Day 1

April 11th, 5am
I'm kinda in shock at the "jump in" and help attitude here. I was so worried about coffee (of course) and there were already pots rolling at 4:55 when I crawled down the steps this morning! I'm the kind of girl who needs coffee to get moving, even just smelling it helps, so its a necessity.  I even tell the kids at home, mommy hasn't had coffee yet, give me a minute.

Last night when we got here, we just started doing. There wasn't any time wasted making sure tables were set up, boxes were unpacked, dinner started and things organized. There is such a sweet spirit that resides here in this 1914 school building we are staying in on Calvary Campus.

I gotta admit I'm nervous going into today, I've never done anything like this before, but as I start to write, and find this verse at the bottom of the page....I know I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be this week!

10pm
Today was the first time I've ever seen a desire to know Jesus in a child's eyes.  What an incredible moment to see a child know in their hearts they want Jesus. As the kids entered the gym and butterflies fluttered in my stomach, I was immediately drawn to a little girl. As we were being silly together, I learned she had the same name as me, spelled the same and everything! I made sure she was in my small group so I could continue to love on her. Turns out her mom is in jail and she asked me to please pray for her.  After hearing the story of Jesus and Easter, she decided to ask Jesus into her heart and I got to pray that special prayer with her.  Talk about being humbled before the Lord.

The day was full of awesome kids in and out of our gym. I guess it was the school employee in me, but I always seemed to look for the squirlier group of kids to sit with, the ones that might need "the look" to sit still. I was so thankful for 10 years of working in a school to help me out today!

I got to watch Richard be so incredibly excited at what he was doing, my heart just swelled.

We were invited to lunch in the cafeteria, it was Papa John's pizza day!  As we stood in line, and got cut in front of a few hundred times, it was so much fun to talk more with the kids.  We were like the celebrities in the building!  Once we finally gto through the line and sat to eat, the kids continued to run over to us and hug on us...again the school employee in me was like "oh their teachers are gonna be mad" but they weren't, I think they understood how important our visit was and just let those little people keep on hugging!

While in the cafeteria, I took my phone out to take a picture, one little girl saw Ellie's picture on my phone, and she asked me who that was. I told her about Ellie and about how much God loved her that he took her straight to heaven. That God can do the same for us, when we ask for forgiveness, admit we are sinners, and ask Jesus in our hearts. She smiled so sweet, like she completely understood everything I was saying, and then hugged me. 

After lunch we had this little guy, who after we told him about Jesus and what God did on the cross with Jesus, had the sweetest smile on his face, he was glowing.  I was so grateful to plant that seed in his heart, to give him a bible, and to continue to pray for him and his family.

The rest of the day was filled with love, dancing, and Jesus.  This all feels so right.  Giving these children Hope and explaining Jesus to them.....and a whole lot of dancing!