Update!! :D

Well I haven't updated in a while. My computer has been in the shop getting the CD player fixed because it didn't work. They replaced it so now it is all good.

This weekend was great. I did nothing on Friday but chill. That was amazing. Then Saturday I went to a christian concert. That was fun but so hot. Then Sunday I went to church at the Met. It was interesting and fun. Then I got to see the Highland group. LOVE THEM!! :D Then we all went to the Rangers game. It was so much fun.

Monday... Was great. I got to work with the youth. I had to send one boy home because he just wasn't acting very well. Then we had lunch and I left for Urban Experience. Today we walked around the neighborhood and learned about some of the history. Then we went to the library and ran into this lady who wanted to show us around and let us see these pictures. I thought we didn't have time but it turns out we did. It was amazing. I loved every minuet of it. It was fun for me to learn about the neighborhood. Plus through that we got a calendar and we might be taking some kids over to the library and kind of partnering with them. It was really cool. I got to tell a few people about what Fortress is today and that was awesome.

Then we went back to the building. I have been having some trouble with one young lady in the youth group. On Thursday another intern and I took her and another kid to the pool and she was very disrespectful. So today we got to sit down and talk. She wouldn't talk to me and I basically just told her that the only reason I wanted to sit and talk was because I care about her and I am here this summer because I want to be not because I have to be. She still didn't respond but this is when something cool happened. We then took the youth group on a drive by prayer time. It was awesome and she was with us because she didn't get to go with the youth today because of Thursday. I was just thinking about her and what I could do to get her to talk to me and just to have us get a long. Well as I was thinking I felt like God was saying just don't give up. (I think that this thought might have been sparked by a homeless man who had a cart that said Never Quit and then something about Jesus. I am not sure though. He was awesome himself. He was gathering wood to build a fire to feed some homeless people and he himself is homeless.) Anyway so I kept thinking about how I could get this girl to just get a long with me this summer. Then I realized it is NOT ABOUT ME! It is all about the kingdom and while I can still peruse her and never give up I can also pray and ask God to help me. So that is what I am going to do. Pray that God gives me the words to say around her and that we slowly become closer to each other. Because with God on my side anything is possible. :D Well that is all I have for now. I hope to post soon. We shall see though. It is a busy week. :D

Wednesday

Today was a great day. I worked with the preK which was good. Then I went on the Urban Experience. That was interesting. We had to walk to the bus stop and catch the bus from there to the down town bus station to get a transfer to another bus to go to this place called Fiesta. It was a grocery store. There I was a 6 year old girl in a family of 4 with a single mom. The other intern and I were not good kids. It was so fun. I threw a fit by the cereal because my "mom" wouldn't buy me fruit loops. It was pretty funny. Then the other intern and I ran off and got "lost" it was funny. Our moms had to come find us. Then the other intern and I asked for a watermelon and when our mom said no we put it on the floor. It was so funny. The one that the other intern put on the floor was behind me and when I went to leave the store I tripped over it. I bruised my leg but it was pretty funny. I started laughing. Overall it was a great day. I am hoping to be in bed soon and then I will get some good sleep for tomorrow (field trip day).

my week so far...

The kids this week are about to drive me CRAZY!

Monday- I loved my pre schoolers. They were great. They are so cute. I am hoping to take some pictures of them soon so I can post them. I am working on it. As yall know I am not great at taking pictures and posting them. I will work on it and I promise by the end of the summer I will have posted some pictures.

The elementary were great but I only worked with them for about 45 min.

The youth were not so great. They were very disrespectful and it made for a long not so great day. I was not a happy camper when I got back to my host home.

Tuesday- The pre K were not so good. They just didn't listen to me or anyone. It was not fun. But I think it could have been worse. I didn't work with the elementary today. I did Urban Experience instead. Each week a youth group comes to fortress to work with the kids there as a mission trip. And this summer they are learning a little bit about the neighborhood and what it means to live in poverty. Today they learned about being on Food Stamps and what it takes to go get food stamps and how much money that will give you for a month. They also planned a budget for the month. It was fun.

Then I worked with the youth. There were more of them today and they were tons better. We had several talks about what it means to be respectful. It was a good day. Tomorrow they go to the Holocaust Museum in Dallas. They get to ride the train over. I am not going because I am doing Urban Experience stuff so that should be fun. Well there is my week so far. I will try to blog more later when I am not so tired but for now I am out.

The Weekend

This weekend was amazing. I know that it was a few days ago but I thought I would post about it. To some of you it may sound crazy but remember I like to drive.

