moving=motherhood??

hi new friends! thanks for following along!

 

for those of you that may not know, i work in an ELCA (evangelical lutheran churches of america) church in northwest minnesota as a youth director. i've been at my current church for 3 1/2 years, it's the first church i've ever worked in full time. this is a big deal- most first call youth directors stay for 18 months, my father in law doubted that i'd even make it to a year- i showed him!!

 

but the town that we live in (and that my church is in) is 95 miles from hometown, mn. and it's a really boring 95 miles. so from the time i came here the mr and i knew that this was a first job for me. that this is not where we were going to live forever. every now and again i would check the youth ministry website for job postings. but nothing was close enough to home. (the mr and i share a hometown, and both sets of parents still live there.)

 

that all changed on dec. 18th when i saw a youth director job open in fargo, nd. only 45 miles from hometown, mn :) i applied, did a phone interview, did an in person invterview, and then was offered the job!! whoop whoop!!

 

but then i had to tell the church i'm at now.

ugh.

i cried and cried and cried.

 

you see, when you work in youth ministry, the kids at church kind of become your kids. i know a lot about them, i help them to figure things out in their faith journey, i support them, i go to their games, i go visit them at work, i take them to bible camp, i take them on mission trips, they come to me when something isn't going well and they need advice.

 

granted, it's not that way with every kid k-12 here at our church (there are 275 of them, i'd die). but it's that way with enough of them. they each have a place in my heart. i've cried with them and for them. i've been behind the scenes celebrating for them when good things happen in their lives. i've come to love them.

 

and now i'm moving.

 

some other blogs that i read are written by mothers that are expecting their second child or recently had their second child. these women write beautiful posts about how they love their first child so much and they just don't see how there will be room to love a second as much.

 

that's how i feel right now.

 

i love all of these kids at zion lutheran church here in our northern town. i feel like my heart is full of them. they have it all. well, all of it minus the part that the mr occupies. i have no idea how i will ever be able to love the 'new' kids as much. i have no idea how they will fit into my life.

 

but i have faith, and hope. because those moms that i just talked about, have their second child and they say that their hearts just grow, that there is just room for everyone.

 

hopefully the same holds true in youth ministry.

 

love, mrs. k