Exciting News!

I am really excited to announce to the world that I have finally come to find some employment! I will be working as a part time Child Care Specialist at a place called Jill's House, which is a respite center for children with special needs tied very close with Mclean Bible Church. The position of Child Care Specialist is very similar to what I did at the camp I worked at the past two summers, just way more involved and a lot more paperwork, haha. Ideally this will eventually turn into a full time position, as they have a one year internship program I'm really interested in, but in the mean time I will be seeking out a second part time job, though I am extremely grateful that God has provided this first position. Below you can read an excerpt of an email I sent to Mary who is the director of the camp I worked for and the Child/Youth Services Coordinator of the Tyson's Campus Access ministry. She was the one who hired me two summers ago to work at Soaring Over Seven. This excerpt is basically a brief telling of the story of how God moved in my heart over the past two years towards possibly working in the special needs field and while some of the thoughts are repeated from earlier blogs, it's something I thought worth sharing again.

"A year and a half ago if someone would have told me I was going to be working in a field for children with special needs I would have said they were crazy. And if I'm honest with myself, I only applied for and took the job at S.O.S. that first summer because I desperately needed a summer job and was willing to do just about anything. But that summer completely changed my world. It opened my eyes to a demographic that desperately needs the love of Christ but is often passed over and dismissed. And it also provided me with a new perspective to the Gospel of Christ, as the love we were able to show these kids, who more often than not can't show love in return, at least in a way we would recognize, is very much like the love Christ has shown those He called to be His. And then on top of that, even after a rough and tiring day, no matter if a child yelled at, hit or bit you, to be forced to come back the next day and love them all the same as if none of that ever happened, was yet another picture of God's love for us. Not only were we incapable of loving Him before He called us, but He continues to love us the same even on the days where we run away from and rebel against Him in our sin.

So after the summer of 2012, I knew I just had to come back the next year. I even told my parents the second I got home from school that I wasn't even going to think about finding a full time job until I got to do S.O.S again. For the first time in my life, I had found something that I was excited to get up and exhaust myself for. Being a Group Coordinator this time around definitely had its fair share of challenges, and at times I definitely felt spread thin, as instead of pouring myself into one child, it was now 15. But thanks be to God He provided the grace to make it through and definitely reinforced those lessons I had learned from the first summer. On top of that though, He also did something I was not expecting at all this summer. He used camp to provide me with a wonderful group of friends through my coworkers, right after I had just said goodbye to a good amount of friends as I left school and was unsure what friendships would look like for me now that I was back home. 

All in all, God used Soaring Over Seven and the last three months of serving at breakout/breakaway to really open up my heart for those with special needs, and also my heart for the lost, as those who are not in Christ have a far greater spiritual need than any physical need in this world. These past two summers He really began to imprint the idea that maybe this was a field of work I would like to go into. And with this opportunity I have at Jill's House, I now have the ability to take steps in that direction!"

Thank you all who have been praying for me in my search for employment, it has been a long and slow process over the past 3 months, but God definitely had His purpose for it all. Please continue to be praying that I find a second part time job and if it is His will, that down the road this opportunity will possibly turn into a full time one.