Giving and Receiving

We are in the final days of a Tupperware fund raiser for our adoption fund and I am SO blessed by the repsonse so far!!!Even our dentist and orthodontist and oral sugeon's offices are praticipating.with excitement!!!! I am humbled and thrilled that so many people from our city will have had a part directly in bringing our children home!!!! Thank You Father for the response!
Last nightwe went to a fund raiser for K-Life, which is our youth program. K-Life branched out from Joe White and Kannakuk Kamps in Brnason Misouri so that kids touched by God in that camp setting could continue to fellowship and grow in their faith and with accountability in a youth group setting. K-Life has big weekly meetings, small group meetings for just a few kids with their leader, and then there are one-on-one meetings:just one child with one leader. My pre-teen and teen kids have loved the Bible study time as well as the fellowship of a college aged person whoshares their interests for sports, gymnastics, academics, etc. We began our K-Life chapter last year and the report we got last night was that the leaders spent 7200 hours with kids in that one year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The club had to move from its first location due to incredible response of the community! Now K-Life has a great venue right on Main Street down town, great visibility and lots of space for the big groups of kids (K-Life ministers to children age 7 -12th grade in age and gender specific groups). The focus is FELLOWSHIP and SPIRITUAL GROWTH and the leaders, all trainedfor what they volunteer to do, is amazing!!!!
We were invited guests of one of the sponsors of this chapter ( who happends to be a close friend) to the fund raiser dinner and speech time. The needed budget goal for the year, which includes the salary for only paid staff memeber: the K-Life leader who IS a full time K-Life missionary, if you will, and all other expenses was set at $55,000. At the dinner last night, I received word this morning, K-Life raised $30,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
K-Life is not a replacement for church's own youth programs, but some churches like ours are too small to have their own programs so K-Life is perfect for us. Other chuches supplement thier own programs with K-Life so that the kids don't get the idea that "only " their church has the Truth or true Believers.K-Life has helped to create a bond between a lot of the Christian kids at the High School, reaching across the FFA, sports and band "clique" lines like nothing else could because the love of Jesus brings them together. The outreach to unchurched kids has been wonderful too. For so many kids who are from one parent homes with very limited parent to child time ("quality" or "quantity" ) having small groups where someone is taking the time to get to KNOW them and care for them is truly the hand of Jesus reaching out.
It is so awesome to be part of GIVING to support K-Life (among other things) WHILE being minstered to by RECEIVING from others who are supporting us.