School Supplies

I almost forgot. We are starting Kingdom Kids up again in the middle of September. Kingdom Kids is our kids' outreach program that we have for kids 5-12 years old during the school year. We meet together on Sunday afternoon, go and pick up the kids, have the program (which is full of games, prizes, Bible lessons, songs, and much more), and then walk the kids home. The first Sunday back, we are wanting to give out school supplies to the kids. If you would like to donate any school supplies, please send them or bring them to Urban Hope, 210 East Tioga Street, Philadelphia, PA 19134. Thank you!

Well, I am sorry to say that my husband didn't want to take the camera to camp last weekend, so it looks like we'll have to wait one more week so I can get pictures from someone else! I heard great reports from my husband about the teen's weekend away. There were a lot of staff there, so it was almost 1:1 for staff to student ratio, so all of the teens got plenty of personal attention. There were chapel messages on running the race, how this life is all about God and not us at all, and who we are because God has adopted us as His children. There was an awesome swimming pool, gym, climbing walls, and zipline at the camp that everyone really enjoyed. One junior high boy that my husband spent a lot of time with is named Chino. He's not a believer yet, but interested and Ryan asked him if he would start reading the Bible with him. Pray that God gets a hold of his life quickly!
Meanwhile, the rest of us who were left behind were at Celebration on Sunday morning. Jason spoke about the importance of scripture in our lives. It was a fun time of fellowship and interaction since it was a smaller service. I walked my friend Cheryl and her daughter Katie home after Celebration and we had a great talk about a lot of things. She said she wants to read her Bible every night after she gets Katie in bed instead of watching tv as much. I want to keep reading my Bible daily (I'm reading through it chronologically--it's really fun!), but write down a verse to meditate on throughout the day. I'm good at just reading in the morning and then not letting it affect and change me throughout the day. Pray that Cheryl, me, and the rest of our church dive into scripture big time this week!

Off to Camp

The teens from our church head off to Camp Andrews for the weekend. Please pray for them to know God well and be changed! The plan is to have a few pictures up from that weekend next week. I will send the camera with my husband and see what he comes back with. :)
I apologize for not writing for the past couple of weeks. Things have been busy here. I love the summer, but there is always so much going on that it goes too fast! We had a group from Grace College here for a class for five days. Jason was in charge of teaching the class and setting up lots of awesome learning opportunities for them. I was in charge of providing lunch and breakfast for them everyday. I definitely learned a lot about what it takes to cook for 45 people. Thanks to Brenda, part of our team who lives in Ohio, I had a good idea of how much to buy for them. Thanks, Brenda! I now know all kinds of important things, like how much pizza to buy for 45 people (17 larges!), that people like chocolate chip cookies better than peanut butter, and that people like grapes way better than apples. It was fun to deliver some of the leftover food to a family down the street from me who has six kids. Their mom was so happy to have breakfast already taken care of for the day especially!
Thank you for your prayers for us. Pray that we would be purposeful and adaptable to whatever the Holy Spirit wants to use us for this week.