For the past few years Kiley has been dancing at Kingdom's Feet, a ministry of Grace Covenant Church. It has been awesome. Her teachers are great and she loves dance. For the past few years they have developed a program called THE RED WAGON PROJECT. It started out small, for just a few families and has grown to include over 400 kids this year!
It was held at the Harvest Center near uptown, which is a place people in need can come to get food and clothing. Kiley and Ashlyn both helped set up on Friday for the event. It took us over 4 hours to do our small part, and they enjoyed themselves helping to get the party ready for the kids. From what I heard, over 100 of the kids that came didn't even have parents, so it was nice to give them a little fun, and tell them of the gospel and that there is hope for their lives.
I'd like to share a little about a wonderful little girl we met. Kiley and I were stationed at a table with younger kids. One little girl was very precious and really stood out to me. Her name was Shay and is nine years old and came with her twin brother and sister who are 2. It was just the three of them that came together that day, so Shay was in charge of taking care of them! Can you imagine? She was very sweet and asked me if she was going to get a Bible to take home, that she just loved the story of Mary and Joseph. I was very happy to tell her that she would get a Bible to take home and read whenever she wanted.
About 10 minutes into the party, her little brother started acting up and not listening to her. She started tearing up, so I went over to her and asked her what was wrong. She said she really just wanted to enjoy the party and knew she couldn't because he wasn't listening to her. I took her brother so she could just have fun for a few hours. He was a handful (he was so hungry he just about took my hand off as I was trying to open twizzlers as fast as I could, they hadn't had breakfast that morning), but I think it really blessed Shay to have a break. Another helper came to my aid about half way through and took the little brother so I could concentrate on the other 13 people at my table (it was suppose to be just 10, but ened up being 13)!
Kiley and Shay really hit it off. Shay was so excited about this party and wasn't just waiting for a gift, like most kids would. She was invested in every aspect of what was going on and eager to hear more about Jesus. They presented the gospel, and as soon as they asked if anyone would like to ask Jesus into their lives, she raised her hand. She did ask Jesus into her life that day, and I pray her heart was truly changed and that he will give her strength each day and help her to shine in the world and a true desire to learn more about him.
At the end of the party, all the kids were given a gift. Shay received a portable CD player and a Worship CD and was more excited than I have ever seen anyone getting a gift. She was so thankful and kept telling me and Kiley that it was the best day of her life! She couldn't believe all the work that "these people" had done.
There were other kids at the table too. The one thing I saw in common in them all, is that they just needed to be loved. Two boys at my table (both 6 years old), came to me at different times and just wanted a hug.....that's it, just a hug! And they kept on hugging for at least a few minutes. I don't know much about the life these kids went back to, but I know it is different than my life. We are so fortunate! I pray that these kids hearts were pricked and that they have a hunger to know more about the Lord!
I wasn't able to get any pictures of the kids during the party, I had my hands full, but I did get some beforehand. All the dancers in the ministry team (if you look close you can find Kiley), wore their dad's shirts over their costumes for rehersal and until the performance. I thought it was so cute seeing all the kids in their daddy's shirts! The picture of the three girls are Kiley and her friends Meghan and Elizabeth.
