Where does the time go?

I cannot believe it's already half-way through May. It seems like just yesterday it was January and I was thinking the sun was never going to shine ever again. [just kidding! although it feels that way when you have to be up for class an hour and a half before there's even a glimpse of light outside!] I also can't believe I'm almost done with my junior year of college. Only one more to go. Then what? :/ It seems to me that the more you enjoy something the quicker it passes by. Funny how that works isn't it? A fun day with a friend flies by, but a dreadful class drags on and on and on.

I have been thinking a lot recently about how blessed I am by my little Seattle world. I have been thinking about what it would have been like had I stayed at home to go to school, or even if I had gone somewhere else. How many people I would have missed out on meeting and serving. I wouldn't have met any of my wonderful roomies or friends at SPU, I would have never met my church family at FFMC, I would have never worked at the day care...the list goes on.

I have been teaching the Wednesday night preschool class at my church all year and it's mostly been babysitting 2-4 kids, but the past few weeks we've had up to 17 preschoolers! soooo that means I've been making lessons- story, crafts, games, etc. Last week we were talking about how sometimes we need to say sorry to other people and get our hearts in the right place. The craft to go along with this lesson was a treasure map where the kids got 4 steps to glue on their paper about how to make things better again. Things like "What did I do?" "How do I need to change?" "How can I do it differently next time?" "I'm going to try again!" Now I figured they would have fun coloring and gluing all by themselves and it would be something that got sent home in the mess of other church papers, but apparently I was wrong. My pastor saw one of the moms who has two preschool aged boys and she said that they love it! They have these crafts hanging up at home and when they've had problems where someone needs to say sorry to someone else they go back to the treasure map and go through each step. When she told me this it touched my heart so much! To know that they're actually understanding what I am trying to teach, even among the chaos of so many kids, they are still learning something. Stories like this and other times when I get to interact with all my church kiddos really is what its all about for me. Wednesday nights, Sunday mornings, nursery, Sunday school, babysitting, etc. All of these things are letting me know that I am in the right place; right where God wants me. Sure, it's not always easy, but the light at the end of the tunnel is that I get to share the love of Jesus two or more times a week with these children and leave a lasting impression in their hearts and minds. I am genuinely going to miss this part of my life while I am home for the summer, and can't wait to be back in the swing of things this fall!

This was at the Easter EGGstravaganza- helping the girls make tissue paper stained glass windows of course :)

And speaking of being home for the summer, only 23 more days left! For me, that means only 9 more days of classes, including a project, book report, paper, one final, along with regular homework and quizzes for the next three weeks. I am so thankful for the sunshine that has been popping out lately and that it is supposed to remain sunny for the rest of the week, but it really does not help with motivation to do any sort of school work. I keep telling myself that I just have to push through and then I will be able to spend the next 4 months relaxing :)