Who's Plan is it Anyway?

Every 6 weeks, a local church in town schedules a Red Cross blood drive. I faithfully sign up each time, I figure that it is an easy way for me to give.Yesterday, as I made my plans and schedule for the day I added "give blood" to my schedule of things to do. My schedule was very full with many good plans.

I was so disappointed when I was turned down because my iron level was too low. What a waste, I thought, I had so many things that I needed to get done and here I wasted 30 minutes sitting and waiting to find out that I couldn't give blood. But as I thought about it, it wasn't a waste of time and I am so glad that I went...


While I sat waiting, I had the opportunity to visit with a Daddy of a little boy with Autism. He asked me which church Steve and I were going to. I told him, but then asked "why?" I knew that it was a bit more than him simply concerned about our family going to church. Then he asked if the church we were going to have a Sunday school class for children with special needs.

My heart was broken as I visited with this Daddy. This Dad shared with me his concern about his family and his want to go to church "as a family". As I stated earlier in this post, their little boy, who is 6 years old, has Autism. The family had been attending this church for many years, in fact, the Dad grew up in this church and his parents and some of his extended family also attended. The problem? The Children's program isn't set up for children who don't fit the "norm". The family was told that their precious little boy is a disruption to their program. They will allow him to attend, however, he must be accompanied by a parent at all times. The parents tried this for a few weeks, but it didn't seem to work well. They felt in the way in the classroom and they longed for a time that they could go their own class or go to worship.

The solution that this family came up with... Dad goes to early service. He takes older sister to Sunday school and attends the 1st service, while mom stays home with their son and gets him ready for the day. As soon as the 1st service is over, Dad drives home and trades places with Mom, while big sister stays in the Children's department awaiting the Children's church hour. Mom then goes to 2nd service, while Dad stays home.

This made me so sad... It also reminded me that Mark 10:14 Ministries needs to be more than just "Night Out!". This church, like so many, doesn't realize that they are giving the impression that children (and adults for that matter) with disabilities and special needs are rather a bother that the church and God doesn't want to deal with.

My prayer is that Mark 10:14 Ministries can be developed into a model of love and acceptance that other churches can use and develop. So... even though I was unable to give blood, I had the chance to listen, share, and pray with a Dad in need of encouragement.

And We're off and Growing!

My head is still spinning with disbelief! I can hardly believe how fast "Night Out!" has caught on! We already have families signed up for our next "Night Out!" , which is in a couple of weeks. People who have volunteered in the past are willing and ready to volunteer in the future and if it happens that they have other plans for that evening, they are very sad.

I just had someone tell me that they are very interested in getting a "Night Out!" program started at their church. She asked me if I could send her a copy of the manual for "Night Out!" my reply was, "sure, no problem..." there is one tiny, little problem... THERE ISN"T A MANUAL!! I have one in the works, so I guess I need to get at it and finish it. This is truly a "God-thing!". Already this has blown-up into so much more than I even imagined

Dreams into the Future

This past weekend, Steve and I and two of our children (Ben 14 and Alex 8) had the opportunity to attend Camp Prime-Time. http://www.campprimetime.org/ Camp Prime-Time is about an hour from Yakima, up on Clear Lake. It is devoted to serving families with special needs. Every weekend throughout the summer months, families who have children with disabilities and special needs come up to Camp Prime-Time to experience a weekend in the mountains. It is so relaxing and fun. There are activities to do, but for the most part, all the time is free time and it's up to the families to fill their time the way they choose. Groups of volunteers sign up to cook and serve meals to these families for the weekend. For a donation of $20.00 per family, these families with special needs children, have the ability to attend a family camp from Friday afternoon until Sunday noon.

One of the really cool things about this camp is that all the families there are living with some sort of "special need". Meal time "melt-downs" are common place and parents don't feel judged because everyone just understands...

