Working?
~Kayla

Oh 2 hours of sleep.

So I did this thing so that I could send messages from my phone to update my blog...it didn't work :(!! this is what the message said (including punctation and capitilization):

So i set it up so i could update my blog from my phone. I hope it works. I should not be up...it is almost 4 in the morning here. I cannot sleep because i have never loved anyone so much in my entire life, and i've never felt so loved. My kids at kids club make me feel amazing. I know God has me here because i will love them. it is at the time of the summer where there is less than 1 month left and i am losing my mind. i've been crying for about 1 hour at this point. I love them so much it kills me to not be with them. i do not know where they are or if they are safe or loved. i wish i could just be with them every min to love them as hard as i can. i feel so loved because i know God loves me more than i love these kids. that love does not make sense to me. not only that, but his love never changes or is any less. oh how hard it is for me to believe he loves me, how could his love for me never change?

I love you God thanks for this chance. please help me love like you. please be w/ the kids when i can't. help me believe your love for me <3>

Greetings from Whataburger

Hey y'all!!!!!

This is a lovely post for you from good old Whataburger. The sad thing is that many of you may not even know what a Whataburger is. Just in case you don't and it is too hard for you to use your brain and guess I will tell you what it is. It is a fast food place that has burgers. They have wireless internet here, so that is why we are here. Leah and I each got a milk shake, though I got a small one since they make me feel sick.

Anyway!!!!

Things are going really great!!! And!!!!!!!!!! I am planning on starting to post short video blogs so y'all do not have to read anymore and so that I can just quickly post a little video. I am trying it on this one just to see if it works well. These past two weeks have been amazing!!! I love my job and I cannot believe that this really is my job!!!! It is really really sweet!!! The youth groups and adult leaders have been amazing!!! I wish I could describe to you with these words how great it has been. Maybe I will try a little bit when there is really video.

This weekend we are staying at the Kim's house (she is the secretary of the church that we are staying at). It is awesome because we have real beds to sleep in. We slept like 12 hours last night, which may sound pathetic, but really that is great becasue that is over two nights sleep for us during the week. I got to talk to my grandparents today which was nice. They are coming down here (dad's parents) as well as my brother next weekend, and I am SOOOOOOO excited!!!! It is hard to believe that it is already the fourth of july, especially because it is just over a month until the summer is over. But I am not going to talk about this because it is sad. Really sad...except that I get to come home and see y'all which is fun.

It is already clear, but this is a really scattered blog. For that reason, here are some random pieces of information. I got to talk to my roommates today. I LOVE CARTHAGE!!!! This video is ridiculous. I do not have internet at the church I am staying at for the time being for some reason. They are working on getting it fixed. I am going to Shreveport tonight to see Rockets on the Red which is fireworks on the Red River :) I am very excited!!! I have tons of pictures that y'all can eventually see... but I have to get them from Tim and Leah first because I do not really do the whole picture thing. :):):):) I am super pumped for the potential video blog game. I lost the game. I miss my groups from the past 3 weeks, especially the last 2 weeks. I am considering doing YouthWorks again because it has been amazing!!! My computer is going to die. I LOVE JESUS!!!! I really want to make it to the Spanish Church around here and go the the Spanish Mass at the Catholic Church. I miss you all!!!

Do not be mean about my silly video. :) The audio has a bit of a lag. and, I was not watching myself, so this is Kayla in her natural Whataburger environment.



Mucho Amor <3
Kayla

Short and to the point...I hope

Hey y'all

It is late and I am tired. Today was our first day of programming..this basically means that we had our own youth participants here in Texas (they arrived sunday) and we worked at Kids Club. Everything went amazingly well!! Yea God :) and I am excited for the next couple days. The way we have things set up right now I am in charge of the first three meals that we have (sunday dinner, monday breakfast and lunch, and monday dinner...breakfast and lunch is like one). This has made it hard to get to know the youth, but I am excited for the rest of the week where I have less of a role for dinner. Our Kids Club went significantly better than expected, and the kids that we work with were angels today. one of the five year old boys was about to get a drink and a four year old girl came and he stepped aside and let her go first. It is abnormal that the kids would be so great, but I praise God for even one day with such great behavior. Tonight our evening activity was at a place called Triple Play which has roller skating, batting cages, and arcade type games. It went very well! I love the groups that we have here this week. **I know that this is skattered, please bear with me** I have really bad allergies or something and I cannot breath out of both sides of my nose like I normally can, and I have a cough. All is well though, becuase God is great!! We had 23 or so kids at Kids Club, and they are great!!! I cannot wait to get to know them better and carry them around on my back and hug them and everything. Kyle our site director is here, and I am very excited to be getting to know him better. He reminds me of my friend Ben Barnes which is always great! Kyle is great too!! I got to take the chocolate off of his snickers, that is fun :) he does not like chocolate. My accent is getting stronger which is great!!! It is really hard for me to have time for this, but I am going to do my best. I enjoy texts and calls, that is not to say that I will be able to get back quickly if at all. God is shaping me to be a confident leader, and is helping me by placing people in my life (like Jono and James...james is the site director at Marvell) to remind me that eating is needed and I am beautiful. Also, we have a section of CLUB that focuses on the media's influence on us. All of this is always a great reminder.

