flavor of the week #6

so mcconn has this drink...osaka sunrise....its amazing. it has strawberry and orange syrup, sierra mist, and orange juice....so good! you should totally go and get one right now...seriously...go...now! :)

body shop post #2

so i forgot to write about body shop last week, so i'll have to roll the two into one...

i am finding that i'm not as sure of myself with this group of kids. the group that i worked with in the past we kids that i had known in some capacity for a while and they were mostly "churched" kids. now, i don't know any of them, some get no church other than wednesday night youth group, and some are just rougher kids. i don't know if i'm afraid or what, but for whatever reason i'm having a hard time even going up and introducing myself to girls. i so badly want to do well in my time there and to build relationships with the girls, but so far it has been really hard.

another part that has been a little difficult is how i relate with the other leaders there. there are several college students who help out and i've been there for three weeks now and two of the probably 20 or so have even talked to me at all. i can tell which of the leaders have been helping there for a while because they interact with each other, but its almost like a "don't talk to the new kid until she's not new anymore" thing....it's just really weird. i kind of wished that there was a time when all of the leaders could get together and just hang out and get to know one another. i feel that doing that would really build that team feeling and that we would all work together better to love and serve the kids that come.

i don't know if i'm making much sense, i'm just kind of unloading my thoughts...more to come

body shop post #1

so tonight was the first time that i helped out at jc bodyshop with the jr. high kids. i mostly sat back and observed how it all worked. it was typical jr. high youth group...the kids and staff would throw balls at each other and run around for the first hour then music, games, and a lesson. there was another girl there as staff for the first time so we pretty much stayed together.

i met a few girls named sierra, georgia, and chasity. they were pretty cool, but i really didn't get to talk to them much. i don't know if i really picked up any real leadership insights or anything, but i do know that next week i want to dive in a little more and interact with the kids more. i think it will be a good semester, but i don't want to end up just going wednesday nights and just playing. though there is value in that time with the kids, i want to do more...what that more is, i'm not sure at this point, but i hope to find out soon.

more next week...

flavor of the week #5

so since i'm now at iwu in the short time that i have been here i have already grown to love mcconn. yum....specifically my drink of choice as of late has been hot tea....more specifically...wildberry plum hot tea....so good! you should totally try it!

back again

so i know i haven't been here in a long time, but life has been a little crazy...so to fill you (being the 2 people who might read this..hehe) in...

i am now in my forth week here at iwu and i am loving it!! things are going really well...i've made a few new friends and am reconnecting with some old ones.

i am taking a class called authentic leader and i really like it. we talk about some pretty heavy stuff, but it is really good. part of that class is a leadership practice. what that means is that i need to have some area of my life in which a have some kind of leadership role. i'm still working on the details, but i plan to plug into a local church youth group. i will have to quote un-quote keep record of what i'm doing and learning about leadership throughout the semester. i plan to do that here. i will continue to write random things too, but now maybe about once a week (depending on what the practice part looks like) i will be posting something about that.

i am really excited about this semester and the things i could learn about leadership and about myself!!

nuts, right?!

this morning i was reading for my servant leader class. we were assigned to read several chapters in the old testament. in 1 samuel 14, king saul's son jonathan decided that he was going to go attack the philistines. now, this wasn't like jonathan and the army, this was jonathan and his armor bearer....that's it...against all of the philistines.....um....nuts, right?! totally what i was thinking.

then i was thinking....this armor bearer guy didn't really have a choice, he had to go with jonathan. if i were him i would have been a little freaked out at that point...two guys against an entire army! then in verse 7 the armor bearer says, "do all that you have in mind. go ahead; i am with you heart and soul."

whoa.

he had the trust in jonathan and the faith in God to be like, "alright, bring it!" i don't know if i really do that. how many times to i willingly go into situations that look ridiculously impossible and dive in with the faith that God's got it all under control? not very many. it's no big deal if it seems easy or normal, but what about the hard stuff? isn't that where your faith should really show up?

just a thought to ponder.

ahhhh!

sunday...wake up, church, drive down, move in, dinner with fam, bed

monday...up at 7, registration at 8...business info meeting, business info meeting x2 (long story, don't ask), register for classes, lunch, orientation, get ID, buy books, back to room, dinner, and now.....

breathe.

but only for a moment...

classes start tomorrow!