Mornings @ The AZ

Let's see...where did I leave off...?

Oh yes..the truck stop showers and me singing!

Monday - Friday:
We started the morning with breakfast @ Jones Park @ 8:00a, followed by a team building game (provided by Chris Stephenson @ the Rec-much thanks!) We began collecting neighborhood children a/b 8:45a and began kidz camp @ 9:30a. My group did such an incredible job of preperation before leaving (and on the bus ride there)...that they all knew their roles so well that I had no real worries throughout the mornings. We had the incredible opportunity to build realationships with many children...and most closely with Mark, Jessie, Anfronee, Thomas, Oscar, Cesar, Corey, Josh, and Jared...and most famously with Kareem and Rustin (aka Mickey and Goofey).

The laugh of my life came on Tuesday due in large part to Mickey and Goofey. These 4-year-old brothers were the tiniest, cutest kids you have ever seen. They took real well to (almost) everyone in our group. The (almost) refers to my big man, Cody, (a whopping 6'7"). Cody told me on Monday night that he thought the boys were intimidated by the difference in their heights. [Cody is one of the kindest, most mild-mannered, guys I've ever met...], but he was simply too big for the little-ones. Sometime midmorning on Tuesday I look over...and see Mickey and Goofey pounding the daylights out of Cody (who is lying in the fetal postition) with pool noodles. He had convinced them that they were Jedi's...and for the rest of the week...they would take out his legs, arms, hands, or just crawl all over him.

Mickey and Goofey's mom was one of the biggest surprises. They had come from the next town over just for our kidz camps and afternoon sports camps. She spent the lunch breaks passing out flyers about our camps, on her own intitiative, b/c she thought every kid should be a part of the work we were involved in -- yet, she was not a christian. She simply appreciated the culture of acceptance, love, and caring that came with our group. (I expect her to want more of this culture of care...and I expect that she will become a Christ-follower soon - .:many prayers:.)


Kidz Camp Pics