We go to the nursing home tomorrow and also the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame for a tour and also we will be learning how to line dance. I know right!! so cool!!!!

I'M EXCITED!!! AND GOD IS SO GOOD :):):):):)

mucho amor
Kayla

Don't be fooled!

Why hello blog readers!!!

When you read this you are probably being deceived the date on this post. The fact of the matter is that this blog is being written early Monday morning at 12:19am Central Time. Hopefully the next few posts are similar to this or something. I will let you know!!

SOOO:

This is so cool!!! Today I am in Arkansas and we just finished our first day with participants on site. It was not a full day just yet in terms of participants being here all day, but it was by all means “full.” Today Leah and I went with Kyle (our wonderful Area Director) and James (the wonderful site director here in Marvell) to WalMart to make last minute purchases that we were unable to make at Sam’s Club on Saturday because of a) Sam’s Club did not have the things that we needed or b) the items were on the lovely bakery list that we neglected to bring to Sam’s Club. This was an interesting trip. Mainly because it was the second trip to WalMart buying the exact same things because the company credit card was flagged for fraud because of the large number of large purchases. This being said, we decided to purchase everything that we needed on receipts with a total right about 100 dollars. This made it possible to buy everything. For those of you who do not know, we are purchasing enough food to feed roughly 70 people for an entire week. Needless to say (probably, but just in case I will say it for you) we spent about $2500 between Sam’s and WalMart, buying such quantities as: 28 loaves of bread, 211 tortillas, 22 heads of lettuce, and 256 pieces of fruit. This was completely new for me, but fun at the same time. You may not be surprised, but we get asked many questions when we are out because we are all under the age of thirty (most of us under 25), and we are purchasing several flats of food.

Anyway, we went to a church service here in Marvell. It was very nice. The church was welcoming. By the way, this site only has one standard household sized refrigerator, and therefore Mrs. Barbee (I may have spelled that wrong) made an announcement at church for any refrigerators that are able to be donated or sold. We are still waiting a reply for that. Also we do not have an ice machine here, so a local church (I believe the same church that we attended) is allowing us to use their ice machine when needed (which really, is like several times a day). One of Marvell’s staff decided to leave today, it has been tough for me, and I cannot imagine how hard it is for those who he has been with for the past three weeks. His name is Brandon, and he just doesn’t feel that this is a good fit for him. It is sad that the choice was made before the real YouthWorks started, but it is all for a reason. Tuesday (which for me is technically tomorrow) we will be getting a replacement staff member.

Me and Ellen (Kids Club from Marvell) made dinner tonight and cleaned it up. It was hard not to be there greeting the churches, but at the same time it was nice to have a defined purpose, and an outlet to meet the kids that volunteered to help with clean up. We boil our water to wash dished because there is no hot water in the kitchen, but this has not been a problem yet.

It is hot here. There are lots of bugs. Sometimes stress is high among the others I am working with (I do not really feel it). There is a void without Brandon. However, most of this is not noticed because: The adult leaders are eager to help their kids. The kids want to volunteer and be involved. The groups are so friendly. Our staff is getting to know each other better. GOD IS PRESENT! You are praying. I thank you for your prayers and for everything. I am sad to say that this page long entry does not even begin to describe the amazing day that was Sunday (not to mention Saturday). I will be able to fill in the blanks if needed, assuming I have a portion of my memory that is not devoted to saving information for meals and Kids Club and shopping lists. I need some sleep; I will be up in less than six hours to get stuff ready for breakfast and lunch. God is good, and He is doing amazing things and making everything run more smoothly than humanly possible. We could not do anything without Him, and again, I thank you for your prayers.

Last thing: I miss my Carthage home, my Monroe home, and my Spring Arbor home and all of their youth groups. **Note: there is not specific order of importance here, they are simply alphabetical**

I would love to continue filling you in about the day, but I would love even more to sleep, and therefore that is what I am going to do.