Friday- I went home to have some time at home and to spend some time with my dad since it was fathers day we

ekend. When I got home we went to dinner and then I went to see 17 again at the dollar theater with my friend Brittani. That was so much fun.

Saturday- I got up around 11 and got ready and then chilled at my house until 2. Then I went to my friend Candy's house because a few of us met and went to Arlington to the new cowboys stadium for the Jonas Brothers concert.

I am not the worlds biggest fan but I do think that they put on an awesome show. Jordin Sparks was one of the opening acts. I love her. On Wednesday nights the girls I go eat with love to jam out to Jordin Sparks. It is great. I really did have fun at the concert. I think my favorite part is when Miley Cyrus came out. Here are some pictures.

Sunday- I went to church which was great. Then I went out to eat with my family. Then I went and did neighborhood walkers, then hung out with some of my old 6th grade girls, and then hung out with Diane. It was a great weekend and I am so glad I got to go home.

Sarah

So my room mate Sarah is leaving me. I am kind of sad. Today was hard. She said good bye to the kids. Tomorrow we are all going to play rock band and then she is leaving for the summer and I am leaving for the weekend. I am sad but the summer is going to be amazing. I will try to post more on that later for now some pictures of the kids saying good bye to Sarah.

THE RAP! :D

Ok so we have now done the rap about 4 or 5 times now. So the first one Luke is rapping. And in the second one Jeff is rapping. Here are the lyrics to the first one...

My name is Noah and I'm about to flow.

So let me tell you about something from awhile ago.

I was out in my yard when I heard a voice.

It said listen up Noah you have a choice.

You can build a boat or learn to float.

So I got my kids and said we can do our best

or be dead like the rest

When we were through they came 2 by 2.

Like I had a cure of the swine flu.

We got in the boat and it started to rain.

And all the haters started yelling my name.

All their pain gave me a chill

But I tuned it out for the sake of Gods will

Even though it is written in black and white

the Earth was blue for 40 days and nights.

Then I let some birds go

and they yelled "Land Ho"

Well thats my story its done put a fork in it

I still can't eat pork and its not cool.

You got to listen to God

or you'll look like a fool

so stay in school.

The second rap.

More Pictures

Here are some more pictures. Thought I would post some more.

Here is one more of the back yard! :D

The living room sorry it is blurry.

view from the table.

the kitchen.

Our bathroom.

Our bathroom.

Our room. 

The weird ram that is in our room.

The creepy stuffed bunny that sits on the desk.

Our beds. Yes it is a little messy.

Stoms

Well Wednesday we went to work and got done early. So I went to lunch at Joes this great really cheep Italian restaurant. Then I went over to Dallas to see my friend Brittani because her little brother had heart surgery on Wednesday. He looked great and I didn't want to hit traffic so I was back to Keller by 4. I then worked on some work stuff and then headed out to our other interns house to work on some more stuff. While we were doing this the tornado sirens went off. We don't have tornado sirens here but they did their so we jumped in the bathroom for a few min. Then we went upstairs and played Wii and watched Slum Dog Millionaire. It was a great movie. Then we went home and had no power so Sarah and I did our Bible Study by candle light. It was kind of fun. Here are a few pictures. :D

Pictures

The room

I am staying in is up stairs kind of away from the house. Here is the view from the dining room up and what we see as we leave our room to head out.

Then here are some pictures of the pool and hot tub. I really like her back yard. When her grandkids aren't over it is quite relaxing! :D

Getting things done

Well today we worked on planning out the activities and crafts for the next weeks of summer. We have almost the whole summer planned out. We just have to finish the Sunday stuff. So things are getting done. I am going to go home this weekend. I have Friday and Saturday off and I think that it will be good to get a little bit of a break and get back to some things that I know. Then I will be back to start JAM (Jesus and Me) on Sunday!! :D

summer plans and a funny story

Tomorrow and the next few days we are working on planning activities and crafts for the weeks to come. We are studying the charters of Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, John the Baptist, Peter, Paul, and Jesus. We are working on planning the activities to go with those different characters. 

A normal week will be... Sunday we introduce the character of the week. Then Monday-Wednesday we go deeper into that character. Then on Thursday they get to go on a field trip if they were good that week. Then we have Friday and Saturday off. So that is what a week will look like. 

We show up at 8 to have a meeting then we go to pick kids up starting at 9. We then will start our Jam sessions with them. I am working with 3-5 year olds. They only stay until 11. Then I will go work with either the elementary kids or the youth groups that are there for the week. Then after 2 the elementary kids leave and then at 3 the youth show up and we do activities with them until 6. Then we take them home and we get ready for the next day. So kind of crazy and really busy but so much fun.