Although is was fun and relaxing, I felt that one major camping component was missing... God! We were surrounded by God's beautiful handiwork and He, the creator of all wasn't mentioned! Maybe this is a blast from my upbringing, but camp doesn't seem like "camp" without a service or two and a sprinkling of classes.

But here's the rub... To be able to attend classes or listen to a speaker someone has to watch the children.

At Camp Prime-Time, parents are responsible for their own children 24/7. Here's my thought... Add Buddies!

I would love to see a family camp set up for families with special needs. (it is nice to not stick out like a sore thumb... with everyone having to deal with some sort of "special need", everyone seems "normal") But... if we could add buddies to the mix, that would give parents the ability to go classes and even visit with friends while their child is having fun and being watched. This could be a little tricky because the buddies (who would probably be teens) would need to have a counselor or someone (who is not there as a parent) who is keeping an eye on them. The buddy program would have to be organized. The buddies would have to be trained and have specific things to do besides some free time as well.

Children would stay in cabins with their families. Families would eat meals together, with the buddies either eating with the families or at a buddy table. There would be activities for families to do together and also activities for the kids to do with the buddies while the parents are in meetings or when they are visiting.

Well... that's the basic idea. Now all I have to do is find a camp and staff. Oh yeah... and money to do all of this might be a good idea as well. So now I shall pray...

Learning along the way...

When will I learn that God is in control?

The day started out rocky yesterday and seemed to be going downhill fast. First, the day started out with 14 special needs kids registered and only 4 volunteers signed up. Then, when I tried to print of some things needed for the night, I find that my computer and printer weren't communicating with each other... UGH! What a morning!

I quickly emailed Aubrey (who was being church secretary for the week) and she said that I could email her the necessary forms and she would print them off at the church. Which didn't "totally" work the way I wanted it to. She also informed me of a few people who said that they would be able to volunteer, along with a list of more "No's:"

Quickly my stress level was going from "high" to "super extreme high". I was pouring the coffee as fast as I could, but thought that maybe it would be a good time to bathe this whole project in prayer.

By 2:00pm, I was feeling a bit better. We had more volunteers and I was reminded that we were also going to be having dinner provided and that was all going well. I knew that we were going to have some kids that would benefit from a "quite room", so I picked up some toys (Mr. Potato Head, little people, etc...) from our house and took down to the church. I had a wonderful schedule planned for the evening and things were looking better.

By 5:00pm, Steve was at the church helping me set up and a few people started to come. The "schedule" said that at: 5:30pm the volunteers would get their assignments and we would have a time of prayer. Well... not everyone read my schedule. At 5:15pm families started to arrive. YIKES!! The first family to arrive was a "Spanish speaking only" family. Oh my... they were a new family and they had lots of questions. We scrambled quickly to find someone with more Spanish than i have(which isn't difficult, since I have none...) and between the two of us, we spoke to the family, answered their questions and helped them to fill out the registration form. While this was going on, more families arrived. Families were arriving faster than the volunteers. At one point, I did look around to find the quickest escape route, but decided that wouldn't be the best idea.

While I was helping out with new families, Aubrey was getting our "regulars" and our volunteers situated. Oh boy... I was so very thankful for Aubrey!.

By 6:15 all the volunteers and children had arrived. Quickly everyone was assigned a buddy and everyone seemed to be having a good time!

Dinner was a little late, but was wonderful! Burgers and hot dogs on the grill. Yummy! After dinner the kids did art projects, raced the remote control car, and then played outside. Buddies, special friends and sibs alike all had a wonderful time, smiles were seen on the faces of everyone. Time went by so quickly. Before we knew it, it was after 8:00pm and time to start thinking about cleaning up and getting ready for the snack and movie. By 8:30pm, everything had been cleaned up, and everyone was sitting in front of the T.V. with snack in hand, waiting for the arrival of parents.

About 8:45pm parents began to come. They all looked a bit rested and happy to see that their children had such a good time. This has been our best "Night Out!" so far. I am so thankful to all the wonderful volunteers (adults and teens).

