A New Trimester!!

So, every trimester it seems to happen.  We get to a few weeks before Kids Club is supposed to start again, and I start freaking out, mainly because we don't have enough volunteers.  I start to worry what we will do with all of the kids.   I start looking at alternative plans, putting groups together, things like that.  

This trimester was no exception, actually it was worse than most.  We were four days out from Kids Club starting and we were still in need of 5 more volunteers!  So, I did what I do most trimesters and started freaking out, making plans, and praying for provision.  The Lord really provided this trimester, and in a great way.  He sent us 5 AMAZING volunteers at the last minute!  Volunteers who are already investing in these kids and loving them a bunch! I am so excited to see how this trimester unfolds!  

I can't wait to see what the Lord does through all of the wonderful Kids Club mentors!  I am so thankful to call them friends, and be on mission with them!

Oh and did I mention that we had 75 kids there tonight...yeah....75....a new record.

New Video!

Mission Adelante Video 2012 from Mission Adelante on Vimeo.

Leaders in Training Launches (Post from the Adelante Express)

About a year ago I had the privilege of walking two of our Nepali sixth grade girls--refugees whose families had resettled in Kansas City--through the application process for an afternoon scholarship program. Part of the application involved a placement test which had three portions to it: reading, math and writing. 

When I picked the girls up from the placement test, I asked them how it went. With a panicked expression they asked me, “Kristen, what is a spaceship?” The writing assessment prompt that they were asked to respond to involved a spaceship, and they didn’t know what that was. Two of our brightest girls who spoke very good English had no clue what a spaceship was. 

This fall, we are setting out with the goal of teaching everyone what a spaceship is. Well, not really, but we are hoping that through partnership with students, families, community members and volunteers we will be able to expose a select group of students to enrichment activities and experiences that will set them up for success! 

Who are these kids? They are the 11 new Bhutanese Leaders in Training students! We are thrilled to be launching this new branch of Mission Adelante’s Leaders in Training program to our Bhutanese students. This fall marks the fifth year of the Latino Leaders in Training and the first for the Bhutanese. We are excited about dreaming of the future the Lord holds for these kids, and what it will hold as they become leaders, changing their lives, families and communities!

Tie-Dye time!

If you grew up going to camp, you know that no summer is complete with out making at least 1 tie-dye shirt. In Kids Club we use a rewards system called Party Points.  The 6 groups earn Party Points throughout the trimester with the hope of earning the Party Points Party at the end of the trimester.  This trimester we had two teams win.  The Green Group, the older boys and the Pink Group, the older girls.  The Pink Group had their party last Tuesday.  We had snacks, made shirts, had a Nepali dance party, and took one fuzzy group picture!

The finished product!

A Looonnnggg Update

So, once upon a time I used to be really good at blogging on a regular basis.  Then, I went to Atlanta, Nashville, India and Nepal, and somewhere in there I forgot how to blog.   Sooo....I'm going to fill you in really quickly about the last 6 months of my life, and then hopefully I will be able to blog a little more regularly.

So, around spring break time I had the chance to go to Nashville and Atlanta and catch up with college, Northlake and NCS friends.  It was wonderful to see everyone, and meet many new babies!  I also got to spend some time talking with the folks who make up Ubuntu Village.  It was fun to dream with them as they seek what the Lord has in store for their community.  I also got to visit a Nepali friend who used to live in Kansas City, and moved to one of the apartment communities the folks from Ubuntu Village live in.  Small world.

When I got back to Kansas City it was time to celebrate Easter, and then the end of the the Spring trimester.  We had a wonderful Easter celebration at Mission Adelante with many of our friends from the community.  I even had the chance to make a flower carpet to decorate.  Pookalams are used for decoration, and they are soo beautiful.  We also had a great End of Trimester Party, and the folks from Christ Community Church EVC rocked out a super fun kids program complete with amazing face painting!

About a week after the End of Trimester Party we left for Nepal and India.  It was an amazing journey.  The Lord taught me so much about myself and ministry in just two short weeks.  My eyes were opened to two beautiful countries, and He provided for us new family in both places.  It is way too much to write about in this post, so if you want to hear about my trip, please ask me!

When we got back from Nepal and India we jumped straight in to the summer trimester.  It's been wonderful.  We had 3 great Kids Camps hosted by our friends at Christ Church Anglican, Shoal Creek Community Church and Emmanuel Baptist Church.  We had our biggest turnouts for Kids Camps ever, with 110 kids one night!  Crazy.  These three churches did wonderful jobs!

