Compassion part 8: Changed Lives

"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men" - Frederick Douglass, abolitionist and statesman

This is the eighth and final post in my series discussing the work of Compassion International. It wasn't quite the ten posts I promised, but hey! Life happens, and it's good to fully live it when it does.

We discussed the weight of a hurting world, and learned that while we may not all be able to do great things, we can all do small things with great love.

In the next post I introduced you to three beautiful, small people from three far-flung corners of the globe.

We met Egi, the seven year old from Indonesia with the shy smile and beautiful eyes.

You saw Yegele, the sweet kindergartener who loves to play "house", and lives with no daddy.

We peeked into the life of a tiny boy named Gregori, a preschooler in Peru whose birthday is coming soon.

If you watched this video of Helen when she received her sponsor after waiting for over a year, you probably cried--I know I did!

And before the weekend, we talked about sports fanatics and saw how loving God means letting our hearts become invested in the things that move His.

I'm closing this series with one of the most compelling videos I've ever seen. 

Compassion International has been in operation since 1952, so they invited some of the children who have now graduated from the program to tell their stories as adults. If you ever wondered, "does sponsorship actually make a long-term difference?" just watch this.

Thank you for coming along with me for the past week and a half! In case you're curious, Egi, Yegele and Gregori did not find their sponsors this month, but this means that their profiles will be placed back on Compassion's website for anyone to find. If one of these children has touched your heart, you can search for them by their names, found below:

Egi Ricard Sarumaha

Yegele Telahun

Gregori David Quezada Pintado

And of course, these are only three of thousands of children waiting for sponsors! Check out the Compassion International homepage to see all of the children. 

Compassion part 7: How to love a true fan

Imagine that you're married, and imagine that your spouse is passionate about sports. (Some of you won't have to imagine very hard.)

Your spouse watches every game and physically goes to every event possible. He memorizes details about all the players, even personal details that don't relate to their performance. He adjusts his schedule around watching the games, adjusts his budget around supporting the team, and his entire mental concept of the year revolves more around what sport is currently playing than the temperature outside. Some would call him a "fan-atic".

Photo cred (words mine): Chris Breikss

If you are married to this fan, you probably knew from the moment you began dating him that it would be hard to get close to his heart without sharing in the things he loved. So you bought the t-shirts, cleared your weekends for big games, and cheered at his side until you were hoarse. You even painted your face. You invested in the things he loved, and it knit you close as the seam on a pig-skin.

God is inviting you into intimacy with him. He is passionate too--much more passionate than the loudest sports fan on the planet. 

But instead of sports, God's blood pounds deep and fast for broken people. 

He watches every person's moments and physically became present when philosophers and Jews alike agreed--Diety becoming man was impossible. He memorizes details about each person, even personal details that don't have a shred to do with their performance. He adjusted history to become one of the poor, abandoned his stupendous power and glory to rescue the weak and helpless, and his entire concept of what is valuable turns our economic and social structures firmly on their heads. 

His heart melts for the mistreated. 

He laughs with delight over little ones. 

 

Injustice and oppression make him boil.

Photo cred: Freedom House

 

He leans toward the lonely.

Photo cred: Ding Yuin Shan

 

Giving extravagantly and unexpectedly is his modus operatus.
 

Know this: the path to intimacy with God is to share in the things He loves. 

His right hand is stretched out to you. In the palm is an engraved invitation to join him in radical love for the unlovable. He invites you to sell the stuff Pinterest tells you to crave so that you can give it away and have real treasure. He beckons you to stand with Him for the oppressed, the forgotten, the weird and the socially awkward. 

"I want to know him and the power of his resurrection, becoming like him in his death..."

How can we know Him in his sacrifice if we are unwilling to sacrifice? How can we know Him in His death if we are unwilling to die to ourselves?

It is impossible to love Him without loving them. 

Over the past week, I have written here in this online space about one way that we can join our Savior in his love for the least of these. I have shown you the pictures and profiles of three beautiful children who are poor, small, weak, needing love. Sponsoring one of these children is one way that we can join our Jesus in extravagant giving that dives headlong into loving without counting cost.

