Won't You Be My Neighbor? -- Hope Chronicles 31

He called us friend and put on house slippers and a cozy sweater. He talked to us (but never down to us) and took us on make believe adventures. I'm dating myself, but Mr. Rogers was an integral part of my early life. And he always asked, "Won't you be my neighbor?"

We weren't close to a lot of people growing up, but I did at least know who my neighbors were on the left and right and catercorner and across the street and several houses up . . . . I knew who the parents were and which kids to avoid and who might want to play a game of tag.

It appears that it is less and less like that today. I live in a row of town houses. I know the people on either side and a couple down the alley but not many more than that. Still, I was totally caught off guard by two calls today at the office.

I work in the county recorder's office with deeds and mortgages and all that type of stuff. A gentleman called up and wanted to know why the site needed a password and user id. (It was locked down last summer due to social security numbers being on older mortgages and miscellaneous documents.) I explained how he could get a user id and password. As part of the process I asked him what he might be using the site for. "I want to know who my neighbors are," is the answer I got. Hmm. Apparently, each year, for some reason, he takes a survey of the names of the people who live around him.

Not 10 minutes later, I got a call from a woman who said that the house next to her had been foreclosed on and she wanted to know which bank now owned it. I told her that to do a search I would need the parcel id number or the name of her former neighbors. She had no clue as to the name of her neighbors.

Hmm for second time in a day. Hmm. Seems like a plate of cookies and a handshake would do more than looking on line.

But, perhaps, I'm not the best one to talk. While I do know a few people, I don't know them well. Even at church I can be reserved.

Every Sunday we have KidStuf -- the children's church. I've been helping with that. There is singing and dancing and laughing and skits. It's great fun. I'm not particularly coordinated. So, sometimes I skip the dancing. But lately I've been taking pictures and when you are up front taking pictures you are more visible and it's more conspicuous if you stand there like a bump on a log.

But a couple of times, we have done a partner dance. And though I would like to duck out, I've noticed a child without a partner. I can overcome my fear of being a klutz to make a child smile, so I've found myself ducking less and dancing more.

I need to have the same perspective with "big kids." My thought with the children is always, "What can I do to make them happy or more comfortable?" Now what if I translated that to the adults around me? I think it would pass along hope in little ways.

And wouldn't Jesus say that everyone is our neighbor? So, friend, "Won't you be my neighbor? I'd like to get to know you!"

Update and A Bit on the Ligher Side

Since I've asked many of you to pray over the last week about my going to NIU as a volunteer, I feel the need to update you. I'm not going. It's not for a lack of willingness, but it seems that it wasn't in God's plan at this moment. So, I have been praying today and will continue to do so. I just never heard from anyone other than the last email I posted about on Thursday. We were specifically told not to call because NIU was already inundated with phone calls about various things.

On a different note, I had a fun and encouraging day. At church this moring, we had a birthday party for EVERYONE. We were celebrating a year of doing KidStuf. I snapped lots of really cute pictures like this one of Lydia, Elena, and Grace. The thing that impresses me about many of the kids at my church is that they are so kind. I've seen it in various ways with older kids helping younger ones. And the younger ones just adore the older ones.

When I took 8 kids skating in December, they ranged in ages from 5-13. The older ones could have ignored the younger ones, but they didn't! I love to see the mix. It just so happens that the virtue this month was kindness. The parents got to brag on their children during service.

I've been getting to know Joe and Debbie and their two children. I've been in their community group and they have invited me over several times. I've invited them over a number of times, but they have never made it. (I suspect that part of it was a fear that their kiddos would destroy my house. While I don't want things destroyed, I have a pretty high tolerance level for kid messes and enjoy them -- the kids, that is.) Joe had to bow out, but Debbie, Lucas, and Raquel came for homemade soup and grilled cheese. We then made Peanut Blossoms (Hershey Kiss cookies.)

Raquel seemed to really enjoy making the cookies. She did a great job rolling the peanut butter balls in sugar. Lucas unwrapped the kisses but I think more ended up in him than on the plate for the cookies!

Even when the cookies had been baked, Lucas went for the chocolate. He then told me he wanted to share and gave me the peanut butter part. I discretely disposed of the ABC (Already Been Chewed on) cookie.

Both Lucas and Raquel were enthralled with Mali. (Katy is my shy kitty and she hid while they were here, but Mali doesn't mind company a bit.) I've been teaching Mali to do tricks like come, sit, and up. She was even willing to do up for Raquel and I finally have proof of my little one's talent. Hollywood here we come!

Have a blessed week!

Crosswinds Community Church -- KidStuf

Each week there is dancing, singing, stamping, laughing, and glorifying God at KidStuf. (Don't start me on what spelling it that way will do to the kid's spelling abilities!) Anyway, it's generally a good time. Lots of the youth help with skits or power point or lights. I've added a slide show of it at the bottom. (Couldn't get it to work here.) Enjoy! The kids love it!

Let Me Out I'm Stuck In Your Pocket -- Hope Chronicles 13

Little girls. You never know what they will find funny! Someone at work sent me this free ring tone. "Let me out I'm stuck in your pocket!" said in a high pitched and English accented voice. Elena and Grace thought this was the best! So, when I had them this weekend, there were about 100 requests to hear it one more time. While I thought it was cute, I apparently didn't know just how much fun it could be!