Yea God (pronounced ‘yay God’) ~ “Hit it and Give it” <--- Feel free to ask :)

Mucho Amor,

Kayla

Late Night NOT Blog Post

You may expect this to be a post. Normally you would be correct, but tonight it is just a little note to let you know that I am not writing a post because I will be helping my lovely roommate Leah whom I love so much with her blog. She literally has not written since May 26th, and wants to include every little detail. She needs my help and that is what I am going to do. Oh summer roommate fun and late nights intending to end in rest for an early morning of running and breakfast and showering and signs. Hopefully I will let you know how well all of that went down. If not, feel free to ask.

Mucho Amor,
Kayla

ps. I need to cut my nails...my swing dancing partner would be ashamed. Also, I hear there are a bunch of you reading this...that is fun :) feel free to leave a message. It will make me smile!!

This is me

Hey Y'all!!!!

I had to write a bio of myself for this thing called the "adult leader binder" that is for...you guessed it, the adult leaders on site. I am very happy with the way it turned out, and I think that anyone who has ever spoken to me at all knows that this is who I am. I thought that it would be fun to share, in case any of you forgot who I am:

Hola!! My name is Kayla Hadley and I live in America’s “high-five.” Michigan has been very good to me, I was born in Southeast Michigan, grew up in Southeast Michigan, and you guessed it still live in Southeast Michigan. I also go to school in Michigan, but have branched out by moving a little further west. I am very excited to be here in Texas and working with you. It is going to be a great summer, and I am looking forward to getting to know you. I am studying Spanish and Global Studies as my majors and am following God’s call on my life to do missions (wherever and whenever He chooses to take me). I hope to start learning Arabic this coming fall, and continue learning more about the Muslim people whom I know God has given me a passion for. I love to be barefoot, run around, and sing all the time. I am a dedicated doodler, but lack the artistic ability to take it any further than the margins of my papers and YouthWorks signs. My favorite color is purple and I have recently become more and more attracted to indigo. I am beyond excited for this summer, and have been anxiously waiting meeting you. I find fun in almost anything. I like to be really enthusiastic sometimes so that others will join in. My thought process is something that I myself struggle to keep up with at times, but I would not have it any other way. I am the middle child with an older sister who is married, and a younger brother who is a sophomore in high school. Given the choice to have any animal in the whole world as a pet it would be a zebra, but since that is less than recommended, I chose any large dog that would not mind if I used it as a pillow. I tend to be a little less conventional than some people, as I am sure you have probably gathered. Who I am extends beyond this scattered paragraph, and I look forward to exchanging stories with you. I am not sure that I mentioned this, but I am very excited for this week!

By the way, I am doing very well, and we are almost done with our preparation. I learned that my biggest fear in life is small audiences, and it does not really matter because I have had to do little performance-like things for a maximum of three other people. Today I just finished speaking for 13 min to my site director giving him my Kids Club orientation. The days leading up to where when I knew that performing something for a small number is my biggest fear in life. I should not be writing this blog right now, because I have a lot to do, but I love y'all so much and wanted to share something short. Last thing: my first time tubing was great, I love the Cox family, Pastor Allen was missed while he was gone this weekend, and I get to give a parent orientation tonight :) hooray hooray!!! Friday I leave for Arkansas!!! woo hoo!!!!! Okay, I am in the mood to do this blogging thing all day. Maybe I should do my job though. Also to be noted, I am so looking forward to reading Crazy Love again this summer with my lovely Muffitt staff :)!!!

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!

mucho amor,

Kayla

Long Time No Blog

Hey Y'all!!

It has officially been longer than a week since I last blogged. I have heard some of you faithful readers very upset by this fact. So, I decided that I would take this time and drop a post instead of working on a poster for Kids Club. Speaking of Kids Club, I am very excited about it!! Yesterday I got to go to a baseball complex with a bunch of fields and tell parents about the program. Many of them seemed very excited. Then I got to go to a neighbor hood and hand out posters with the information. One of the best parts was that I went to house (keep in mind that I am not alone, so it is okay that I was going door-to-door in a strange neighborhood) and the woman who answered the door only spoke Spanish. Now, my Spanish was extremely broken, but the cool part was that she was able to understand me, and I had a conversation with her...sad news, her children are over the age of ten so they cannot come to the program.