 Read about Egi, a 7-year-old from Indonesia.

 

 

Yegele is a 5-year-old from Ethiopia who lives with a single mother.

Little Gregori from Peru loves to play with cars.

The deadline to sponsor these particular children is TOMORROW, October 1st, 2015!

 

 

Compassion part 6: Watch Her Reaction When She Gets a Sponsor

Today I planned to write about letters, both received and sent across continents.

I wanted to type down the translated words here for you to read. I wanted to tell you how each exchange has helped us know the kids beyond their photos, revealing their fears, their loves, and the days of their lives.

I planned to talk about how fun it is to find a fat envelope that has traveled thousands of miles, and how we know that the ten minutes we spend writing will mean more to our sponsored kids than all the checks we write.

Actual letter from Asnaku, who lives in Ethiopia.

But any words I put write here would be flimsy next to this video produced by Compassion, Australia. Just watch it!

To read about the three beautiful children that I am trying to connect with sponsors of their own, click here! 

Compassion part 5: Gregori

Today I get to introduce you to the third and final child in my packet from Compassion International!

In case you're just now jumping into the conversation, let's do a quick recap:

My husband and I each started supporting children through Compassion International before we were married. Those kids, who were both very little when we started, are now teenagers whose letters now move us to tears. 

A few weeks ago, I received a packet containing the profiles of three precious children who are currently waiting for their own sponsors. My goal is to share their stories and photos with as many people as possible so that they can be connected with a sponsor too by September 30!

Compassion International operates on the principle that the most effective way to end poverty is to link individual children to individual sponsors, especially when it is integrated into a holistic approach to child development. To read more about their work, click here.

Today, meet Gregori!

His full name is Gregori David Quezada Pindato--a long name for such a little boy! He will turn four next month on October 27, and his favorite thing to do is to play with toy cars. 

Born into a large family in the desert community of AA. HH. Rosa de Guadalupe in Peru, Gregori is at risk for poor nutrition and diseases such as dengue fever and colds. Homes in this area typically have dirt floors, walls made of cardboard or plywood, and tin roofs. 

Right now, Gregori is too young for school, but without encouragement, it is likely that he will drop out of school to help support his family as a day laborer once he is old enough. 

Once he is sponsored, Gregori will suddenly have access to Bible teaching, medical and opthalmological care, deworming, sports and games, tutoring, school supplies, and nutritious food. The center staff at Los Amigos de Jesus Student Center will also provide meetings, evangelism, educational movies and Bibles for his mother and father.

"Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it" - Proverbs 22:6

The fact that children are continually being born, growing, and becoming adults is a powerful constant. Once, we were children. Someday, the children being born today will take our place.

As a generation, the choices we make today will have a profound impact on the generation coming behind us. Will those future adults understand love and compassion? Will they have hope for the future, and concern for the helpless?

You may not feel like you have much to offer. I get that.

But sit and receive this truth: our Jesus is big enough.

The world is not too broken for His healing. And He invites you--yes you, the one who never received the right kind of love, the one who feels pulled in a thousand directions, the one who is struggling under the weight of student loans or depression or grief--to come along with Him as he pursues this world.

I want to support Gregori!

Great! Gregori's starter packet is currently displayed in the lobby of Fellowship Church in College Station. If you live here in town, just stop by during office hours to pick it up. Please mail in the sponsorship information by September 30. 

If you live out of town, no worries! Just email me at cherise.castille[at]gmail[dot]com to send me your mailing address, and I will be happy to mail your packet to you. 

I can't sponsor right now, but how can I help?

Pray for Gregori. Your prayers DO make a difference. Pray that God will give him a sponsor soon. Pray for his health, Pray that he will be protected from abuse and disease. Pray for his family, his education, and his development. Most of all, pray that he will know God's love and give his life to him as his savior, letting him transform him from the inside out. 

Share this post! You never know whether your random Facebook friend is the one who is meant to build a life-long relationship with Gregori through sponsorship. 

