Project Transformation

Well, it has been awhile since I have posted anything. I have lots of thoughts, but I've been soo tired that I haven't felt like posting. And now I'm sure that I won't be able to remember all my thoughts. So, lets see. All my kids get out of school on Tuesday. I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to that or not. I was because I thought we would be able to do more fun stuff without homework and all of that kind of stuff, but now I'm not sure. I have no idea what I'll be doing. There is another lady who is a teacher and comes in after she gets off work, around 4ish. And that is when I would leave. But I have no idea if she will be there all day or what. And she is the lead teacher so she is in charge of planning everything, but I'm not so sure I'm excited about that. She is A LOT more strict and structured than me or the other teacher. But in general, I have NO idea what I'll be doing.

I have also decided that I'm extremely grateful to Project Transformation and all I learned from them. For those of you who don't know, for two summers in Dallas and on in Tulsa, OK I worked for a group called Project Transformation. They are a ministry of the United Methodist Church. Their goal is to provide young adults a summer ministry opportunity, to aid dying urban churches and to connect them to subarbian churches with more resources. The basic way of doing this is by running a summer day camp, kind of like VBS all summer long. But the point is, in doing this, I learned a lot about working with kids. One of the big things they taught me was the power of encouragement and positive attention. Like when one kid isn't listening, praise the rest who are and often that one kid will start. Also things like making sure to praise the kids when they are making good choices, even making sure to catch the one time that kid who never listens is listening. I know there are times when I get caught up in the craziness, but for the most part I feel like I do try and do this. But we had a staff meeting for work yesterday and this is what we talked about for almost two hours! Ya, it got a little old.

I also really miss Project Transformation for another reason. I miss being able to be totally open and share and teach about my faith to kids. It is such a different environment working for a secular organization. I miss teaching Bible stories and doing crafts that relate to God and the songs and games and just hanging out. I have my Sunday School class, but it isn't the same as doing it every day. Am also a little sad about next year at church. I guess we are changing curriculum so I don't think I'll be able to do my own thing as much. Which is sad because I spend most of my time doing my own thing! Oh well, I guess I'll get used to it. I think I'm just going through withdrawal, especially since I don't get that break in the summer to do fun stuff like I'm used to. I guess I just have to trust God that He will give me a place to use my passion somewhere.