Something else that is cool, I think I am more creative in Texas. That seems weird, but really, there have been sweet things that I saw on a poster, and the sweet part is that I actually made them. Again, my team is amazing!! There has been some crazy stuff going on back home, and it has been rough. I really wish that I could be there for them all. I thank you all for praying. Just as an update, Nevaeh is no longer living. Please keep praying for the family and for my community. It has been a little rough here for me with the focusing thing, but praise God I have a great team that is checking up on me regularly and letting me know that it is okay to be sad.

I suppose there is so much that y'all haven't heard: I am staying in a nursery room at the church that is not used. I have a lovely cot. I get to call people all the time and set up appointments. It is really neat because a lot of the people that I call to meet with say something like this: "Will today work?? How about now? Just stop by whenever!" It is very interesting. I love the church that I stay at. All of the members are so nice. They feed us their food when they have gatherings, they tell us to use anything we want or move things if we want. They offer to drive us around and show us places. They play games with us. There is so much more. The youth group is great. It makes me miss my two youth groups *Monroe and Jackson* but it is all good. I am going tubing tomorrow because a girl from the youth group and her family invited us to their house where they live on a lake and have a boat. The nursing home staff is taking us out to lunch on Monday. It is just great to get to know people. This really is our home for a while. I am looking forward to having participants on site and finally having Kids Club, but it is not until the twenty first. But, the week before that we get to go to Marvell Arkansas and do a week of programing there (with the team at Marvell). Thursday, before we go to Arkansas on Friday, the youth pastor of our home is taking us a MLB game. It is going to be fun, not to mention that it is box seating and we do not have to pay anything.

The church where Kids Club is is also very amazing!! They literally handed me the keys after meeting me for the first time. It is interesting. I am very grateful for the last year YouthWorks team becuase they have made it much easier for us.

I really do miss y'all. There is just something about being with a person when you talk to them that is way better than 1)on the phone 2) texting 3) but especially blogging. I am not a huge fan of it , but I like to read people's so I figure there must be someone that would want to glance here. Right??? Have a great night (or week however long till I post again)

Mucho Amor <3,

Kayla

Peace

God is good and that is what I want this to show. The past two days have been great. I have gotten the hugs that my body has needed which is amazing!! I have bonded so well with my team and just with everyone here. I feel like I have been with some of these people for months and it has been just a few days. I am most excited that God has given me the spirit of self discipline that I need to start having at least two times a day when I get into His word. This is nice!! He is also helping me to pray more often which is nice too. Another way that God is good is because He uses people to provide encouragement when needed (even if they do not know that it is needed). There has been crazy stuff going on back home with a young girl from my community being missing since Sunday. This is very hard for me because I wish that I could do something and I can't because I am gone (not that I could do anything there, but still). Also, it is taking my focus off of things here at times. The cool part is that there are so many people here that have hugged me, prayed with me immediately, and just listened. It is very encouraging. The other thing that is awesome is that I got an email about God's awesome peace which was very needed!

Last night we went to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institution. It was very interesting. It was cool to see how God has working through the years, and how dedicated people were.

So, God rocks!!!! and..pray for my town and the little 5 year old girl. Thanks y'all!! <---(truth: I typed 'you guys' first and then changed it...gotta practice)

Mucho Amor <333

Requesting Hugs

Hey Everybody!!!

I am doing great :) The rest of yesterday and what has already happened today has been fantastic. I am loving everyone here so much. I continue falling in love with my wonderful site staff.

Yesterday night we had a worship session and talked about the main aspects of YouthWorks! I love the company so much, and I really think that the people who came up with the mission statement kidnapped my brain and stole everything that is important to me. I really look forward to the rest of the summer so much. Soon I start to prepare dinner on this lovely Taco Tuesday:)

You might be wondering about the title of this post, it is pretty much because I really need physical touch from my friends, but I am not really close with anyone here, and I am still feeling everyone out to see who will hug me... it is not as depressing as it sounds, I am just missing all of you wonderful people back home who will share in a long embrace. I also need a massage...but that is not the point.

I am sending hugs to you all, and I hope to hear what is going on in your life.

Mucho Amor <3

Few Hours In

Today has been crazy!!! From leaving good old Monroe in the middle of the night to setting up my bed in a room full of strangers there has been so much excitement. Because I am Kayla Hadley I am naturally very excited for this summer and for this week of training. So far it has been very laid back, as we are waiting for everyone to get here before we have the welcome time and everything. The moment I got here the other three members of my team were here to greet me. I love all of them so much!!! I am a little overwhelmed right now, but it is in a good way!! I will try to keep in touch on here over the summer. This is short, but this is all for now. I want to relax without the computer.

Mucho Amor <3