Blessing from All Around

Wow, I can't even begin to tell you how amazing last week was, there were so many volunteers who showed up to help serve dinner to our community, the love that was poured out through the entire building, was simply amazing. We were able to serve a little over 200 people in a little over two hours! We met new and old friends, Pastor Mike came and I looked around the room and saw tons of my friends gathered in one place to serve and give thanks. It's so cool when I get to see my friends from Grace and Howard County, mix with my friends from the city and laugh and cry, sing, eat and dance together. It's such an encouragement to see families step out on faith and bring their entire family into the city and serve, not knowing where they are coming or what's going to happen there. The love, support and encouragement I have recieved from my friends and strangers is so so so amazing!

Last night, something pretty special happened, I was invited to share my heart with an amazing group of women. I felt so welcomed, so encouraged into their bible study, I was so excited to share my heart and testimony with them. They also made so many cookies for our from 'Junk to Jesus' event, that I will be forever grateful to them for. I am so excited to continue to share my life with them, know that they are praying for me and hopefully get to share the community with some of them who might be interested in visiting. If any of you are reading this Thanks ladies, the love I felt from your study group was amazing!!!

Tonight, something pretty special is going to happen, Major Brock from the Southwestern District is coming to visit and share his heart and desires with our kids. I am so excited for him to come and see the kids and see how many kids we have. To begin to form relationships with them, to be able to use them to make the neighborhood a better place. Major Brock as I've mentioned in a few blogs now has a HUGE HUGE heart for the kids and desires nothing more than to tackle the gang problems that plague our neighborhoods. I am so excited.

December is a month of special events for us, next week is "From Junk to Jesus," guest speaker and local author Mike Weber will share his life with the kids, community members and friends at Charm City Church, a cookie reception will follow his talk, let me know if you're interested.

December 14th, we pick up our toy from toys for tots, and that evening we're having a wrapping party with a few friends from church, if you want to come hang out wrap gifts, listen to worship music and fellowship with us, let me know. Also if you happen to have any wrapping paper lying around that needs to be put to good use, I would love to take it off your hands :)!

December 15 I have a missions team coming into to basically overhaul the close pantry, get rid of clothes, and do whatever else might need to be done that day. Weather pending we're planning to do a prayer walk through the neighborhood.

December 19th is when we'll host our Annual Metro Kidz Christmas Party, I'm so excited about this night, it's going to be a night for us to show God's Love, Share God's Love and invite kids to come to christ, that might not normally come to Metro Kidz. It'll also be another exciting night of intermingling my friends :)! We needs lots of help if you're around and want to join us!

December 25th Christmas! I'm sad I won't be here for my first Christmas at Charm City, but I am super excited I will be home celebrating with my family.

Now for some prayer requests:

Of course prayer for all of the above events would be much appreciated
For my friend Jeromy as he travels to Africa to be with his family and proceed with their adoption procedure
Pastor Mike and his Family
For finances for me, so I can continue to work my nanny job a few hours a week and give the rest of my time to my ministry
Wisdom as I plan to change a few things within the ministry and plan a few special nights outside of typical Metro Kidz nights
And for patience!

I love you all!!!!

Hanging by a thread, Police Commisioner and Needs

So last night at Metro Kidz was an interesting one to say the least! The kids were all kinds of wild last night from the time they walked in the door until the time they left. Name calling, things broken, teachers cursed out YIKES! Things thrown, welcome to Metro Kidz, these nights happen. Sometimes I wonder why my friends come back, but I know that God has placed them in my life and ministry to make a difference, teach and learn. I think every week, we all learn something new about each other, about ourselves and about our kids.

I met with the police commissioner and he's going to come speak to the kids, sometime in November. I was very encouraged by his willingness to step out on faith with us, and I only hope and pray that he holds true to his words. That he really does help make a difference in our neighborhood through our kids, we're practically handing him the resources, now he just has to make wise choices regarding them.

So we're getting ready to kick off a busy time at the church. I am so excited about what God is doing there, we have a few needs:

Stockings not the teeny tiny ones, but the small ones
Stocking Stuffers
Candy (candy canes, kisses, chocolates, hard candy etc)
Gloves
Hats
Scarves

Thanks Friends!

