Westside!

Westside Family Church has been a big supporter of Mission Adelante.  They asked us this year to bring some of our kids out to sing with their kids for their Impact 2011 service.  Our kids had the chance to sing with 2 groups of Westside kids, as well as listen to the an international children's choir that had 4 participants from Nepal.  It was a great opportunity for the Hispanic and Nepali kids that are a part of Mission Adelante to hangout together. 

House Warming!

God really blessed me this past August with two wonderful roomates who are in a similar life phase, and have hearts for the community we live in. We have been trying to have a house warming party since we moved in, and it just so happened that we couldn't get a weekend with all of us here until December 17th. So, we invited our friends down to KCK to check out our house and have some holiday fun!

PARTY!

At the end of each trimester we have a party to celebrate the accomplishments of the kids and the ESL students.  It is a lot of fun to get everyone together.  During the party we have a potluck, give awards and the kids go up stairs to play games and the adults stay downstairs to hear a message from the Bible.  It is always a great time. 

If you know of any youth groups or church groups that are looking for a service oppertunity we are looking for a group to help with our spring party in March 2011!

Kids Club!

Every Tuesday night about 40-50 Bhutanese kids, and 10 wonderful volunteers gather for KIDS' CLUB! A fun time where we sing songs, play games, have fun, and learn about the BIBLE! (that's how the kids say it) Tonight is our last Kids' Club of the trimester before we take about a month long break to give the staff, volunteers and participants a chance to recharge their batteries.  If you are ever in KCK on a Tuesday night you should come check it out!

Knitting

Many of the Bhutanese are very good at knitting and weaving.  The women have been getting together for the past couple of months to work on different projects with the hopes of selling them for supplemental income and maybe eventually making a living out of it.  This Monday and Tuesday of this week they got their first chance to sell their goods at a Fair Trade Fair at a local high school, where they made about $250, a great first chance.  We are always looking for yarn and knitting needles for the women to use and venues for them to sell their products.

Thanksgiving Break

So, I know I am behind on this... But, over Thanksgiving Break my roommate Molly (she helps with the kids on the Hispanic side of Mission Adelante's ministry), myself and Michael (a volunteer from the Hispanic side) took some of our kids down to Crown Center to spend the afternoon at Kaleidoscope.  For those not from KC Kaleidoscope is a great place that is funded by Hallmark Cards.  Kids can spend time at Kaleidoscope creating art projects and what not, and it is totally free!  I like free.  We all had a great time and it was fun to give the Bhutanese kids and the Hispanic kids a chance to hang out. Most of the pictures came from after we did our art projects.

the best room in all of Kaleidoscope....melted crayons and black lights..





a trip and a wedding...

I spent the last week out of town.....

First I got the chance to go down to Atlanta to spend the weekend with my family there.  The Bowers have treated me like their own daughter since the summer of 2005, so it was great to get to spend the weekend with them.  On Sunday morning I got to go visit Northlake, the church I interned at while living with the Bowers.  Ike Reeser, one of my mentors (and his wonderful wife Gwyn, an amazing woman of God) celebrated 25 years of ministry at Northlake.  It was wonderful to get to be there for that celebration and see my family there.  I also got a chance to talk with some Northlake people about what I am up to these days. 

Ike, Gwyn and some of the kids from their ministry over the years.

One of my favorite Northlake girls...



Sunday night I had the chance to go to Nashville and see some friends there.  I also got some quality mom time, as she was in town for a work conference (insert free hotel here.) 

We flew back Thursday night to get ready for Adam and Ashlynn's wedding.  It was a lot of fun to get everyone together and celebrate them. 

My brother and his wonderful wife.

The beautiful cake Ashlynn made.

The pumpkins that sent Adam to the hospital for stitches...and the carmel apples that we spent about 10 hours making...all in love.

All in all it has been a fun, and busy past couple of weeks.  I must say though that I am so thankful to be back in KCK and grateful to be spending time with my Bhutanese friends. 

Pumpkin Patch!!!!

This past weekend we took some of the kids out to the pumpkin patch….we all had a BLAST!

Teej Festival

On Saturday September 20th I was invited to join my Nepali friends in celebrating the Teej festival. It was a lot of fun. Many of the community members shared their talents that day through dance, song and cooking.

Only about a month late....

We kicked off the new trimester on September 14th.  I know, I know, I am almost a month late with this one.... It was an incredible start.  A lot of times the first week back from any kind of break is somewhat chaotic because we are learning or relearning routines and meeting new friends.  So, I expected some chaos when we started back after almost a month long break from Kid’s Club.  Well, we were totally blessed because it really was the best kick off we have ever had (yes, it was only our 3^rd kick off, but still, it was amazing).  God blessed the night and so many ways.  We had about 40 kids in attendance, and at least that many participating in the English and Citizenship classes.  It was great to see old friends and meet new ones and working on building those relationships.