ERIC / BRIANNA / ALEXIS / TIFFANY / MISSY / ISAAC / SCOTT / MARY ANNE / SARAH / CHRIS /  EMILY  /  LONDON  / MADELYNE  /  MERRITT /  ANNA / SAVANNAH / BLAKE  / LAUREN / LINDSAY / BRIANNA  / MORGAN / MEREDITH // MARK / T.J. / ELAINE / PATRICK  /  ANDY / DON  / ASHLEY /  BRIEN / ANNA / DAVID / JENNA / ALAINA / CHARLES / STEVE  /


Had a large High School turn out this week.
New Hanover kids are in black and orange.
Ashley in maroon and gold.
Laney in blue and yellow.
Hoggard in blue and white.
Andy's name is in UNCW"s colors, sort of.


Had as much help as I did food this week.


The Menu:
BAKED SPAGHETTI
SALAD
BREAD! BREAD! BREAD! BREAD!
DESSERT 
SWEET TEA / WATER
and...
BAG LUNCHES  to take with them for the next day.

This past Sunday we had The Follies, which is a spaghetti dinner/fundraiser for the Youth Mission Trip. There's always spaghetti sauce left over which they generously donate to us. After trying to figure out a use for it other than spaghetti, I gave in and figured we'd just have baked spaghetti, which would be good for at least two reasons. One, our guys like it and it was going to be chilly so a hot dish would be good. Secondly, baked spaghetti is the kind of dish you construct, which is good for getting kids involved and engaged. 
Had bread coming out of our ears this week. Had breadsticks, sourdough sliced, sourdough loaves and whole wheat rounds.
Several members of the New Hanover Honor Society came out this week to help. Most of them had been before. All the kids that came out this week did a great job. They always do. 

It was a lot of fun in the kitchen tonight, but then it always is.

One of the guys at the Mercy House told me he might be moving and getting his own place to stay.
I said That's great.
The look on his face didn't agree.
I said That's a good thing, right?
He said I guess. I'm going to miss getting fed though.

About 2 years ago, a couple of kids starting showing up at the Mercy House every week to eat with us. It was a 8th grade boy and his 3rd grade sister. They lived a couple of blocks away. The mom and dad came down occasionally and the 2 kids became regulars. One of our kids went to school with the boy and he started bringing him to Youth Group. Before long, they were simply a part of us.
 Dad had some trouble and wasn't in the home anymore. Mom felt she was going to lose the kids to DSS so she took them (the boy, now a sophomore in high school, the girl , now a 5th grader and 2 younger daughters) and fled to New York City. Word got back to us that they were (and still are) staying in a Homeless shelter. It breaks my heart to think of them in that situation.
We're going to NYC over Spring Break with kids to do Homeless ministry. We figured we would try to find the mom and her family while we were there to see them and see how they were doing. Some of the kids in Youth Group have kept up with the boy through texting. Now that they've told him we're going to be up there, his texts have become pleas to take him back to Wilmington with us when we leave. Kidnap him. Get him out.  
As good as it will be to see them, it's going to be very hard to see them, too. It will be difficult to interact with them, then say goodbye, leaving them in a shelter. Especially if the boy is pleading for us to take him with us.
Pray for them and their situation, and pray for us as we head up to see them. Pray for grace and peace, for wisdom and discernment and for God's presence to be felt the whole time.

It's going to be tough.