The girls I got to meet.

I had the privilege of leading some sweet, tough , insecure, adorable, 4Th, 5Th, and 6Th grade girls. Its called Vacation Bible School. The program lasts a week, and I'm here to tell you that for some people, its no vacation.

The girls are at the awkward age of feeling extremely playfully immature one second,

then being "way too cool for bible school" the next.

They all had reservations that were quickly let go before the days were up.

Let me tell you, I got a full spectrum preview of the ups and downs that a 10-12 year old girl puts up with.

Overall, they were so much fun.

It was heart- wrenching to learn some of the girls' life stories.

4 of these girls do not live with their Dad's

2 do not know their Dad.

1 of these girls that doesn't know her Dad, knows he lives 15 minutes away,

but he is curently using drugs, and she's not allowed to see him.

She described him as "A bad man".

She also said that she has seen her cousin and his friennd using drugs that she had watched him (her cousin) make.

These girls have no idea what they're missing out on. They have no idea what its like to have a father-Not even a dysfunctional father.

All of it made me think about my own life.

Why was I so fortunate?

Why was I not the one exposed to drugs when I was 12?

Why was I given an easier 'ride in life?

These things eat me up.

I hate that these girls did not choose this life- they were just placed in it, and so far they have been given no direction besides the continuance of this life.
Most of them do not see their Mom's all day during the summer because she works. They spend their days with other friends, family, doing whatever they choose.

Today, I was given a surprising glimmer of hope for their lives. 5 of the girls made a choice.

They decided that they wanted a change in their lives. Something different. I am not sure if it was because they were invited to join in and change, or if the Lord laid on their hearts a desire for His plan. Either way, it was a start of something good.

I was sent into a room with them to talk to them about this change. They asked all sorts of surprisingly intelligent questions and begged me say a prayer for them RIGHT NOW! I wasn't planning on having them do it right then, I was planning on just explaining it to them and waiting for the Spirit to move in their hearts, making revolutionary waves of hope.

But they weren't satisfied.

They wanted to Pray on the spot.

I was not expecting to get to share with them the single most important thing in my life.

It was exciting!

My hearts desire is for them to choose a different life than the ones they have seen all around them.

They have seen generations of broken, impoverished lifestyles.

They have no idea what they're capable of.

These girls deserve safe, loving, WHOLE families.

I felt hope for them for the first time as I prayed for them together in a small room, in our little church.

It was indescribable and overwhelming to be given the opportunity to share something so important, so life changing.

Today was the last day of vacation bible school. I am tired.

My kids are tired.

Were ready to be done.

But somehow I feel I am not done with these girls.

We will probably see each other this summer (they asked me to take them swimming in the river. YAY!).

All I want is for them to know that they can make their lives different. They don't have to live like their past generations.

Please pray for these sweet ladies, think about them.

Pray for me as I will hopefully continue to be with them.

After Bible school today, Lauren got to spend some time at work with Grandpa while I took Silas and Claire on a hike.

Jake got off work early and decided to pick up Lauren and bring her home.

After our hike, we played in the river for about an hour, then came home to this:

This Daddy loves his girl(s).

Again,

how did I get so fortunate?