it's all fun and games ...

until someone is hurting!
​Teen Nights:

Don’t worry there are no serious injuries to report.  What I’m talking about is something witnessed twice over the last month at regular teen night gatherings.  Normally, we are focusing in on the food, the message, and the fun.  Those are the things for which we must find donors, plan, and prepare.  Our Teen Center Coordinator, Mrs. Jessica, does a great job in organizing all the ‘normal’ things.  Week after week and month after month,  52 times in a year, we gather, feed their bellies and souls, and give them new experiences.  But does it matter?
 
Is it all just fun and games?  Maybe from the outside looking in we see the great food, the awesome events that Reset Teens get to attend, and the silly games we play.  For an instant it may look like all fun and games; but believe me, there is more. 
 
During these Thursday nights the teens in our program come in torn from a rough week, hurting from their own issues -- things they often can’t verbalize and many times don’t understand.  When they walk in there is music playing, the food is ready, and they get to laugh and BE safe.  Before we eat, they know to gather in a circle to pray -- a circle where they see the faces of the adults who lay down their lives week after week, who love them unconditionally and see the value in each one.  Most weeks they get to hear a teary Mrs. Lorie thanking God for the workers and the teens that Jesus loved so much.  They don’t know the hours of planning that goes into a night like this, and they don’t have to.  What they KNOW is that they are loved, cared for, and that they matter.
 
It’s all fun and games...until someone is hurting.  When a little one walks in with weight that you and I as adults would not be able to bear up under, it becomes more.  It becomes the boy who doesn’t want to go on the city-wide scavenger hunt.  He wants to hang back to pour his heart out to his mentor and climb a tree  -- searching for peace before he jumps down and helps some of the adults mop the floor.    It becomes the little girl broken and lost who just wants to climb in my lap and cry for an hour until she has the strength to stand and face her fractured world for one more week.  It is overhearing a new boy a month in the making welcoming another new kid and telling him not to worry, he will be safe and fed in this house.
 
Suddenly it is not all fun and games.   It’s life and breathe and a trust built week upon week that starts to seep into cracked hearts and broken lives.  It is adults who show up week after week.  No matter how many kids are there, no matter what is planned, they show up.  It is healing and love and a chance for teens to know they matter, not because of anything they have done or didn’t do, but because they were hand created by a God who thinks the world of them.
 

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Fajitas, Fun, and Philanthropy!
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  SALE! Table for Eight for the Price of Seven!  

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Reset home update!

What has running water, appliances, flooring, and is move-in ready? 
 
If you guessed the RESET Home you would be correct!  Since July of 2018 Chuck Ponce has been diligently working to RESET everything in the home.  From scheduling contractors to asking his business associates to give and donate their time -- he's been there.  He has overseen drywall, shower tiling, hot water heater installation, float and tape, paint... you name it.  It has been a work of love as the project more than quadrupled in size.   Faithfully and patiently, Chuck worked with the Director (who knows NOTHING about construction, matching colors, or door knob installation) and created a work of art.

Each time I walk into the house I’m amazed at what God has provided for these boys.  This house is a symbol of how much God cares for them, how He has seen them go without water, electricity, or food.  It says, "You have not gone unnoticed. I see you."   It says, “I’m the God that makes a way when it seems there is no way.”   It screams, you matter!

Our next step is foster parents.  As we were talking about what we want these house parents to be, one of our donors said, “I sure hope Jesus has a brother.”   We had to laugh, because she was right.  We’ve added that we hope Jesus has a brother and sister and that they are married.  Because the mom and dad in this house will need to be a special combination:
 

• Love Jesus and seek to BE like Him
• Understand trauma and its effects on the brain; be willing to learn and grow and parent with past trauma in mind 
• If they understand trauma through life’s pain; they need to be FULLY healed
• We’d like one parent to work outside the home and one to stay in the home to help get the boys to school, band, athletics, appointments, jobs (all the things they never had before)
• Work hand in hand with Reset staff and volunteers (this will be easy as we will be helping with transportation, Life skill modules, and some of the grunt work to make their life easier)
• Plugged into a local church where there are plenty of opportunities for teens to get plugged in, serve and grow
• Extremely organized yet able to go with the flow (this will be hard)
• Compassionate but not overly emotional and easily offended
• Mature mentally and spiritually but not preachy
• Passion for discipling man cubs

Whew, now you see what we mean!  But I know that God has prepared the perfect fit for these boys.  As you see look at the pictures of the Reset Home and hear miracle after miracle of what God has done, you will know without a doubt that the perfect house parents are out there.  Their hearts are already prepared and they will change the trajectory of these boys' lives, as well as the generations after them.

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