On Wednesdays, I've been picking up some of neighborhood children in the afternoons and playing with them before dinner. The children range from ages 2 to 10 and the three older girls all came to day camp last summer, so I was very happy to see them again and have this opportunity for regular contact. Or, to be honest I was really happy agout getting to see most of them every week. One of the girls has a bit of an attitude and is fond of trying anyone's patience that she can to the absolute breaking point.
Well this past Wednesday I got a half-hour window into what these children's lives are really like and lets just say I had a change of heart. Normally when I show up the kids are all ready to go and come running outside to great me. I usually poke my head into their house and say hello, but never spend more than a few minutes inside. This Wednesday no one came running outside, and when I knocked on the door I was greeted by the youngest, wearing only his diaper. The children were clearly not ready to go, so I was invited to wait for them.
There isn't much light in the front room and the floor is dark. This is probably a good thing because it keeps you from seeing all the dirt and food scraps which I'm sure are crusted to the floor given the general stickiness under my feet. There are two couches on which I have absolutely no desire to sit and a general foul odor. The tv is on of course, and its some lousy talk show that does dna testing to figure out the real father of newborn babies. Their dog is barking at an annoyingly high frequency. His barking combined with the noise from the tv and shouts to get ready give the room an atmosphere of noisy chaos. I have about had it and want to leave after fifteen minutes and my heart goes out to these children who have to live here all the time. There are several things preventing us from getting out the door. The youngest needs to be changed and dressed and one of the girls can't find any shoes or a shirt to wear. She keeps going in and out of a side room. Each time she returns she insists that there are no shirts or shoes in the room, to which her grandma tells her again exactly where they are and yells at her to get dressed. She keeps coming to me, dressed in short-overalls without a shirt asking if we can go yet. I try and make it clear that she has two choices, putting on a shirt and coming with us, or staying at home. I try to persuade the other girls to help her find shoes and a shirt. Both efforts are futile.
When she comes out again, still without a shirt and a somewhat satisfied expression on her face, everything becomes clear to me. The only time she gets attention is when she acts out, so of course she acts out as much as possible. I had known this in my mind of course, but it is one thing to know it and another thing to see in happening right in front of your eyes - to see how the negative reinforcement just encourages her to keep misbehaving and how she was almost happy now that she had obtained every one's attention.
Two hours later I bring the children back, after an hour and a half of coloring with crayons and chalk and playing with a giant jump rope. We've been telling them bible stories because they don't know any. Today I tell the story of Lazarus and when I ask the girls questions about it afterward they remember everything. We send them home with food and remind them to come to the barbecue we are having the following day. And I'm glad that I don't have to wait until next Wednesday to see them, all of them.
Friday, June 15, 2007
Monday, June 11, 2007
Daily Life
So I was hoping to write a post about what my typical day is like in Allendale, but it turns out that I am still discovering what my typical day is, so I'll do the best I can.
Throughout the summer, there are action teams (high school students and adults) that come down for two weeks at a time in order to volunteer. Normal household life, which I have yet to experience, is somewhat suspended because of the teams. This summer the teams are doing fix-it projects in a our neighbors homes, landscaping on our Yale properties, work at Windows Doors and More, and are soon to be taking care more land that we are about to get from the city.
If it's a Monday, Wednesday of Friday, I wake up around 5:20, and leave at 5:25 with other women in my household to work out at the track around the Galilee Baptist baseball field. Galilee is one our neighboring churches in Allendale, and the household has determined that it is safe for a group of us women to go there without a male escort, a much appreciated freedom. Breakfast happens around 6-6:10ish, and then we have household/staff meeting at 6:20, followed by morning prayer with everyone at 6:45. Following morning prayer, I have a good long chunk of time for personal prayer, which has been a wonderful blessing. Thus ends the routine part of my day.
