Needs for August!

Hello Readers! So I thought maybe I should put out there some needs we have for August, we're going to have a SUPER fun month and invite you to email me at colleen@metrokidzbaltimore.org
If you're interested in coming to volunteer for an event.

Needs:
Water Balloons
Water Guns
Water Balloon Launchers
Buckets
Sprinklers ETC.
Volunteers to help with Water Fight Night (August 20th)
Someone to run grills for food that night
Volunteers to help with Back to School Night
School Supplies (Backpacks, pencils, pens, paper, etc)
Volunteers to make finger (kid friendly) desserts for that night

We're also praying for 6 people who have been called and have a heart to work with our teenagers, our teen program has been put on hold until we find people to help us out.

Please pray about joining us for one of these special events of donating something to help make the night a success!

"K" update

So I am sure you all remember "K" the guy I met at Subway a few months ago who is now getting the help he needs to be delivered from the life he was leading? Well I have a few updates, one is he's doing well, he'll be coming home in about 3 months, his mom has been praying for and finally found a home outside of Baltimore City that she can afford so that when he comes home he won't be walking back into temptation. My heart has been so happy for this family and yesterday, I was encouraged in a way I never knew possible I started talking to these guys and we talked for a few minutes they told me a little bit about their lives, what their plans are, things they like to do etc. I had introduced myself to one of them but the rest were standing a little away from me, so as I went to walk away, one of them yelled after me, "Hey you're Miss Colleen right?" When I replied yes, he thanked me for helping out "K" and told me that they thanked God for getting their friend out of there, and I later found out that he was going to be murdered. God knew exactly what he was doing that day when our paths crossed. These boys have and maybe never will no idea how much they encouraged me yesterday.

So there are some pretty serious things going on in Metro Kidz and would like to invite you to pray with us, we're looking for at least six workers to work with our teens? This is a serious and immediate need, so we're praying that God will work in the hearts of six people how desire to work with teens and that they'll come forward and join us in ministry. Also please pray for the changes we are making within the classes that already exist, some teachers are moving around, some kids will be moved into new classes with new teachers. I am really excited about the future of Metro Kidz and the changes that are about to take place.

A few weeks ago, I did a home visit, I visted Ms. "D" and her family, Amanda our friend who was recently murdered lived with Ms. "D" it was nice because her kids were there and one of them in particular is asking questions and getting so excited about Jesus, so being in his home and listening to him talk about Jesus to the people around him make my heart so excited. He's such an amazing example for his family. I got to pray with Ms. "D" for peace about the murder of Amanda, for salvation for her Husband and for her to get back involved into church. I just continue to pray for this family, for peace, for salvation and for God to move in their home. I just met this family recently but my love for them has grown so much over the past few weeks and I'm so excited that her kids are starting to show up at Metro Kidz weekly and even more excited to see her in church on Sundays and last night she volunteered to help coordinate our clothing pantry and do a few other things around the church, God is really working in her life through Charm City.

Thanks guys for the prayers and encouragement! I am back on the mend now so hopefully, my blog won't be lonely :)!

Just an FYI

I have been very sick and not around much but I promise when I start to feel better my blog will be back with some AMAZING stories and updates!!! I miss ya'll!

Colleen

Officer Young, My kids and praying for "strangers"

I am really impressed with Officer Young, she came in last night, hung out, spent time talking with our kids and left a good impression on several of them. In fact a couple of the girls told me that they wouldn't mind spending more time with her, this is a first. Our kids have this bitter taste in their mouths for the local police and it is my dream for that to disappear and there be a relationship started that is positive. I believe that Officer Young is the one who will make sure this happens. She was so genuine and open, amazing is what I'd call her.

My kids also really impressed me last night, from their being open minded about having a police officer hanging out with us, to their attentiveness while Pastor Mike was real with them, to their questions (well most of them) for Eddie. After last night I feel like I know exactly how to pray for some of them, one of them in particular needs prayer and love and I could feel it through her questions, comments and actions. I've mentioned her in my previous blog, she's being sent away to stay with relatives for a few weeks, and I wish I could make that not happen. She really needs to be at Metro Kidz she's growing so much and I feel like taking her away right now would be such a bad thing, however, where's the line between home and MetroKidz? I don't think that it is my place to go and talk with her mom and tell her she's wrong, but I wish that I had a relationship with her family...this is just motivation for me to start one, because the reason her mom is sending her away is one that I am using to teach her. Ah, she's stealing my heart. I am so excited about being able to spend time with my kids this summer, get into their hearts and really truly invest in them. My goal is to spend two days a week working in my office and three days a week getting dirty in the "hood" with them. I can feel myself becoming to emotionally attached to them...ah I can't imagine life without these kids right now.

