Tie-dying with Preschoolers

When you tie-dye with preschoolers...

Hands will get stained.

Tables will get messy. 

Kids may get paint on t-shirts.

Floors will get stained. 

Kid's hands may get stained. 

Yep. 

We had a day where we tie-dyed with the preschoolers. 

Needless to say, it was quite an adventure 

and 

definitely messy.

It was a spray type tie-dye, so it was somewhat easier for them.

Yet, it still managed to get everywhere.

Us.

Them.

Tables.

Floors.

T-shirts. 

I am excited to see what they are going to look like! 

The kids were very excited about getting to make them! 

:-) 

New Orleans in Photos

Enjoy these pictures taken in and around New Orleans! 

:-) 

Lord, Please Saturate Me

In all honesty, my quiet time and reading of the Word hasn't been what it should be. 

Especially lately. 

Camp has been consuming me and all of my energy for the past 6 weeks, but there are really no excuses. 

Even when I feel that I have nothing left. When there is no energy to even lift a finger. When my eyes cannot stay open any longer. 

My time in the Word and with my Lord is the most important thing. 

I refuse to let my quiet time be another thing to mark off a "to-do" list. 

I want it to be more than just reading a Psalm or a Proverb or a random chapter that I flipped up to.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Psalms and the Proverbs, but it has not been feeding me in the right way. 

Mostly because I have not put any effort into it at all. 

I read and that was that. 

I wasn't opening myself up to what God may have wanted me to hear. I wasn't allowing Him to saturate me with His promises and His words. 

No more. 

This morning was my start fresh on reading the Word in the morning and meditating on it. 

I read 2 John, where verse 6 really stuck out to me. 

"And this is love: that we walk in obedience to His commands. As you have heard from the beginning, His command is that You walk in love." 

Before I left to go walk to work this morning, I wrote on my foot, "Walk in love..."

I wanted to have this constant reminder of what the Lord showed me this morning. 

To be honest, the past couple days of camp have been some tough ones. 

We are in the middle of the summer and the kids are doing things they think they can get away with and it is hard.

I don't like to yell, I don't like to punish or sit them in time out, I don't like to take away craft time or swim time. But, these past couple of days, I have had to do it all. 

And today was another one of those days, especially this morning. 

It seemed like everything had just hit the fan. 

And of course, I should have seen it coming. I had started my day off with the Lord, surely I should have seen the devil coming from somewhere. 

When we broke off into our groups before Hero High Five, where we say our verse and do our cheers, I had the Suns. Now, in the morning for about 30 minutes or so, I am usually by myself with the Suns because my co-leader is not there yet. Thankfully, today (and all this week) there was a friend of the director in town and she stayed with the Suns and during craft time. 

Well, this morning, I was trying to get the kids ready to say the verse and they kept saying they weren't going to say it and when we would start they would say different parts or talk to one another or talk about something different or talk in different voices. Basically being 4 and 5 year olds and not listening. 

They did this over and over again. 

Then, during Hero High Five when we were all together, they would not be quiet and listen to the director or to their friends as they did their thing. 

It came time for us to do our verse and I was the only one who said it. They didn't participate and they were spinning in circles or crawling on the floor. 

Then, got mad because we didn't let them do their cheer. 

Basically is was not the Sun group that I was used to. 

They were nothing like the group I mentioned here.

As I was dealing with them, I was just telling myself over and over, "Walk in love...walk in love...walk in love." 

Towards the afternoon, the Suns and all the groups got very better. 

They were wonderful. There were still things that happened and people got into trouble, but for the most part they were good.

I played on the playground with them, ran around with them, was able to catch a few smiles and give a few hugs. 

I was able to walk in love. 

I'm so glad that the Lord led me to that passage in 2 John this morning. 

It was a beautiful reminder of what I need to be doing daily with these kids. 

So, I pray, 

Lord, that You would saturate me. 

Cover me with Your Word.

Your Word is alive and living.

Your Word is truth.

Your Words are real. 

For some ways to develop your quiet time, check this post out.

New Orleans Update!

We are in Week 6 of the summer 

and 

this week we started our Hero who is going to be our Hero for the rest of the summer:

Jesus! 

(Our other heroes we have done were: Abraham, Moses, Daniel, David, Esther. We also talked about Joseph and Issac, but those five each got a whole week.)

As a reminder, I am a counselor for the SUN group and co-leader for crafts and Spanish. 

