Wrong Way to Hope

Life has been all sorts of hectic lately. I get too caught up in work and things that really aren't worth my stress, that I sometimes forget to appreciate the big things in life. My family, my health, my friends.

Today at work, I met with some folks from the office for a meeting. After having quite a stressful morning at my desk, I welcomed this short opportunity to go meet some new people and learn more about our wonderful foundation. I walked away from the meeting with a much greater attitude and sense of hope.

During our meeting we learned about a former Wish child and his current endeavors. It was such a powerful and beautiful message, I wanted to share it with you all!

Wrong Way to Hope - Film Trailer from Hands On Films on Vimeo.


Enjoy!

Changes

There have been some recent changes in my life. Some great, some not so great. I have to keep reminding myself that it's all part of the plan, and to learn and grow from them all. It can be easier said than done most of the time, but it's a learning process. 

I began my internship at Make-A-Wish America this week. It has been a great learning experience. I'm already loving my position and really look forward to my time here. I was lucky enough to be picked from the best of the best across the nation and I'm very proud to work along some other great people! Everybody there has been extremely welcoming and patient with my lack of accounting skills (oops). 

This is already becoming a great summer. 

Internship

It's embarrassing how bad of a blogger I've been lately....

Lets hope I don't continue this rut. 

I really wish I had some rad pictures of all the rad things I've been doing lately, but in all honesty.....I've been locked away in a cubicle all day.

Minus the tiny cubicle part.... I do have to say that I absolutely LOVE my internship. Now I realize that in most cases, you don't get love and internship in the same sentence... but with my sweet set up, I have no complaints. 

Let me back up. 

For those of you that aren't currently living in my brain or in a close vicinity to me.... I am currently interning for the City of Phoenix. 

Ready for the huge long explanation of my position that a very low number of you will even read?

I work under the Community and Economic Development department at City Hall. 

Even more specifically, I work under the International Relations Sector.

Even more specifically, I work under the non-profit, Phoenix Sister Cities.

Even MORE specifically, I specialize in the youth and education programs we provide.

Bored to death yet?

In short, my internship allows me to work with coordinating and implementing youth and education programs on an international level. 

So pretty much my all time dream job. 

Although I have been working insane hours lately, and sometimes I come home and pass out half laying on my bed, I could not be happier with my position. 

I am gaining an incredible amount of experience in the field that I'm so passionate about.

Plus, I am meeting some of the most genuine hard workers out in my field, and I'm loving every second of it!

I also can't complain about this view I get from our conference room....

Oops

Well, what do you know, I've already fallen behind on blogging this year, million pardons. 

This week has been hectic to say the least. I've been in and out of meetings and trainings for work. Nonetheless, I survived the week, only to begin yet another crazy week. It will be my first week working 60+ hours.... and even though I am not too excited about that, it's only one more week till I get to see my kids! 

I also start my new internship tomorrow, and even though I am super excited, I am still wondering how in the world I am going to wake up at 6 am?! Wish me luck!

Work Work Work

Work has already been crazy this week. We are in the process of getting everything ready for the kiddos, so it's been a little hectic. However, yesterday when we were in training I was remembered on why I work these crazy hours, stay up late getting stuff done and spend hours painting and making things for those kids. I was remembered that I work with a community where 95% of the families are living under the poverty line. Where the average family of 4 is currently living off of a $25,000 a year income. 

I was remembered of the time that I was a kid, living in a rough neighborhood where I had people bend over backwards to help me get to where I am now. 

All of a sudden, I didn't mind one bit that I spent my day yesterday at work, or that I've been stuck doing paperwork, planning and writing countless agendas. 

And most of all, it made me miss my kiddos like crazy. It's been a month since I've seen them and January 24th can't come sooner! 

Bell Ringing

The Salvation Army is one of our community partners at my work. I have the privilege of working very closely with their organization since my site is held at a Salvation Army community center. The work that they do there is simply amazing, they are so involved in the community. Today, my co-workers and I had the chance to volunteer as bell ringers for them. It was an absolute blast! And to be honest, it really got me in the holiday spirit...which is rare for me. But we managed to get a lot of donations which made me very happy since the proceeds will go to a lot of great programs; including mine! Which means more goodies for my kids! 

The Kiddos

Today was the last day with the kids until next semester. We planned a super fun day for them and we had a blast. I am so proud of each one of them! I absolutely hate the last day of site, but luckily I will only be away from them for a month and a half! 

