Day three of Holiday Club and other things too

Day three and the kids are going strong. We've picked up quite a few new children... today in the art room I went through a day and half worth of supplies. Tomorrow I'll have the pre-teen girls coming through and we are going to do a yarn octopus. Super fun. But I have to admit... I am crossing my fingers that it works out in the midst of the chaos that rains down in my art room for that one hour each day.

You can start to see that the leaders are getting exhausted from the high energy it takes to lead these groups of kids - and the late nights they are together at the dorms. Last night they had a really spirit soaked service where 12 of the teenage leaders gave their faith a name and listened to what God has been speaking in to their lives. Even Mady was touched by how beautiful it was for these high schoolers she is serving with and mentioned it to me today.

Avery decided the hordes of kids was a bit much for her and she's moved herself from participant to "helper" after she realized her group was communicating in Tswana and she had no idea what was going on. I'm glad to have her involved in whatever way she feels most comfortable... and be able to find value in all the different moments here.

In completely a other, but continually connected part of our lives... my dad has a stroke yesterday morning. It wasn't traumatic, but is was way more than simply mild. He is currently in ICU at Butterworth - but Mom thinks they'll move him to the Neurological Ward by the end of the day seeing as how he has stabilized.

Two seperate people in the states emailed yesterday morning at 3:30... "I'm awake at this crazy hour for some reason and thinking about and praying for you." 3:30 is when my dad was able to make it back to the bedroom from the hallway, knowing something terrible was happening, and alert my mom. She knew right away what it was and she and my sister and brother in law were able to get him to the hospital immediately. Because of their quick reaction, my dad was a candidate for TPA a drug that thins the clot. Within an hour they could tell it was working and we are all so thankful.

Another dear friend had set aside yesterday to intentionally spend the day fasting and praying for our family. And here in South Africa, someone sent me a text message at the exact same moment with a prayer for our family.

When I say that praying for each other matters... it does. There is some inexplainable connection that God has decided to set in motion. I don't believe that he needs to hear our prayers... I think He isn't limited by our being involved or not. But for some reason, he has chosen to link us together - and to show himself to us through our prayer and the prayer of other people. And it is a strikingly beautiful thing.