Me and my precious husband leave tomorrow for a 4 day trip to Atlanta.
We will be attending a conference by Youth Specialties. Our church leadership allows us to be gone, as well as pays for us to attend a youth ministry conference once a year. They have put me and Seth up in a very nice hotel, paid for our meals, travel expenses, and any resources we feel would benefit our ministry that we find there. It's such a blessing to get to do what we do, and where we do it. They take such good care of us. We are blessed to be a part of something so incredible. Back to the conference... It's so nice to be able to go and be ministered to people who understand the things that you deal with and the amount of energy that is required of you all day everyday to minister to students. Especially when you have over 100 students. Don't get me wrong, we LOVE our students, but it can just be very exhausting at times. A large portion of this generation of students are motherless and fatherless. On any given day we feel any emotion from heart break to overwhelming joy and pride... just like if they were our own. We love each and every one of them and they all have such a special place in our hearts. They don't have parents that are involved, and if they are it's hard to find parents who really encourage them to make the right choices in life. As a result, there are entirely too many teenagers walking around this world who are dealing with hurts and heartaches that are outside of their ability to cope with. We have several counseling sessions a week with students and It absolutely blows my mind what these kids have to deal with on a weekly basis. And it's not the kids you would generally suspect... it's the popular kids: The varsity ball players, cheerleaders, homecoming and prom kings and queens. We know that God has placed us in their lives for such a time as this. We wouldn't trade what we do for a million dollars. These kids are a part of our family. It's an absolutely INSANE lifestyle that I don't think everyone is cut out for, but this is what we love to do. If you want to make a difference and be a part of something bigger than yourself, go find a hurting teenager to mentor and just be there for. It will change your life, but more importantly it will change theirs. So anyways, it's obviously something I'm passionate about. I could write for days about the passion it stirs up in me. Me and Seth definitely plan to write a book one day about our experiences in this season of our life. And really, I hope it's not a season, I hope it's a constant throughout the years.
So I look to be refreshed and inspired this weekend. I'm sure just getting full nights of sleep while our little one is away from us will help. (He's staying here with grandma.) Also, you know every chance we get we will squeeze in some good meals and definitely a little shopping. I really hope we can make it to the coke factory too.
How in the WORLD am I going to make it without this face for 4 days??!!??
When we get back it's time to throw myself into Christmas prep mode! I still need to decorate my house, shop, learn music, design, make Christmas gifts for my family, bake, make travel plans to Texas! Oh, and then there's Thanksgiving in there too!
So I hope everyone's remainder of the week is inspiring and that the weekend is refreshing.
I'm sure I'll be updating my twitter often while we are in Atl, so if you aren't following me yet, my twitter id is KarisRochelle.
'Tis the season....
We will be attending a conference by Youth Specialties. Our church leadership allows us to be gone, as well as pays for us to attend a youth ministry conference once a year. They have put me and Seth up in a very nice hotel, paid for our meals, travel expenses, and any resources we feel would benefit our ministry that we find there. It's such a blessing to get to do what we do, and where we do it. They take such good care of us. We are blessed to be a part of something so incredible. Back to the conference... It's so nice to be able to go and be ministered to people who understand the things that you deal with and the amount of energy that is required of you all day everyday to minister to students. Especially when you have over 100 students. Don't get me wrong, we LOVE our students, but it can just be very exhausting at times. A large portion of this generation of students are motherless and fatherless. On any given day we feel any emotion from heart break to overwhelming joy and pride... just like if they were our own. We love each and every one of them and they all have such a special place in our hearts. They don't have parents that are involved, and if they are it's hard to find parents who really encourage them to make the right choices in life. As a result, there are entirely too many teenagers walking around this world who are dealing with hurts and heartaches that are outside of their ability to cope with. We have several counseling sessions a week with students and It absolutely blows my mind what these kids have to deal with on a weekly basis. And it's not the kids you would generally suspect... it's the popular kids: The varsity ball players, cheerleaders, homecoming and prom kings and queens. We know that God has placed us in their lives for such a time as this. We wouldn't trade what we do for a million dollars. These kids are a part of our family. It's an absolutely INSANE lifestyle that I don't think everyone is cut out for, but this is what we love to do. If you want to make a difference and be a part of something bigger than yourself, go find a hurting teenager to mentor and just be there for. It will change your life, but more importantly it will change theirs. So anyways, it's obviously something I'm passionate about. I could write for days about the passion it stirs up in me. Me and Seth definitely plan to write a book one day about our experiences in this season of our life. And really, I hope it's not a season, I hope it's a constant throughout the years.
So I look to be refreshed and inspired this weekend. I'm sure just getting full nights of sleep while our little one is away from us will help. (He's staying here with grandma.) Also, you know every chance we get we will squeeze in some good meals and definitely a little shopping. I really hope we can make it to the coke factory too.
How in the WORLD am I going to make it without this face for 4 days??!!??
When we get back it's time to throw myself into Christmas prep mode! I still need to decorate my house, shop, learn music, design, make Christmas gifts for my family, bake, make travel plans to Texas! Oh, and then there's Thanksgiving in there too!
So I hope everyone's remainder of the week is inspiring and that the weekend is refreshing.
I'm sure I'll be updating my twitter often while we are in Atl, so if you aren't following me yet, my twitter id is KarisRochelle.
'Tis the season....
2 comments:
Oh, how I envy your job! I'm sure it's stressful and taxing on you, but oh-so-rewarding as well. Have fun in Atlanta and enjoy your time with your hubby!
Atlanta you will be about 1.5 away from where I live have fun :)
carrie
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