Get Up! Get Up! Get Your Praise On!

Hello there friends! Its been awhile since I have been able to update.

The past week has been quite an adventure. Things are finally starting to settle back down a little after the shooting in Overtown, but this tragedy definitely took its toll on our children. Immediately after this event, there was a marked difference in their behavior. There still is, and I am afraid that this is something that these kids will continue to deal with for quite awhile. Although it is hard to have that extra bit of patience, grace, and compassion sometimes, I have learned a lot from the experience of having to dig way down deep and rely on God to find the strength to deal with this situation. I began to think though... It was so hard for me to give even a little extra patience and compassion to these children who needed it so badly. But each one of us IS that child to God. We are the ones who need the "extra patience and compassion" from God. No matter how much extra we need from God, He never ever runs out of patience and compassion for His children. If we are truly to be like Christ, oru patience and compassion toward others should never run out. We should have a never ending supply of it, overflowing out of our hearts for others.

So as I said before this week has been filled with adventure and it's funny how things happens sometimes. Here's the story... On Monday last week I was filling out my mid summer evaluation. One of the questions was, If you could change one thing about your experience what would you change? My response was something to this effect: "I wish I could spend a little more time with the kids at camp." As the saying goes... You get what you ask for. The next day, one of our interns had to return home suddenly. Because I am the only person who is trained to run the food service, I had to continue my old job, as well as taking on the job of being the leader of the 3rd and 4th Grade group of campers. To those of you who I asked to pray, Thank you so much! Your prayers were definitely felt. This group of campers, who have a reputation of being the worst behaved group at camp, was as angelic as anyone could have asked them to be for the entire week. There is only one word I can think of to describe this: miraculous! Last week could have been so disastrous, hectic, and stressful for me. But instead, I was able to handle all of my jobs without going completely crazy. All I can say is, GOD IS AWESOME!! So now I have 20 absolutely beautiful children to take care of for the remainder of the summer... and I am PUMPED about it!

God is really working in the children and teenagers of Overtown right now. He is daily increasing their hunger for the Word and their passion and desire to worship Him through song. Last week, our Music time had a bit of a HipHop/Gospel feel to it. The kids learned dances and lyrics to the music and were given CD's with all the music at the end of the week. This past weekend when I had the chance to take some kids on a special outing, that CD was all they wanted to listen to. Not only did they remember the dances and lyris they had learned, they also knew which songs corresponded to which track numbers. My favorite song says this... Get up! Get up! Get your praise on! You got a reason to lift up your hands! Hearing my kids sing this song over and over and over again made me smile the biggest smile you have ever seen made my heart feel the warmest its ever been. I Cant even begin to explain the feeling to you. It was music to my ears, and I know, without a doubt, that God was overjoyed to hear those little voices singing joyfully!

A few other side notes about this past week:

--I got to take four awesome kids to some Marlins games over the weekend. We got 17th row seats behind home plate and reserved parking! We treated them really special and had a great time!!
--I am really excited that I got to write a thousand + dollar check last Thursday on our field trip to the Seaquarium!
--I cant believe that my time in Miami is almost up. Sad day.
--I am taking a day trip to Key West this Saturday. Wooo!
--In case you havent heard, I went out on a boat last Saturday. I got 3rd degree sunburns from head to toe (literally), despite the fact I put on SPF 50 suncreen 3x. I was so burnt that I couldnt even walk without limping. Ouch.
--Sorry I am such a slacker and dont put up pictures on here. Honestly, I dont know how to and am too lazy to try to figure it out. Maybe if I find some motivation in the next few days, I will put up some super cute videos for you to see. :) Get excited!!

Please pray for:

--My team and I as we continue our ministry in Overtown
--A smooth transition for me as I continue to juggle two job positions at camp
--My fellow summer missions friends who are also getting ready to come back to NC
--the TML staff who will remain after we have gone back home

Grace and Peace.