In the mean time, I'm working on a ton of new projects for next semester. I've also been given an additional tutoring site to run and I could not be more excited to meet my new kids!

The Staff

Have I ever mentioned how much I love my staff?

They are some of the best people out there, seriously. Each one of them has been 10000x helpful and amazing this semester. I absolutely love coming to work with these guys, we have a blast. We've spent countless hours together this semester at meetings, trainings, site, fundraisers, you name it. Our site would never run as smoothly without them. I'm excited for all of our plans for site next semester, plus the endless meetings we'll be in...

 Bianca, my other half. Without her, I would run around like a headless chicken.... more than I already do. 

The staff + tutors.

Katherine, my go to girl. She's my right hand woman, car pool buddy and McDonald's drive thru accomplice. Pretty much without her, I wouldn't function. 

Our activity coordinators, some of the most creative girls I've ever met!

The Staff

Our Christmas card!

First Friday

Just a couple of shots from an eventful Friday evening.

Slowly but surely I am falling in love with Downtown Phoenix.

PS. I rocked that internship interview so much that I actually got it. I will be working in the International Relations office for the City of Phoenix, holla! 

Being Forgetful

One of my kids handed this book to me at site yesterday and told me that I should read it....

dang kids and their brutal honesty...

Bittersweet

We received some very unfortunate news at work today. One of my kids has been placed in foster care after a very long and grueling case with CPS. We are very fortunate that my staff and I were able to get her the help she needed and that everything turned out for the best. But I can't help feeling like crap today. I know that her new living situations are indeed a lot better than where she was at, and she will no longer be in danger. However, it breaks my heart that she is dealing with all this at such a young age. She will no longer be in our program due to her new living arrangements, and it breaks my heart that she won't bring her smile through the door everyday anymore. 


Again, I am very thankful for my staff members that were on the ball throughout this whole situation. Without their watchful eyes, that child would have never received the help that she was seeking. I hope that we all can take this as a learning experience and that you as readers will too. It is very important for everyone, especially those that do work with children, to always be on the lookout for their well being. If at any time you suspect a child is being abused or endangered, do not hesitate to call the necessary authorities.  You never know just how much help you will be bringing to that child. 

My Kids

They are the reason I pass out on my bed from exhaustion the moment I get home from work.

The reason I loose sleep planning their days. 

The reason I laugh endlessly at their wild crazy stories.

The reason I sometimes want to pull my hair out one second, and hug them the next. 

But most importantly, the reason why I absolutely love my job. 

We had an awesome day last week dedicated to writing letters to the amazing soldiers in service. They loved writing them letters!

Happy Veterans Day! 

Sneak Peak

We had a hard time getting the kids to calm down after a candy-infested weekend.... 

But here's a sneak peek on a little project we're working on for Veterans Day! 

This Week

This week was one of those weeks. The ones where nothing really goes your way, and waking up in the morning is the biggest struggle of the day. Do you know what I'm talking about? Boy do I love my kids, but they sure know how to wear me down to my core. Enough to cause me to pass out on my bed after work yesterday, with only half of my body actually on my bed. I'm more than excited to relax this weekend, and see Taylor for the first time all week (he's been a busy businessman all week, poop) We're headed out to a hot air balloon festival tomorrow, then the ASU homecoming game on Saturday!  

ps. I received the best belated birthday package today, made my day. Thanks Valentine! 

My Job

I know I've been mentioning how busy I've been with work and school lately. But I haven't really taken the time to mention how much I love my job regardless of the fact that at times it makes me want to rip my hair out... Regardless, my job is one of the highlights of my week. I am the Supervisor for the Salvation Army Citadel America Reads/Counts program in Phoenix. To sum that all up, I run a tutoring site in Downtown Phoenix, dedicated to tutoring inner-city kids in K-6. Which means, I get to hang out with awesome kids all day, that honestly sometimes say some of the most ridiculous hilarious things. I've been lucky enough to be part of this program since I began school at Arizona State, and I cannot begin to tell you how much I love our program and the amazing service that our entire stuff provides to our community. I can hands down say I have some of the best staff members working for me, and we could not get half the work done without their help. Lately, my job has been really pushing my limits, but it has also made me realize how important the work I am doing is to me. 

Here's a couple of snaps we took on site today, although we made the mistake of feeding them pudding for snack (which resulted in major cases of sugar highs) they were all on a role today and I couldn't help but capturing their craziness today. 

 just a small section of my lovely kids and staff

Katherine, my lead tutor, my job would be 100x harder without this girl. 

New Job

Yes, it's okay to be jealous.