UGH!!

Do you ever just have one of those days when you feel UGH!!! Well today is one of those days. It just seemed like nothing would or could go right! I guess it is the Monday before the Christmas break so that could be part of it!

It all started this morning at school when my principal came in to observe me. Normally this does not phase me in the least, but today it just threw me! I got so nervous and could not make anything work. The kids were out of control (one of my little ones who has autism just would not follow any type of direction at all!). No one would answer my questions, follow directions, or participate in the activity I had planned. It was a very fun small group activity! So I think that my third evaluation is going to be bad! Plus I am just a little upset that I am doing the small group activities I am this week. We are doing Nursery Rhymes this week! Which gets me all worked up in the first place. I hate it that we can not talk about the Holidays at all! It isn't even that we can't talk about Christmas, it's we can't discuss any of the Holidays that are celebrated during this time. I just feel like these kids miss out on so much fun stuff! No snowmen, no reindeer, no wreaths, no nothing!! I just hate it!

So UGH!!! It's just a Monday, let's hope tomorrow is a better day :)

Church Shopping....I hate the thought!

So one of the pros to staying in New York City (when I was trying to make the big move decision) was the fact that I LOVED my church there. I was attending the Apostles Church of the City. I can remember walking into church the very first time I visited and knew that this was going to be my church home! I knew that every Sunday I was there I was going to be hearing something straight from the Word. I was connected with a small group that I grew to love and trust and cried the night I went to my small group for the last time. I made friends who I knew were praying for me and would hold me accountable for my actions. I grew stronger in my knowledge of the Bible and was challenged to grow closer to the Lord. As I left the city I prayed and have continued to pray that the Lord would guide me to a place I could call home yet again. So....now begins the quest for a church home. I hate the thought of Church Shopping but in a way that is what you have to do. I have been to a couple of churches thus far and still am searching. I know that I can get plugged into any of these churches I have visited but I want to know that I am going to grow stronger in my faith from attending. I know that the Lord is going to be faithful in guiding me to my new church home, but I pray that I don't have to do much more shopping!!! I have and hopefully will always love going to church and I pray that I find the perfect place for me here in Texas!

The Pictures

Some of my little friends at camp!

Me and Tah Tah (Teresa) I miss her so much!

My Mom and Sister came for a great visit!
It was sooooo good to see them!

Robyn, Kristi, and Me in Philly learning a little about
the beginning of our "great United States."

A Much Needed Update!

So with a much needed push from some friends I have finally decided to update the Blog. I am not really sure where to begin or what all needs to be included in this blog, but here goes nothing.

Since my last blog back in March much has happened in the life of April Baker. In March the massive Spring Break campaign marathon for Shiloh began and I had never been busier. I was able to see so many great friends that came up with their campaigns as well as make many more. From then on the big push for Camp Shiloh 2007 began. The annual work teams came up and remodeled and revamped camp in so many much needed ways. I got to see some of my best friends and learned how to do a little plumbing myself! Needless to say with friends and working plumbing life was good! On July 1st, Camp Shiloh 2007 started! As with every summer, so many blessings were poured out from the Lord, but many challenging events occurred as well. By the end of the summer many of you know I was at one of the lowest points in my life. I am not sure where it came from other than feeling like I had poured my heart and soul out for almost a year in NYC and had not been taking the time to fill my own cup back up. My cup was past empty and I knew that a major decision was needed in order for me to get back to the "old April" as so many of my friends referred to. So at the end of September I made the decision to move back to Texas for a little bit. I finished up in October with Shiloh and was able to go out on a high note with a youth event called Revolution! It was an amazing weekend with around 120 teens and it was just what I needed to come home on. So I am now back in Texas and at this point opening my heart and mind to what the Lord has in store for me next. I am back working as a Speech Path and am enjoying what I am doing. I am still searching for where and what I am to do next but know that the Lord has a plan and is going to reveal each part of it to me when he is ready to do so.

I appreciate all the love and support each from my friends and family and am so lucky to have you in my life. Most of you who read this blog fit into that category and I don't tell you enough how much I love you! Glad to be back in Texas.....and I will try to be better in my updates :)!

There will be pictures of the life and times of April living in NYC shortly!

Good Times

So I just now have figured out how to post pictures, and I am not sure why it has taken me so long to do so! But here you go! Here are just a few things that I have been up to in the seven months I have been living in NYC. The time has gone so fast at times and then again it has gone so super slow (that being the winter.) So from start until now, here is a glimpse into my life in NYC.

It all started at Camp Shiloh this past summer with four of my favorite campers. I have known two of them for 5 years now and have become known as "Mom" at camp to them. I am still not sure how I fell about being called "Mom" but at least I know they love and respect me.

