Because you love us...

Friday night God blew me away! We had a Christmas party for the teens. In the six years we've had the teen program, the most in attendance we've ever had was 40 teens. And this only happened one time, about 5 years ago. 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 honestly was only expecting 30-35 kids to show up, but I was also praying for God to 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 throughout the building, 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 fun and it was good, clean fun, in a safe environment away from the streets. I loved walking through the building and 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 their life.

Everything about this night was special, but there were two moments that stood out to me above the others. The first was not one that I experienced myself but something a volunteer told me. Over the past year, before we dismiss the kids, we tell them, "We want you to remember why we do this program for you. We do it, because we LOVE you and we want you to have a safe place to go." With fabric paint, we had written on the stockings, "We LOVE you." After we shared the Christmas message with the kids, we broke into groups to give the teens their stockings. We made this an intimate time to be able to let the kids know how much we care about them and to pray over their lives. Before one of the group leaders gave her stockings out, she said to them, "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." 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 that night. I 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 watching the older being willing to serve the younger. I was so proud of them!

These are just a few of the things that God did on this special night. I want to thank all of you who gave and made it possible to purchase the gifts, decorations, prizes and food for this party. Teens in East St. Louis were blessed and made to feel important because of you. THANK YOU!