summer.

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. 

K'niyah

Nequilla

William, Jayla and Brayden

Destiné and Keniia

Siblings and best friends. They melt my heart.

Kamryn and Mya

blessed.

The past few months have been crazy. I feel like I have always had something to do or somewhere to be.  But this is not in any way a bad thing. I have been surrounded by people that I love, and I am fully aware that my life here in Nashville has been blessed way beyond what I deserve.  I have been growing closer to so many friends, and more importantly closer to God.  He has made it abundantly clear that this is where I am supposed to be. It is a rare occasion that the thought "this is the best day ever" doesn't cross my mind at least once a day.

I have a job that is absolutely perfect for me. I get to hang out with 70 kids everyday. I can't even think of anything I would rather do. I even find myself missing them over the weekend by the time Sunday night rolls around. The hours of 3:15-5:30 are always the very best part of my day. Every single one of the kids have stolen my heart in some way or another, but I find myself being kind of partial to the younger half of our kids. I teach bible study to those in grades K-2, so I have become kind of attached. Particularly to a few adorable kindergarteners.

This sweetie pie is named Jaeda, and that smile never leaves her face. She is the happiest little girl you could ever hope to meet. Everyday she greets me with a big hug, as well as a quick update on the happenings of her and her fellow kindergarteners.

This is Dejuantez, and we are quickly becoming best friends. Every time we are ever in the same room he runs up to me to give me a hug.  He asks if we have bible study everyday, and when the answer is yes his reaction is pure excitement. He always says, "I love you Miss Sara" before he leaves, and it just melts my heart.

Playing basketball has also become one of my favorite things, because it means that I get to hang out with these three cuties. They're all actually very good, and sometimes they try to let me win, or at least catch up with them. Once, Dejuantez even offered to score some points for me. What a sweetheart.

Ok. Its getting late and I'm getting tired. So I'll leave you with a few more pictures of the kids that bless me everyday.

homework.

Sometimes it can be hard to motivate the kids to actually work on their homework. They tend to lolygag and procrastinate as long as possible before actually picking up the pencil and doing the work. I was having this problem this week when I was working with a spunky fourth grader named Patrick. He was supposed to be working on his division homework, but was really just futzing around. He finally raised his hand and said that he didn't know how to do the assignment, and needed help. When I suggested that we both work out the problem and see who could get the right answer first, he suddenly remembered exactly how to do it and accepted the challenge. He proceeded to easily solve all of the problems correctly, and he even checked my work to make sure I didn't make any mistakes, and rewarded me with three stars. The next day when we were picking up the kids from the school, Patrick came up to me and said, "Miss Sara, I have math homework today! You're gonna help me with it right?" It made me happy that he was actually looking forward to doing his work, and that I was actually able to help him understand his assignment.




On a side note the kids had pajama day at school this week, and they all looked so cute that I had to snap a few pictures. Enjoy. :)

Jaden and Jaylen.

Jaeda and Arianna

silly girls. 

Field Trip.

Helping kids with their homework is a huge part of the program at Cottage Cove. Everyday the kids have to work on and finish their homework before they can play games or do any of the other free time activities. Each time they finish a homework assignment correctly, they are rewarded by receiving homework stars. Every month we do a field trip of some sort, and the kids with the most homework stars that month are the ones that get to go on the field trip.


The field trip for March took place on Sunday. A group from a local church came in to Cottage Cove and put on an easter egg hunt for the kids. So for a few hours on Sunday night I got to hang out with some kids, eat hot dogs for dinner, and help them search for easter eggs that were hidden in plain sight. The group also helped the kids with a craft and did a short devotional. The kids all had a great time, and so did I. Its always a blast when we get to just hang out with the kids. Here are a few pictures from the evening.

A group of the kiddies before the egg hunt. 

Patrick :)

Sweet little Jaeda and the bookmark she made. 

Michael holding a bunch of the eggs he snatched up.

Me, Miss Kirby, and some pretty cute kids :)

Were expecting to be low on help this week due to all of our college students being on spring break, but I'm looking forward to it none the less. If you're free at all this week feel free to stop by and hang out with some awesome kids. :)

No Such Thing as a Stupid Question

I teach bible study to the younger kids at Cottage Cove (K-2) twice a week. We have been going through the beginning of Genesis and teaching them about creation. Talking about Heaven and how animals and people were created with kids of such a young age always causes them to ask some interesting questions, which leave me with some pretty cute stories to tell.

One little kindergartener named Kayla likes to get us off track by asking some pretty innocent questions. One day we were talking about The Ten Commandments, and we when got to “Thou Shall Not Steal” she raised her hand and asked, “Miss Sara,  can God go to jail?” I then explained to her that God isn’t human like us, and He is perfect so there would be no reason for him to go to jail. She didn’t quite understand and went on to say that it’s not fair for God to be able to steal something and not have to go to jail. Only after once again explaining that God is perfect and never steals anything did she understand.  

Another day when we were talking about Heaven, a little girl asked me if there would be toilets in Heaven. I was kind of caught off guard by the question, but I told her that nobody knows what Heaven is like for sure, but I was pretty sure that we wouldn’t need to use toilets once we were in Heaven. Then she explained her reasoning for asking. She said “But what happens if someone dies while they’re using the bathroom? How will they finish?”

Needless to say, these kids are curious about the bible and always want to know more. I’m so happy that I get to teach such and awesome group of kids about how much God loves them.

Also, here are a few pictures we took playing outside with the kids on Fun Friday.

Change

I'm usually not a big fan of change. I actually tend to avoid it all costs. However this year everything about my life changed when I packed up and moved to Tennessee for my internship at Cottage Cove. I went from living in a place full of people that I had known my entire life to living in a place where there were very few familiar faces. Even though I was very excited about my internship and the life that I imagined myself living in Nashville, a part of me was still scared. Scared of the unfamiliar, scared of being outside of my comfort zone, and just scared of changing my entire life. Now that I am 2 months into my internship, I could not be any happier that I listened to God despite my fears.

I love working at Cottage Cove. It was kind of intimidating at first,  I had to find ways to connect with 70 kids when I could barely remember their names. Now, 2 moths later, I love every single one of those kids. I feel like I have been truly blessed with this opportunity to have an impact on their lives. I love playing with them on the playground, and helping with their homework. And even though teaching has never been my favorite thing to do, I love teaching them about the bible.

I feel like it is clear that this is exactly where God wants me to be at this stage of my life. He has been making that very evident throughout the past months. I have been blessed with great friends here, and He has continued to provide me with everything that I need. I have been learning to trust the fact that God has a plan, and no matter what trials I have to go through, everything will work out according to his purpose.

This has already been an amazing experience, and I am so excited to see what the next year has to hold.