This is where i live! Isn't it a great NYC apartment!

Three of my best friends here in the city! We were on our way back to IKEA to take this lovely van we rented back. We had to rent a van to get all of our furniture we bought at IKEA to our apartment. Fun Times!!

Back to the 80's! Valencia and Me at Revolution! We had so much fun that weekend and had a blast roller skating with the Shiloh teens all dressed in our 80's outfits!

Shiloh Teens and Kristi and Me at a New Jersey Nets game. We had a blast taking the kids to the game. Many of them had never been to a professional basketball game before and loved every minute of it! Kristi and I were very proud to be sporting our Nets jerseys we got for free!

What's Going On????

Some days you just have to ask yourself, what's going on? Yesterday was one of those days.....!!!!

I had just left my apartment to go to a meeting and I step outside, wait what is this falling from the sky, rain??? It can't be no one said anything about rain, but yes that is what is was. I was already running late for the meeting so I just put my hood on and thought, the heck with this I can get a little wet. So I walked on debating on walking the 12 blocks, taking the subway, or taking a bus. So Kristi (my roommate) and I decided just to take the bus. So we get to the bus stop and wait, and wait, and wait (in the rain with only my hood pulled on) and an express bus passes (doesn't stop where we are waiting) and then another express bus passes. So we decided we should walk up three blocks to the bus stop for the express bus. We get there and wait and wait and wait. We then decide we only have nine blocks to go so lets just walk. So we turn to begin walking and all of the sudden I feel a punch in my arm. Wait a minute did someone just punch me. YES!!! A MAN JUST HIT ME!! I turned around after finally realizing what just happened, and a strange man was just mumbling to himself standing there in the rain. Knowing that there are people all over this city that at any given time aren't with it I just turned and kept walking.

So know I ask myself, what's going on in this world that a stranger would feel compelled to just punch someone in the arm for no good reason. I didn't run into him, say anything to him, and even get a cab in front of him....I was just walking down the street like he was. What could be going in this person's life for him to hit a total stranger. I will never know, but I have to chalk it up to first in my life. I got punched, thankfully it was just on my shoulder and not a couple of inches higher or I might have a broken jaw. You never know what you might run into in this crazy city.

For those of you who know my dad, please don't pass this story on! He is already worried that I will end up in an episode of law and order or nypd blues!

One Day More

I can't believe it is the middle of March! Where has the time gone? I have been really behind in my posts!

A little bit of good news. The high for Wednesday is suppose to be 67. Wait could that be correct? No way, it was 12 degrees last week and snowing!! But wait, weather.com says that is what it is to be. I think I know why this is occurring. First, God is answering my prayers because I have been praying since Feb. that the weather would warm up and this week it is! Second, I got a pedicure on Saturday and had my favorite Spring color of California Coral painted on my toes! I truly believe that is what ushered Spring in! So girls just so you know, California Coral is the color that changes your life!

We are in the middle of Spring Break campaigns here at Shiloh. We had two groups from Middle Tennessee State University and Pepperdine University here last week and this week Indiana University and ACU are here and then next week Lipscomb University will be here. It has been great seeing these students working with so many children in the public schools in the Bronx! They have been doing such a great job and we have loved having them here. Several of my friends from camp have been with the campaigns as well so it has been great to see familiar faces. You don't realize how much you miss people that you truly know until they start showing up and it hits you hard! I miss my friends so much and am so thankful I have gotten to see a few familiar faces this month.

One day I will figure out how to post pictures and the other great things that blogger can do but until then you will just have to picture my smiling face! Miss you all!

A Great Day!

So things have been super crazy here, but I can't really tell you how they have been crazy! They just are...I guess we all know how life can get crazy and we don't truly even know what we are doing!

Today was one of those days I sit back and think, "So this is why I moved to New York City!" For those of you who do not know, I am working for Shiloh, a non-profit ministry that works with inner city kids in the tri-state area. Currently we have our hands full with everything from Spring Break Campaigns, to Interviewing counselors for Camp Shiloh, to beginning mentoring programs with some of our kids in the Bronx. I have never truly done urban ministry, other than my summers at Camp Shiloh, but today I caught a brief glimpse of what urban ministry is.

