This group picture is a BIG deal to me. Two years ago, when I was fund-raising for my Uganda mission trip, I approached our church's missions team and asked them to consider donating funds for shoes for PCM kids. In the end, they did not end up giving any, but that's when I got involved with that team with hopes of someday opening doors for Parental Care Ministries to come share with our church what they do. I've had a few opportunities through PCM for them to come, but the schedules never lined up properly for it to happen.
Last year, we took our American Heritage Girls troop to a Uganda children's choir concert at another church on a scout meeting night. Our families LOVED it -- soon the girls and parents were asking for us to set it up again. When I asked Justin (at PCM) if they would have another Monday-night concert, he asked if our troop and church would be willing to host one for our community. I was over-the-moon ecstatic about the chance, but had to get it approved by our church and our AHG ministry team since I would need help doing it. Everyone was excited about the chance and so it came to be...
Our Explorer scouts (grades 4-6) have been working on their cooking badge and on their social skills and etiquette badge. They ended up hosting the dinner -- though Kristen ended up precooking all the taco meat, the girls met right after school to chop veggies, make fruit salad, and scoop ice cream for dessert. When the PCM team arrived, the girls served dinner at the tables, then they sat down to eat and visit with their new friends from Africa. Kristen's and my kiddos were all there, also, even though our daughters are in the younger group (the benefits of having moms leading the event). It was heart-warming to me to watch all the kids interacting and learning about each others' cultures. A few of the Tenderhearts (grades 1-3) arrived before the concert to help clean up from dinner and to pass out programs.
Since I was the common denominator between PCM, AHG, and First Baptist, I ended up getting to be on stage introducing my Uganda family to my AHG and FBC families. I was on cloud nine with all three of my favorite ministries coming together!! Since I was in a position to have some special requests, I arranged for the concert to be kid-friendly -- the kids in the audience were invited to come dance and sing and worship in front of the stage... because it is REALLY hard to be still when the Ugandans are leading worship.
My "special requests" for the evening were all met: a group photo of PCM with our troop, teacher Emmy dancing, and 12-year old Samuel sharing a story about sharing Jesus with a customs official. From the stage, I was able to look out among around 250 people and watch the evening come together beautifully -- from the custodian helping me set up the chairs, the scouts feeding the Uganda children, the church staff showing up to sing along, the orphan-care ministry and more staff helping clean up at the end.... I was SO richly blessed tonight that I had tears of joy overflowing my eyes many times. So. Very. Richly. Blessed!! ... and ready to do it all again next year!
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| Maddie and Millie photo to update the one of them we have had in our kitchen since they first met in 2013. |
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