Cookie Decorating                Stockings we gave teens

On December 16th, God blew me away! We had a Christmas party for the teens. In the history of the teen program, the most in attendance we've had has been 40 teens. And this only happened one time in a total of six years. So, when preparing the food and the stockings for the teens, I thought preparing for 40 would be plenty and that we would have a lot left over. I was honestly only expecting 30-35 kids to show up, but I was also hoping that God would bring at least 40. Well, He EXCEEDED my expectations! There were 49 kids who showed up! 12 of those kids had never been before, we ran out of stockings and came close to running out of food. It was a good problem to have. :)

We had several activities going on that night, a fried chicken dinner, cookie and gingerbread house decorating, 3 on 3 tournaments and make-overs for the girls. Nothing made me happier than seeing our kids have so much good, clean fun, in a safe environment. I loved walking through the building, watching the volunteers interact with the kids, either by doing their make up, teaching them how to build a gingerbread house, coaching them in the tournament or talking with them about life.

Everything about this night was special, but some moments stood out above the others. This past year, before we dismiss the kids, we tell them, "We want you to know why we have this program. We do it, because we LOVE you and we want you to have a safe place to go." Before filling the stockings, we wrote on each stocking, "We LOVE you." At the end of the night, we broke into groups to give the teens their stockings. This was an intimate time to be able to let the kids know how much we care about them, how much God LOVES them and to pray over their lives. Before one of the group leaders gave her stockings out, she asked the teens, "Can anyone tell me why we do this for you?" One of the boys who frequently acts like he is too cool to come (but still comes) raised his hand and said, "Because you love us." When the volunteer told me this, I felt like a happy Mom, who was relieved that her kids finally "got it."

Since we prepared for only 40 kids, there were 9 kids who were not going to receive a stocking. We told the older teens that they would need to let the younger teens have their stocking and that we would bring one to their door sometime after Christmas. Even though they were a little bummed about it, they gave up their stockings willingly and some without being asked directly. We were seeing the fruit of our labor right there in that moment, by seeing the older being willing to serve the younger. I was so proud of them! We ended up bringing the older kids their stockings before Christmas and they were so happy and thankful when we showed up at their door. 

 
 Make-overs                            3 on 3 Tournament