included me explaining the trinity to them (not an easy task) and also explaining how Jesus came to be without using the words virgin, immaculate conception, or talking about anything that should not be talked about to these 8-10 year olds! Haha Thank the Lord for the wisdom, the words, and previous adult conversations that helped me know how to simply explain these things to my kids. I am so thankful they asked and I was able to answer. I pray they will continue to ask & God will give me the right words!
This week we had some different things in our schedules. The first was a Fire Safety Training called Survive Alive that all of our kids took part in on Monday. I was blessed to be driving a minibus full of kids for the first time. I am thankful to announce it went well…and by well, I mean everyone made it to and from the locations safely! :) The kids were also fitted for brand new Nike tennis shoes, shorts, and a t-shirt for the school year on Week 2 of Camp. On Friday of this week, they were all given the shoes & shorts, which are free for every student. Every child in our program will now have a brand new pair of quality, and fitting shoes for the school year! What a blessing! Some of the kids at our site were also able to get free dental health check-ups and cleaning this week, actually at our location. A dentist and a few hygienists came to BEACH, set up, sanitized, and did everything in one of our conference rooms. It is another blessing to see that our kids are being taken care of in all areas of need! I am so blessed to be working with an amazing organization like Shepherd!
Wednesday’s are our split days. By that I mean that the girls and boys are divided for nearly the entire day – getting to go to Jireh Sports, and then either going swimming or staying back at BEACH for learning & fun. This week, the boys had swimming, so I was able to stay back with the girls for these 2 ½ hours! They were so good – and not that I do not love my boys and spending time with them – it is just refreshing to sometimes have a calm chance with the girls. They are very well behaved (with a little sassy/drama mixed in..) and it is hard to get those opportunities to affirm them the way they need to be affirmed when the boys are around. So, I loved getting to spend the day with 11 beautiful girls at BEACH. I actually had 2 main responsibilities with them. The first was cooking – I taught them how to make Rice Krispie Treats (and they loved getting to help)! The second was “Girl Time”. This was really open to whatever I wanted to do with them, and since God has given me a passion for young girls & struggles they face, I wanted it to be a time of relaxation, openness, and affirmation, without the pressure. Soooo…We painted nails. :) I also told all the girls that they could ask any of us girls any questions they wanted to or even ask us about our life and experiences, that we would be honest, open, and non-judgmental with them. We didn’t get much on the question end, but, the girls really seemed to enjoy this time of bonding, and it opens the doors for future conversations and relationship. My prayer is that I can be a positive role model for these young girls and they will feel comfortable enough with me to open up and ask questions about anything as it may come.
As I mentioned earlier, I felt as if this week, the kids really started opening up to me and I began really understanding them much better. I felt as if we began the bonding process! Haha I saw this in many ways this week. First, I did a Bible Lesson one day where I sat in the middle of the floor, looked at the kids, and motioned for them to come in as close as they could. What I got was consumed by approximately 15 children hugging me all at once. They were laughing, and so was I! It was a wonderful time, and I think it was even more beneficial for them to sit to close through the lesson, because they seemed to really understand and relate to the Bible Lesson I shared (It was about Moses being afraid to go back to Egypt and God telling Moses He would provide for all of his needs). I loved having them so near, and also adored being able to be kind of silly and serious at the same time. Secondly, I had one of my students on Friday ask during silent reading time if she could instead of reading silently, read the book to me. Of course, I said YES!!! She is a very good reader, and it was great to spend some time sitting next to her, enjoying a book with her! These are such little things I took for granted growing up, but mean the world to my children! We also had an improv fashion show put on by some of our kids on Friday during free time. It was so fun to show them our silly side. The crazy part was, it was both girls AND BOYS that were playing this fashion show, and directing us on what poses to do for the imaginary camera. Mind you, it was our 5th and 6th grade students who conspired this entire Fashion Show! (and, of course, Miss Nichole and myself were definitely the winners of the show… ;-) ) One more significant experience from the week would have to be an interaction I had with one of the older boys on Friday. He was having a rough start to his day, so I simply sat down next to him for our worship and Bible time. I put my arm around him, and he held my hand and also many times placed it on top of his head– not in a creepy way, but in a way that he just simply needed that positive affirmation and touch. I hadn’t really had much in interactions with this boy up until now, but for the rest of the day, I was his best friend! He is a very smart kid, but can struggle to fit in socially with the other kids. There’s more things going on in his life right now than what I can mention here, but please be praying for him.
All in All, It was a great week! When I wasn’t having fun with my kids, I was hanging out with my awesome community of fellow Interns – playing Ultimate Frisbee, Signs, or going out to eat. My roommate Becca and I also killed our 3rd bee in less than 2 weeks in our apartment, and it was quite the adventure - neither of us having been stung before and terrified to find out if we were in fact allergic if the bee did sting us. (ya, we're such girls...) I was also able to get some good alone, quiet time with the Lord this week that I believe made all the difference! I went on Tuesday night to Garfield Park Conservatory for some quiet time and discipleship meeting, and it is probably one of the most beautiful places I have been. It is filled with exotic flowers and plants, waterfalls, fountains, benches, and this sense of peace and beauty! For those of you that know my love for nature, you realize that this is my idea of quiet time with the Lord!
This next week will be a camp for all of the kids in all our elementary programs called Spring Hill! It will be nice to have a little time off of the normal routine with the kids now that we are halfway through the summer… :/ But I am most excited about being able to get to be more affirming, encouraging, and silly with my kids, and getting to know them better.
Until Next week, Thanks for reading :) God is so good!
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