Planning and Prayer

This week has been a lot of making contacts. Early in the week I made up and sent out a newsletter to every household with children in middle school and high school. Then I emailed every email address I could find in my office as well as add every student I could find on Facebook. Not to mention fielding new text messages from students who now have my number via my newsletter. It is sort of strange to put so much effort in putting myself out there just hoping people will respond to me without actually having met me or having only met me briefly.

One major accomplishment for the week was buying and assembling my bookshelf. I needed another bookshelf in the office because I just have a lot of books (didn't even bring them all to the office!) There is a scratch in one side, but other than that it turned out pretty well considering I did it all on my own.

The other major accomplishment was beginning to plan for my first joint event with another church - See You At the Pole. It is a nation-wide event where students gather around the flagpole at their school early in the morning to pray. They pray for their teachers, leaders, coaches up through state-wide, national and world leaders. It was something I did in high school and I'm excited to take part in it again.

Thursday night I went to a board of education meeting. Basically, I teach the high school Sunday School class and then later Sunday afternoon - they see me again for youth fellowship. That's a lot of Katie in one day, I think. Especially considering I have to come up with stuff to do - they don't have any sort of expectation or curriculum for me to use. It has been suggested to me that I write my own curriculum or to study a specific book - so perhaps I will come up with a few options and discuss them with the students on Rally Sunday.

On a slightly more interesting and fun note, my parents and my brother's children came to visit today! It was so great for them to be in my apartment - I think I got the seal of approval from the kids. Randi really liked my bathroom and my shoe racks...random I know. Randi and Jacob also liked sitting on my balcony and eating their strawberry fruit bars. Lizzie enjoyed the park across the street. Overall - a successful trip.

I have a lot to look forward to this coming week. My first home sporting events, friends coming to visit and Lifelight is next weekend - first youth activity for me. Pray for me. Please. :)

First Week

I cannot believe it is already Friday! This week went by very quickly. I have been to a couple of meetings which, more than anything else, remind me that I have a job now. I have been able to talk with a variety of people about the youth group and get some very helpful input. As a new person to the church and town, I am relying on the grace of others to point me in the right direction as far as who to contact, etc.

I have been fortunate enough to make a friend of my neighbor in the apartment building. She is a teacher at the high school, but only lives in Milbank during the week. She spends her weekends in Doland with her husband, so her apartment is her second home. She is very good about stopping by and asking how my day was. Yesterday we went for a walk between rain showers. I am very grateful for that company right now.

I also finally met my landlord yesterday, the infamous Dewey. In the whole process of looking for and renting and moving into this apartment, I had not met him. He finally got some rent out of me and he fixed the tub in the bathroom - I would say that is a "win, win, win" situation. :)

My Dad was also in town yesterday and brought with him some fresh garden produce. It was so nice to sit in my livingroom chatting with my dad about my new job. He was also able to see my office and sit on the couch in there as well. I think my office couch is more comfortable than my apt. couch - but perhaps that is just me :)

Tomorrow I am off and off to Watertown to do a little shopping. After a week of work, there are certain things I realized I need - such as a day planner, a ready supply of candy, etc.

I feel a little overwhelmed, but to borrow a phrase from Steve Foss, this is all a "learning experience" and I am grateful for it.

Discover your values

Thought this was interesting...

There are 16 main values a person can have:

freedom, fun, faith, positive attitude, leadership, knowledge, integrity, respect, accomplishment, family, money, friendship, service, empathy, influence, and love

Which one value would you give up to keep the other 15?

Which 5 values would you give up to keep the other 10?

What 4 values would you give up to keep the other 6?

What 3 of the 6 remaining values would you give up to keep the other 3?

Which 1 of the 3 remaining values would you give up to keep the final 2?

Your core values are:

_______________________________________________

From the desk of...

I have a desk. I have an office. I have a job and later today I will have a couch and loveseat.

This summer I spent so much time sitting around and waiting and now I am here and I wish I had more time to figure out what I am doing. That's how things go, though... at least for me. I was introduced to the church on Sunday in both services. My mom is awesome and stayed with me Saturday night and went to church with me on Sunday. What a trooper!

I am looking forward to the many challenges and opportunities this job will provide. I ask that if you follow this blog that you will pray for me. Pray for wisdom, insight, energy and infinite patience. Pray also for the youth that they may grow this year. Perhaps don't pray to give them energy, however :)

I will try to update this blog once a week about the events in my life as it will now become exponentially more interesting than it was this summer.

I GOT THE JOB!

I got the job. Praise the Lord.

Everything in His time.

My Mission: Do Something

I've spent most of this summer doing very little. My excuse: waiting. Recently I have decided to keep myself busy while I wait and therefore have had some great experiences. Let me show you.

First - I've been baking again.

This is raisin pie. We saw someone make it on the Martha Stewart Show, so Mom and I thought we would try it. It's the first pie that I've made with a top crust, but I'm not sure I should claim it since Mom actually made the crust. Pretty good pie, though.

This was my first attempt at making a two-layer cake. It's devil's food chocolate with white frosting in the middle and a chocolate frosting with chocolate chips on the outside. Very yummy. Not pictured is the birthday cake that my mom and I made for my Grandma Henry. Also very good.

Speaking of my Grandma Henry's birthday, which is on the 4th of July, here are some pictures from that day. This one is my sister-in-law Machelle with a large griddle behind her head.

This is my brother Dan. He taught me how to ride a four-wheeler that day. Now I have an open invitation to ride his four-wheeler whenever I would like. So far I have only taken him upon it once, when Emily and I hung out together.

This is my mom and my little niece Lizzy. I love this picture. Lizzy actually loves getting her picture taken. Any time she sees a camera she'll pick it up and say "Cheese!" but she won't smile. Goofball.

This photo was taken on a hay ride prior to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant in DeSmet, SD. The lady with me is my aunt Karen.
This is the whole gang who went to the pageant based on the novel "A Long Winter" by Laura Ingalls Wilder who lived in DeSmet with her family. With me is my cousin Stacy, my aunt Karen and Stacy's daughter Jaiden. Stacy currently lives in Texas, so the cool night air was a little too much for her and her daughter.
I'll end on this super adorable shot of my dog Chester. How can you not love a face like that? :)

I have plans to go to Kansas City this weekend to visit my seminary friend Anna. Hopefully I will take some pictures and have some fun stories to relate. Until then...

Working on Patience

I had planned to write on this blog again when I had some good news. Well, it seems that good news is slow in coming, so I will write with what I know now.

I have interviewed twice for a youth ministry position. My last interview was a week and a half ago and today I received a phone call that was positive, but informed me that a decision was another week or two away. It probably wouldn't be so trying for me except that the last time I had to wait an extra week or two resulted in me not getting the job.

Pastor Sarah and I were discussing my impending job situation before I left MA. In that discussion, we realized that God has always provided jobs for me with relative ease on my part. I have never experienced the anxiety of waiting quite like I have the last two months and it's difficult.

I really would love this job. Working for the church sure trumps an office job for a girl like me. While I love organization, I love God more. While predictable hours and coworkers have their appeal, so does playing games and music and digging into the Word as my job.

Please pray for me. I need it.

Pray for:
- Patience so I don't lose heart
- Understanding so I don't lose patience
- Love for the church in Milbank no matter the outcome

Hopefully the next time I post I'll have more to say.