Heartbreak for Real

As I was leaving the church last night, I ran into a little girl whose kind of taken my heart and run with it, she's beautiful, she's excited about learning about Jesus and she wants all of her friends to come to Metro Kidz. She's so beautiful you can see her smile and heart through her eyes, but if you look hard enough you see the saddness too. As I was leaving last night, I was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to go home, but I couldn't I put aside the fact I was tired and somewhat cranky and proceeded to put my belongings in my car, and spend time with these kids.

Ira, Tyeandre and Anthony, finding out how old they are, where they live, what they like to do for fun, what grade they are in, if they've ever been to metro kids and what schools they go to. Laughing and playing with them made me realize just how important my job is. For some of these kids, the love that is shown through myself and other volunteers at Metro Kidz is the only source of love these kids are getting. Eventually I had to say goodbye to these precious children and go home for the night.

I pulled my car off the lot and got out to close the gate and "T" wanted to badly to help me lock up the gate and talk about the holes in the iron and how people must have been trying to get in! He was so super cute! As I walked back to my car the littlest of these three begged me to bring them home with me, they wanted to know where I lived, why they couldn't come and when I would be back. It was so heartbreaking to know that at such a young age they can see the difference in where I come from and where they come from and they know in their heads that I go home to a nice home at night, a hot meal, a warm bed and a loving group of people everynight and they don't. It broke my heart to stand on the corner and explain to them all of the reasons why I couldn't take them home with me, and for them to want nothing more that to come anyways. As I was driving home I tried to wrap my head around the logic and what must have been going through their heads at the time. It broke my heart and made my day all at the same time to be able to have this communication with these kids.

So if I you could just keep them in your prayers tonight as you spend time in your loving group, eat your hot meal and climb into your warm bed, I would appreciate it!

Thanks!

:)!

Just a little update...

I attended the meeting with police commissioner on Monday it was very discouraging in the way that he pretty much told us that there wasn't much he could do for the communities that are willing to help him make them better. He's more concerned about the crisis already happening other places, which in my eyes is a good thing too, but what is he doing to prevent the same kind of problems in other areas of the city. I found him to be very discouraging, but I met the commander for my area, and I have a very good feeling about him.

I love the ladies of Build, I really feel encouraged by them and their willingness to get things done!!!

DCCentral Kitchen

Goodmorning! I feel like I should be updating this more, but these days I'm spending less and less time sitting at the computer working and more time out networking and doing footwork. Friday morning four of us piled into one of the vans at 7:00 a.m. yes 7:00 a.m. and drove in the middle of DC/Baltimore traffic to the DC Central Kitchen (http://www.dccentralkitchen.org/), this place is amazing, basically they take homeless, just out of prison, just out of detox people who are in a transitional phase in their life and put them through a 13 week intense training, which includes culinary training. At the end of the class they are trained enough that they could essentially go out into the "real" world and get a job working as a chef. But that's not really the importance of the program.



Robert Eggar started the program when he realized that it's great to help the homeless or less fortunate by feeding them, but what are we doing as a society too get them off the streets? So he started this program which allows them to be empowered and encouraged. It's someting we really want to mimick in Baltimore. Check it out, let me know if you might be interested in heading down to volunteer with us for a day!

Tasi, Superfresh and Neighbors

Yesterday, I attended The Afterschool Institute (TASI) Networking meeting, it was so much fun, I met so many encouraging people, I learned how to apply for funding for the program we want to start, grants that might be available to us and I'm going to visit some local programs that are already in place. I felt so encouraged by the people I met and the seasoned pros at running after school programs!


So yesterday we got our first donation towards Thanksgiving (granted if we can still pull it off) from SuperFresh, I thought it was quite interesting that the local Superfresh was willing to help us out but Giant sent us a letter telling us to contact our local foodbank, it was a little frusturating. But alas, Thanksgiving is in three weeks, and it doesn't really seem like anyone is too interested in planning the dinner, and honestly I have so much on my plate right now, I just can't take on that task as well. I feel a little guilty even saying that, but I am in the midst of planning many many things right now!

