Second Day

Today went a little better...I'm going to bed.

First Day with the Kids

Well, I'm still alive…with God's help and the help of much caffeine. Yesterday went relatively well--at least that's what the veteran staff said. I had the whole afternoon planned out and didn't really do any of what I planned. We were supposed to go over the rules and procedures yesterday, which I did a little bit. I was attempting to go over how the discipline procedure works, but I found myself having to give up teaching them how discipline works and just had to go ahead and discipline kids. I definitely learned I need to be a lot more firm with the kids, and I probably should have disciplined them a lot more.

We did have a few hitches in the logistics of the day (i.e. transitioning to dinner time, bathroom breaks, water breaks, etc.) but I think a lot of that will get worked out much more easily today and tomorrow. The kids were lined up in the hall before dinner for much too long, so naturally, they start messing with each other and misbehaving (or calling each other very very bad swear words). Anyway, hopefully most of that will be worked out a bit better today.

Please pray for one of the families of one of my kids J. (I'm just going to use initials on my blog). The mom called today with a bit of an emergency in the family, so we're trying to help her as best we can.

Thanks for your prayers for yesterday. If you can be praying for J. and his family, as well as for logistical issues during our programming time, that'd be great. To be really specific, PLEASE PRAY THAT MY KIDS SIT IN THE SEATS THAT THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO SIT IN AND STAY SEATED, ESPECIALLY WHILE I'M TALKING! I feel like if I can get them to just sit down, I'll have won a huge battle. It's difficult because they've been in school all day, they're testing me as a new person, and our organization takes on the most challenging kids, behaviorally and academically, and puts 22 of them in a classroom with a 23 year old white girl who doesn't know what she's doing. Ugh. But I love my job…

 

 

Movie in the Park

Every Tuesday night in July and August, the city shows a movie in Grant Park. We've gone a couple times so here are some pictures from the last time we went. Aniela and a few other people put together a whole big picnic and everything for us. It was so much fun!

First Day of Work!

So today I had my first day at my first true full-time job. :) Thanks for thinking of me and praying for me. It went really well. This whole week is just training with all the staff, both returning staff and new staff. Today was basically about meeting the other staff and gaining an overview of the organization and how it functions. Towards the end, we got into some more specifics regarding some administrative tasks we have to do throughout the year to keep up with our kids.

It was awesome meeting all the staff today. They were all incredibly welcoming and encouraging. It was also nice to recognize a few people I met while I was volunteering last semester.

Anyway, I'm going to go take a nap...and it's nice to not have homework tonight!

New Life Community-Lakeview

So myself and all of roommates are currently attending New Life Community Church-Lakeview. We're really excited about getting involved in the church here. New Life is a church with about 14 different locations throughout the city of Chicago. Each church is a smaller church with its own campus pastor and ministries, but works with the other churches throughout the city. The churches are connected under the umbrella of New Life and are in unity as one church body, yet each campus has a different feel, a different demographic of people, and exists in a different neighborhood in Chicago. We simply chose the Lakeview Campus because it is the closest campus to our apartment.

To check out more about New Life, visit http://www.newlifechicago.mobi/

Dallas

Last weekend, Colson and I flew down to Dallas to visit Beth and Jake. It was so fun! Unfortunately, the only pictures I have on my computer are of us at Chik-fil-A because the rest of the pictures with Beth and Jake are on Colson's computer. Beth has posted a bunch on Facebook, though, so you can go on facebook and just look at pictures that have me tagged in them.

On Friday, we went to the Hurricane Harbor water park and had an awesome time. Later that night, we drove across the street to the Rangers game and watched the Rangers lose to the Twins. Afterwards, they had fireworks in the ballpark that were really good and synced to some great music.

Later that night, I proceeded to be like a little kid and had a stomach-ache because I ate too much junk food. You think I'd learn by age 23.

Saturday, we went to Chik-fil-A (a great chicken fast-food place for all you northerners who have never experienced it) and then Beth and I went to this AMAZING and cheap jewelry/purse/etc. store. We also experienced "Yogurtland"--this frozen yogurt place that was so good. And finally, to top off the day of eating, we made fondue at Beth and Jake's apartment and watched a movie. Good times...

The weekend was made even better by the fact that we got to hang out with Kellen and Kristina on Sunday. Kellen was Colson's roommate of 4 years at Wheaton who has now moved with his wife, Kristina, to the Dallas area. That weekend was their first weekend of being in Dallas, so we got to hang out with them a bit and all feel like outsiders in Texas. Here's a pic of the guys trying to fit it with Texas culture...




Chik-Fil-A







Oh and on one last note...the weather while we were there was AWESOME! It had been about 108 degrees the week before we were there, but the entire weekend in Dallas, it didn't get over 95. At night, it got down to about 86, which was perfect weather for the Rangers game.

Goodbye CR-V

It was a sad day when I had to say my good-byes to the CR-V. :(