the neverending week. that I loved.

This week has been one of the craziest weeks of my entire life. I'm not sure I ever had a moment that I was not planning, teaching, stressing, organizing, talking to kids, giving advice, thinking about a problem, or other things that I can not remember right now because my brain is so tired.

Monday; Mission Day from 7:30am - 6pm. Right after that the Character Focus team drove 2 hrs to Tulsa and started setting up for the children's conference the next day. After that we drove to the church we stayed at and set up all our beds and stuff. Didn't get to bed until 11:30pm.

Tuesday; OCHEC children's conference (in Tulsa). Got up at 6am, finished setting up and opened registration at 11:00am. From then on I did not have one moment to myself. My day consisted of talking to kids, serving snacks, entertaining 30 preschoolers, teaching songs, being Satan in a skit, reassuring parents, holding crying 5 yr olds, smiling lots of smiling, encouraging volunteers, and making older kids laugh. The parents picked up their children at 9pm. It was a good day :).......(that night we had some meetings, and planning, so I didn't get to bed til almost 1am)

Wednesday; Another early morning; 5am. This time the kids checked in at 8:15 and stayed til 5pm. About the same as Tuesday, except I started loosing my voice and sounded a bit squeaky. Another late night, went to bed at 11pm.

Thursday; Drove back to OKC and set-up for our second OCHEC. Went to a meeting for Africa, SUPER EXCITED about that :).
Fell into bed around 11:30, sooooo happy to be home.

Friday; Children's conference #2. Same plan, different kids. 5am - 7pm. Makes for an uber long day. The only thing I can say is the only way I made it through that day is with God's help. There is no other explanation. Had so much fun, I love kids :)

Saturday; Last day. Struggling to keep my eyes open in the warm-up meeting, thinking that there is no way I can even get by, much less find that final burst of energy to make it fun for the kids and keep their attention. Three words; God. Is. Faithful. All the time. People will try to meet your expectations and make you happy, but they will always fail. God will NEVER fail. Because of His grace I was able to finish strong, and give everything I had. And I even had fun doing it. God used those kids to bless me, so much more than I deserve.

So, that is my week. So many words come to mind when I try to describe it; but one keeps coming to mind - stretching. In a good way. In a way that I feel honored to have been given this opportunity. I know that God never gives me more than I can handle, and it humbles me to think that He trusted me to share His Truth with so many.
I had planned to share a story about one of the girls I talked to, but her story will have to wait. Its a good one though, I cry every time I tell it. :)

GOD IS SO GOOD.

be free
~noel~