I called about 12 kids earlier this week and told them we would be meeting with them on Thursday in a McDonald's in their neighborhood, that being the Northwest Bronx. So today as we were leaving Manhattan it began to rain. Thoughts were going through my head, "these kids won't get out in the rain to meet us; what can we really accomplish in McDonald's, no one is going to show up." But as I sat in McDonald's waiting for Ryan (he is the Program Director at Shiloh and was parking the car) one by one the kids started coming in. It was such an amazing feeling to be sitting there and see them look through the glass window and see me. When they saw me they immediately smiled and waved! We had 6 out of the 12 kids show up and these 6 kids really wanted to be there. We ate ice cream, talked about what was going on in school and in their neighborhoods, and how they couldn't wait to get back to camp! Soon one of the kids asked a question about Jesus and the conversation took off from there. They were asking all kinds of questions and you could see the desire they had to learn more and more! After we closed for the afternoon and everyone went their separate ways I couldn't help but think, how little of me to question God's ability to do great things! Here we were in a McDonald's in the Bronx on a rainy, cold afternoon with 6 kids talking about Jesus. It was a very humbling moment and I am so thankful that I serve a God who will work even when we second guess Him.

I am very thankful God has placed me in New York City and shows me each and every day that he is in control, even in McDonald's!

It Finally Snowed!!!

So when I moved up to NYC I knew I was moving into true winter weather. For weeks I have been living with the extremely cold temperatures, but have been hearing of all the snow in Texas and wondering if I had moved away from the snow. Well, today I found out I did not move away from the snow, it just took it a little while to get here.

It is so funny to me how different people respond to snow. If it had snowed and sleeted like it did today where I am from school would have been closed for at least two days and no one would have ventured out of their houses, other than to build a snowman or have a snow ball fight. However, New York City does not slow down one bit! People were out and about tromping through the snow, buses and cars were driving down the streets as always, and schools were going strong!

How did I fair you ask?? Well I stayed inside until the weather man said the worst of it had passed and I had to get out. I left my apartment this afternoon and stepped out into winter wonderland. The snow was covering the streets and sidewalks and I was happy to be wearing my new snow boots! I have been waiting to wear them for a looong time and I finally had a reason to wear them, so I was super excited about that!! So I tromped, literally tromped through the snow and made it to my destination. It wasn't that bad and it was kinda fun to have a new adventure yet again!

I have had a great past few days and I have really enjoyed being up here. Here is a brief synopsis of what I have been up too!

First, I had the opportunity to go on the Women's Retreat with the Manhattan Church of Christ this past weekend. Shiloh's office is in the Manhattan Church's building and I attend church here as well. It was up in the Poconos Mountains in Pennsylvania at a retreat center. It was a wonderful weekend with a great group of women and we had a great relaxing time. Charme Robarts, from Skillman Church in Texas, was our speaker and she lead us through the book of Mark. Mark is a book I have read several times, but this time it was very real and I really enjoyed the study! I also got to know some of the women much better and feel more connected to some friends now.

Second...Last night me, Kristi (my roommate), Ryan (I work with him at Shiloh), and Teresa (Ryan's wife and a good friend of mine) went to the filming of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. I have never been to a live taping of any show and it was really fun to see how it all works. We had to stand outside in the cold for about an hour, but thankfully it had not begun to snow yet and the tickets were free so I couldn't complain about that! The show is so funny, some parts inappropriate, but it was fun and something that you can only do in NYC. Props to my roommate for getting us the tickets!! Then after we were done with the show we went down to Times Square and ate at the Olive Garden. I know some of you are probably wondering what in the world, you live in NYC and you are eating at the Olive Garden. Something I have discovered living here is every once in a while you just need a good ol' chain restaurant. So we went to the Olive Garden and I had soup and salad. I had forgotten how yummy their salad and bread sticks are! IT WAS SO GOOD!!! Plus, while we were there it started snowing it was so fun just to sit and eat a great meal and watch it snow! It was a great night and I had lots of fun!

I needed that night as I have been a little lonely here lately and it was fun just to go out and now worry about a thing! I pray that this post finds you all well and know that I miss all of you that are keeping up with me through my Blog. Have a wonderful night and HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

I am FREEZING!

So, from a little urging from friends I have decided to start blogging. I think this may be the only way I feel like I am still connected to those outside of NYC! Plus, since it has not been above 20 degrees for the past three days and well....I have been staying inside a lot here lately!

I know all of my friends and family have had a their share of Winter weather this year, but I can't recall a time in my life when I have walked to work in single digits in my life! My walk to work is not bad, only 9 blocks down and two blocks over, but I would have to say that I prefer the walk in the Spring and Summer! I am praying for warmer weather to come quickly but when I mention this to Northeastern natives they all laugh at me! I just want to look at them and say, "Come on! Help me out a little! Give me just a bit of encouragement! Of course talking to my mom last night did not help either, it was a warm 70 degrees for her. I will keep praying for an early Spring regardless of what I hear from friends around here!

So that is my life currently, walking around in frigid temps and praying for an early Spring. I will blog more about what all I am doing here in New York soon! Miss all of my family and friends and I hope to see you all soon!