Be an advocate. Compassion International needs our voices to connect thousands of children just like Gregori, Yegele and Egi with people who have the funds and willingness to be their sponsors. Click here for more information. 

Just now joining the conversation and want to see what you missed? Here are links to the previous posts:

Compassion part 1: When you can't feed 100 children
Compassion part 2: Meet the kids!
Compassion part 3: Egi
Compassion part 4: Yegele 

Compassion part 3: Egi

Yesterday we finally got to meet all three kids in the packet for the first time! More than eighty of you clicked to see little Egi, Yegele, and Gregori's faces. Whoo hoo! Every click or share filled my heart with hope that all of these precious little ones will have sponsors by next week on September 30.

If you're just jumping in today, welcome! This is day number three in a ten-day series showcasing the work of Compassion International for impoverished and at-risk children around the world. (To catch up on what you missed, click here for Day 1, and here for Day 2!)

Compassion International operates on the assumption that:

"In a world where more than a billion children live on less than $2 USD per day, child sponsorship is the most strategic way to end poverty."

Many of us ache with sorrow over the tragedies occurring around the world, but feel helpless to help from our living rooms. Or, we feel simply overwhelmed because the Great Need just feels too great.

Friend, you are small. That is truth. But when a small person offers their smallness to a Great God , that tiny offering can be used to change the world.

Today, and for the next two days, I want to open the profile packs a smidge further and really introduce you to each child so that you can make a more informed decision about whether one of them is waiting for you. 

Today, meet Egi. 

Egi Ricard Sarumaha turned seven on the seventh of June - his "golden birthday".

He lives in an island community called Sukarami where around 2,700 people live elbow-to-elbow in homes made of cement floors and tin roofs.

The area is known for torrential rains during the flood season. Can you imagine the deafening effect of a heavy rain on a tin roof?

Egi lives with his father, his mother, and one other sibling. His mom stays at home with the kids while his father tries to keep steady employment as a day laborer. However, he is not always successful, since Egi's profile says his father is "sometimes employed". Most day laborers earn an average of $53 per month in Sukaramai.

Children living in Sukaramai are at risk for diseases such as dengue fever, malaria, and skin diseases.

Compassion International's work in Indonesia began in 1968. They partner with churches to help them provide Indonesian kids with the opportunity to rise above their circumstances and reach their full potential.

Your sponsorship of $38 per month would allow the staff at Agape Denninger Student Center to give Egi Bible studies, medical checkups, nutritious food, sports, character building programs, reading and writing classes and special celebrations.

One other thing that surprised me--it said that the center staff would also offer meetings and seminars to Egi's parents!

This means that in a very practical way, your sponsorship of a single child may actually be part of God's plan for an entire family's transformation through the love of Christ.

How do I support Egi?

Egi's starter packet is currently displayed in the lobby of the Fellowship Church office in College Station. If you live here in town, drop by after your morning cup of coffee to pick it up. Everything you need to get started will be inside. 

What's that, you say? You live out of town? Just email me at cherise.castille[at]gmail[dot]com to give me your mailing address, and I'll be more than happy to mail Egi's packet to you. 

I can't sponsor right now, but how can I help?

Pray for Egi. Like, right now, wherever you are. Pray that God will bring him a sponsor soon. Pray for his health. Pray for his education, his family, and his development. Most of all, pray that he will choose to follow Jesus and let God's love transform both him and his community. 

Share this post with anyone you think might want to be Egi's sponsor! You never know--that co-worker or relative may be the one who is meant to build a life-long relationship with Egi through sponsorship. 

Be an advocate. Compassion international needs our voices (and facebook pages and twitter accounts) to connect thousands of children just like Egi with people who have the funds and the willingness to be their sponsors. Click here for more information. 


 

Compassion part 2: meet the kids!

Welcome to day #2 in a ten-day series here on the blog! I've never done a series before, but I'm sure you'll agree--a single post just wouldn't do justice in this case.

The purpose of this blog sequence is to have a discussion about compassion in a hurting world, and to introduce all of you to three very special children. 

