Our Kids (part 3?)

Today was "Senior Sunday" at church, the weekend where our graduating high school seniors take over the mainstage service, sharing from their hearts about how God has worked in their lives. It's one of my favorite weekends of the year, and I usually end up all emotional. I mean, these are our kids. I'm so proud of them! This year we had about 30 kids graduating. Here are some of my highlights:

This is Jenny. She's actually not a senior, she's a sophomore. But Tuesday night we had our every-two-year (is that biannual?) Purity Ring Ceremony, where we give kids the chance to pledge abstinence until marriage and provide a support system to help them stick to that commitment. Jenny's parents couldn't make it, but she calls me her 2nd mom, and I was proud to give her her ring. It has been such a blessing to be a part of her story!

This is Whitney. She was my TA at school last year, and then I kept running into her in the grocery store, and last summer she finally came and checked out our youth group. Since then, I've been able to mentor her, and I'm so excited to see how much she's grown!

Ryana's the one in the middle. After mentoring her older sister for two years, I then was blessed to mentor her for the last three years or so. This girl is a stud muffin! I'm talking about full-IB/AP course load (and like a 4.7 overall GPA!!!) plus Varsity Volleyball plus volunteer in countless ministries around church plus an amazing heart for telling people about God's love and compassion for those in need. I'm supposed to be mentoring her, but she regularly challenges me!

This is Matt. I still remember when he was an annoying 6th grader that used to drive me crazy! Now he has a sense of humor that cracks me up, and a maturity beyond his years.

This is Trevor. Another stud. We're talking spiritual disciplines that would put the best of us to shame. I wish I could recount all of his stories here. The crazy thing is this time last year, he was MIA...He'd taken a several year break from his faith, only to realize that life wasn't nearly as satisfying without God. I am so glad he's back...and oh boy! is he back!! Watch out world!

Here are Ryan, Orin, and Trevor doing a cool beat-box rendition of one of my favorite worship songs, "Lead Me To the Cross"

There are so many other cool kids and cool stories, but I forgot my camera during one of the services and the other shots came out too blurry. Oh well. What a pleasure it is to be able to pour into these kids' lives. It hasn't been without a fair share of frustrations and heartache and struggles, but on a day like today, I'm blown away by the amazing, encouraging parts.

Our Kids

Last night we had "senior dinner" at our house. Every year we invite all the seniors in our youth group over to grub, play games, and then give them a little pep talk about finishing well. We had a blast, in spite of the fact that neither Jim or I made it home before 5:30, and they started coming over at 6! We laughed a lot over Dance Dance Revolution match-ups and Catch Phrase and chicken enchiladas and ice cream sundaes and Jim's special strawberry lemonade.

We love our kids. As I reflect over the group, I smile to think of each of their stories, and the cool things each of them contribute to our "family." Some have been coming for years, some just recently, and some only once in a while. Some come from strong families, some from families I just wish I could shake some sense into. Some are musically talented, some are tech whizzes. Some will keep you laughing forever. Some have a style sense straight from Milan. Some are just quiet observers. Some are confident; some just need to be loved and told "I believe in you!" God has entrusted us with each of their lives, and I am thankful for that blessing.

And last night was just the culmination of a day full my other "kids."

I got to spend 2 hours with 2 of the girls I mentor, talking about what God is teaching us as we sipped smoothies and then went grocery shopping for the dinner. (As sophomores, they made me promise that I would still cook them a dinner in 2 years!) One of them is reading through the whole Bible in 2010. The other one I just barely met this time last year; when she was going through an earlier rough patch, she found solace and inspiration in the book of Isaiah (?!?!) (first time reading the Bible!). Her current goal is to "love the unlovely" at school. I am so proud of them.

And before that I got to spend 8 hours with 150+ of my students (a lot of absences yesterday!). While sometimes they definitely test my patience, I really have a great group of kids. And yet my heart goes out to all their hardships...Abuse and neglect at home. Teasing by their peers. Learning difficulties. Poverty. A lot of them were friends of the student who passed away last weekend from diabetes complications. Several of them live in foster care or with distant relatives because their parents are incapable of taking care of them. Two new students just uprooted their lives and moved here and must make a new group of friends. One girl lost her mom to cancer 9 months ago. One girl must tell her parents that she's pregnant. One boy is trying to succeed after coming out of jail, but he's surrounded by all the wrong influences. One boy is preoccupied by a custody battle for his 9 month old son. Their heart-rending stories go on and on, and I'm sure I only know a tiny fraction of them. I wish I could do more for them.

For the first few years of our marriage, Jim and I used to celebrate that we could send "our kids" home at night. No midnight feedings or poopy diapers. No broken curfews or arguments over inappropriate dress. We could love on "our kids" as much as possible during the day, but then recuperate and regroup at night. It was a great arrangement.

Then the past couple years, all that has flipped. We're ready to make the sacrifices to be able to invest in a little life 24-7.

But nature has said no. And it has been so sad and discouraging.

But...

I know if I had my own little kid, I'd be spending a lot less time and effort on these other kids. And maybe God knows some of these other kids need me a little more right now.