Trust

"Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for me?"

Jeremiah 33:27

It sure is easy to have trust in someone or something when all is going well. Not so much when you can't see how something is going. Sometimes I have trouble allowing God to be the one in control. I want to take charge and make sure that all goes well and sometimes that is impossible.

This past March we launched "Night Out!" It has been so exciting to see God work in the lives of so many people; the children with special needs, the families, and the volunteers. People have stepped up to offer amazing things far beyond my wildest dreams. We have someone teaching art, someone preparing meals for EVERYONE!

Night Out! has also caught on with the families who have special needs kids. Our first Night Out! in March we had 4 kids with special needs (one of which was my child...), this month, we have 17 children with special needs signed up and more families interested.

So... where does the idea of "trust" come in? We need volunteers to be buddies!! At last count, we had 17 children with special needs (plus sibs) and 4 buddies!! YIKES!!! We have just a little over 24 hours to find more buddies!

I have really been struggling with this. I know that this is something Satan has been using... The little voice in my head says "see... your idea was stupid! no one wants to do this! Just be done." Sometimes it's hard to ignore. I get caught up in the lie and feel defeated and want to runaway. Then this morning, I met a mom who is new this month to our program. She was dropping off the family registration. She was so excited for this program. Her and her husband have been unable to go out to dinner for an evening for about 7 years because they can't find a sitter. They have a child with Autism and have been unable to find someone willing to watch their little boy for even a few hours.

So.. this IS an important endeavor. These families with special needs children ARE important to God... I have just got to trust that God WILL supply the needed workers.

Night Out! has Gone Electronic!

Parents and Volunteers and now sign up for Night Out! by going to www.yakimaec.com

Yakima Evangelical church now has a web-site. On the "events" tab, a parent can register for the next Night Out!, giving us a simple count of how many children will be attending. If a family is new to Mark 10:14 Ministries and Night Out!, they can go to the Mark 10:14 Ministries tab and fill out the family registration form right on-line. It is so easy and swift.

Volunteers, too can sign up for volunteering at each Night Out! using the "register for this event" tab under "EVENTS".

All this and Dinner, too!

"Now glory be to God! by his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinintely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope. May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages. Amen."

Ephesians 3:20-21

One of the main purposes (besides just being obedient to God) for doing Mark 10:14 Ministries and Night Out! was to be a blessing to families with special needs kids. I feel that with my insight of being a mom with a special needs child, I can "give" and minister to these families. My thought was, through this ministry, I could reach out and show God's mercy and love. NEVER once, did I think that it would be me who would be learning about God's grace and love through this ministry. But, over and over again, God has been showing me His love and kindness through the people who have graciously volunteered more than I could ever imagine.


We serve a snack during our Friday night "Night Out!" It's something that I think that we should do, but it's something that I leave to the last minute, so we have things like pretzels because that's quick and easy. I'm not much of an "organized - details" type person. I'm more of the "big picture" type. So, knowing that I want to serve a snack, and then actually getting it together, is a different story. But pretzels are good and they get the job done.


During the April's Night Out!, one of the volunteers had told me that she wanted to help me out with the snacks. I thought that was wonderful! It would be nice to have someone help out with this task. Today, after church, she approached me about the snack time for Night Out!. She said that she had really been praying about it and felt that a "snack" at 8:30 wasn't enough. She felt that with "Night Out!" starting at 6pm (and wanting the volunteers there at 5:30pm), we really needed to serve dinner and then a small snack around 8:30. So... SHE OFFERED TO MAKE THE DINNER AND THE SNACK!!! WOW!!! I reminded her of my budget for "Night Out!" (which is ZERO) and she simply explained to me that she felt that this was the direction God was leading her. That she could use her gifts and talents to bless the volunteers and kids by purchasing and preparing a meal for "Night Out!" God is so good!

I am very excited about telling families that dinner is now served! What a blessing this will be.