Each one of these kids has a story. Each of them hails from a different continent. Each one is waiting anxiously for someone to say "I choose you."

Yesterday, I kicked off the conversation by teasing you with little glimpses of the kids' profiles (so mean, I know!), and telling a little bit of what it has been like for my husband and I to sponsor kids through Compassion International. To catch up on what you missed, click here! 

I know you've all been dying to see the faces of the three kids in my packet, so without further ado, meet Egi, Yegele, and Gregori.

Egi - age 7

Isn't this the sweetest second-grader you ever saw? 

Egi lives in an island community in Indonesia where rice is the staple for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Like most little boys around the world, his favorite game is soccer. His parents have signed him up for the Compassion program hoping that he will soon receive medical checkups, nutritious food, sports, and the reading and writing programs that the Agape Denninger Student Center provides. 

"There are no greater miracles than those when lives are transformed" - Unknown

Yegele - age 5

This little sweetheart is five, but she is so tiny that she could be mistaken for a four-year old. Yegele reminds me so much of the way Asnaku looked when I first sponsored her--they could almost be sisters! Both of them live in Ethiopia, a country where Compassion International has been working since 1993. 

"And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward." - Jesus (Matthew 10:42)

Gregori - age 3 1/2

I made sure to mention the "1/2" when listing little Gregori's age, because he will turn 4 next month on October 27. Imagine how amazing it would be if Gregori could receive his very own sponsor by his birthday!

"Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love." - Mother Teresa

Thirty-eight dollars is a small thing for many of us. It is a blouse. A dinner out. A gym membership.

For thirty-eight dollars a month, children sponsored through Compassion are nurtured, given nutrition and medical attention, and hear about the love of Jesus. As they grow, they receive educational opportunities, love from the development center staff, and leadership training that will set them on a track to become mature, self-sufficient adults.

Thirty-eight dollars may seem like pocket change, or maybe it represents a true sacrifice. But to a single mom hoping for a better life for her son, it is a miracle. It is a way to break free from a cycle of malnutrition, illiteracy, and hopelessness.

Sponsorship involves money, but it is far more than just throwing cash at a faraway project. It is relationship. You will write letters to your child which, for many sponsored kids, are their most precious possessions. You will receive letters. You will watch them get taller and see their handwriting improve over the years. Many sponsors even get the chance to visit their sponsored kids!

One thing is certain--both you and the child you love in this way will never be the same.

Sounds great! How do I sponsor one of them?

For the next two weeks, you will not be able to find any of these children on Compassion's website. They were temporarily removed so that I could personally connect someone (maybe you?) with each child.

Starting today (Tuesday), the three starter packets will be displayed in the lobby of the Fellowship Church office in College Station. (Click here for directions.) You can either:

• Run to the church office in a mad dash to beat everyone else to pick up a packet (Actually, you can drive normally. Car wrecks = not good.), OR
• Email me at cherise.castille[at]gmail[dot]com. If you live out of town, just give me your address and I will be more than happy to pop your child's packet in the mail to you. 

One little thing: PLEASE let me know if you have chosen one of the kids, even if you pick up the packet from the office! Aside from reassuring me that the packet wasn't just misplaced, this will also give me the chance to encourage you and answer any questions you may have. 

I'm interested...what's next?

Over the next few days, I will share more of each child's profile and details about their family situations and the countries where they live. I hope to give you a better sense of who each kid is as an individual, and show you more of the amazing work that Compassion is doing in these three locations. 

If you'd like to check out what Compassion International is all about, visit their website here! 

My sister's secret is out!

I've been itching to blog this news for what feels like forever, but it wasn't my secret to tell. However, now that the real owners of the secret have put the news on facebook, I can tell the world that...

MY SISTER, SHARON, IS HAVING A BABY!!

**Cue the flash mob dancing, fireworks and other means of extravagant celebration!!**

Sometime shortly after Christmas, she and my brother-in-law will welcome a new little Someone, and all of us are thrilled! It's grandchild #14 for his parents, but for mine, it's #1!

