"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!