waterproof mascara

it's the devil. it sticks to you until you use this special stuff to remove it and if you don't use the special stuff it just gets goopy and comes off in sludgly clumps.

lesson learned

mike

for those that don't know this is mike.
I just got done talking to mike's childhood best friend. apparently not much has changed. he's still very upset with me. Mike still has not told me 100% why he's upset with me. all i know is from hearsay. at least it was kind of a gradual split...he just stopped calling, texting and wanting to hang out with me and THEN cut me out of his life (kicking me out of his house and blocking me on facebook).

and i understand sometimes we had some misunderstandings but it still hurts and kinda sucks.
yesterday mike called me. 1. to inform me he knew i had lost my job and 2. that i still needed to pay him before i left town....oh and that my stuffed animals were still at the house.

it would just be nice to know what's going on in his life...
i guess it works this way too, he always hated being the third wheel.

:-(

bites of yum topped with sprinkles of joy

i love my friends!
let me just say i def have an amazing group of friends.
today i spent the day post meeting with my candidacy mentor with my golfing buddies.
one of them is recently separated from his significant other...so of course the rest of us re-instated the tradition of going to TCBY. it was nice.

i am so grateful that adam and i have the ability to be un-selfish and can talk through things. and let me give a shout out to muddy's bake shop for turning out sooo many smiles with one box of yum topped with joy.

i also got to see my favorite 5 yr olds and their mom. i love you andrew and lauren hobson.




on note other than awesome friends, kids and cupcakes...i start my new awesome job in less than 3 weeks. i'm pretty excited!!! i filled out the papers to cancel my lease today.

it's a bitter sweet symphony, that's life

so i'm finally done dog sitting.

i've been helping my friend kelsey flip his condo this week past annual conference. not like i've had much to do considering i've lost my job...not that i've lost it, it just ceases to exist.


i'm going to miss my girls. they were so sweet and made me a card for my last day, and one of their parents sent me a pamper yourself gift set with a rhinestone bath robe. how so very sweet.


the first taste of a bittersweet ending. it's kinda weird. it's like i lose my kids, my job and my church family all at once.
as jared said...welcome to church work.

scott and i are going to attend this church down the street from where they live. i'm 90% sure it's a black church. i'm excited for worship. there's free lunch provided after wards too. it's kinda like wesley!!!

on a happy note i've got a new job, and this new job will pay for school (for real, not conditionally) and provide me with a home. niiiiiiice. more to come of this later.

kids say the darnest things

snickers demands cuddles. and i'm the victim.


about to start my 3rd week dog sitting. (3 separate families).
i kinda miss my apt.

so kate was telling me some of the stuff the kids were saying at drama camp and several of them (ages 3-10) like ke$sha.
and kate made a point to tell them how it's important to use toothpaste and not booze. LOL

they were asking kate if she spoke any languages she said she spoke some Japanese and when they asked the girl if she spoke any thing she said no...the only language i speak is MONEY.
i love kids.

my mentor is incredible. i think she might have found me another youth job. someone awesome told me about a possibility of an assistant to the children's director at christ. we'll see how that works out.

not sure what all went on but a member of sprc was talking to one of my former adults and told them 'how could lauren not see this coming, was it really a surprise?'
to which my adult & parent defended me and said 'lauren had this program finally going back in the right direction, kids that haven't been coming in 2 years are coming back now that bad behavior and language are no longer present'

thanks to all my volunteers and parents for your support and believing in me

i almost feel special. ppl are leaving the church because of the 'bs'. i feel bad for them abandoning their church but am glad they are taking a stand (one way or the other)

move along

tonight i tell my students.

prayers

the failing economy; the failing church

so this sunday after 10:50 service my boss calls me into his office w/ the head of sprc. i've been laid off. they cannot afford to pay a full-time person. the numbers just are not there.
forget i just graduated 3/4 of my youth group whom may i add were not of the character or set the mood of the youth group they needed to.

so i re work the group. i get students that had left b/c of the lude behavior to not only come back but to bring friends. youth group is fun again. we have games, no foul language, no homo jokes, no talk of sex or drugs. no yelling or disrespecting....
i have a new middle school ministry w/ even more parents involved and a praise team.

'lauren you've started moving us in the right direction. thank you for getting the parents involved, it's just what we needed.'
'we just cannot afford to pay someone full time. we'll be completely run by parents and volunteers.'

not gonna lie. i'm upset. i was willing to put in the extra elbow. this job has been an uphill battle but i put on my holy armor and was willing to work for it.
...realistically though we've lost 12+ members of our congregation to death (old age) and have only gained 1 family of 4 that comes half the time and about 2 other families.

sadly as much as i still love that church it's dying and will be consolidated.
any church that doesn't support the children is going to not thrive=going to die.

sadly it's also at my expense....they're paying me 2 months severance though. my last day is june 9th.
adam's fam is really supportive. i have not dared to tell mine yet. they told me i would fail before i began. i haven't decided if it's going to suck more to tell my mom and dad or my kids.
....oooh man.
my sweet sweet girls and reid, what am i going to do.