In April of 2013 after a few months of working under a new administrator at the assisted living myself and three other co-workers were forced to quit...its a long story but I struggled with my decision for a long time after but now have such peace with now and have seen how it was God's plan for me to move on.
About a month before the wedding I applied for the internship and interviewed for a job at Starbucks for the summer. I landed the job at Starbucks, got married and found out I was accepted into the program all within a week of each other. It was a bit of a whirlwind for those 3 weeks but man it felt good knowing God was in control and His plan for us was slowly being reveled.
Our wedding day was just perfect! I truly couldn't have asked for better day. The weather was perfect, everything went pretty much as planned and at the end of the we were married!! I am still so thankful for all of our friends and family for supporting us and helping us make our day so wonderful. My bridesmaids threw me the most perfect bridal shower, as did my moms friends. My bridesmaids were also so support and helpful when things got crazy with the plans and when drama arose. They even all stayed with me the night before the wedding in a hotel and chatted the night away. The ceremony went off without a hitch so beautifully. As did the reception, the food was amazing, the dancing was great and our cake was perfect. Not to mention our photographer was seriously THE best. She got every shot I wanted and many more. I really can't seem to say thank you enough to everyone!
Stefan finished his internship two weeks before our wedding and started working at a distribution warehouse right before the wedding so a "real" honeymoon was out of the question. So we drove to Las Vegas for a couple of nights. I hadn't ever been as an adult so we had to do Vegas right. We went to a show, ate lots and lots and at all the cool places and stayed in a beautiful room. We made sure to spend as much time possible laying out by the pool too.
Right after our honeymoon I started support raising for the internship (as many of you know!) God's provision for us was so evident through the whole process. It was hard for me to let go of control and fully trust God which is a constant lesson in my life. I am just so thankful for all of the support I was given not only financially (Which was HUGE!!) but also through prayer.
In this internship program we not only get to spend four months in each age group ( Early childhood which is birth-2 1/2 years old, preschool just under 3-5 years old and Elementary.) But we also spend 10 hours each month in a different ministry. In October all seven interns helped out in Kids ministry because of Fall fest, in November we spent our 10 hours in missions which of course was a huge deal to me and this month we are in student ministry. I have spent the last 3 months in preschool, mainly working in the 32-36 month room. The 32-36 month room is the first of the preschool rooms, the last room they don't have to be potty trained in and the only room in preschool where they do story time a little differently than the rest of the preschool rooms. I have taught in the 5 year old room and run circle time in the 4 year old room. Circle time is the preschool rooms time for small groups, they sit on a circle with a leader with up to 12 kids. The leader will ask them questions about the lesson they just heard and play a game or do a small craft that goes along with the story. In the 32-36 month room we only do one story for 6-8 weeks, where as the other preschool rooms will do a series for 3-6 weeks and don't have circle time. All of the preschool rooms do worship before the lesson, two songs with hand motions on a DVD. I love this part of kids ministry, we allow them to play, learn about Jesus and learn what worship is. And they love it!
I am at the point in my internship where I am given more responsibility, so as of late I have been running the room by myself. I make sure we have enough volunteer leaders in the room to open, I make sure the volunteer leaders know whats new, the rules and what is going on and pray before we open the room. I am also the go to person if something goes awry, we have lots of safety rules and regulations so often things happen that are fairly minor but staff are needed. My first weekend on was a little nerve racking but it was a pretty uneventful weekend. Of course I don't just work on the weekends so throughout the week while in the offices I have LOTS to do. Between emailing volunteers, planning upcoming events and series, meetings, setting up stages, making sure the circle bins are ready for the weekend and making sure the coloring pages are done I am busy. In January I will switch over to Early childhood, I am very excited for it but sad to leave my preschoolers.
Through this internship I have learned so much already. I worked here at Flatirons for almost two years before this internship so I knew how it all works and the environment but I have learned so much about our kids ministry and myself. I am loving this process and internship. I really am. At times it can get a little overwhelming with all the books we need to read, projects outside of our main ministry and all that we have to learn and be able to do but I wouldn't want to be doing any other job. I am so grateful for all the support and encouragement I have been given from our friends and family and I am so excited to see what is in store for us.