Last night as I was walking "I" and "S" home from MetroKidz I witnessed a mother screaming and verbally abusing her children, these girls had just left the church, I wanted so bad to stop their mom and talk with her to yell and her to scoop these precious girls up and bring them home with me. I walked around the corner and literally had to blink back the tears, my heart was breaking for those girls, knowing that they were going home to this, that this was the life they lived. I am so excited that they've decided to come to MetroKidz and that they can feel unconditional love for a least a few hours a week. My goal is to research where these girls come from and make it a point to spend time with them, personally invest in them and share my life with them. To love them to the ends of the earth and back. Last night as I was drifting off to sleep I just couldn't help but pray for these girls, I don't know their names or whose class they were in last night, but I am determined to find out.

So I'm begging you to join me in prayer for my precious Mr. George, he's going through some stuff right now, and not making the wisest choices. I see him falling even further away than he already is. I love him, I encourage him and I try to be that shining light in his life. I beg him to come to church with me, I go out of my way on Sundays to swing by his house and invite him to come with me. I've noticed a change in his attitude lately, and I want my Mr. George back!

So before I close a few other things you can pray about:

*We're still praying for a financial miracle so we can buy our building it's such a financial burden on the owner and we need to set him free from that.

*I'm praying for personal finances so I can phase out of my job and phase into full time ministry, I desire nothing more than to get an afterschool program started by the spring. I want my kids to have a safe place to come in the afternoons, a place that they can be loved everyday!

*We're praying for Ms. Karen's health, for a kidney match so that she'll get better!

*Finally, I am praying for "Sa" and "C" as they are away at college, that they'll continue to excel, that they'll understand the privilege this is for them and they'll see the opportunities that are awaiting them.

Thanks friends!

Blessed am I

I really feel so blessed when I get to hang out with my kids outside of MetroKidz, Sunday evening Crystal and I found ourselves back in Southwest, imagine that...well the kids were outside doing what they do best "hangin'" and we got to spend a good deal of time with them. Including a trip to Mcdonald's to purchase 20 double cheeseburgers! These kids really know how to give it to me so that I'll do whatever they want :)! But in the grand scheme of things, $20 to buy double cheeseburgers for them is really nothing to me. And when they tell me they are hungry I truly believe that they are hungry and need food. And the opportunity to spend time with them, laughing, hearing their hearts and what's bothering them is more valuable than any penny, dollar or double cheeseburger!

Yesterday, I had the chance to hang out with them again, it was so much fun! J, D,DR,SH, and T and I all went to Mcdonalds where I treated them to double cheeseburgers (do you see a trend here) and ice cream sundaes, they were SO excited! These particular kids have stolen a little bit of my heart that I don't think I will ever get back.

In fact one of them is having some trouble at home is going to have to go away for a few weeks, to stay with relatives and my heart is aching. Mostly because I'm seeing life changes in this child and I feel like moving her to a different environment isn't so much going to be healthy for her. It's made me so excited to see her at church every Sunday, and at MetroKidz every Wednesday, things make her cry, good things that should make her cry, she confesses she's a sinner and struggles, she begs for attention and for accountability, she wants so much to love Jesus with everything in her and she's so so close! My hope is she doesn't stray away again. You can be praying for her, she's a very beautiful African American girl and boys flock to her, we recently had a conversation about how valuable her purity is, I hope she listened! So as you pray for Charm City/MetroKidz this week, please pray for SH, for her life, for her relationship with Jesus Christ, for love from the people who are right for her, for the relationship with her mother, and for continued life changes in her life.

So on a different note, we had a memorial service for Amanda on Sunday, it's hard to believe someone took her from us and that she's never coming back. It was really a beautiful service, I couldn't stop thinking that maybe it was a dream and she was going to come back, or there was a mistake and our Amanda was coming back, this made it all real she's not coming back! It was a long week last week, trying to figure out all the legalities of being able to preserve her ashes for her family. The thing that made me sad is if your body remains unclaimed by family, they cremate you in a mass cremation as if you didn't even exist. We were able to locate some of her family so luckily that isn't going to happen, but I think of all the people who it does happen too and it makes my heart hurt.

We went to visit her memorial after the service and it made me even more sad, because it was at the end of a street Crystal and I have frequented often during our middle of the night prayer drives, and many times I've said to her, "If someone were to kill someone this would be the perfect place to dump the body, it's so desolate and gross back here and everything else gets dumped here." Little did I know that when that actually happened it would be someone I knew. Someone who was very near and dear to me. Little did I know that person would be someone that my heart loved so much, someone that I prayed for, someone I hurt for, someone I wanted to see succeed. I still don't understand why it had to be her and I think about her kids, and her life and I cry. I think about the life she wanted for her kids and I smile, because she was determined and wanted to make it happen, I think about how when she was sober she was such a wonderful mother and how she just fell on a bad time and someone took advantage of that and took our friend, sister, mother, cousin, daughter away.

Pray for her family this week, pray for the person who did this to her, pray for my Charm City family as we continue to grasp the idea of her being gone. Pray for Pastor Mike as he's dealing with his third death within a week, all people who were very close to him. Pray for strength, guidance and wisdom.

Alright friends, thanks for praying with us!