Every grandchild will be special of course, but this one, by simply being first, gives each of us a new label.

Mom is now also Grandma.
Dad becomes Abuelo.
We three sisters are suddenly Aunties. (I became an instant aunt to the most adorable kids on the planet when I married hubby, but now I'll be an Auntie on both sides!)

Being the creative genius that she is, my sister came up with an adorable way to announce the pregnancy. Mom had been wanting a photo album of their wedding pictures for several years, so my sister created the books for both sets of parents and then placed a small card in the pocket in the back cover.

The front of the card said, "The adventure continues..."

...and here is what they saw on the inside!

My brother-in-law secretly caught their reactions on video, and it's absolutely priceless. Enjoy!

When an old fear gets a facelift

"Now I drawed socks, see?"

 

Her eyes, heavily rimmed with dense lashes, were so blue. She clutched the percussion egg in one hand and the pen in the other as she created an elaborate family portrait. 

 

With socks.

Her little sister climbed into my lap momentarily to clasp my neck, only to leap off a moment later and run to where her daddy sat.

 

The parents were traveling, documenting the state of the evangelical church in Europe. With them were their three kids, ages 4, 3, and 1.

 

It was beautiful to watch them.

 

There was a time I believed that missions was only for single people. Because of this, I feared marriage. 

I was petrified by the fear that love for a man might crowd out my First Love. Now my fears seem small and silly. Two people who the same Lord can be a powerful expression of who He is. The marriage can become a living picture of the grace of God, the faithfulness of God, the community of God.

Watching that beautiful family, I felt...surprise? And then I was surprised at my surprise.

 

I suddenly saw that my stinky old fear had never really died--it had just leveled-up a notch. 

Now the fear whispers that mommy-hood will absorb any chance of being involved full-throttle in the Great Commission. 

 

And I know how ridiculous this sounds. How un-true it is. But fears defy logic and truth much of the time.

 

 

I fear missing out.

 

I fear isolation and stereotyping from younger, kid-less friends.

 

I fear losing my passion for Jesus in a wilderness of diapers and spit-up and soccer practice.

 

I fear losing my identity, of being just "so-and-so's mom".

 

Can anyone else relate?

 

 

But somewhere in the tangle of my unease, I feel Jesus whispering to my anxious heart.

 

Daughter, do not fear losing yourself; this is how you find true life.

 

"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it." (Matthew 16:25)

 

 

And right along all these whispers of truth, He is gently breaking down the fences I erect between myself and Change. Little nudges.

 

With each new baby in our circle of friends, each new announcement of "Guess what--?!", the idea of family has earned familiarity.

 

He also keeps letting me stumble upon amazing blog posts on this topic. Like this one that made me cry, or this one about surrendering the desire for a life on the mission field that sounded like a twin heartbeat of my post from last year. And then, just this morning, I came across this beautiful post about trusting the Lord with change.

 

I'm so glad my Jesus is gentle with me. I'm getting there.

Book Review::Surprised by Motherhood

I am not a mother, but odds are I will be someday.

 

Someday my fridge will be covered with crayon masterpieces, my walls with jelly stains, and my floors with cheerios. Someday hubby and I will be entrusted with one or more miniature humans and I know deep in my gut that our lives will never be the same.  

 

Honestly, it’s terrifying.

 

Even though I love children.

Even though I get wistful over the soft curls of my friend's kids.

Even though I pray for the ones who will someday look like me and my husband.

Change has just never been my favorite, and the knowledge that two little pink lines will one day change absolutely everything--well, it scares the bejeezus out of me.

 

When that day comes, I will be so thankful for moms like Lisa-Jo and brave, hope-filled words like hers that come straight from the trenches. Which is why...I'm unashamedly doing my very first book review/promo for her!

 

Surprised by Motherhood reads like a heartfelt conversation on the couch with the author, a girl from South Africa who married a "cowboy-green eyed" man from the Northwest on the firm understanding that she would never bear his children. Ten years and three kids later, she bravely bares her heart and invites you into the messy, hilarious journey all laced with truth and wild hope.

