A proud "mama" moment

Some people's whole joy in life is holding babies and playing with small children... yay for them, but not my thing. My crowd is more between the ages of 12-17. It's this age that has my heart in such a crazy powerful way and I'm so blessed that my job is getting to pour into them and witness what God is doing in their lives.

One thing that God has brought about in the past few months, and even more like weeks is several of my students stepping up and taking student leadership roles. For a while I've had two key boys and one key girl who have blown me away with their servant's hearts and I know running a youth group of 30+ kids with all the events we do would be nearly impossible without them. But lately, there's been a whole new crop of students stepping up to the plate and they're blowing my mind with what they do.

This month, we have a full plate for our students with activities everyday Tuesday through Saturday. Saturdays are our days to go "into the world" and do various outreach/service events. Last Thursday, God blessed me with the "eureka!" moment of "hey! I should let the kids plan these events!" So last Friday a group of them sat down and planned our outreach to Loco, a local slum area. They did AMAZING! They had it all worked out, and on a budget of $0. I seriously never had to coach them on how they should move on to another activity or anything, I was honestly rather bored during the whole thing, in a good way :)

Then on Tuesday, they sat down and planned our event for tomorrow which is where we are going to a somewhat overlooked orphanage that has around 30 kids. We have been there a couple of times before and actually found it because one of our students heard about how it was there and how they really didn't have much of anything. This time we had a little more to work with financially so I gave them their budget and time restraints and they came up with the schedule and the shopping list. It's a group of about ten students who really put their brains together to find some cool ways to bless these kids.

This afternoon was our shopping trip to prepare for the event. So I gave them the money, told them to bring back receipts, accompanied them to the grocery store and then basically just sat in the car and waited the rest of the time. They were so cute! (Sorry, I know that's not cool to say about 17 year old boys, but they just were) as they all delegated which items each person would be looking for. Then even though I had a Bible study to get to, the boys decided to continue and finish the shopping list. I struggled not worrying about them, but then realized they were really big boys and I needed to just chill :) What they came back with was just precious (I know, another not cool word choice). They bought 40 pieces of clothes, and all the fixens for a traditional ugandan meal of rice and beans. AND... they even had money left over.

As I saw them come up to the coffee shop where I was meeting my friend for the Bible study, my heart melted. Six teenage boys who now tower over me coming up with these things and waving to us. I'm still recovering from the whole experience. My friend just laughed at me and told me I was like a "proud mama", and honestly I guess it's true. These students are amazing and I'm so so blessed to serve them and pour into them... God amazes me that He allows me to be a part of their lives and see the young men and women He's making them to be.