Weekend Update

We as a family went to Owensboro on Saturday, my first day out of the house all week...Hallelujah for fresh air....and Target, but I digress. We headed to Owensboro to have lunch with Steve and Melissa Hanvey and their most adorable son--little Steve, I mean Asher. They have lived in Owensboro for the past several years and we have failed to make the opportunity to see them in their new digs. Their home was built in 1942 and was an adorable cape cod, filled with character and great architecture and Melissa has made it feel so warm with her artistic touches. We visited with them for a few hours and then they kept the children while Nate and I went to the Match Day event.

The Match Day event was in a word, heartbreaking. We suspected there would be mainly teenagers...and we were right. There were only two kids who were not teenagers, a little boy who was severely handicapped and a little girl who was probably 10 or so and she was being hovered over by a few Moms. Nate and I decided to make the most of the situation and felt it would be a great time to just love on these kids for a few hours. We played ping pong with a teen named Chris, 14 a shy boy who had great manners. We met a beautiful boy named Justin, who was big and strong enough to be an amazing defensive lineman, but instead was a musician with Hard Rock sensibilities. We met Quincey who wanted to be near by, but did not want to talk, never smiled and could jump in basketball with the ease and flight of a young Jordan.

Nate decided to take the boys on in some Basketball. A competitive game of HORSE was thrown down. In the sport the true nature of the kids began to show. Chris had a quiet confidence and an impressive athletic ability. Nate was behind him in the game of HORSE and not too far into the game said, "Now Chris, it is all your fault I am at HO." Chris with a down turn head said, "I know, everything is my fault." Nathan turned and grabbed him by the shoulders and said "No, no, buddy it is not and hugged him." Chris looked up at him and smiled and returned the hug. How heartbreaking the scars of these hearts. Heartbreaking.

Of course, still convalescing, I could not play basketball, so I decided to be the cheerleader. Quincey was on fire and was tearing up the hoop from all over the floor. With each "Swoosh," I would enthusiastically call his name and cheer. The boy who would not talk, would not smile, would light up and the side of his mouth would curl up despite his best efforts everytime I would yell, "Way to Go Quincey!"

The heartbreaking part was that Nate and I are not in a place in our lives to bring home a bunch of teenage boys. And those teenage boys, as all the teens at that event knew exactly what it was. An event to let parents "shop" for kids. And I wonder if they think, oh, I think they really liked me or if they are defeated when the phone calls don't come in the weeks following such an event. How much rejection can one young heart take before it become calous and defensive? Heartbreaking. Nathan and I wrote a letter to ourselves reminding us how we felt that night. We talked about how we could not take in these teens now, but we in the future will lose that excuse and we will need to remember--give these kids a chance to know love...give them a home!

Sunday was a packed day of happiness. Valentine's Day, Chinese New Year and Elder/Deacon commision day all fell on the 14th of February. Our church family chooses each year the Elders and Deacons who will serve our congregation. Once they are chosen we have a special dedication service for these men and it was so beautiful to realize how extremely blessed our church is to have so many willing men to serve.

We have a large population of Chinese students who visit with our congregation and after our services and our potluck, the Chinese students prepared activities for us to participate in to celebrate the New Year. There was a Chinese Dragon animated by the kids in our congregation, TaiChi demonstrations, gifts, and information galore. So neat!

Valentine's Day ended up low key. I was feeling tired and overdone, so Nate and I grabbed some dinner and a cupcake from GiGi's while Michael Dunn watched the children. It was sweet and fun and just enough.

What a weekend. This Monday morning I am tired, looking forward to news coming on the 18th and still resting up. There is snow outside and much to do inside. I need to get to it!