My Sun group is doing well! For the most part they listen well and will answer questions when asked. But, like all four and five year olds, their attention span can be very short. 

There are two boys in particular, K. and D., who can be very rowdy and hard to handle sometimes. At times, they will not listen and will do things to disrupt the rest of the class, just to get off task. 

It is hard, because I do not like yelling or punishing, but after awhile, consequences have to back up the actions.

One thing that I love about the Sun group is that they are memorizing Scripture! 

:-) 

One girl in particular, B., she is like my Scripture quoting queen! 

She is usually the first to memorize the verse of the week and also one of the first to volunteer to recite it. 

But, as a group, they are doing really well with it! 

I ask them regularly if they remember any of our other verses from the summer 

and 

between the twelve of them, they can remember them all! 

It makes my heart very happy to know that they are getting those and remembering it! 

Here are the verses that we have learned: 

"Abraham believed God's promises." -- Genesis 15:6

"Jesus said, 'If you love Me, you will obey Me.'"-- John 14:15

"I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength." -- Philippians 4:13
"I always speak the truth and refuse to tell a lie." -- Proverbs 8:7

"Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid, for God is with you, wherever you go." -- Joshua 1:9

"For God loved the world so much, that He gave His only Son. So, whoever believes in Him, will never die, but live forever." -- John 3:16

(We have changed some words or picked a version that would be easier for them to know and understand.)

While, I am talking about Bible verses, we were learning our verse for this week (John 3:16) and when I got done reading it with the kids, one little boy, A., asks me this:"What does that mean? Live forever?" I was totally taken aback and seemingly unprepared to answer it. But, we talked through it and he seemed to understand. I told him that when we believe in God, we would always be with Him, even after we died. I was very unprepared for that when He asked. I can only thank God that I was able to stumble over some words and help him understand on a level that was good for his age.

Even at 22, my mind does not grasp the concept of eternity. It blows my mind to think about time in eternity form, that we will reign with God forever! 

We have had some interesting moments in the past couple of weeks. 

We have had bathroom accidents, trouble going to sleep at nap time, one incident of throw up, hitting, pushing, falling and scraping. 

The past couple of days the pool that we go and swim at every day hasn't been an option. A pump for the pool got struck by lightening and they are having to get it fixed. 

The first day we didn't have pool time, we went to a park on campus and let the kids run through the sprinklers. Sounds like an awesome idea, except for the fact that apparently there were ants everywhere! So, many of the kids got bitten and some had bad reactions. Needless to say, we aren't going back to the park any time soon. 

Today, since the pool is still out, we went to the gym and they got to play all sorts of fun and different games that we haven't gotten to play yet. 

I pray that that pool is working again soon though, because nothing wears them out and makes them tired and ready for nap time like the pool! 

Today, while I was letting the boys use the bathroom before laying down, I was going around and saying who would be first, second, and so forth. Well, A., the same little boy from the story above, looked at me and said,"Well, do you know that really, whoever is first will be last and the last person will be first?" 

I thought it was so funny, I was like wow!

It gave me a chuckle. 

:-) 

Speaking of nap time, it can be one of my favorite times or my least. 

Especially after swimming, it can be hard. 

Repeating over and over things like: 

"Put your wet clothes in the bag."

"Put on your underwear, please."

"Stop running around."

"Sit on your cot only." 

"Put on your underwear." 

"Be quiet, it is time to go to sleep."

"Put on your underwear!"

But, once they are all laying down and finally asleep (for what seems like an eternity later), it is peaceful 

and

we actually get a moment to breathe. 

One of my favorite things to do though, when I am in the room with them while they are asleep, is to pray over them. 

I pray for them and their parents, for how things might be when they go home. 

I pray for their future and for the things they may encounter. 

I pray for them as they are in camp this summer and that they will remember the things that we are teaching them

and 

begin to learn that there is a God who is looking over them. 

Days at camp can most certainly be long and hard. 

Many days, I come home exhausted, with no energy.

Some days I am frustrated. 

But, I wouldn't stop doing this for anything.

The bad days definitely do not outnumber the laughs, the Bible verses learned, the songs sang, hugs given, Spanish words learned, high fives, and smiling faces.

This is definitely a great job to have.

I am so thankful and blessed that God saw it good to put me here. 

I do miss my family, friends, and Tuscaloosa, but

I am so happy to be in New Orleans. 

:-) 

Now, I hope you enjoy these pictures!