Christmas is about presence. Sometimes it involves someone taking your Christmas Card picture at a McDonald's drive-thru.

It's true. The guy at the McDonald's drive-thru took this year's Christmas card picture. Needless to say we got more than a meal - we made a memory. A weird random chicken strips and french fry one.

Merry Christmas from a random McDonald's drive-thru 

 After eating our chicken, we decided to frolic amongst the Christmas trees in an adjacent parking lot and sing Christmas carols. The girls said they had never been to a christmas tree lot and had only seen one in the movies. So, I suggested we make a Blockbuster Christmas film, pretend it was snowing and weave among the trees. 

                                              Christmas Card Movie and Card to you :-)

Something my neighbors are teaching me is that the most precious gifts we give each other are not contained in a a box. They are: Jesus, our time and ourselves.  That was the reason I bought my little Bri-Bri (neighbor and girl I tutor)  I love Jesus stickers and a friendship bracelet as they symbolize our prayers and friendship as what I treasure most. They point to the greater gifts. 

Christmas is all about a God who gave time, presence and his very self to be with us and save us. Jesus, our Emmanuel. Savor the gift of his presence the whole year through. 

A heartfelt Merry Christmas!

Love, 

Jenny and the Casa Crew

 

  

Jesus said to the disciples "Come have breakfast". So we do. Sometimes it involves bacon.

Charity is giving food from your table, Justice is giving someone a seat at your table.
In many cultures, eating at the kitchen table  represents something significant about a relationship; it is more than merely sharing a meal. I tend to agree based on memories of 6th grade during lunch at Middle School. Where you sat and who you ate with said something about your identity, social standing and status.

On Sunday mornings at Casa del Sol, we like to make room for the new kid and if you show up at the right time bacon may also factor into the equation.

Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples ventured to question Him, "Who are You?" knowing that it was the Lord.

John 21:12

It is official. Breakfast is in the bible. Jesus ate breakfast and called his disciples to eat with him. This is one passage of scripture I have been able to seriously apply to my own life - I love breakfast.  However, today it involved an english muffin and coffee, not grilled fish.
Come to think of it, a lot of what Jesus did ministry wise happened during a meal, out of a decision to share a meal with others, or the significance of a meal such as the Last Supper. This makes sense as meals are every day ways of sharing life with others and ministry often happens during the times you choose to just show up and sit beside someone.
In heaven, scriptures indicates we will have a large supper of some kind and secretly I hope this involves breakfast food. Maybe bacon.

Never Underestimate the Power of a Sharpie....Doodling in Jesus name

Sharpies have transformed my Sunday mornings. 

You see, Pinterest, Lizzie Casey and the marker loving kids in my neighborhood inspired me to "get my art on" and doodle during sermon time. So I did. Then we all did.

Creatively expressing spiritual truths helps things both come alive and stick to my brain. And as a visual learner, let's be honest...it keep my mind from wandering and the temptation to jot my to do list in the margin during the sermon. It is becoming the latest trend and so all the cool kids are doing it.   

Sharing our drawings one Sunday Morning

   

Eating Watermelon One Bite at a Time and Glitter, Apologizing with Flare

Eating Watermelon one Bite at a Time

Below is a video of the Watermelon show, a highly entertaining infomercial which explains the proper way to devour a melon produced by three spunky girls.

Glitter, Apologizing with Flare

One. Maybe two if they are little.
That is how many people fit in the papason chair.
When my bookshelf suffered a lethal blow due to the instability of the overflowing chair, a rule had to be made. To be fair, I am partly to blame. Caught up in my exuberance I invited 8 children and 3 adults to my one bedroom apartment after church to watch a movie. Out of this experience I have learned two valuable lessons:

1. If there are more than 4 children in my home, they will try to steal barbecue sauce from my fridge, scare my cat and things will go south. For the love of all that is good in this world, remember the number 4.

2. Go to the park after sitting in church. Set the children free.

After breaking my flimsy $30 dollar bookshelf, several hours later the girls responsible left a peace offering at my stoop. So...how do you say, "I am sorry I broke your bookshelf?". A card?
Nope.
A random abandoned piece of wood covered in nail polish and glitter sparkles.
Yes.

In a way, their quirky present reminds me of the gospel. Unexpected beauty emerging out of brokenness. Jesus, full of glory, who died for us on a rugged wooden cross.

       

Making things right in the World one Mason Jar at a time. P.S. Miss Jenny, I want to be a pastor

At dusk I caught the kids playing in the parking lot as I arrived home. Some of the kids pretended to be drunk people trying to catch the scattered bunch. The girl who thought up this version of tag said, "We need to learn how to get away from bad people." Unfortunately, I think this version may be based on true circumstances for some of them.

This seemed so wrong. 

So, in my southern way to make things right in the world I grabbed a mason jar from my closet and helped the kids collect fireflies under the shadows of the street lights. One girl, who relocated from Mexico several months ago, had never caught them. We got three. Apparently they were all girls according to Briana.
As a side note, we had 9 kids show up for breakfast last Sunday. One of them is Chris. This 3rd grader sticks out because he arrives 30 min early, always wears a suit, and has slicked back gel covered hair. Apparently, he wakes up early to come to church but is late for school. Recently, he began to make his parents say grace before their meals. His parents told me this when we visited their home. Attached is a video of Chris confessing to me that he wants to be a pastor. He is definitely making his mark on the world as last week he invited his two cousins to come with us to church. He is pretty much adorable. 

