Pizza and college hockey....

L to R: Janaya, Sandy, me, Ty'netra, Markeitha ( "Dominique" ), Amy, Lacy
bottom row: Daisy, Jessica, Erica & Kathy



The girls with Coach Amy.



Lucy and Nancy.

Tonight the DinoMight girls journeyed to a Bethel hockey game.
11 girls came
5 extra large pizzas and 6 pitchers of pop were consumed. WHOA!
They played "I spy" for the entire car ride to the game( 1/2 hour)
2 quality hours of watching hockey were had...
They loved wearing "vintage" Bethel college jerseys, and cheering on the team.
Some of the players came out afterwards to meet the girls and give them a tour of the locker room.
They played Concordia, and unfortunately lost 1-3...
Yet, the girls talked about how much fun they had at the game for the entire car ride back to Minneapolis.

I have a dream.

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr...
An excerpt from his "I have a dream" speech.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only". We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

This post is dedicated to... Lacy

Janaya, Lacy , & I at the Excel Center.





Lacy & her little brother Aaron.

Today I was reflecting a bit upon the past year... I was thinking about various people who came into my life. I began to think of how grateful I am to know Lacy.
I began tutoring Lacy in the Fall of 2006.

She is now 10 years old and in the 5th grade. It has been incredible to watch her mature, and discover so much about herself in the past few months. I look forward to watching her grow up into a young woman, and one day graduate from High School. She has a contagious laugh, and an enormous amount of compassion for her age.
She comes from a family of ten. All of her older siblings have been DinoMights, and I mentor her sister Kelsey.
Kelsey writes a blog about living in a transracial family of ten.
Kelsey's blog

Lacy, you are one beautiful girl, loved by so many people.

A Blessing...

A Blessing

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression and exploitation of people, so that you may work for freedom, justice and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain to joy.

May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

St. Francis of Assisi

DinoMights.

Today we took the DinoMights to Feed my Starving Children, and then had a "Winter Break Party."

18,000 children die of hunger EACH day. Feed my Starving Children is committed to feeding God's children both hungry in body and spirit. They provide a sense of hope and some sense of sustainability in many places around the world.

Feed my Starving Children

The DinoMights demonstrated their "off the ice" team work skills today as they packaged up meals.

I am the program assistant, helping with the academic aspect of DinoMights.
The mission of DinoMights is "to equip our urban youth to develop physical, academic, social, and spiritual excellence."

DinoMights "hockey in the hood" builds positive long term relationships with adults.
John, who I respect SO MUCH founded the program in 1995 and is now the pastor of Living Stones Covenant church.

Needs.

In High School I remember taking an Introductory Psychology class and learning about Maslow's Hierarchy of needs. At that time in my life I didn't think a whole lot about what each part of Maslow's Hierarchy meant. I see many forms of injustice each day in my neighbor's lives and on a larger global scale. I am struck by the highest part of the triangle: the need for self-actualization.
Many individuals living in poverty are still teetering on the bottom portion of the triangle: having physiological needs met such as nutritious food, adequate shelter and clothing.
Various factors can contribute to the inability to reach beyond physiological needs. Their are wars, famine, and droughts in certain parts of the world. In the U.S. many forms of poverty are systemic. What can be done to break the cycle of injustice...?

I can choose cynicism or I can choose hope....

Their are many influential organizations working beside those who are hungry, homeless, living in poverty, and facing so many other atrocities..
Here are just a few...


Sojourners
Oxfam
Feed My Starving Children
Food for the Hungry
Urban Homeworks
The Simple Way
Mercy Ships
AmeriCorps
PeaceCorps
Christian Community Development Association
International Justice Mission
Heifer Foundation
Doctors Without Borders


God is a father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, opens eyes that are blind, frees captives from prison, bringing justice to the nations.

Let justice roll down...

Each day brings unexpected situations as I interact with my neighbors.
I have seen families that I love dearly get evicted from their homes, or experience illness within a family member. I've watched my neighbor who is going through dialysis, and is living in poverty continually open up her home to relatives who need a place to stay for various periods of time. I am often humbled through the interactions I have with those around me.

I've learned through many situations what it means to set boundaries, and to take time for myself.



Late this afternoon I took my neighbor who lives below us to a truancy meeting for school. She has missed 10 days that have been deemed "unexcused" since the beginning of the school year. "L" is a 16 year old teenage Mom, trying her best. She gets fantastic grades in school, and is really respectful. The reason she has missed so many days of school is because when her baby gets sick she has to stay home with her. "L's" Mom is going through dialysis three days a week and could not make the meeting at school to discuss her daughters absences.

As we sat in the stale waiting room listening for our names to be called I thought of what my life was like at 16. Nine years ago I was concerned about who was going to ask me to the school dance, if I was going to make the soccer team, and what clothes were in style. Such a contrast from what my neighbor faces each day; if she will have enough money to get her daughter formula, how she will get her homework done while their are four children living in her house under the age of 5, if her own mother will live to see her graduate from High school, and many other situations that plague her.

Finally after sitting around for over an hour, we were called to an "interview room" to meet with a school representative, and social worker .. The social worker was very understanding and we worked out a plan where "L" can take a bus with her baby girl to school. Her daughter will be able to attend daycare at the YWCA across the street from her school.

I am thankful that we didn't have to have an in-depth court hearing, and that "L" could go home today knowing that she has viable options.

Life is so much about our story. I am so grateful the social worker who met with us took time to hear "L's" story . Building trust and lasting relationships takes time and patience. I am thankful that my neighbor felt that she could bring me into this situation that she was dealing with.

Afterwards we picked up her 7 month old daughter and had a late lunch at Perkins.
We shared a meal and were able to laugh, and talk about regular life things and simply enjoy being.

God, I pray for your mercy to fall down on this family .