We also had two great summer interns, who were TONS of help with the Kids Camps and loved the kids so well this summer.  Tomorrow is their last day, and we are all pretty sad to see them go.  They were great sports, even when they had to have a pie eating contest during one of the Kids Camps!

Our friend Noel Castellanos from CCDA came and visited and shared with us the vision and values of CCDA.  He even got to share a meal with some of our friends.

We've also had lots of fun at Kids Club this summer.  Last week was a highlight because it was BACKPACK week, everyone's favorite week of the year.  Who doesn't like a bag full of new supplies?

Tomorrow is our Summer End of Trimester party.  It is crazy how fast time flies.  It is hard to believe that my nephews go back to school soon.  I can't believe that the older one starts Kindergarten Wednesday.  We got to have a lot of good quality time this summer, as their mom spent a month on bed rest before the newest brother was born!  And my moms whole side of the family got to meet little Brody as they came up to visit just a few weeks after he was born.  It was a joy to have everyone together.  

It has been a busy and crazy past 6 months.  I wouldn't trade it for anything.  And though I love summer more than any other season, I am getting excited for the fall and the launch of our afterschool leadership development program, Leaders in Training.  I am almost giddy about the idea of spending 3 afternoons, and Tuesday night with these cool kids!  It's going to be a blast, and hopefully will inspire me to blog a little more often! :-)

I apologize

I've been a bit of a blogging slacker lately.  I hope to remedy this in the next week or two.  Life has been super busy.  I just got back in town from a wonderful trip to visit friends and family in Nashville and Atlanta.  I will have a few pictures from that and an update in the next few days.

CCDA

So in October we had the chance to go to the CCDA conference.  It was a wonderful week of learning.  Richard Twiss was my favorite speaker of the whole week, and I just found his presentation he gave at CCDA on YouTube.  Check it out, its long, but worth it. 

....It's been awhile...

So life got really busy, and blogging took a back seat.  Life has calmed down some, and I thought it was time to catch everyone up.

Christmas was great.  We were on our trimester break and I got to have some quality hang out time with these two cute dudes.  We had lots of fun, did a lot of baking, and hanging out.

After Christmas, I realized that we were about to start the new trimester, and had a whole lot of work to get done, in not a lot of time.  We had a great trimester launch and have had a wonderful first couple of weeks.  We have had quite a few new families arrive in the area recently and our Kids' Club numbers topped 50 for the first time since we sent the teens to Teens' Club.  It is a whole lot of fun, and such a blessing to get to love these kids every week.

Right after the launch of the trimester we found a new house to move in to.  If you haven't heard, the house we had been living in was in bad shape and the landlord wasn't willing to fix anything.  We had been looking for a good place, in the neighborhood, found one and less than a week later we were moved in.  It has already been such a blessing.  It is in a great location, right next door to some of our great friends, and on the same street as many others.  I'm excited to see how the Lord uses this house to bless others.

fear

I would have to say that when I first moved down to the neighborhood, the question I got most often was "Is it safe?"  


At first I would get frustrated, "Of course it's safe", I would say.  Would I really move down here if it wasn't safe?


As time has passed my response has changed.   Now more often than not I respond,  "We were never promised it would be safe."  


I wanted to share with you the lyrics to one of my favorite songs.  Aslan, by Kendall Payne.  It paints a great picture of who Christ is, and how he is nothing we would have ever expected.  

Don't stop your crying on my account

A frightening lion, no doubt

He's not safe, no he's not safe

Are you tempted now to run away?

The King above all Kings is coming down

But He won't say the words you wish that he would 

Oh, he don't do the deeds you know that He could

He won't think the thoughts you think He should

But He is good, He is good

I know you're thirsty, the water is free

But I should warn you, it costs everything

Well, He's not fair, no He's not fair

When He fixes what's beyond repair

And graces everyone that don't deserve

No one knows Him whom eyes never seen

No, I don't know Him but He knows me

He knows me, He knows me

Lay down your layers, shed off your skin

But without His incision, you can't enter in

He cuts deep, yeah He cuts deep

When the risk is great and the talk is cheap

But never leaves a wounded one behind

Sorry...

So it's been a while since I've had time to post. I hope to have some updates up within the next week. Sorry, life has been crazy. It's a good kind of crazy though.