I'm so in love with the people in this neighborhood, so many of them are hungry for God, but they need someone to grab their hand and lead the way, and so many people look down upon them and walk away or don't know how to handle them. Last night I had a heart breaking conversation with one of the volunteers here, and he was telling me about "R" (which I promise to someday devote and entire blog to "R"), but "R" is a very special unique person and has been moving from church to church for the last 10-15 years because churches weren't sure what to do with him, they'd push him to the side because he was different, and honestly I've grown so fond of "R" I don't know what I would do if he weren't here, but he's a good example of the people of this neighborhood. They feel that because they are in someways different people aren't going to accept them or grab their hand and lead them in the right direction it breaks my heart.

Last night we had a lady here who all she wanted was for someone to acknowledge her, love her and listen to her. I had that opportunity and God really taught me a lesson, she came at an extremely inconvient time or so I thought :), but when she started talking God slapped me upside the head reminded me why I was here and I realized I should be paying attention to this woman God obviously sent her to me for a reason. It was an amazing time of fellowship with her. I thank God everyday for loving me enough to smack me upside the head everyonce in a while :)!

So some prayer requests:

For finanaces both personally and for metro Kidz
For God to continue to lead and guide "R" and for him to let "R" know he's so loved here
For Pastor Mike and his Family
For the Volunteers at Charm City
For the two new volunteers who'll be joining us next week
For safety for our neighbors and kids.

Thanks friends! Love you all!

Murder,TLT and Praying

Murder is such a disgusting word! I hate it, I hate the thought of it, I hate the sound of the word, I hate the action etc. Murder hurts, it destroys sometimes innocent people. This weekend it affected people I love...people I care about and people I pour my heart and soul into, people I would do anything in the world for. What do you do when your driving through the neighborhood and kids, yes kids you love are sitting in handcuffs on a street corner and there's been a murder in the neighborhood, my heart sunk, I felt so helpless, I did everything I could to hold back the tears, but I couldn't. It's real life, it happens on the streets every single day, but why MY kids? It's such a hard thing to understand, such a tough thing to grasp, but the truth is, it's expected here, expected of MY kids, it's a way of life on the streets to be caught up in gangs, to hang with the wrong crowd, to live your life in a reckless way, because unfortunately for most of them this is ALL they know.

I was reminded yesterday that's why God has called us here to this place in Baltimore, to save these kids from the streets, to encourage them through the Lord, to love them where they are while pulling them up. I was extremely encouraged yesterday when a middle schooler came up to me and said I am going to pass out tracts on my way home, these people in the streets need Jesus, and then she proceeded to tell me about the murder. It's so cool to see a Middle Schooler stepping out of her comfort zone to share the gospel with her neighbors! It made me smile in a time of sadness!

So we finally had our meeting with the TLT yesterday and honestly I left feeling a little big disappointed, I think out of the 9 that came to the meeting 1-3 of them might take is seriously, they suddenly don't have time in their schedules, or just don't know if they want to do it, or they just weren't into it, however there is one boy who I absolutely adore, who I think is going to step up to the plate and want to be a leader, the answers on his leader application were amazing, he said things like I want to learn how to be a good leader and lead my peers, when asked what he'd like to see more of at Metro kids he said things like more bible study time, bible memory verses etc. I can't wait to work with him.

So there are a few things you can be praying for:

Finances- That they'll continue to come in
The Neighborhood- In general Satan has been on the prowl both in and outside of our building the past few weeks
Metro Kidz- Please just surround it in prayer, it has been crazy and Satan has made his presence completely known

Satan's on the Prowl

I haven't updated in about a week, because I didn't really know where to even begin writing, I had prepared myself in the way that I knew Satan would be attacking me for doing God's work, but I don't think I quite prepared myself for the ways Satan would attack me or how frequently. It started last Wednesday when Satan began attacking several key people at Metro Kidz, it carried on throughout the entire night, week, weekend and into this week. This week Satan began attacking different key players. It's been a never ending cycle over the last couple of weeks and honestly I've been spending more time in prayer for my kids, my volunteers and the other key people at Metro Kidz, instead of updating my blog or doing many other things.

