I am still playing catch-up, but this was one of our favorite activities this summer, so I wanted to make sure I shared. We recently began attending a church that is much closer to our new home, and were thrilled to find out that they had a family friendly mission project happening this summer. It was a wonderful opportunity for us to serve alongside our kids, our new church family, and the organization we partnered with to complete the project. We worked with a group of teens from Lawndale, called YMEN, and together we served a few buildings in the suburbs that help people transition out of homelessness, and we also worked on the YMEN property in Lawndale.
Our family spent three days working on the Lawndale project. We got to help beautify an existing urban garden and to put up a new one, and participate in a sports camp and a VBS. Now, you can all imagine how helpful we really were, what with most of my time spent trying to prevent the kids from slowing the project down, and with the children chasing chickens more than they pulled weeds or moved dirt, but the beautiful thing was that everyone was okay with that. It mattered more that we were working to build relationships with our fellow workers and that we were teaching our kids how to serve God by loving their neighbors. Our boys loved the time they spent at YMEN, and we did too. We received far more than we gave (really, by leaps and bounds).
Since the projects were split between multiple locations, the only day that everyone spent together was Sunday. That day was spent at our church, worshiping together (outside!) and enjoying a great meal, amazing music, and lots of fun games. Aside from the time that we spent with out family in Wisconsin, this was probably my favorite day of the summer. It is such a blessing to see my kids excited about worshiping God and serving Him!
Our family spent three days working on the Lawndale project. We got to help beautify an existing urban garden and to put up a new one, and participate in a sports camp and a VBS. Now, you can all imagine how helpful we really were, what with most of my time spent trying to prevent the kids from slowing the project down, and with the children chasing chickens more than they pulled weeds or moved dirt, but the beautiful thing was that everyone was okay with that. It mattered more that we were working to build relationships with our fellow workers and that we were teaching our kids how to serve God by loving their neighbors. Our boys loved the time they spent at YMEN, and we did too. We received far more than we gave (really, by leaps and bounds).
Since the projects were split between multiple locations, the only day that everyone spent together was Sunday. That day was spent at our church, worshiping together (outside!) and enjoying a great meal, amazing music, and lots of fun games. Aside from the time that we spent with out family in Wisconsin, this was probably my favorite day of the summer. It is such a blessing to see my kids excited about worshiping God and serving Him!
Can't think of a better way to spend our 11th anniversary
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