Gelato

Our preschool does twice a month playgroups during the summer months to allow the kids to reconnect with their friends. Today was our second playgroup:  a tour of DeLuca Gelato (yum!). We got to see the back room, check out the walk-in freezer (that felt really good!), and watch them make fresh strawberry gelato. Brennan was pretty cranky and didn't participate in any of it, but Owen really enjoyed himself.  It was a great experience and the fresh gelato was absolutely incredible!

BBQ

We capped off Father's Day yesterday with a BBQ with our Missional Fellowship (our small group through church). Good food, good friends, wiffle ball, and kickball. Another reminder of why we love our church.

Harry and Tammy hosted our group at their home this year. Owen absolutely fell in love with them and talks often about going to "Miss Tammy's house".  He was super excited to have Miss Tammy come to his house!

The silliness

The game

The spectators

More silliness

T-Ball

Preschool has been out for us for nearly one month. One of the blessings about preschool was it gave the boys a break from each other. In anticipation of too much togetherness this summer, we signed Brennan up for some fun activities through our local parks and recreation department. A two-week summer camp is coming up later, but T-Ball started last week. One hour a week for six weeks. And Brennan has really been having a blast with it. It's a session that's designed to teach the basics of the game to younger kids. They have been practicing running the bases, fielding and throwing the ball, and hitting. It's been fun to get to watch him and he's left the first two sessions thrilled with what he's been doing. He and Owen have even been taking batting practice in the backyard!

  

Compassion

I have done book blogging for nearly two years. I select books for Christian publishing companies and they send them to me for free under the condition that I write a review about them (if you are interested in something like that, let me know and I'll get you the contact information). "A Dream So Big" by Steve Peifer was a book I recently reviewed that left a pretty big impression. Steve and his wife lost their eight-day-old baby to a genetic disorder in 1998. Consumed by grief, they began to feel a need for a change. Reconnecting with friends who worked with Africa Inland Mission, they ended up packing up their family and relocating to Kenya to be dorm parents at a missionary kids boarding school. A one-year stint became nearly 15 years. Over the course of their work there, Steve's ministry focus shifted slightly to include starting a food program at area Kenyan schools. He was overwhelmed at the impact of hunger on the lives of the children, how it affected every aspect of their lives, including education. The hunger that these children faced was essentially trapping them in a vicious cycle of poverty. With his food program, he was able to ensure that kids attending several area schools would receive one hot meal a day.

Reading about the very real plight of hunger prompted me to think about Frank, the six-year-old Rwandan boy we've been privileged to sponsor through Compassion for the last two years. We love getting to write to him and get letters back from him. We love to pray for him in our nightly family time since it helps connect the boys to another part of the world. As I was writing to him a few days after finishing that book, I reread Frank's most recent letter to us. In it, he had thanked us for the money we sent him for his birthday and he shared what he used it for:  to buy food for his family.

As I read that portion of his letter, my heart was stirred with a mix of emotions. When my boys receive birthday money, they want to buy a new toy with it or use it for some fun experience. When Frank gets birthday money, he uses it to help support his family. Such a contrast of cultures. We live in a culture of such excess; his is a culture of extreme need. Reading that book and Frank's letter were eye-opening and heart-wrenching for me.

Pondering the realities of hunger, it can feel a bit overwhelming because of the dire need in so many parts of the world. For me, I'm so grateful that we can help one little boy in Rwanda have a fighting chance in this world.