 

 

She writes for you mommies. You, the ones who feel caught on the exhausting treadmill of life wondering, "will things ever slow down?" She believes you deserve a super-hero cape and a cheering squad and she's volunteering to wave pom-poms for you.

 

"I would throw away most of the parenting books that made me feel like I was somehow failing this most important test of womanhood—being a mother. I’d throw out the advice about what I was doing wrong or should be doing differently or should aspire to be doing. I’d just revel in the daily, sleep-deprived merry-go-round and eat a lot more chocolate cake.(p. x)"

 

She puts it this way:

This isn’t a “how-to” book, it’s simply my “you can” story.

 

She writes for you daughters too, especially for those who feel the absence of their mothers. When she was entering high school, her own mom was entering a hospital. Now, more than eighteen years after her mother's death, Lisa-Jo understands the pain of working through the unsaid, the unexplained. Whether the absence is literal or emotional, the wounds are real and she offers her own journey in all its confusion and healing.

 

She also writes for the not-yet mommies and someday mommies, the ones of us who need someone to say, "I was scared too. Yes, it's hard--but it's glorious and beautiful and worth it."

 

“Parenting is not for the faint of heart. And it’s especially not for those type A personalities accustomed to having all their ducks in a row, all their check boxes checked, and their sofa cushions, cereal boxes, and entire lives neatly arranged.” (p. 4)

 

  It doesn't hurt that she is type-A like me. Just an added layer of commonality to make me believe dying to self in the area of perfection might actually be possible.

Grab the first three chapters here for free!

Sock Monkey in a Shoebox

Some things come full circle and smack you surprised.

Our homegroups have a tradition that plops Christmas into our consciousness a full week before Thanksgiving: the annual Operation Christmas Child shoebox-filling-party.

Picture if you can, a swarm of college students dashing around Target and Wally World collecting slinkys, teddy bears, coloring books, t-shirts and other school supplies and hygiene items. Each one is trying hard to think like a kid. Now, what did I like at age nine again?

Then it’s back to the rendezvous. Bulk items are parceled out, Christmas paper flies, and someone’s Pandora station is set loud on A Charlie Brown Christmas as the boxes are lovingly filled.

Even before becoming involved in homegroups, I remember filling shoeboxes with my family. Each box had a note from me, including my address, just in case.

One year it happened! A Venezuelan girl received my box and actually replied. Her letter sparked a pen-pal-ship that lasted several years. To this day, we are friends via social media.

I was telling this story in homegroup the week before the box-filling party when one of our new freshman girls piped up.

"I got one of those boxes when I was little."

Every head swiveled to her, and eyes got big.

She told us that when she was eight or nine, her church in Central America distributed the boxes. It was a complete suprise. "I got a sock monkey," she said. "He was so cute!"

She told us she felt so loved knowing that someone she'd never met had given her a gift. 

If you'd like to get involved in Operation Christmas Child, click here for information and fun videos of kids opening their shoeboxes!

To: My Mommy on Her Birthday

Today is your birthday, but I am over 100 miles away. 

If I could, I would wake you up with herbal tea and a walk in the sparkling dawn because we both love mornings. I would clean your house, rub your back, and then let you nap while I made dinner. 

But I can’t, so here—these are a few of the thankful thoughts I’ve had all day about you.

Thank you for being a mommy who snuggled and kissed and hugged freely.

Thank you for putting up with math-induced pouting and door-slamming.

Thank you for singing about birdies and cherry trees and barrel-and-a-heap while the ball bearings squeaked beneath us.

I am so thankful that you taught us for an entire year about China.

And that you made dollies and their tiny fashions with us.

Thank you for reading aloud.You dedicated hundreds of hours to this, enthralling our hearts forever with the beauty of words and stories.

For making us apologize to each other. 

For apologizing to us.

For nature hikes, sketchbooks in hand.

For encouraging dress-up and pretend (even if it meant the whole living room disappeared under boxes and sheets).

For Hershey-bar pie and Swedish tea rings at Christmas.

