Coming to a close

Goodness, this is nuts! I'm getting ready to begin my last two weeks of PT! We are running the church service tomorrow, I have 3 days left of day camp with the kids, site cleanup day, the Celebration Banquet (end of the year banquet), then Urban Camp with the youth. It's gonna be a busy, yet very exciting last two weeks.

We had our last Friday experience yesterday, where we all came together for a instructions for the next couple weeks and for some reflection. The reflection part was pretty cool. We had a few different stations set up for us to go to and we had an hour to either use the stations, or just have some time for prayer. I went to the four stations, which were a couple of prayer stations, a station that had us write down how we saw our summer, and a station that had us illustrate how God had used us this summer. I felt that the station that allowed us to write about our summer was really cool. I began writing, and had a good full page worth of reflection. I read it over and realized how much I've grown over this past month. I feel that God really took me to PT for a reason. God has used me in so many ways with the kids and has helped me grow through it all as well. I guess in a way, you could say I'm becoming more "mature."

So as the last couple weeks take place, I just ask that you would pray that I be able to finish on a strong note. I have 3 days left with the kids, plus 5 days left with the youth. I'm definitely going to need strength and patience to get through it all. So here we go! The last two weeks!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Where is it going?!?!

O my gosh!!! It is July 14th and I am over halfway done with PT! Where is the time going? It seemed like just the other week I was in training! I only have this week to finish, plus three more full weeks until I'm officially done. Wow, it's crazy!

I really couldn't have asked for a better summer job. This has truly been an amazing experience! I have made such a connection with both the kids AND my fellow interns. I've heard that people pretty much ball their eyes out on the last day, so I'm pretty sure I may tear up a bit.

So as I'm finishing out the summer, please keep praying for strength, patience, and guidance for me. I appreciate the prayers from all of you! I know that God has worked through us in many different ways, and I want to be able to finish on a strong, positive note. In the words of one of our house pastors, "GO GOD!!!"

4th of July Weekend

So for the 4th of July weekend, I was very fortunate to be able to spend time with Molly and Lauren! I had missed them sooooooooo much! They came down on Thursday to hang out for a few days. I didn't have to work on Friday so that helped out a lot. Thursday, I met them at a Mexican restaurant and then headed to Lauren's cousin's house to stay. We basically just caught up with each other and hung out. Friday, we went to a water park, where we all got a nice sunburn on our shoulders. Wonderful. It was a lot of fun though, chillin in the lazy river and then going on some sweet water slides. After the water park, we went and cleaned up for the Rangers game! We were very lucky to be able to sit up in one of the suites which was super amazing! The Rangers ended up beating the Rays 3-1! It was a great game. Saturday, we slept in a bit then went to a plaza of shopping places, such as American Eagle, Aeropostale, and many others. We looked around, bought a couple things, and then headed back to the house once again. Jen and Joe, Lauren's cousins, had some neighbor friends that invited us over for food, games, and fireworks. It was pretty hot and muggy that night, which wasn't too enjoyable for outside, but whatever, we watched some colorful fireworks. Sunday morning, my amazing weekend was finally over. The girls left at about 10:45 a.m. for Kansas. We once again had to split up and go back to our summer jobs.

I have realized how blessed I really am. I have some AWESOME friends that I could never replace. I really appreciate Molly and Lauren and all that they have done for me. I really don't know where I would be without them. I'm really excited for this coming school year, as we reunite for another exciting year of college that includes concerts, late night mcdonalds, uno flash, and much more.

But for right now, I'm still enjoying my time at PT. I've had such a blast with these kids and we're really connecting. It's always a pleasure seeing them in the morning and having them come to me and say "Hi Mr. Kyle!" Awww, such a good feeling. I really enjoy working with these kids. I only have a few more weeks with them though. It's going to be weird going from seeing them everyday to possibly never seeing them again. Gosh, it's crazy. I just hope that I make an positive impact on some of those kids' lives, that's all I really want to do.
So I just ask that you pray for me as I need patience, wisdom, and high tolerance for these kids. I thank you all that have supported me with PT. This has truely been a wonderful experience for me!

