"Jesus made my whole house different."

May was full of wrapping up events in the city so I could head to camp for the summer.  Super busy but lots of fun!

We had our last Good New Club for the school year.  Praise God for faithful volunteers like Sis. Allen who made this afterschool Bible club possible.  Kortnea (the child with the white beads in her hair) to us at the last club, "Ever since I believed in Jesus my whole house has been different.  It's like Jesus is all through my house now."  What a great testimony of how one child's faith can spark change in a family.  When we were closing out for the day the principal was saying how she was thankful for the adults who had volunteered to teach the children, for being willing to come into the school.  Omarrion (the little boy in the front) said "And for all the love they have."  Omarrion knows he can work some nerves, but even with all the drama he was able to see that we were there every week because we love him.

We had a girls day with some of the Chicago PID girls.  They came to the house and we did nails and learned about hair care, and had a Bible lesson about inner beauty... and an interesting discussion about modesty.  The girls felt that if a person was skinny they could wear revealing clothes and look cute, but if they were bigger then they shouldn't be dressing like that.  The culture has a lot to say about how girls see themselves, and we spent a lot of time talking about how God sees us and how he wants us to present ourselves.  We ended by creating center pieces and having a fancy dinner to learn what to do when there's 4 forks - and how to have polite dinner conversation, always a challenge. :-)

My friend Pneurissa graduated with honors and I was able to go to her graduation.  I'm so proud of her accomplishments and vision for the future!

Rissa's nephew Jakarri (and one of my favorite campers) at graduation.  He is definitely part of her vision for the future and she pours herself into his life in very purposeful ways, making sacrifices for his future.

I thought of a way to braid hair into a flower!  She had 8 petals and then pink beads and pink flower barrettes.  I've also thought of a way to braid a bow into her hair and then she can have beads and bow barrettes.  :-)

Look at how beautiful camp is - being in this place is restorative for my soul.  I'm here now for the summer, the new staff are arriving tomorrow, and I'm ready to start my summer tan since I am currently glow-in-the-dark white!

Camp goes to the White Sox

A friend from my Boise church, Deacon Mapp, grew up in Chicago.  He's "assigned" me a long list of must-dos in the city, which I am slowly accomplishing.  The other day we took the PID kids to a White Sox game.  I can't remember if he told me to go to a Cubs game or a White Sox game.... but it's all baseball, right? :-)  Truthfully, I was just real happy to be with my friends so I had someone to talk to.  Which is why I'm not the girl you want to take on a hunting trip...  At the end of the game the guy behind me said "What a great game - the Sox had 2 homeruns."  Oh.  Really?  Good to know.

This was my first time at a professional baseball game.  Look how big the outfield is!?  Baseball is a lot of work!

David Brown is the Chairman of the Board of Directors for Beechpoint, and he mentors Gordon and Elijah each week.  He organized us to go to the game.  The kids and their parents or mentors came to the game.  Gordon's already got plans for us to do a Bulls game next year. :-) 

This is my friend Nakeisha.  I love her smile and her sense of humor and the way she's welcomed me into her family.  I mentor her daughter, Tamyra - so Keisha and I get to see each other every week.  We were walking in the park most mornings for a while there ... until I lost interest.

Boys will be boys.  Jakarri, Tavaris, and Tavontay.  I wanted to eat ballpark food since it was my first game and they were closer to the isle so they kept asking the people how much for cotton candy and hotdogs and such.  Then they shouted down the row "$4 for a beer and $5 for margaritas Miss Megan!"  Lol, I did not ask for that. :-)

Javier with his girls - Rachel, Abi, and Ivelisse.  They've been doing Partners in Discipleship for 2 years now.

My friend Demetrius.  We were having too much fun sitting next to each other and bein loud.  Well, as loud as I can be.  I feel like I have this big voice but the kids are forever teasing me "That's you yelling!!?"  I have to ask some other mother at the park to call my kids cuz they'll never hear me calling them.  Or I make some kid at camp call the other kids, cuz they have LOUD voices!

I could never attend a ball game by myself... it'd be like going to the DMV where you're just enduring the wait until you can go.  But with the kids and some friends it was a lot of fun!