Admist, all the chaos of Satan there have been a few good things happening. I did my first home visit a week ago yesterday, I visited a family that has SEVEN kids who come to both Metro Kidz and church on Sunday morning, they are a group full of leaders, three sets of twins and one single child. The girls had intimidated me about meeting their father and made me promise not to go to their house, which I refused to do. I am so glad I went, I met their father had the opportunity to pray for their family and their home. But not only that, it made me see what these kids go home to after they leave the safety of Metro Kidz or Charm City. I could describe the scene, the smells and the people, but you wouldn't truly understand unless you are there.

God is so faithful and that was completly reconfirmed for me this week, when my car went from maybe costing $2000 to fix to only costing $50 :)! God is so Good! Even though Satan has been on the prowl, I've been so encouraged by the people God has blessed my life with.

Some prayer requests:
That Satans hands will be bound, and that he'll stop attacking us!
For the TLT which is having a harder time getting started up than planned
For Pastor Mike and his family
For Brother Paul
For Miss Roxanne
For Metro Kidz and everyone involved.

Home Visits and Movie Night

Today I did one of my first home visits, I went to visits a family who has seven kids in Metro Kidz, the mom works ALL THE TIME supporting the family and the father is disabled. The girls who are in my group discouraged me from visiting but I wanted to badly to meet their family, start a relationships with the family, not just kids, but also to praise their children and let them know how for the most part their kids are so well-behaved and in tune with what's going on. Thier father whom I got to spend some time with today was so excited to meet me, gave me a huge hug and told me how much he appreciated what we were doing with his children.


It was there I realized what kind of enviorment these kids live in, this particular family has a both the mommy and daddy however, as I was standing on the porch I was taking in every smell, sight, and sound. It broke my heart but at the same time it was eye opening to see what their home was like, to see a struggling family, trying to make honest people out of their kids. A daddy who can't work and a mommy whose never home because she's supporting a family of at least nine. As I left their daddy standing on the porch I prayed before I pulled away, blessings for their home, for their family, healing for their daddy and even more importantly continued support from their family for their kids in our programs, and hopefully a long lasting relationship not only with the kids but with the family as a whole. I hope you my friends will join me in prayer for them as well. Pray for family G.


So our meeting with the police comissioner didn't happen, it was very sad, he just didn't show up, pushed his promise off on his subordinates, and apparently the group that is working with us trying to make a difference had met with him prior and he promised to be there. So we're hopefully going to get in within the next few weeks to see him.
So tonight is movie night, on the top level screen we're showing Freedom Writers and on the Bottom Level screen we're showing Akeelah and the Bee. Should be fun and relaxing for our kids and volunteers tonight, hopefully :)!


Prayer Requests:
*For family G.
*My heavy heart
*Finances
*For upcoming Adopt-A-Block Activities

Fusion, Police Meeting and Miss Val

Bruce and Julia came to Fusion with Bryan, Melissa and I on Sunday night it was super fun, the message that night was really good to. I spoke about Metro Kidz, what's going on in my life etc. and I think if everyone follows through I will have recruited somewhere between 10-15 new people to volunteer at Metro Kidz, including a small group who would like to make dinner come down and serve the kids! How cool!!!

Today is our meeting with the police comissioner I'm a little bit nervous about this, but alas, I think it will be fine. I promise to update and let you know what happens.

I'm still super excited about Miss Val's desire to change her life, but please continue to pray for her because each day we have to wait for someone to return our phone calls and find a place for her to go, is one more day she's falling into the lap of Satan and the streets! I desire nothing more than to be able to find a place for her to go and get help this week. A place where she can go away, detox and come back in a few months a changed woman whose not bound by Satan to life of distress and disaster.

Prayer Requests:
*For my heart it's been really heavy the past few days, not really sure why but something's got it going.
* For my TLT members, that God will work in them through this leadership opportunity and they'll grow as Christians, leaders and young men and women.
*Miss Val that God continues to keep her strong while we figure out the best option for her.

Thanks Guys!