02 days until the chapter of "Employee of PESI Law & Accoutning" closes
10 days until a four-year chapter "College" of my life is closed
11 days until the chapter entitled "First Year of Marraige" closes
12 days until a new chapter of my life starts..."YouthWorks"
What is with me and all this counting down? I'm not desperately awaitng for my life to being...for it clearly already has! Maybe (due mostly to graduation), I'm just realizing that I'm not a kid anymore, and God has plans for me in the future- whether I feel ready or not!
God doesn't call the prepared, He prepares those He calls. That's how I feel right now. God is preparing me (and Andy!) for an amazing summer...but even more than that, an amazing future. Andy and I recently said to one another "if the first year of marriage is the hardest, we have it pretty easy!" I am so incredibly blessed by my husband- he daily encourages me to grow in my relationship with the Lord, yet at the same time, doesn't give me anything but grace and forgiveness when I mess up. At one time during my college career, I thought I had my future all figured out (laughable, I know), but now I've thrown my hands up and have said, "okay- I get it God. I don't have you figured out, or what You want from me...other than to love You with all my heart."
After the summer, we don't have a plan figured out, but for once in my life, I'm fine with not having every detailed figured out. What's it worth anyway? By the time I have all the details figured out, they've all changed! I have definitely been stretched beyond what I thought I could be this semester, and have finally realized that God is a much better planner than I will ever be. Although I need to be responsible, I need to find the balance between being a control freak and lazy couch potato. Oh extremes...you have to appreciate them.
I think I'll chalk this post up as one of the more random ones in a while. But hey- at least I posted again before two months went by! :)
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Good Morning, Friends & Family!
As previously stated, I do apologize for not updating the blog on a regular basis…I guess working and going to school has a way of eating up my time. ;) Well, as promised, I am including some pictures, a city and a state in this blog post.
Sault Ste. Marie, MI
We are moving to Sault (Sue) Ste. Marie, MI for the summer! We have been offered full time summer staff positions with YouthWorks. Typically, a summer with YouthWorks involves little sleep, sleeping on a church or school floor, and hanging out with junior and/or high school students. To add icing to the cake, the city we are in has a poverty level of 17.5%, and the unemployment rate in this city of about 14,000 is 8.3%. Oh, and did I mention the summer involves little sleep? After saying all of that, we are the crazies who are extremely excited for the adventure God has laid before us.
YouthWorks is a multi-faceted non-profit organization based in Minneapolis, MN. In the summer, the organization pours a lot of resources into their short-term missions’ trip program. With over 70 sites in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada, YouthWorks strives to show the love of Christ through reaching out to various communities. Reaching out to the community out of love for Christ involves service projects, Kids’ Club, and much, much more. The service projects range from mowing someone’s lawn to helping out in a soup-kitchen for the day. The kids’ program (from what I understand) is Vacation Bible School (VBS) for the community’s children all summer. Monday through Thursday, the children in the community have the option to come and learn about Jesus, and who they are in Him.
Each Sunday afternoon, a new group of junior & senior high school students come to our site in Sault Ste. Marie, MI. These students and their leaders have orientation on Sunday night. Andy gives orientation to the adult leaders, and I along with our two other staff members give orientation to the youth. Each day after the youth & their leaders return from their work site, they have down time for about 2 hours. Dinner is at 5ish, with nightly activities & Club to follow. The activities allow the youth to learn more about the community. Club is much like youth group in that there is music, a message, and the group then breaks up into small groups to discuss the message and the day with one another. Club is my main responsibility for the summer- I will be leading the musical worship time as well as delivering the message each night. Andy’s main responsibility is to take care of the site staff, and the leaders of the groups that come. He also manages the summer budget, and fills in where needed at our service project locations &/or Kids’ Club.
There is so much more I could say, but I don’t want to write an overwhelmingly long post. So many prayer requests have been answered in regard to this summer program. Because of this, we have complete peace about joining YouthWorks in ministry this summer. That being said, please keep us in your prayers…especially the sleep part for me- we’ll be getting an average of 6 hrs a night, and my needy body usually can’t function on less than 7.5. Please pray for strength and wisdom for Andy this summer as he watches out for the well-being of the staff, and our overall ministry in Sault Ste. Marie, MI.
As previously stated, I do apologize for not updating the blog on a regular basis…I guess working and going to school has a way of eating up my time. ;) Well, as promised, I am including some pictures, a city and a state in this blog post.
Sault Ste. Marie, MI
We are moving to Sault (Sue) Ste. Marie, MI for the summer! We have been offered full time summer staff positions with YouthWorks. Typically, a summer with YouthWorks involves little sleep, sleeping on a church or school floor, and hanging out with junior and/or high school students. To add icing to the cake, the city we are in has a poverty level of 17.5%, and the unemployment rate in this city of about 14,000 is 8.3%. Oh, and did I mention the summer involves little sleep? After saying all of that, we are the crazies who are extremely excited for the adventure God has laid before us.
YouthWorks is a multi-faceted non-profit organization based in Minneapolis, MN. In the summer, the organization pours a lot of resources into their short-term missions’ trip program. With over 70 sites in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada, YouthWorks strives to show the love of Christ through reaching out to various communities. Reaching out to the community out of love for Christ involves service projects, Kids’ Club, and much, much more. The service projects range from mowing someone’s lawn to helping out in a soup-kitchen for the day. The kids’ program (from what I understand) is Vacation Bible School (VBS) for the community’s children all summer. Monday through Thursday, the children in the community have the option to come and learn about Jesus, and who they are in Him.
Each Sunday afternoon, a new group of junior & senior high school students come to our site in Sault Ste. Marie, MI. These students and their leaders have orientation on Sunday night. Andy gives orientation to the adult leaders, and I along with our two other staff members give orientation to the youth. Each day after the youth & their leaders return from their work site, they have down time for about 2 hours. Dinner is at 5ish, with nightly activities & Club to follow. The activities allow the youth to learn more about the community. Club is much like youth group in that there is music, a message, and the group then breaks up into small groups to discuss the message and the day with one another. Club is my main responsibility for the summer- I will be leading the musical worship time as well as delivering the message each night. Andy’s main responsibility is to take care of the site staff, and the leaders of the groups that come. He also manages the summer budget, and fills in where needed at our service project locations &/or Kids’ Club.
There is so much more I could say, but I don’t want to write an overwhelmingly long post. So many prayer requests have been answered in regard to this summer program. Because of this, we have complete peace about joining YouthWorks in ministry this summer. That being said, please keep us in your prayers…especially the sleep part for me- we’ll be getting an average of 6 hrs a night, and my needy body usually can’t function on less than 7.5. Please pray for strength and wisdom for Andy this summer as he watches out for the well-being of the staff, and our overall ministry in Sault Ste. Marie, MI.
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