Sendusout

Foam shapes scattered across the table top, smudgy lines marked out by oil pastels and drips and splatters of watercolor all make up the abstract works of art by the children of the Father’s House. They are a little shy at first, but as they immerse themselves in the work at hand Jonathan begins to sing, Joshua’s sad face turns into a smile and Shanaya tells me about her day. Even some of the staff cannot resist the table top full of art supplies and I offer them a piece of paper and they set down and begin to create as well.

There are currently 14 children between the age of 5 and 16 who live at the Father’s House. Some of these are orphans, others have been abandoned, all have spent time on the streets and have no where else to go. The Father’s House is run by Help International, a mission organization based in Germany who meet various needs through social-missionary ministries. Their mission has an emphasis on drug rehabilitation, street children, prison and other ministries among the poor and needy.

I just began teaching art classes at the Father’s House twice a week. I meet with the younger children from 10:30 to 11:30 on Tuesdays and the older kids from 4-5 on Thursdays. I am just starting to get to know these kids and the staff at the Father’s House, but I am already connecting with the kids, really life the staff and look forward to my class times. Most of you probably already know this, but I love art, was an art major in college and taught private art classes for a couple of years before Isaiah was born. Now that the baby of our family, Elanor, is growing up a little, I can once again find a couple hours each week that will allow me to minister in a way very close to my heart.

So far the planning for each art lesson has been effortless. Sometimes I can struggle trying to come up with the perfect project, but trust God is inspiring these ideas. My primary goal is to teach these kids to love art and creating and give them an outlet to express their thoughts and emotions. Many of these kids have had a rough past and I think art can be very therapeutic. Please pray for Help International as they minister to the needs of these kids each day, and if you feel the Lord lead, they are currently looking for sponsors who will cover the education costs for one of these children for a year. These children are attending a Christian Filipino school and the costs average out to about $60 a month. Please contact me if you are interested.

Help International is not the only place I am teaching art classes. Our oldest son, Isaiah, started Kindergarten this year at Faith Academy and loves it. This past week he got to go to swim lessons for his P.E. class. Can’t beat that, can you? There are 18 children in his class and there are currently two teachers who are co-teaching, Miss Zipp and Miss Barfield. Last week Daniel and I went to Family Day at Faith and met his teachers, and somehow I managed to get recruited to do a 30 minute art lesson for the kids each Friday for his class as well. My first class is tomorrow and I am looking forward to meeting the other kids in his class.