Hanging out with the youth… Passing out Angel Tree Gifts

I had a lot of fun getting together with some youth today to deliver angel tree gifts to children.  We worked alongside a ministry that supports prisoners and their families.  Each of the children that received a gift has one or both parents in prison.  I know how hard it is to have someone you loved locked up in prison… especially during the Holiday season… I know the pain and loneliness the loved one on the outside feels… and I can only imagine how hard it is for the inmate that is locked up.  What I can’t imagine is how it would feel for a young child to have a parent in prison… to grow up without knowing their parents… feeling abandoned by them.  The opportunity to give them a gift given in honor of their parents is a blessing… a small way to let them know that they are loved. 

Not only were we allowed to bless these families we were blessed by them.  My group went to three different houses.  Unfortunately at two of the houses the children were not around so we weren't able to interact with them… but we still had the opportunity to pray for them and with the grandmother at one of the houses.  Our last stop had 13 children… six of them were siblings and consisted of three sets of twins.  Some of the other children were cousins I believe as well as some foster children.  It was a blessing to get to know them and circle around and pray for them.  The older children even wanted to know how THEY could get involved in the ministry and help deliver the presents the following year.  This is what the Holiday season is all about. 

Carrying the gifts to the house...

Afterwards we met up with Matthew and some of the boys at Costco for pizza and a time to debrief about our day.  They still had one more delivery to make at a house later in the afternoon so we headed back to Starbucks to meet up with other youth and share as a larger group.  It was a great day all around. 

Meeting up at Costco for some pizza... 

After the busy week I was exhausted by the time I got home.  I went straight to bed and fell asleep around 6pm.  I woke up for only a couple hours before falling back asleep for the night.  I couldn’t believe that I slept almost 12 hours but I guess I needed the sleep.