So for Noah we are probably doing a rap. Yes we the interns are going to rap. The beat/background is animal noises and the lyrics are words like my name is Noah and I lived on a boat and I like to float. Ok well those aren't all that great but you get the idea. I think it will be videoed so I will try to post it after it happens. :D We, the interns, are all kind of crazy and we love to have fun! :D

Church and Monday

We got up on Sunday and drove over to Dallas to go to Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship. It was very interesting. It is a predominately black church. It was very loud and that part I didn't really like. But I did like how friendly the people where but it was all a little overwhelming. Then we went and did more orientation stuff at Kristen (Ms. Tiki)s house. That wasn't too much fun. Then we went to VBS at Oak Cliff. That was a little overwhelming. I felt like I didn't really do much and it was really loud. But the cool thing about this night was there was one girl that attached herself to me and we really got along. She was so sweet. She asked me at the end of the night if I would come back the next night and sit with her. I thought about it but Dallas is so far and I am tired and need some rest. So I decided not to go.

Today we did more training and went over conflict resolution stuff. We also kind of found out what were all doing this summer. It is looking like I am going to be working with the 3-5 year olds and the youth kids. I am really excited about this. Our weekly schedule will go something like this...

Sunday - Sunday Jam. I am working with preK to introduce the charter of the week.

Monday- Wednesday From 9-11ish I have the preK

Monday-Thursday after lunch working with youth

Thursday - field trip day

Friday and Saturday we have the day off. :D

I will be doing other things throughout the week but this is kind of what it looks like right now. Well shoot me an e-mail or a text or a facebook message. I hope all is well and hope to blog again soon! :D

My bed

Ok so I still haven't taken pictures because I am a bum like that. But I did have one picture of the bed I will be sleeping that I took with my iphone so I thought I would up load it. So here it is....

It is a little blurry but you get the idea. I think this summer is going to be interesting! I think it will be fun once we get into the swing of things. I will try to take more pictures and post them but I am not making any promises! :D

Prayer requests:

That I find some strength. I am still a little sick from my sinus infection and I am all stopped up.

That we all get along and that the next few days we really bond as a team! :D

The first few days...

Thursday- I got to Fort Worth and got my phone fixed which has been amazing since I have missed my GPS! :D Then I went to the church. I got there a little early and that was a little weird but I met some people and started talking. It was a fun night. The parents and kids were there. The kids all got awards for going through the program that they have during the school year so it was neat to see all of them come up and go through it. Then we headed to our host home. One of the guys is living about 5 min from my host home so that was kind of neat. We followed each other until we got here. The room we are staying in is more of a big room with two sets of beds and a bathroom. It isn't bad at all. Carolyn (host mom) seems really nice and very laid back.

Friday- Got up, picked up Jeff (the guy who lives about 5 min from us.) We all decided to car pool because it would be better and more fun. We stopped to get some food at Sonic. Then we went to Wal-mart. Then we still had some time to kill so we went to the Omni hotel and rode the elevator to the top to look out the window. That was really cool. Then we went to Fortress and did some training stuff. Then we headed back to our host homes. We went for a swim and then played some Wii. That was fun. Now it is off to bed! :D

Tomorrow is a free day!! :D I think I am just going to chill and not do too much. :D I will try to post some pictures tomorrow but we shall see. :/

host home

I found out today that I will be staying in Keller Tx. I am really excited about it because I found out that the house is kind of amazing. I talked to the lady today on the phone and she sounds really nice. She told me that I am staying in a log cabin type thing out behind the house. It has two sets of bunk beds and a bathroom. She also told me that I am staying with the other intern so I think that will be fun. The house also has a pool and a hot tub so I think I will be A OK!! :D

Well I am off to Fort Worth tomorrow. I am going to get my phone fixed and then I am going to the church around 5:30. We are all meeting each other and then meeting the parents of the kids we will be working with this summer. Then I go to my host home and settle in. I think it will be great. So am going to try to update at least once a week and I will try to include some pictures.

Please keep me in your prayers. I got sick yesterday and went to the doctor today and got a steroid shot in the rear. I already feel a ton better. Now I get the joy of doing laundry and finishing getting everything before I leave tomorrow. Also pray for safe travel. Thanks so much to all of my supporters. :D

Final Steps

I am almost packed and I think I am ready for tomorrow. I think this summer is going to be awesome! I can't wait. The down side is that I am starting to get sick. I think I have a sinus infection. I am going to the dr. this morning to find out. It isn't bad and I could probably fight it on my own but I don't really want to find a dr. in Fort Worth if it does get worse so better safe than sorry. Well I should finish packing. Fort Worth here I come! :D