Summer of Service - Special Olympics...

Last night the four younger kids and I went to the campus of the University of Minnesota to volunteer at the Special Olympics - Minnesota Summer Games.  I chose this activity for us for a very specific reason.  We have a few families in our life that have children with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities and I have noticed when our kids are exposed to these children, and also out in public, there is apprehension to get close and engage.  This is especially the case with our two youngest.  I get that.  Different is hard...and sometimes scary.  And even though I did have plenty of exposure with this growing up I learned to not stare or ask questions about other people's challenges and just turn and look away if I was bothered or unsure.  I want to be very intentional with my children when teaching them to accept all walks of life and want them to learn that God creates each one of us in our own perfect way and that even though it might be hard or scary sometimes, we need to accept, love and support everyone.

My goal for this service project was to make it fun and show our children that these kids and adults are just like us in many respects.  They like to have fun and have feelings too.  They can play, sing, dance, run, compete in sports, cry, laugh...just like us.  They just sometimes look, sound, and act it out differently...and sometimes not so differently!

Our job at this event was super simple.  Show up, have fun, and be a cheerleader.  We were there to support the athletes and make them feel strong, special, and equally as exciting as any other athlete out there.  It was the perfect job for the kids because it allowed them to sit and "stare" at these kids from afar and observe and absorb the differences without being offensive or rude.  It allowed us time to talk as a family about why it might be hard to be accepting of someone who is different, what about it makes us uncomfortable or afraid, and what we could try to do to get over that and honor God and His design for these individuals.  The questions and comments that the kids came up with while we were doing this were so intuitive and innocent. I loved it.  I could tell they were really thinking and processing a lot.  They were also rewarded with many waves and huge smiles from the competing kids as they heard and saw them cheering them on.  It was so precious.

I think the kids gained a lot from this evening.  Some of them still had a hard time getting close but I know it will take practice, time, and continued support from us as parents to keep them involved in the process.  They all enjoyed the atmosphere, being rewarded with smiles and waves of appreciation from the athletes, and to me, the conversations were priceless.  I showed the kids my pictures this morning and they were excited to see themselves in action.  I think Cameron summed it up quite nicely for all of us...

"I guess, in reality, there really isn't a whole lot of difference." 

Special Olympic Athlete...

My athlete...

Clearly, there is not.

“Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.” 

-Romans 15:7

Summer of Service - School Edition Part 2

We wrapped up our first week of summer serving at the kids' school again in one of the middle school teacher's classrooms.  The younger kids were a little tuckered out from our last project of moving books just two days earlier so I left this project up to the three older kids.  It was mellow, low key, simple, short, and sweet.  Just the balance they needed to keep them interested in continuing on with serving for the rest of the summer.

Cameron's French/English teacher asked for help in her classroom organizing, filing, sorting, and searching for lost books and re-shelving those.  This was a welcome and restful change from their previous day of service at school.

After reading their journals Cameron and Emma both had a good time just hanging out and helping.  Nothing profound came to mind for them this day.  I haven't gotten Annie to write for me yet, and I was a little worried about how she would do since she was our least happy on the book day and not exactly thrilled that I had pegged her to do another day of book work.  I was relieved to hear her say when she got into the car that she really enjoyed that day A LOT better than the previous one and that she was really glad she went.  She also enjoyed getting to know one of Cameron's teachers and told me a few stories about the conversations they had and how nice she was.

This report got my mind going a bit more.  I wasn't thinking about the benefits of them interacting with adults more one-on-one.  And getting to know a teacher one-on-one like that would probably open their eyes to the fact that yes, teachers are nice, yes, they are normal people, and yes, they have a lot to offer if you allow yourself to get to know them better.  Bonus!  This sparks my curiosity even more for the rest of the summer to see what more we can learn from others and how we can open up our world to them.