Changes

:sigh: Here I sit, being completely lazy and couch-potato-esque. I slept well (ironically, on the floor) last night, but am still dragging from what I think will have to be considered one of the most intense weeks of my life.

Boot Camp was last week. For those of you who don't know, boot camp is one week we take out of our summer to take our teens from youth group and train them how to present lessons, the gospel, and do games with their teams in preparation for backyard Bible clubs. It's usually trying, taxing, and challenging, but this year it was like boot camp on steroids. Sean was in charge of delivering all the sermons (that responsibility is usually split between the pastors of the respective churches in attendance -- but he was the only one this year), which meant that he had a lot of preparation to do.

I always love boot camp, and I always get involved in some capacity, but this year a good friend and I co-wrote and planned the curriculum. That meant months of planning, meetings, edits, re-writes, comparing notes, asking for constructive criticism from others, and really a lot of faith that God would work through us and that the churches wouldn't regret agreeing to let us take this on ;) Oh, and a lot of Bush's sweet tea. It also meant a lot more work at boot camp itself. Reviewing, studying, practicing, etc. in order to make sure that the example we set for our students was one they should aspire to replicate. It sure was difficult...and that sort of mental standard made (at least for me) it all the easier to be hard on myself.

Add into the equation the ever unpredictable entity that are teenagers, and we were in for quite a week. God worked mightily among the teens, spoke powerfully through Sean, and generated enthusiasm for teaching His word through the curriculum. Overall, it was definitely a powerful week.

But oh my head, it was draining. The first night, as is standard, everyone was too excited to sleep. This results in lots of talking, giggling, whispering, texting, etc. amongst the girls in the girls' room. For those of you who are unaware of my sleeping habits, I value my sleep. I need my sleep. I'm not very tolerant of sleep interruptions. I'm also fairly unpleasant if I do not get enough of the aforementioned sleep. Enter Jennifer, The Enforcer of Silence. I had to get pretty cranky with the girls the first night...my man-voice was quite helpful in conveying the gravity of the situation. The rest of the week, we just threatened to take away pillows and blankets (as well as turn the air down a degree for every time we had to do that) if they weren't quiet. Combination of those threats, and Rachel reading a bedtime story made the rest of the week uneventful as far as sleeping was concerned.

For those who got to sleep, that is. Unfortunately, I spent the rest of the week having late night conversations with Sean (talking with him wasn't the negative part) about various situations we were dealing with and processing together, which meant I was going to bed around 1:30am every night we were at boot camp. One morning, I stupidly took a Benadryl without considering the drowsy effects it has. That bought me an almost three hour nap in the morning, which helped drastically with my attitude and energy level. Still, though, everything was kind of crazy...and definitely a lot to process. I feel like I'm still reeling.

Through it all, I had to struggle a lot with balance. If something was wrong, or I was dealing with something, I couldn't let everyone know...and I couldn't "punish" everyone else for something they weren't responsible for. So, that was a struggle - staying upbeat. But seeing God move in the lives of so many...to see sin confessed, and to see them seek out help in dealing with it was so unbelievably amazing and encouraging.

One of the girls I knew in college posted this thing on her blog awhile ago. It's called "Multitude Monday." Here's what she said about it:

"It is something I learned from my friends, called "Multitude Monday", taken from A Holy Experience. The challenge is to write and share 1,000 things you are grateful to God for. Maybe over a few weeks. Maybe a few months. The timetable is up to you. When you get to 1,000 you start over. The point of blogging (or finding another way to share) your thank-yous is to encourage and build up your community."

I think I'm going to try this. I like the idea of reshaping the way that you think to look for the positive things that you're grateful for. I think it will help change my perspective a lot. So, even in the dark times, instead of focusing on the negative, I'll be looking for the "silver lining," so to speak.

So, my first post on my things I'm thankful to God for will be this next Monday...and every Monday after that until I reach 1000. :)

I guess I'm kind of hoping to revamp a lot of things. Kind of like a "reinvention of Jenn project." I have a lot of things I have to do this summer...which is sort of perfect, since I don't have a job right now. So, my job will be to change things. Change myself, change my house, change whatever! God brought a lot of things to my attention at boot camp, and as I process through them, I want to remember what I have that is good, what I have to be thankful for, and to be more positive in general.

Here's to good things!