Pictures, Blogs, and Memories

Here’s a few pictures (and captions) that summarize our feelings at the end of our season in Allendale:

Our kids’ last night in #AllendaleSC . Here’s to SWEET memories.

 

In the past 3 years at least 35 people have each spent one or more nights with our family. And dozens more have had a meal with us here, or just stopped in to visit. Thank you for sharing in our adventure in #AllendaleSC. God has blessed us through you.

 

What a beautiful “thank you” from our friends at AES! We feel so loved!

 

And here are a couple of blog posts from the Kairos Interns (from Grace Church) who worked and led in Allendale this past summer:

A Taste of Heaven (Rachel Verughese): “Restoration is not only focused on the restoring of our souls and spirituality, but also a restoring of creation, including the communities around us. Before this Summer I never thought the restoration of a community could be an expression of the Gospel.”

Broken, then Restored (Michael Zuch): “Through all of these experiences God showed me He wasn’t only restoring these communities, but He was also restoring my broken view of missions. More than anything, healthy change can only happen when you place Jesus at the center, and that is something that I continue to learn this summer.”

 

And if you want more special memories, check out these older posts, from previous interns in Allendale:

• Hannah Swoap 
• Wes Johnson 
• Anna Marshall 
• Greg Massullo
• Joseph Berry 

Reunited (And It Feels So Good)

(OK, how many of saw the title of this post, and are now singing with Peaches & Herb in your head? Or out loud? You’re welcome.)

Last month I was having lunch in the local elementary school, and I was sitting with a school staff member and with a mom who helped lead this year’s spring break camp. The mom was telling the other person about when she volunteered at the camp in 2013.

She explained,

“I was touched by the spirit of love that was in that place. Those volunteers from Greenville, they showed so much love that it filled the air. I know that all Christians should love others, but I’ve never seen it like that.”

Did you catch what she said, or what she didn’t say? Not once did she mention how much better the campers got at soccer, or how great of a job I did leading the camp. (That’s OK. Really. Sniff.)

What encouraged and inspired her was the love shown by the families and teenagers from Grace Church (Greenville, SC).

Beyond the Camp  

We have loved being a part of the Spring Break Camps, but it’s not because we really care about teaching kids soccer, or doing arts and crafts, or playing games. Those were fun bonuses, but not the goal.

What we’ve loved seeing are the relationships that form. The relationships between two moms. The relationships between young boys. And the relationships between teenage guys.

Reason #27 Allendale Is Better Than Where You Live: Beach Day Trips

Of course, if you live at the coast, this may not be one of the many advantages of living in Allendale. But for the rest of you, when was the last time you took a day trip to the beach?

We did last Thursday (Hunting Island, Beaufort):

Related Links:

• Reason #25: Terms of Endearment
• Reason #26: Home Cookin’
• Reason #28: Political Silence   
• Reason #29: Traffic Suggestions
• Reason #30: Love and Acceptance
• A Whirlwind of a Week (August 2011)

Kings and Queens

Yesterday, in our Tuesday morning chess club, I saw something I had never seen before in 30 years of playing and teaching chess. One child’s king was put in check (= attacked, for you non-chess folks). Instead of moving her king, she placed her elbow in between her king and the attacking piece, in order to block the attack. “Sweetie, chess is not a physical sport.”

In case you missed it, we had a small chess tournament a few weeks ago, for the students who were a part of the Chess Club at Allendale Elementary School. The students played three rounds, and we gave prizes for the top three places. Pictured above (from left to right) are:

• Darnell Chen, 2nd place, winner of a $10 gift card to Hardee’s.
• Andy Chen, 1st place, winner of a chess set with travel bag, and a $5 gift card to Hardee’s (where else?).
• La’Nease Roberts, 3rd place, winner of a $5 gift card to . . . Hardee’s.

Did the children play perfectly? No. In fact, they still make illegal moves (an elbow!), and they still make silly mistakes (don’t trade that queen for a pawn!). But I am proud of how much they learned in just 7 months of lessons.

I’m proud of all the students who faithfully showed up at 7 AM every Tuesday morning for the school year! I hope they keep playing and keep working hard to get better. When they grow up, they can teach and inspire other children!

You can see more photos from the year on the Elevate Facebook page album: Allendale Chess Club 2013-14.

