Pig Tail Divas Gots STYLE Yo!!!

KIDZCITY CAMP IS AMAZING!!! I am having so much fun. My girls are so great, and my team time keeps getting bigger. I went from 8 girls to 10 in two days, and I even after losing one.

Before camp I had been praying about my girls, and I asked God for strategies and wisdom with them to make our team time exciting, and fun and my heart really has been to build unity in my group. These are the girls I normally teach on Sunday mornings, minus the ones with Jenny, but my heart for that has always been not only that they would learn to love God, but that they wold build relationships with each other that would last. It's been difficult because they don't get a lot of time together on Sundays, so it's more difficult to work with the girls who are a little quieter and don't click well with the others. But camp has given me plently of time to work.

So God gave me great vision, and it's worked out so great. Our team name is "PTD" (Pig Tail Divas!) All my girls wear Pig Tails in their hair (including me) which not only is super fun and they love it, but it makes it easier to spot them when we go somewhere. Our team color is yellow, so we tie our sleeves up with yellow ribbon to make our shirts cute and we write PTD on our forheads including war stripes on our faces, and they're just crazy about that. I bought them all their own color pens for their notebooks. Every time we meet in Team Time, (where we break into smaller groups to talk about the Word) the first thing I have them do is get with a partner they don't normally talk to, (which is their buddy for the day) and each day I have new questions for them to ask each other. They then share the answers with the group.

The theme for our group is STYLE, (besides the Pig Tails). Not just STYLE on the outside, but we discuss styleing ourselves on the insde to look more like Jesus. This is great, because every day, when I notice an issue in the group, I get to adress it in our team time, for example, yesterday at Boomers, I noticed one of the girls in our group, who's a little hard to get along with was being neglected by the other girls. So this morning, I talked about how Jesus loved all people, and that's why people loved Jesus. And so the greatest way we can STYLE ourselves to look like Jesus is to love others, including and especially those around us, no matter how hard it is. I then challenged them to take care of each other and work on loving each other that day.

They just eat up everything we do. They're so excited about the PTD's and the ribbons and even the STYLE. And God keeps showing me what to do. I love it. One thing you can pray for me though is our group has a little problem with cliques. While I'm glad that certain girls are making friends, I want unity, and there's about 3 different groups, and then the one girl who gets left out, so please pray for her and the others.

Before I go, I want to share a little about my girls, (and their nick names, which the kids made up themselves just to let you know;)

Rachel (Worship Girl, WG)- Rachel is the socialite of the group. She's the most out going, the boldest, the most talkative. We get along really well. She's very strong, and she's taken Erica Joslin under her wing which is pretty great because she's really the first person Erica has connected with in a best friend sort of way. She can befriend anyone she wants and not befriend anyone she wants. But her heart is good, and she is a prayer warrior, and thanks God for everything.

Erica (Puppy Diva) She's probably my quietest, but since her and Rachel have become friends, she's really stepped out of her shell. I love it so much because I've been praying for it for so long. She's got the kindest heart, and so she's so dang cute. She's also miss evangalist and already has such a good relationship with the Lord.

Esmae (Reptile) This girl is really cute. Her best friend is Amy and they keep to themselves most of the time, but if I ask Esmae to reach out to someone, she's immediatly on it questioning the girl about her life and her interests. I can always count on her to do that. She's very, very friendly and very obeidient, though I havn't really had any issues of disobedience with any of my girls. They're all really good.

Amy (Lizard) She's my cute little red head. Her and Esmae's hair is short, so they wear half pig tails on top of their heads, which look like little antenna's but it's so cute. She seems shy at first, but once you get her talking, she's full of stuff to say.

Maddie (Kitty) This girls a ham!!! Probably one of the funniest little girls I've ever met. She's never been shy since I've known her. She can do any cartoon voice, and any show you name from the Disney Channel, she'll sing it without a moments thought. I think that's why Sierra likes her so much. She's consantly making us laugh. My only issue with her is that she's my wanderer. No matter how many times I tell her to stick with the group, when I turn my head to do a head count and only come up with nine, guess who's missing? She gets distracted easily and then stays back to check something out. She's so fun though.

Sierra (Oragami) She used to be even quieter than Erica. I could barely get her to say anything to me. But since camp, she's opened up SO much. I drive her and her brothers to and home after camp, so I've gotten a lot of time to get to know her. I like her A LOT! She's a real cute girl. Tall, blond. She's going to be a knock out when she's older. Anyway, since camp, she's really come out of her shell. I think her freindship with Maddie has helped with that a lot. But the greatest thing about her is that she tries so hard to reach out to Ashley, the girl who's struggling, no matter how hard it is.

Ashley (Pie) This is the one who struggles with the other girls. She's very sweet, and I love her so much, but she's a little hard to get along with. I think she frustrates the girls. She gets left out a lot, and so when someone tries to reach out to her, she snaps out of hurt and they don't understand that. Please pray for her. She's a great kid, and she really needs a friend in KIDZCITY.

Kyra (Triple A) This is the coolest kid I've ever met. She just joined us today. She's a soccer player and a bit of a tom boy, but she jumped right in and all the girls love her. I think she's so cool I want to go hang out with her. I don't know her enough yet to say much about her except that she's just super cool.

Gillen (Gee Gee) She just came today with Rachel. They are friends from school. She's a cross between Erica and Rachel. Quiet, but social. She clicked the most with Erica. Her, Erica and Rachel hung out all day, and it's funny cuz they're all Asian. She's very kind, and she got into everything. Her and Kyra both just jumped right into the PTD STYLE.

Kayla (Cha Cha) She too came today for the first time. I love Kayla. She used to go to our church, but it's weird for her coming back because she's not the boss anymore. She played sick and everything she could to get out of hanging out with us at the beginning, and most of the day she played coy and pouted silently. But once people started giving her attention, she was old happy Kayla again, and everybody likes her. I'm glad she's here.

Cynthia (I can't remember) She was only here yesterday. We also are really close, but she only comes to our church every once in a while. Her and Rachel get along REALLY well. The moment they met they were best friends. Her, Erica and Rachel are quite a trio. I brought the two girls to Erica's B-Day party this year and ever since the 3 love hanging out. She's a lot of fun, and she's very loving. I like hanging out with her too.

God is doing so much. Even reading through all I just wrote and thinking about my girls, I can see Him moving and answering my prayers. He had a plan and He's been so sovereign over this week and over my team. I am so blessed to see what's happening in my girls. They even remember everything Teacher Carl preaches on. It's so great!!!!

Well, that's about it. Camp is great. I'm exhausted, and I'm really greatful I took the week off of work because I wouldn't make it. ;) With much love.


P.S: I can't use spell check, so sorry for mispelled words!