Two In the Books

Year number 2 of the after school program is in the books.  Done.  It reminds me of the end of a track race.  During the race, I try to conserve energy and push to the finish and expend all the speed I can before the finish line.  As the finish enters my vision, I anticipate rest despite feeling tired.  The closing moments are usually the most painful but then when I finish, I can look back on the race and the sport that I love and get excited and forget about the struggles.

I know there have been times this year that the struggles and pain were more illuminated than the triumphs, the positive growth, and the hope I can reflect on now.  In our end-of-the-year evaluations of the two:fiftytwo After School Program, I was very grateful for the section labeled "Highlights."  It had been awhile since I'd really only focused on the positives of the year.  I think the intent of this section was to discuss in what ways the program functioned better this year than the previous year, the first year.  What God brought to my heart were not aspects or changes to the program, but memories. Memories?  I wasn't expecting that.  As I look at some of my top 10 moments from the year, some include just simple interactions with the kids.  Challah laughing uncontrollably when I impersonated an old man, Michaella getting so excited to show us her loose tooth, Diallo's face lighting up when he was asked to explain the gospel to the younger kids, Mekhi going from running around and not being able to sit still in a chair, to sitting quietly, absorbing every piece of educational information, and even opening up more to the adults when before he just seemed very sad all the time.

I thank God for all the ways that this year was harder than the last, in that, we had the "opportunity" to undergo difficult situations in order to obtain more experience and also to thank God for the times that He shows up and works in the kids' hearts.

Here are some of my favorite photos I took with my ipod this school year, looking back.

Diallo and Ferrell cheating during a keep-the-cone-on-your-head relay race

Chassidy and Charity pretending to drive Mr. Marc's car when we took them home.

Diallo, Mr. Andrew, and Ferrell in the van on our way to a field trip

Haha, my sister's Christmas gift to me, face in the snow.

Field trip to the arboretum.  Da boyz

At the beach with my beautiful girlfriend Missi and visiting-sister Erin

Challah wrote a story where I was the Merman (male version of mermaid) King where I helped her find her magic shell.  Dreams do come true

In light of the end of the school year, most all teachers and students get a few well-deserved months off in the summer from all the planning and brain-growth.  In order to foster this "brain-growth" in kids over summers, many people around the country have baseball leagues, tennis lessons, summer camps, and other programs that keep the kids focused.  I heard an interesting study done for white, middle-classed kids versus black, under-privileged kids.  Both groups learn at the same rate during the school year, but there's a significant drop-off in knowledge and remembering facts during those summer months.  Therefore, many black kids return to school having lost much of what they learned previously.  We at 2nd Mile Ministries in the process of planning for our sixth ever Summer Day Camp (SDC), and it's coming quickly.  I will hopefully tell you more details about the different aspects of the camp next week so stay tuned.

Last week we spent two days just decorating for the camp in which the theme will be "The King and Me" (a grammatically correct version of "The King and I").  We want the kids to know that God is the King of Kings, so the idea of His throne will be hammered into the this summer.  Here are some beginning decorations.

Along with SDC preparations, this past weekend we put on our annual rummage sale at Eastside Community Church, where all money that is raised goes towards the summer camp.  This rummage is HUGE!  Tools, furniture, old TV's from way way back in the 90's with VCR's attached, toys, books, clothes, you name it.  It was a ton of work.  It was as if we set up a huge thrift store and then closed it down the next day.  There was some very interesting stuff including this bike helmet with some billiards balls on them.

After lots of sweat, organizing, and hauling furniture, I can look back and see that all the hard work paid off, quite literally too.  We pulled in about $4,500 for camp which will hopefully cover most of what we need to run a successful camp.

Please pray that all the new responsibilities would not overwhelm me, that the planning for the camp is thorough and seeking to serve God by loving the kids, and that those on staff with 2nd Mile would be able to find at the end of these small races (school years, big events, etc.)