Will you twitter me?

"Jenny, will you twitter me?" inquired the random kid in my neighborhood.
To which I replied, "Um, you mean tutor you?"
"Yeah, tutor me. I need help with my homework," she quipped.

In my community, this is a common question I am asked by kids and parents alike, which speaks to the need. Fortunately, just as one twitter or tutoring program lost funding, Community Hope, an academic mentoring program through the YMCA,  offered to help out my neighborhood. It is through this program I met Briana.

Briana, is a spunky Kindergartner I mentored twice a week this year,  who is also my neighbor who's home I can see from my porch. She is addicted to Takis, knows most of the words to the Taylor Swift song Blank Space, wears high heels and carries around my cat. During mentoring we pray together, share snacks and had a spontaneous dance party in the hallway when she read her first book.

Though this program has greatly helped kids academically, the reality is there is a constant wait list of students who are yet to receive the help they need.

Attached is a few pictures of Briana along with a short video from the end of the year banquet for Community Hope featuring some awesome dance moves.

It takes a village to raise a child...or pick strawberries

11 kids + 6 friends + 2 moms from my apartment complex + a couple of prayers =
                                                                                tearing up a berry field one bite basket at a time

                                                    Short clip from our strawberry picking

The strawberry picking crew :-)

Fire Alarms, a Batman Popsicle and Easter is about Sacrifice

Tonight I feel safe. My neighbor George said he would beat off  bad guys to save me. He is 4 and has a ninja turtle sword. For the record, he needs to work on his hide and go seek skills. I found him every time.  We both like pizza.

                                      George has a blue face from eating a Batman popsicle

Last Sunday,  nine of us spontaneously clapped around my table to give my fire alarm some lovin'.    This is the first Sunday it has been quiet for weeks. Most Sunday mornings the sheer smell of breakfast makes it excited about life.

Last week after church we hosted a Easter Egg hunt (video about easter egg hunt) at the playground and pastor Frank Moreno shared about the meaning of Easter.

My favorite moment from the hunt happened after it ended. Oscar, a kid visiting church with us arrived late. He sprang from his car waiting to get in the action though it didn't take him long to realize the hunt was over. They started to drive off.
Wait.Then it gets good.
Four words. Mileydi to the rescue.
Mileydi, a feisty girl who regularly attends church with us, suggests to all the kids to give some of their eggs to Oscar. So, we flagged down the car and spontaneously a handful of kids ran to the crying boy in the backseat each passing him several of their own prized eggs. One kid ended up with no eggs at the close of the hunt as he had given away all his eggs to others.
How sweet to see these kids demonstrate love, sacrificial love, to a tearful kid who had nothing. What a picture of the gospel this Easter season. God gave something precious for us, his very life, to us who had nothing.

"but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Romans 5:8

Snow, Hills and My Cat eats Tortillas

A few weeks ago a third grader taught me how to make tortillas. The chaos maybe resulted in my fire alarm going off Sunday at 8am and dough in my carpet. In conclusion, it was a glorious memory making fail. However, several days later I did catch my cat raiding the left over tortillas. He is working on his cultural competency.
Today was the long anticipated snow day I prayed for. The excitement was partly due to the snow but also,  as Julia Andrews would attest, "the hills are alive" in these parts. They are so killer I catch kids on sunny days sliding down them on old pizza boxes. Now I can personally testify with snow and ice they are as magical as I envisioned. Neighborhood folks and I slid down them on any random item we could find ranging from varying types of cardboard,  a popped blow-up mattress, plastic pails, a boogie boards and aluminum pans.

Check out snow day video here...

Praying for Parker the Cat and Slumber parties...Girl Time at its Finest

I wish they had a peppy genre of music for taking down Christmas decorations. Today is that day. New Kids on the Block may be the winner....or Jackson 5. Dancing may be involved.
Over the break, the kids came over for a Happy Birthday Jesus party. We sang, wrote Jesus with a sharpie on Happy Birthday plates and took turns reading the Christmas Story from a children's bible. We finished the night by watching Elf. Here is a picture with some of them smiling because smiling is our favorite.

I love to hear the kids pray. Often they pray for my cat. However, as silly as it sounds, I believe God hears their prayers cause he is their father. He really does care about the small things that are close to their hearts. Even my crazy cat.

As the kids get more comfortable praying, we have changed up saying grace. I use to ask for a volunteer to pray, but now they often all volunteer. It didn't seem fair that only one person got to say something to God so now we all take turns saying a prayer before we eat. 

On Sunday, one of the girls thanked God for the things he lets us borrow 'cause all things are his anyway. Good reminder for me that all we have is on loan and to be a good steward of what he has entrusted in my care.

Last Friday I had the girls crash for a slumber party. It involved an oversized blow-up mattress, hot dogs and giggling at lights out. Lots of it. We maybe watched the sing-along version of Frozen with the pop up lyrics. So, in short we "Let it go" over and over again. If you think of it pray for my neighbors as I am sure they were ready for us to let it go once and for all. Please enjoy a piece of the night on us... Here is a video of us letting it go....