Thanksgiving -- Progressive Style!

Youth had numerous opportunities to practice giving thanks when they boarded the bus on Saturday evening to celebrate Thanksgiving with a progressive dinner provided by staff and friends of the ministry.

Stop #1: A nice, healthy green salad at Luis & Delia's.


Stop #2: Delicious green bean casserole at Bob and Rachel's.

Stop #3: Scrumptious mashed potatoes topped with cheese and bacon at Jeff & Trisha's.

Stop #4: Fresh dinner rolls with homemade strawberry jam at Darrell & Julie's.

Stop #5: A dessert assortment of brownie bites, creme puffs, and danishes (along with coffee and hot cocoa) at Chris & Kay's.

Stop #6: Turkey time! The bird that is so apt to grace a Thanksgiving table appeared at the Progressive Dinner, too -- just at the final stop at the church, when most weren't so hungry anymore!

Special thanks to Caleb & Stephanie for planning the dinner (and preparing the turkey), and to all who hosted and provided food for the memorable evening of feasting!

From Kids Klub to Teen Night....

Here are some of last week's events in photos:The newest attraction outside is a soccer goal. Obviously the fascination level is still high! A special grant from the county enabled us to purchase some new recreation equipment, as well as expand our outdoor lighting and add a large section of netting behind the basketball court.

[In the middle of writing this post, there was an interruption. A neighbor stopped by to report that a group of children had been playing in our bus, but scampered away when he caught them. Apparently they crawled in through a window. Mischief has been the name of the game today because earlier this afternoon, an intern spotted a couple of boys walking around on the roof of the intern guys' house. Can you tell there is no school this week?!]

The aforementioned bus, as it arrived at Kids Klub full of children last Wednesday Thursday evening, we invited 10 children to join us for a meal, skit, and games.

The interns + a few others did a humorous skit about prayer.

Teen Night was packed on Friday evening! Caleb spoke to over 50 teens about the things he is thankful for -- the Cross, the blood shed for sin, the nails that held Him to the cross.
Afterwards, it was S'more's time!

Banquet 2011

In this season of giving thanks, we are grateful for the many guests who came to the Aim Right banquet on Saturday evening to celebrate 20 years of transformation and gave generously toward the needs of the ministry.

The Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort was the beautiful setting of the banquet, and the chefs there prepared a scrumptious meal for us.

Darius Rivera shared his testimony with the guests -- how God led him to Aim Right as a pre-teen and how He's used the ministry to impact his life.

Special thanks to all who participated as sponsors, hosts, guests, planners, and prayer warriors. You are appreciated!

Conversations

There are afternoons and evenings when the camera bag slung over the shoulder goes unnoticed by the very person it's being slung around by, and good intentions to capture an event in photos don't pan out.

The shoulder was mine this week, so no photos...just some words.


Little Tyke was descending his apartment stairs to hop onto the Kids Klub van. He had on an over-sized leather jacket since the weather has finally taken a cool turn, and the babysitter or family friend (not his mother) was standing in the doorway to see him and his sister off. On his way down the stairs, Little Tyke felt compelled to share this information, "I have a fever!"

"Oh, you do?" I said, "Did you go to school today?"

The response: "Nope! But I took some Tylenol."

A gentle suggestion to Little Tyke that it wouldn't be a good idea for him to come to Kids Klub yielded no small amount of tears, but he complied and stayed home. Little Tyke's class made him a get well card, and the snack that was included with it perhaps sent a little sunshine into his evening.

I thank God for children that want to come to Kids Klub!

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The mother tearfully approached me a few weeks ago and asked for prayer.

"B may be a little upset this evening. We just found out that her dad needs to go in for lymph node testing. It might be cancer."

I told the mother we would pray and that I would pass the request along to B's Kids Klub teacher as well.

Fast forward a few weeks.

I asked B how her dad is doing.

"He has Stage 4 cancer," she said. "He hasn't been working since he's had doctor appointments. And he's going to have something called chemo." This she said almost with a question mark, as if she had no clue what chemo is or if she was even pronouncing it correctly.

She then said brightly, "But his work still has insurance for him."

I thank God that we can pray, and know that He hears, and know that He is control of fragile situations.


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"Who is God?"

How do you begin to answer that question? Should you talk about His character, His creation, His love, His home, His work of salvation? Of course, ALL of it matters, but how do you condense God into a 10-minute expose to a 1st grader who apparently has a photograph of God at home, but doesn't understand Who He is?

I thank God for young minds who ask earnest questions -- questions that matter. And I thank God that He's given us a whole book of 66 chapters to learn about Who He is and teach young minds about Who He is.

Teen Bible Study + Fall Festival

About a week ago, Jeff facilitated a lively discussion with teens about bringing change to their neighborhood. Do you want to see your neighborhood changed? What has God called you to do to bring about change? Is there even hope of change ever happening? Is change just about having a cleaner street or nicer homes, or is there a deeper issue?

Last Wednesday, our annual Fall Festival drew lots of children and lots of parents! The cake walk is a favorite event of many, and I noticed that several parents were as excited as the kids were to try to win a cake or other baked item.

Children earned candy by playing several games.

Intern Evan dressed as a clown and rode his unicycle.