For all the times you packed and unpacked for camping trips.

For trimming our bangs in your bathroom, swishing the hair bits away with that funny brush.

For thrift shopping,
                bra shopping,
                                and shopping to fill shoeboxes meant for kids in Belize or Bhutan or Belarus,  making Christmas expand beyond my own wish list.

For letting our little fingers into your sewing, your paints, your charcoal pencils and teaching us that art isn’t about the product, but the process.

For loving Daddy and for kissing him in front of us.

For long talks in the bathroom, in the car, and during walks through our suburban streets with our tennis shoes crunching in tandem--talks anywhere about everything.

For treating me like an adult, but letting me be a little girl whenever I need it.

And finally, thank you for not hiding your flaws. This most of all. Because of it, I have hope that perfectionism is not permanent. I know that there is strength in humility, and beauty in admitting need. 

Blessed are the poor in spirit, because their daughters see God through their brokenness.

Happy birthday, Mommy. I love you.

Five Minute Friday :: Fly

Once again, I'm squashing my inner perfectionist. I'm linking up with a group of brave bloggers who were all handed a single-word prompt, a five minute timer, and told to simply let the words flow. No backtracking, no second guessing. Just writing for the joy of words, for the exploration of our own funny minds, and for the reminder that writing is fun.

Thank you, Lisa-Jo Baker, for making your blog a safe place for this much-needed reminder. :)

So here I go!

Prompt: "fly"

____________________________________________________

I was twelve. I was sure the other passengers knew it, but they were smiling at me like I was only three.

We were certainly all acting like three year olds--all of us squealing and crowding the tiny window and enjoying the rumble of the engines beneath us. It was our first flight. To see us, you would have thought it was the first flight in human history.

Grandma's car had to be brought from Houston. Daddy could have done it alone, but he knew that a thirty-minute flight would be like Christmas to his girls. So he invited us along.

I can close my eyes and still see the moment of liftoff. My braces are exposed in a permanent grin, the asphalt running by faster and faster until--

a sudden tilt!

The ground and cars and landscape became toy-like beneath us. It was so novel: tiny buildings and roads and points of insincere blue that we knew were backyard swimming pools, all beneath a truer blue of sky than we had ever seen.

Teller Tales (In this case: Veggie Tales)

Kids really do say the darndest things.

As a bank teller, I have the distinct privilege of providing a listening, supportive ear to anyone who needs to complain about their day, talk about the weather, or brag on their grandkids. They don't know us beyond a four-minute transaction, but we are a comforting constant in their daily routine.

One day at the bank, in walked grandma. She had checks to cash, a deposit to make, and she couldn't wait to tell us the cute thing her granddaughter said.

"She said the cuh-yoot-est thing last night!" The wrinkled, rose manicured fingers flashed back and forth with emphasis, and she grinned, full of story.

"I asked her, 'Sweety, do you like green beans?' 'No, Grandma,' she said. So then I said, 'Well, don't you like any vegetables?' Guess what she said then."

We didn't know, so grandma went on.

"She said, 'Not since the accident.' Now, I was wondering, What on earth? So I said, 'What accident?' And my little granddaughter said, 'Well, when I accidentally ate a vegetable!'"

Poor thing. Accidents happen. 

Part of the Club

My husband and I joke that our street is a tiny slice of ghetto in a suburbia pie. There are old cars and weeds instead of sculpted lawns, and the cracked concrete probably dates to a time before my birth. But none of this stops the kids of our street from turning our neighborhood strip into a half-mile play zone.

I love the kids. They run and bike and scooter and clump noisily in driveways and stairwells, taller ones toting toddlers. If you stop between car door and front door to talk, shyness will evaporate, brown eyes will sparkle, and suddenly you have a friend.

google pic

Ever since I moved in over a year ago, I've daydreamed of building relationships and even organizing a simple Bible Club with stories, games, and snacks. What could be easier? I live here, right? But my student life left no margin, and I've found time just as scarce now that I'm a working woman. God, I prayed,  I want to be involved somehow, but the thought of starting something from scratch feels so overwhelming. 

