moose ears and foam crosses

Day 4 rolled around mostly the same as day 3 except we used the wipe board instead of the chalk board. Is it called the wipe board or the white board? It really makes sense for it to be called both in my opinion. Do you know any of those people who make up their own lyrics to songs that they hear on the radio, that sound like the original lyrics? I am one of those people. You know what I am talking about. "We're moving on up, to pizza hut, to that deluxe pizza in the sky." Oh well, let's move on to day 5 before I loose anyone.

So, it is Friday and that usually means a field trip. This Friday Jodi (our field trip expert) had found a Children's home sponsored by a Presbyterian church in Denton, TX. The plan was for us to take our kids to the Children's home and hang out with the teens that were staying at this home. Some were orphans and most were custody of the state. We were all a little nervous about what type of situations we were going to expose our kids to (the oldest kid in our group just turned 6). We knew these kids had been through a lot and might be a ruff crowd. The night before our field trip, I was praying for wisdom to know what to say to my kids and to prepare them for how they should behave. I wanted to head off any uncomfortable questions that might arise during our stay. As I was praying it dawned on me that we are supposed to bless the fatherless and the widows. "Lord, what do I have that I can give them? What do teens like?" I walked straight over to my school cabinet and as I opened the door the first thing I saw was a bag of left over foam crosses with decorative stickers from our VBS. I grabbed that and then I saw some clay magnets with a paint kit that someone had given to us. I stuck those in the bag along with a huge bag of beads and lanyards. Finally I saw these silly blow-up moose ears that were leftover from VBS and I threw those in the bag too. I was so excited but yet a little nervous about my new findings as they seemed more appropriate for elementary age kids and not really high school entertainment. However, that was all that I could think of to give, so it would have to do.

As we arrived at the home the next morning you could tell that all three of us mothers were quite apprehensive about our adventure for the day. We all confessed that we had spent most of the 45 minute drive over there praying for the field trip to go well and for the children to behave appropriately. We all prayed together before we went in and a peaceful spirit fell upon our shoulders. As we walked into the building we met our contact person who guided us through the facility to meet up with the teens. We walked through a beautiful library where the kids would do homework, receive tutoring, and have Internet access. Next we walked outside through a courtyard where we saw 3 little cabins. We were told that each cabin held 8 kids with one "house mom" or "house dad". There were 2 girls cabins and 1 boys cabins. Next we passed by a pool and playground and then we entered the gym where the girls were waiting for us. It turns out the boys had been take on a field trip and around 14 girls ranging from13-17 were there to greet with 3 "house moms". As soon as we walked in, the girls beamed with excitement. "They brought little guys! Babies. Look how cute." 4-5 girls immediately came to each of us and offered to hold our babies, introduced themselves to us and to our kids and immediately began engaging with us and our children. I was so impressed at their initiative and politeness. Most teens would take the safe stance and wait a while before interacting, but these girls were very mature in handling this situation. The director of the facility had each of us introduce ourselves and then asked us if we had any plans for our time with the girls. We figured we could play at the playground and possibly feed the donkeys and we mentioned that we had some art activities. Awkward. Basically we were not sure what to do. We decided to go to the playground first while it was still cool and that would give the kids something to do. Each girl took a child by the hand and walked them to the playground. While the kids were playing the girls took turns pushing then on the swings, chasing then up and down the slide, and holding the babies. We were able to talk with the girls and get to know them in such a natural setting as we all played with the kids. We asked the girls what they die with their days throughout the summer. They told us they swam sometimes when the life guard was around, that they ate breakfast and watched TV. Sometimes they would get to go on outings but that was basically it. We were beginning to see a tiny glimpse of what their life was like.

We all moved into the gym for some water and some romp around time when the girl I was with asked me if we could do some of the art activities. "Sure." I said, and Kelly, Keaton and I began to make the foam crosses with our new friend. After a few minutes everybody was in the room with us making necklaces, crosses, and painting the magnets. Our kids were giving their necklaces to the girls and the girls were giving their crosses to our kids. Everybody was laughing and talking and Keaton even got a Jesus sticker tattooed to her arm. We pulled the moose ears out and everyone from the house moms to the babies got a chuckle as our pictures were taken with the crazy looking antlers. The walls were coming down and we were all starting to share with each other. I connected with one girl who played soccer for a rival club team I used to coach against. She said she couldn't afford to play anymore living there but hoped to play high school soccer. She announced to the group that she was going home next week and one of the house moms gave her a confused look as if to say "your not moving back in." She quickly replied "it is just a visit." They told us they all attended church every Sunday together at the Presbyterian Church. Another girl invited us to the fall festival that the Home puts on each fall for the community. That is right, these kids serve their community by working the fall festival put on by the home and the sponsoring church. I don't know why it should surprise me, these girls had served the 3 of us moms the entire morning by playing with and interacting with our kids. They sat by us at lunch time and helped us feed and watch over our kids. When it was time for us to go we thanked the "house moms" and they confessed that they were not sure how this event was going to play out. "When you called and asked us if you could come we said yes but we have not ever had any one ask us to do this and we didn't really know what to expect." We told them we had been so blessed by our visit and asked if we could come again. They said they would be thrilled if we came again and asked us if we would please come again. As we said our goodbyes the girls didn't want to let our kids go. One girl told me this had made her day and I told her she had made my week. They hugged and squished Keaton a hundred times before we walked out the door and then they all stood outside waving as we walked back across the courtyard to our cars. What an amazing opportunity and what a blessing it had been to visit with these girls. What an incredible experience to minister to the teens alongside my children. It was the perfect ending to my first week of homeschooling and the beginning of wonderful journey of education.