just thinking about the kids

Today i cried just thinking about saying goodbye someday to the twenty-five kids i have come to love beyond words here in the center of Denver. I just decided to stay working with the kids for another year - which means i won't have to say goodbye for a long time - but just the thought seems overwhelming to me.

i find it so interesting that I love these kids soo much and they might not even realize it or might not even remember me when they get to high school. i might just be a passing thought to them in a few years - but i have been changed forever by my interactions with these kids. My love for them has changed me. I'm not troubled by my lack of recognition amongst the kids - I am only amazed that as I have poured out my life, my gracious God has filled up my heart more than i ever could have imagined. And I am inspired as i think of the people from an older generation who poured into my life as a child with perhaps little recognition but much vigor and endurance.

I guess they don't have to know that "this love" they may be experiencing is in part from me - i just want them to claim their belovedness at an early age. Maybe that's my new life motto to help others claim their belovedness established by God. and why not start as early as possible?

here are some of the kids on a normal day at the playground

(it's hard to get photos when they're actually looking at the camera and eyes open, etc.)