Enter: the awesomeness that is answered prayer. Boom. 

I wanted to work out at a nearby gym, but instead of driving, I decided--for the first time ever--to walk.

I was halfway down the street, when I heard an excited female voice ask"...And what do you think Joseph did then? He went right to his brothers and told them his dream!" Who is telling a Bible story? I wondered.

As I rounded a group of parked cars, I saw a tiny crowd of children, all giving rapt attention to an elderly blond woman who held a picture for them to admire. Another elderly woman sat nearby with a curly-headed girl in her lap. I quietly came close and sat cross-legged on the edge of the blanket. This was so much better than lifting weights.

At the end, as the kids smeared their mouths red with popsicles, I introduced myself to the women. I discovered that the Bible Club that God had placed on my heart had already been in progress every week for fourteen years! Their faithfulness humbled me to the core. Ms. M actually lives on my street, and though she usually leaves the storytelling to her friend, it is her willingness to host and fund the Club that has kept it going for over a decade.

Yesterday, I went back, and I feel so encouraged! Here is a place for the dream I've held so long. Here I can meet the kids, show them love, know their names and stories. Here I can use the puppets that have languished, unused, in my old trunk for three years. Here I can learn from the faith and faithfulness of the older women, and begin to make love a tangible verb on my street.

(AND, if you live on my street or anywhere nearby, you should come! 4pm, Wednesdays.)

Carnival!

As promised, here is the update about the carnival our church put on for the inner-city kids at SOS Ministries! It's more pictures than words, but we all know how many words a picture is worth. :)

Our booth was a good ol' fashioned ring toss! Grand prize: ring pops!

My old homegroup had the awesome idea of playing basketball with the kids using a garbage can as the hoop.  As you can see, they were having a blast!

Awww....

Such a cutie...

This homegroup had a giant slingshot for water bombs! 

Homegroup Connect had the most creative bowling game I've ever seen. Instead of pins, kids rolled a ball to knock over little paper cups of watered-down paint onto squares of clean fabric. The result: ART!

Yeah, I'm collecting awesome ideas to do with my own kids someday. :)

Goofiness after the carnival just melted my heart.

The future is deceptive

That's what I said. Deceptive. 

Big milestones like driving, college, marriage, or a career hover hazy and distant on the horizon, fooling you into thinking they’ll never come, and then WHAM! They’re already here.  Then you blink, and they’re already past!

This morning, I was reminding myself of this truth because I was one of two childless women in a room full of young mommies.  Now there's a milestone that is way out there on some distant horizon. Not gonna happen for a while… Right?

They were discussing lactation, nipple cream, birthing pools and stools, Bradley Classes, sonogram images, baby names, relaxation techniques involving ice water (sounds painful!), and losing modesty during labor--and those are only a few of the ones I can remember!

I had a brief moment when I felt like the oddball because I’ve never lactated or ripped my peritoneum, but then I remembered:

The future is deceptive.

It feels hazy and distant, but it'll be here before I know it. 

In light of that realization, I'm so thankful to be surrounded by other godly young women who are already there, in that hazy unknown. Hearing their stories is like borrowing a telescope.

Now the future doesn’t feel so fuzzy.

Running (ok, blogging) to get the prize

Confession time: my motives in writing this blog post  are slightly self-serving.  I'm shamelessly trying to win a set of books that another blogger is giving away: http://gatheringpeeps.typepad.com/gathering_peeps/

The reason that my motives are only slightly selfish is...well, look at the titles !>>>>>

Whenever I dream about the trajectory of my heart as I pursue Christ, one of the things I pray for is to be "mission minded"--that the overarching bent of everything I do would point to Jesus and be for Him.

The dream gets even sweeter when hubby is part of the picture.  The two of us, united in the Purpose that supercedes any dream that we could have for ourselves alone.

But if we are successful in raising kids with this purpose and desire?  Wow. That would be the cherry-on-top of all these dreamy dreams.

But I need practicals.  Even if I don't win this book set, I think I'll add it to my list of books to buy.