There have been some rather, shall I say, interesting changes this past week. At after-school we got a new site supervisor. He isn’t “new” new; I worked with him last summer as an intern at BEACH (my site). So things in that realm have been shaken up a bit. We are starting fresh. I feel like we have a foundation now where we can truly focus on the goals of the after-school program. During one of our first meetings, he presented this new opportunity as a “cooperative” effort; meaning, yes, he will be the supervisor by title, but we will all carry our load and split it. I love this idea; first off, it gives us so much room to communicate ideas without stepping on people’s toes or unintentionally undermining. Three staff members run the BEACH after-school program. And during this meeting, he was very transparent about his expectations, his fears, and his desire for this to be something great. To be honest, I walked out of the meeting with such good energy that I was excited to do all the revamping work and planning. I want the program to be all it can be. But, I do know that there needs to be some work put into that as well. We are having our first end-of-the-week meeting tomorrow to discuss the week and assess what we want to improve. Together I feel like we have so many ideas!
A typical after-school program week goes something like this. On Mondays, we have dinner, homework/tutoring time, reading/journaling club, then Bible. Everyday is the same with the exception of the club time and who leads Bible time. Tuesdays we have music where the kids get to either do drum circles or learn songs for the family nights coming up in October. So far, the Wednesday options have consisted of friendship bracelets, legos/paper airplanes, and cooking. And Thursdays have been science days. This is a great foundation and I feel like it lets the kids look forward to certain activities as well as gives them variety, but I feel like it’s only a foundation. So much more could be done for it to be “amazing.” SPLAT is what the program is called and it stands for spiritual, physical, learning, arts, tutoring. So everything we do, we try to incorporate into these categories. Soon we are going to try and have a weekly verse the kids will learn that will hopefully help them learn God’s Word, but also become more familiar with the Bible.
I feel like I’m slowly getting to know my kids better with these changes as well. I feel like I’m able to have more fun with them and learn about where they’re at as well as what I can do to be there for them.
Today was a science day and we made slime with the kids. It was definitely one of the better days. Each kid got a pencil box and we made the slime out of glue, water, food coloring, and borax powder. They all ended up taking theirs home.
Monday the younger kids get to go to the Children’s Museum for a friendly haunted house while the older kids are going to stay back. My co-worker and I decided to have a fun day with the kids as well. We are going to try and have different Halloween stations for the kids. One I would love to do would be to give each kid a mini pumpkin and have them paint faces or designs on them, while the other would be a room with a giant spider web in which they had to find their way out by following the ropes to get a prize.
I have my moments where I’m not sure why I’m doing what I’m doing because I’m too tired or too stressed, but the little moments where I find myself smiling and laughing with the kids while our hands are immersed in the slimiest goo and the tables are stained with food coloring, make it all worth it!
I’ve been struggling a bit lately with thinking about what the future holds and where I’m going to be after this year but good times like this really make me slow down and appreciate what I’m doing now. The future has always been daunting and maybe because it’s the first time in my life that I don’t have a plan, that I’m somewhat freaking out, I don’t know. A part of me just wants something long term to work on, don’t get me wrong, not for the lack of things to do or prepare. I just feel like I’ve always had some project going on whether it just be a paper due or the intent on graduating undergrad. Now it’s just me. I’m here working with these kids and I feel like I’m just standing in front of God saying, Ok God, what’s next. How do you want to use me? It’s a scary thing. But I’ve been amazed at where he’s brought me in just a year. I’ve been reading a through Proverbs lately and the whole pull between the world and God has really touched home. And maybe not even worldly things, but definitely a pull between being still and obedient to what God wants versus what I want. I guess it’s just one of those typical just-graduated-and-don’t-know-what-to-do-now phases. I just want to make sure I have drive and purpose in what I’m doing with my life! I don’t want to loose sight of that in the mix of stress and juggling so many things on my plate. J
Psalm 6:4—Turn, O Lord, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love.
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