Turning Soup into Light and Hope

Pounds of roast beef

Pounds of carrots, onions, celery, potatoes.

Cans and cans of diced tomatoes.

12 burners filled with large pots of boiling water.

Well this isn't a math problem and I'm not going to ask you how many quarts of soup this can make - I'm going to tell you! Yesterday I made (moreso, my mother and father!, with my help) about 110 quarts of beef vegetable soup. My goal was to raise money to support the children of San Salvador that I spent time with this summer. There is an amazing organization called the Hope House that serves a homeless community. A volunteer psychologist comes to work with street children there but the building is without electricity.

The amazingly generous, loving, and supportive people of my home church community stood behind me and so far we have sold 134 quarts of soup (some to be delivered at a later time!) and raised another $200-300 in additional support and donations! Along with a grant from Thrivent Lutheran we will have raise at least $1000 for the Hope House! Don't listen when people say everything in this world is corrupt. There are amazing people who are willing and eager to support just causes! Thank you to my church family at home - and kids in El Salvador - get ready!

My awesome mom working hard -
she was the woman behind the success!

Why you got salad on your sandwich?

Friday I had the opportunity to take a few kids to Wendy's as a reward for working hard in school. Usually these trips end up being a bigger reward to me than the kids - but I'm not sure!

After deliberating in line about what they would get, each of the three decided on chicken nuggets, fries, and a coke. I ordered a chicken sandwich and then we headed back to school to eat lunch. As we were sitting and eating conversation turned to my sandwich. "Whatchu eating Miss?" asked the one boy. "Chicken sandwhich," I replied. "What's that stuff on it?" "Oh I know," chimed another boy. "The green stuff is lettuce and the red is...um....potatoe, Miss?" "Do you mean tomatoe?" "Oh yeah, yeah...tomatoe," the student quickly corrected himself. "You got SALAD? on your sandwich? Why you got salad on your sandwich Miss?" asked the student who originally questioned what I was eating.

While I was smiling and even laughed a bit through this conversation a few things struck me...
1. They only associate lettuce and tomatoes with salad, and apparently rarely eat it.
2. They mistook tomatoe for potatoe.
I love these guys and it was one of the best lunches I've had this year. I spent much of the time smiling behind my soda or sandwich, enjoying the fun they had in going to Wendy's and then eating lunch "with a teacher." Praise God for these little moments to hang out with them and to treat them to something special! Pray these kids will continue to work hard and succeed in school this year! It's push time! We've only got 3.5 months left!

I get the junkies

Dunkin Donuts on a Friday afternoon.

It doesn't take much to make that better...except that I spent some time with an amazing 8th grade girl I've gotten to know over the last two years. This girl has been coming to Soul Squad, our neighborhood bible study for middle schoolers, and she has been seeking a lot lately. Seeking time with adults at bible study, asking questions about what we're learning in bible study, and a ride home each Wednesday after study. She's a great girl but has had a history of "acting out" at school. On the ride home on Wednesday I asked her if she wanted to go to Dunkin Donuts on Friday. She jumped on that right away and called me 15 minutes after school Friday. As we spent an hour or so over hot chocolate and donuts we talked about school (she's doing better), life at home, and bible study. As we're talking she mentioned how in the evening she "gets the junkies...you know Miss, I get hungry to eat the bad foods." As we laughed, and I agreed, I thanked God for the opportunity to hang out with this girl.

God has been moving in our bible study group and what is so humbling is that it is in the midst of my weariness and not so great attitude about things that God has opened up these doors to invest in the kids. Soul Squad has been a place where kids have spent the last 2.5 years asking questions about God. We've played games, taken summer swimming trips, celebrated holidays and sought to learn more about who God is, who Jesus is, and what they mean to us and offer us. I've watched kids grow older and more mature. We're seeing a movement here and I seek your prayer. These kids are resilient and they keep coming back. That alone is a reason to celebrate. Pray they continue coming, asking questions, and time for us, as adults, to invest in these kids in smaller groups.

God desires their hearts and they are seeking His unconditional love in all kinds of ways. Pray for boldness and a trust that God will continue working. Praise God for his faithfulness and his mighty power!

Enough Effort

"Miss, you don't put enough effort into my work..."

I stopped, turned around and looked questioningly at the student behind me. "Really Miss, you don't put enough effort into my work." I asked him what exactly he meant and he insisted that his papers are not hanging up on the wall because I didn't put enough effort into it. I smiled, informed him that that wasn't quite the case and then as we talked about it my heart reached out to this kid.

He's a kid who has multiple physical and mental handicaps and the district is insisting on passing through the system without proper support. We are fighting at school to change his placement but there are multiple roadblocks and its been a loooong year trying to get it all worked out. Unfortunately he's able to do little work independently and spends much time just "taking it all in." My heart aches that this guy has such difficulty performing the basic classwork on the lowest levels and that all he wants is the same as any other kid in the school - to be loved and to succeed - for someone to notice him and tell him he's doing a great job!

Pray that I am inspired in new ways to include him and assist him in creating work that can be posted that he will be proud of. It's a difficult line to walk and I struggle with how to best provide appropriate lessons for him. Yet I've realized that including him is what he desires most of all. Pray for patience and for new ways to love this kid - to show him that he's not left behind in a system that wants to pass him through.