Summer at Cottage Cove is a crazy time. We have kids in the building from 8 in the morning until 5:30 at night. The kids we work with are almost an entirely different group of kids than the ones we work with during the school year. There are a lot of brand new kids that are still in the process of getting acclimated to our rules and structure, which can cause a little bit of chaos, as well as a few lost free times. Pair all that with the construction projects going on that prevent us from using half of the building, and its sure to be an interesting summer.
During the summer, there are two separate programs going on at Cottage Cove. Day camp lasts from 8 until 3, and then regular program is from 3-5:30. This summer, I have been put in charge of regular program. Being in charge is not something that I have ever considered myself to be good at. I don't enjoy telling people what to do. And knowing that I am responsible for keeping track of 30-40 kids a day is a little unnerving. Needless to say, I was pretty nervous when the first day of summer program rolled around. And the first week was extremely stressful. I felt like I never even had a spare moment to catch a breath. Its hard to keep track of 40 kids when you haven't even learned half of their names yet. Oh, and it didn't help that we now have three sets of identical twins. But now, a week later, I've got all of their names down and things seem to be going much smoother. Praise the Lord. I know I'm not doing this on my own. But with His help, I'm beginning to get the hang of it.
All that being said, summer time is also just really fun. Without the stress of homework, we get to spend a lot more time just hanging out and bonding with the kids. We also have water day every Wednesday, which is always the highlight of the week. I pretty much lost my voice from shouting out instructions to all of the games for two hours, but I got to play on a giant slip n slide all afternoon so it was well worth it. We also continue to teach Bible studies and do bible memorization in the summer. When I first started this internship, I always dreaded the days where I knew I had to teach. Teaching has also never been one of my strong suits. But now, I almost look forward to teaching Bible study. Another one of the ways that God has been growing me throughout this process.
I'm so excited for the rest of this summer.
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| K'niyah |
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| Nequilla |
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| William, Jayla and Brayden |
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| Destiné and Keniia |
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| Siblings and best friends. They melt my heart. |
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| Kamryn and Mya |