6 Reasons We Went to the Cooter Fest

We could come up with lots of great reasons to go to the Cooter Fest:

1.  Fun rides. Only Elijah rode one — the crazy flipping, twisting, spinning gyroscope thing.

2.  Fun games. We didn’t spend waste too much money on them.

3.  Yummy food. Mostly, we ate the BEST tacos, just like last year. To be honest, we ate them 5 times in 3 days.

4.  Parade. Longer than normal. Kids got lots of candy.

5.  Cooter Race. Thankfully, the kids decided to not enter this year. (It turns into an all-day event, in the blazing heat.) Although I have to wonder if this was the year we could have won $1100. However, we did watch the Cooter Fashion show. No pictures — you’ll just have to see it for yourself one day.

All of the Above, and Beyond

The truth is, we went for all of these reasons, and more. In a weekend when I could have participated in Kairos Prison Ministry, or we as a family could have taken part in HOG Day, we chose the Cooter Fest, and not just for the 5 reasons listed above.

We saw this event (including having to make it back from our DC trip) as a way to connect deeper with families that we know — adults, teenagers, and children. I counted at least thirty-two families that we had conversations with on Friday and/or Saturday, during the Cooter (or Spring) Festival.

That’s why we go — to connect with and be a part of our community.

And for the food and fun.

Related Links:

• 10 Pictures from Elevate Camp
• [Pictures] Operation We Care Allendale

10 Pictures from Elevate Camp

As you may know, we had our 3rd annual Elevate Spring Break Camp last week. I’ll write more in the future, but I at least wanted to give you 10 representative photos from the week.

Besides a little bit of bad weather (rainy 1 day, and cold for 1.5 days) and a bit of illness (including an apparent stomach virus in our family), it was a great week. We averaged about 55 kids per day, plus a dozen teenagers, plus another dozen adults. It was a great week of physical activity, fun games, arts, team-building, and more!

We are thankful for the adults, teens, and children who participated in this camp, and for the financial and other resources that were donated.

Enjoying the great weather on day 1

The 5th-8th grade girls group had perfect attendance!

Community and Mission in Eleuthera

Besides general prayers for family, friends, ministries, and myself, I also keep a list of specific prayer requests for all those groups. Sometimes those prayers are answered immediately, and sometimes I keep praying for years. And sometimes those prayers are granted, and sometimes God says “no.” I’ve learned that no matter the timing or the answer, God shows His mercy and grace.

I have been praying for two things for a few years now: 1) to go on a mission trip (I haven’t been on one since I went to Kenya in late 2007), and 2) closer community with other men.

Through my recent mission trip to Eleuthera (Bahamas), God answered these two desires with a resounding “yes.”

Crazy for Robots

As I began my job to increase the pipeline of students pursuing careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math), I had been considering bringing a robotics program to Allendale. It wasn’t my idea, though. There were a bunch of people who were telling me, “You should really think about _____.”

I had heard a lot about FIRST LEGO League (FLL) over the years, but had never seen it in action. I heard how great of a program it was, and also how much it required of students and leaders.

Last February, I traveled to Lexington (SC) with one of my sons, to watch the state tournament. We watched some of the competitions, saw some teams’ information, and got a feel for the event.

Near the end of the day, as I sat in the gym bleachers, I thought, “We can do this in Allendale.”

8 Pictures and 2 Videos from Two Weeks of Camps

I gave a Mid-Summer Update for what our busy June looked like. But maybe you’d like to see some pictures.

(Of course, you can stay up-to-date with a lot of what we do by Liking Elevate Allendale on Facebook, and following @ElevateKids on Twitter.)

Building and programming robots at STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, & Math) Camp

Update on Our After School Program

We are off to a great start with our neighborhood after school program! Meeting two days per week, we had an increasing number of children in the first two weeks, from 8 to 9 to 13 to 17. And at that level, I think we’re pretty close to our max, based on space and volunteers. (But Joanna has already had to point out, after I said “yes” to another child, that I have a hard time saying “no.”)

But we love the kids that we have coming. Some are from our neighborhood, and some we know from camps that we led last year. We are thankful for the partnership with Renewed Faith Ministries (who is letting us use their building) and with half-dozen volunteers that we have had so far.