Give Me Strength!!!

Alright, well this week was definitely a tough one. I got sick this past weekend with what started out as a day flu, but then turned into a bad cold that just completely DRAINED me. I didn't have any energy at all from Sunday until Wednesday. It was horrible! It also didn't help that my kids weren't on their best behavior during the week. Lucky for me, with the power of prayer, some extra sleep and some medicine, I was able to get my energy back for Thursday aka Messy Day. We had some interesting activities planned for the kids including a noodle relay, paint target practice, and bowls full of gross food that they reached into with blindfolds on. They really enjoyed it and so did we!

But what really got me through this week was God's strength. Tuesday, one of my teammates gave the morning devotion and he talked about needing to rely on God's strength instead of our own. A lot of us were sick so this devotion was perfect. He went on to speak of how when we are in situations like this when we are sick and tired and not wanting to work with the kids, we need to ask God for His strength to get us through day by day. I was listening pretty hard to this talk and thought to myself, "You know, Kodi is one hundred percent correct! That is exactly what I need to do to get through this week." So the past few nights, during my evening prayer, I would just ask God to give us all strength to get us through the next day. To help us not to rely on our own strenght, but on His. I asked for a healing touch over each and every one of us too.

The morning after I began praying for strength, I wasn't really too tired and when I got to the church, I felt like I would be able to get through the day with more energy than I had started with. Everyone else at the site was doing pretty well too! We seemed to all have our energy until the last kid left, and then we were exhausted. That was what we needed though, strength to get us through the day with our kids. God provided us with His strength, and we wouldn't have been able to get through these past few days without it. Amazing what the power of prayer can do, isn't it?

The New Baby and PT Update

Alright everybody, here she is, Adelyn Anne Just! I actually stole the picture from Gramps but I didn't have any of my own so I should be ok.

Well, today was my first day of our actual day camp. We had a TON of planning to do before we were ready for the week, as we included recreation, arts and crafts, reading, then afternoon enrichment. I will say this, the kids wore me out!!! It took them a little while to warm up to the interns but when they started to participate, they were VERY energetic! I admit, when we got back, I had to take a nap. Besides the fact that they were normal balls of energy, they actually behaved very well. We had a couple of rebels in each group but we never had a big problem, which was nice. I just hope that carries through the entire summer. O well, I guess we'll see what happens!

An Uncle Once Again!!!

So I just found out today that I am now a proud uncle once again! Eric and Andrea had a baby girl today, Adelyn Anne Just. She was 8 pounds, 6 ounces. I haven't had a chance to talk to either the the proud parents or grandparents yet but as far as I know, the delivery went well and both Andrea and Adelyn are doing fine. Unfortunately for me, since I'm in Dallas all summer, I won't be able to see Adelyn until the fall. But until then, I will find out some more information and maybe I'll have to steal a couple of pics from gramps haha. Congrats Eric and Andrea for the new daughter and congrats to Brayden as well for a new sister!!!

Training

Ok, so I'm barely halfway through the our first week and I'm already pretty exhausted. We have been doing a lot of training, which consists of starting our day at 7:15 a.m. and listening to different people talk about what we are going to need to know for PT. So far we have gone over situations with the kids, first aid, child abuse, CPR, and even thank you letter training(I thought that one was funny). We have had a lot of fun and I am learning quite a bit but I must admit, I'm not exactly that awake when I wake up before 9 a.m. I'm trying hard to stay awake, but it's not really the easiest task when I can't really move around or anything. O well, this week is almost over and then the real fun begins! So just pray for me to be able to stay awake and get through the week with the knowledge I need for the rest of the summer.

On a side note, in case you were wondering, I AM going to bed at a decent time every night, probably around 11. So no Dad, it's not because I'm going to bed super late or anything.