Family Camp Day 1

The first 2 days were amazing, let me just say. Our rooms here are wonderful and it's really nice only having to share a bathroom with your roomie! We had a full day of training yesterday but it was good insight for what was to come and I really enjoyed learning about some new things I didn't know before. They also showed us this video at the end that was so inspirational. It was about a family that had 6 kids and two were born with disabilities. It talked about all the struggles they'd been through but also how it helped them grow as a family. The love that they displayed in their family was like nothing I had ever seen. That video alone really pumped me up for what was to come! The families arrived around 3 today and it was really exciting. I had been getting pretty nervous to see who my family was and what kind of disabilities I would be helping them with. At our last training session earlier in the day we got to read through our family application. I couldn't believe it when I got a huge Hispanic family! It was like a dream come true just knowing that alone! Then as I read through the application I found out they had kids right around my age. I was so excited to work with youth I couldn't believe it. God knew exactly what He was doing, I kept thinking. He always does. Tammy and Haley had their family last year and they breifed me on what to expect. Turns out this family comes from a pretty bad part of town in Linwood, CA. The mother has been in a wheel chair and partially paralyzed her entire life and then her eldest son, 23, was recently shot in a gang shooting and in now paralyzed from the waist down. So they both use wheelchairs. The two other children of hers are a girl, 17, and a boy, 16. The girl was really easy to talk to and we actually have alot in common. She even wants to be a social worker like me! See, God set this up! The 16 year old guy is kind of laid back, but he's very nice and polite. He tends to open up more to my partner STM (short term missionary), Billy. Billy is hilarious! He's 36 and he's also Hispanic and oh my gosh, I swear he's a 2nd George Lopez! I couldn't ask for a better partner to help me with this family. The 23 year old son also brought along his baby girl who's 2 1/2 and his girlfriend. The little girl has got to be the most adorable little girl I've ever seen. She's full of energy and I got the oppurtunity to really spend some time with her running around and playing with the ducks by the lake. Soon she got pretty attached to me and I guess she usually takes longer to warm up to people, so thats really good! Then the girlfriend of the oldest son is 18 just like me. We talked about graduation and we could relate a little but I haven't gotten as much of an oppurtunity to talk with her yet. It's really wonderful to see the family interact with each other. Sometimes, you can tell theres tension and they don't get alot of time together as a family and the kids don't really want to be here but at the same time the way they care for each other is amazing. The whole family mothers that little girl and they watch out for her non stop. And the two teenage kids are so helpful with their mother and making sure all her needs are met. I really hope God uses me this week and I can be a big help to them and maybe give them a break and time to relax and spend together as a family. I'm so excited to see what God has instore for us! I know that placing me with this family was perfect, and I couldn't be anymore happy about it! This family is truely "more than I could have ever imagined" (That's our theme thing this week)

I've gotten to spend some really cool time with the group of people from First Southern Baptist Church at Saguaro Ranch and I'm glad to be making friends with them or just better friends with them. Rooming with Morgan is so much fun, we keep joking about how we're going to get so sick of each other because next week is Vegas with her too! And it's been fun spending time with Stacie as well. Since my Momma's not here and her kids aren't here, I'm borrowing her for the week :)

Tomorrow I'll be getting to work in the Children's department for program time. Chelsea and I are in charge of snacks. Be praying for us and that none of the kids have any allergy issues or problems that we don't know about. I'm so excited to meet and get to know some of the other kids that are here!

I'll post more tomorrow night! I miss everyone back home!
Love, Kara