A friend called me Friday morning while I was at work. She is dong the single mom thing and has been under a bit of stress over the last 6 months. She is the independent sort, so for her to ask me to take her girls for the weekend says something about how much she felt like she need a break.




Though it wasn't in my plans, Elena (7) and Grace (5) and I are pals, so I thought that I could swing it. They came at 10:00 on Saturday. Somehow, it turns out that I had promised two meals on Saturday -- one to someone from church who just had surgery and one for a friend's family who was out of town. I don't renege on promises! So, we dropped a casserole off to Kathy, went to the grocery store (interesting event with 2 girls tagging along), grabbed McDonalds as a reward for being such good helpers, dropped supplies off to Kathy because she needed some things from the store, came home and whipped up baked spaghetti, played a few games while it was baking, and then ran it out to my friend's family -- all the while listening to that ring tone.







We got back to my house and my friend, Debbie, called. She invited me to dinner! She could hear the noise in the background, so I explained that the girls were here. She told me to bring them as her children play better with new kids around. We put in a movie for a couple hours and watched it in a "dog pile." I had the couch first and then Grace climbed on and the cats and then Elena. I couldn't move lest I knock someone on the floor, but it was a happy couple of hours.




We then headed over to Joe and Debbie's where we were treated to homemade pizza. The kids ran, played, and belly slid head first down the stairs! We then frosted mini heart shaped cupcakes. It turns out that when you range in ages from 3-7, cupcakes are reusable. They were getting eaten as fast as they got frosted but then we started running low on cupcakes. The kids decided to lick the icing off and decorate multiple times!






So, we've been to church in pajamas (the girls, not me), had lunch, and now Elena is reading and Grace and Mali are napping in a patch of sun as I write. Contentment is sweet even if I'm a little tired from keeping up with them. It has been a good time.


And, I think there is a hope principal to be found in all of this. Hope is meant to be passed on. I think a lot of hope has been passed around as people have served each other. I helped Kathy and my friend's family. (Though, I should point out that I'm not as domestic as all of this makes me sound!) While I'm helping out Grace and Elena's mom, they have also brightened my generally solitary life. And then, Joe and Debbie and their kids having us all over . . . . Interestingly, they had already spent much of the day having another single mom's kids over! I'm sure when they called to invite me they were just thinking one not three! I also know that my friend's family spent part of their morning helping to clean the church and work on the church library.




Ironically, today in church the message was on service. Mark Savage started the service by saying that he wanted us to each listen to the Holy Spirit and write down something we could do for an anonymous (at that point) struggling family in our midst. We've done it a couple times in the past, but we would also be emptying our pockets or purses as an offering for them. Still, this time he wanted it to go beyond finances so bright orange pieces of paper were passed out to put commitments on. He challenged us that we often look to for serving to be categorized and limited, but we need to know "It's not about me!" We can also try to serve depending on who it is. Jesus didn't do that. He washed the feet of Judas.



A couple months ago, I had a conversation where I was complaining about someone else. Julie said to me, "I've found that the people who grate on me the most are the ones I most need to have compassion on." I've been thinking about it the last couple of hours. I think Julie is right. In someways, the things I've done the last couple of days have been easy because of who they are for. I need to ponder who I might be called to serve when it wouldn't come so easily or naturally.



But what does it mean to have compassion on someone? I looked it up online at http://www.thefreedictionary.com/. It said, "Deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it." That was humbling to read.



I think it fits biblically. In the gospels, when Jesus feeds the 5,000 it says that he had compassion on them for they were like sheep without a shepherd. There are two things that stand out. First, He understood their plight. Second, He didn't just understand it. He had a deep desire to address it. In fact, that is why He came -- to be the Good Shepherd!



Mark also taught about how in John 12 it talks about how a seed must be planted to multiply. A seed that isn't planted remains alone. The planted seed brings about a great harvest.



So, as Mark talked about us emptying our pockets and (in some ways) our hearts in acts of service, I was reminded of that silly ring tone. Let me out I'm stuck in your pocket! Hope stuck in your pocket is really no hope at all. Hope stuck in your pocket will only wither and die. It's meant to be passed on. Will you let hope out of your pocket today?


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One last picture because it is so cute and an anecdote. At Crosswinds we have a kid oriented service at 9:00 with dancing, singing, skits, and contests. It is called Kid Stuf. Anyway, Joe and Debbie's kids, Raquel and Lucas, know all the songs and sing them loudly at home and in the car and dance. However, we've had Kid Stuf for over a year and they have never gone up front to join the other kids on the floor.




Last night, they were having a lot of fun with Grace and Elena, so we planted that idea that at Kid Stuf they could sit with Grace and Elena. Still, they headed to their normal chairs when they arrived this morning. I said something to Raquel but she seemed unsure. So, I said as excitedly as I could to Lucas, "Want to go sit with Elena?" His eyes lit up and I took that as a "Yes," and before he could change his mind, I snatched him up and carried him off to the front. Raquel, not wanting to be left behind, followed.




They stayed up front the entire time! This is Lucas rocking it out in his pajamas. The only catch was that it meant I also stayed up front and sat on the floor too. Since I was trying to engage them, I felt compelled to attempt the dances. Seeing as I have no rhythm, I'm sure it was quite the sight to see!