On Saturday we had our annual end of the school year pool party for about 20 of our MYM kids. It's always fun to take them out of their daily grinding atmospheres and just let them be kids and let loose. Their lives at home are so chaotic at times that they never get to experience the simple fun activities that most of us get to enjoy. So it's always a treat to watch them have an amazing day, even if it is just swimming at a local neighborhood pool. Thank you to David and Kim Rice for letting us invade their neighborhood.
The first time we ever took our kids swimming just about 90% didn't know how to swim or were just plan scared to get in. Most of them had never been to or even seen a pool in person before, wow uh? But it was really cool to see everyone of them in the pool swimming under water, jumping around and having a blast on Saturday. One of the girls that was so scared the last time we went was swimming all over the place. That is largely due to her getting swimming lessons a few times this past year. A big thanks to Tim Rhodes for picking her up and taking her to learn how to swim and not only that but getting to do something she would've never had the chance to do otherwise.
We also cooked out some hamburgers, hot dogs and had some delicious cake (thank you Sharon M.) to celebrate nine of our kids birthday's. Some of them don't get anything on their birthday's and other's might get one thing, so it's a joy to be able to give them a little extra and let them know their loved and thought about. One of our boys William was so excited about the "TWO" mega water guns he got. The picture above is his reaction to opening his gift, (thank you Ross & Renae Mull).
It is great to be able to just meet these simple basic needs of these kids lives, taking them out to have fun. Isn't that what every child like to do, whether at home or going out they just want to enjoy life. Unfortunately with our MYM kids this doesn't happen to much in their day to day life, so thank you to everyone that helped at this event and provided a special day for them.
While meeting the basic needs is an important part of this ministry, it's the eternal need that is the end goal. On Sunday one of our kids Nate was baptized and it was glorious! He has always been one of our best kids in MYM and in the last couple of months he actual moved in with one of MYM board members family. He is a 18 year old kid who who got pushed through the school system his whole life. Without getting the type of teaching attention he needed in school the end result was being 18 and in the 10th grade. He is now in Huntington Learning center getting caught back up and getting the type of job skill training he needs to make it through life. If you go to our website, mymministries.org, you can read his testimony of how MYM has had a huge impact on his life. He gave his life to Christ a little ways back and on Sunday showed his act of obedience through baptism. This is what we existed for; Hope for Eternity! We look forward to what God is going to do with his life and all the others he puts in the path of Make Your Mark!
