Kids Club Moment

On Wednesday I could only be at Kids Club for a few minutes before I went over to the science fair at the middle school.  I was keeping on eye on the perimeter watching for kids as they walked up.  One Kindergarten girl who has gone to Kids Club a few times over the last couple of years wondered up and sat on one of the giant rocks at the edge of the park. I sat next to her on the rock.  I asked if she wanted to do any of the activities and she shook her head no.  I asked if she wanted to sit in my lap and she shook her head yes.  So I moved her on to my lap and put my arms around her.  I began to slowly rock her. After a minute or so I hears her small voice saying something.  I asked, "What did you say?" She replied, "Nothing." Again I heard her voice and I bent my head down and I realized she was singing to herself.  So I kept rocking and she kept humming.  After about ten minutes she said, "Ok, I'm ready to get down now and play."  And she ran to join the other kids waiting in line at the swing.  It was a picture to my of what God does for us.  He hugs and rocks us and then sends us into community where we can thrive and flourish and learn and grow.

Shoe Boxes

When I was in High school my cousins and I spent a Saturday making personalized shoe boxes.  We spent hours searching through magazines cutting out phrases and pictures that we liked or that we thought described us.  We then glued the magazine clippings to our shoe boxes, covering every inch. We sealed them with a coat of packing tape to make them durable. And durable mine has been.  It is overflowing with all my old photographs and friend's school pictures.

I decided, because my box is so special to me, I wanted to do the same thing with my d-group girls. Neena Clevenger and Payless Shoes saved a bunch of shoe boxes for me. The last two d-groups we have been scavengers searching through pages of advertisements looking for funny phrases, favorite foods, words associated with church or words and pictures we like just because.  Usually when I am really excited about a project I plan for the girls to do, it goes over like a lead balloon.  I was really excited about the shoeboxes, but I had low expectations for their enthusiasm.

Its post Christmas and we just made it through February- month of relationship drama.  Winter is drama season for middle school girls.  Recently the girls have been using me and d-group as an opportunity to get together to talk about the most recent drama among their peers.  I was slightly discouraged, because it seemed they didn't really care about what we did at d-groups at all.  Another reason I had low expectations for the shoebox project.  But they have loved it.  The atmosphere is relaxed and peaceful as they cut and glue and laugh at funny pictures and words.  All drama has seemed to be left at the door when we are working on the shoeboxes.  It has given us the chance to focus on each other and caring for each other which is something I did not expect when planning the project.  I haven't had to awkwardly change the subject from the latest fight at school over and over again the last two meetings.  One on my girls even announced this past week that she prayed out loud for the first time.  She was by herself and really felt like she wanted to pray so she prayed out loud.  I am glad we created an atmosphere where she was able to tell us something that was so personal and so meaningful.
The shoeboxes are still a work in progress, but so is the d-group.