This summer I am helping facilitate all that needs to happen with the teams, but I don't have an official job title. I'm not the cook, or Gretchen's assistant, or shopper extraordinaire, or in charge of fix-its, or anything like that. I am in charge of planning and running the day camp that we put on for the kids in the neighborhood, which will happen on the third team in the middle of July. So I spend some time each day planning for camp, but it certainly doesn't take up the whole day. Otherwise, I am officially someone that other household and staff members can enlist to work for them. Thus on a "typical day" I might help Colleen in the Kitchen, or help Anne with shopping, or help Gretchen and Hannah with all their administrative stuff, or visit a neighbor whose house we are fixing, or a zillion other random things that come up. So even though I never know exactly what I will do each day, I have never had a shortage of things to do. This is a new experience for me. I like routine and having my whole day scheduled out, but I can see God working in my current situation. I have to rely on him for what I am going to do each day. I have to be constantly taking initiative yet I'm never in control. I also get to be grateful to the Lord for work each day. When you don't know what it will be, its harder to take it for granted.
My work day ends somewhere around 4 or 4:30 and then we have dinner at 5. Dinner is a great chance to get to know the team members better, find out what they did that day, and try to figure out what God is doing in their lives. Most evenings we have an evening session at 6:45. This usually consists of Nathan giving a talk. Following the talk we converse with the team members, trying to get their reactions to the talk and challenge them to respond to the Lord. Other evening activities might include Allendale area meetings, taking food to our neighbors, visiting and praying with people in nursing homes, or preaching in the neighborhood. The teams head to bed at 9:15, but we usually hang out longer in our living room (front of the women's house) chatting about our days, what we think God is up to with the team members, or just having life-giving conversation. Then sometime before 10:30 I usually go to bed.
Ok, there is a bunch of stories that I am yearning to tell, but they will have to wait. Hopefully this post will provide a framework to understand subsequent stories.
Throughout the summer, there are action teams (high school students and adults) that come down for two weeks at a time in order to volunteer. Normal household life, which I have yet to experience, is somewhat suspended because of the teams. This summer the teams are doing fix-it projects in a our neighbors homes, landscaping on our Yale properties, work at Windows Doors and More, and are soon to be taking care more land that we are about to get from the city.
If it's a Monday, Wednesday of Friday, I wake up around 5:20, and leave at 5:25 with other women in my household to work out at the track around the Galilee Baptist baseball field. Galilee is one our neighboring churches in Allendale, and the household has determined that it is safe for a group of us women to go there without a male escort, a much appreciated freedom. Breakfast happens around 6-6:10ish, and then we have household/staff meeting at 6:20, followed by morning prayer with everyone at 6:45. Following morning prayer, I have a good long chunk of time for personal prayer, which has been a wonderful blessing. Thus ends the routine part of my day.
This summer I am helping facilitate all that needs to happen with the teams, but I don't have an official job title. I'm not the cook, or Gretchen's assistant, or shopper extraordinaire, or in charge of fix-its, or anything like that. I am in charge of planning and running the day camp that we put on for the kids in the neighborhood, which will happen on the third team in the middle of July. So I spend some time each day planning for camp, but it certainly doesn't take up the whole day. Otherwise, I am officially someone that other household and staff members can enlist to work for them. Thus on a "typical day" I might help Colleen in the Kitchen, or help Anne with shopping, or help Gretchen and Hannah with all their administrative stuff, or visit a neighbor whose house we are fixing, or a zillion other random things that come up. So even though I never know exactly what I will do each day, I have never had a shortage of things to do. This is a new experience for me. I like routine and having my whole day scheduled out, but I can see God working in my current situation. I have to rely on him for what I am going to do each day. I have to be constantly taking initiative yet I'm never in control. I also get to be grateful to the Lord for work each day. When you don't know what it will be, its harder to take it for granted.
My work day ends somewhere around 4 or 4:30 and then we have dinner at 5. Dinner is a great chance to get to know the team members better, find out what they did that day, and try to figure out what God is doing in their lives. Most evenings we have an evening session at 6:45. This usually consists of Nathan giving a talk. Following the talk we converse with the team members, trying to get their reactions to the talk and challenge them to respond to the Lord. Other evening activities might include Allendale area meetings, taking food to our neighbors, visiting and praying with people in nursing homes, or preaching in the neighborhood. The teams head to bed at 9:15, but we usually hang out longer in our living room (front of the women's house) chatting about our days, what we think God is up to with the team members, or just having life-giving conversation. Then sometime before 10:30 I usually go to bed.
Ok, there is a bunch of stories that I am yearning to tell, but they will have to wait. Hopefully this post will provide a framework to understand subsequent stories.
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