Summer's Here!

            “When my child looks at me, who does he see?  What kind of person do I want him to see?”  These are the kinds of questions that the new moms are pondering as we meet on Thursday afternoons for our MOMS group.  These mothers of newborns have one thing in common – they want their children to have a more productive and joyful childhood than they have had, but they are stumped as to how to accomplish it.  On May 19, 2011, we began meeting, babies in tow, to discuss and work through a new tool being used called “My Baby’s Milestones: Goals for Life”.  The first milestone, the baby recognizing his or her parent, is the basis for this first discussion, and it has been fodder for very fruitful and insightful revelations.  Learning to model respect so that the child himself learns through experience, realizing that the teaching the value of education begins with valuing it oneself, and most of all, realizing that the bond between parent and child is the first example of our “Heavenly Father” their child will experience – some of these concepts are new to these moms, so they are thinking more deeply and planning accordingly, one step at a time, to accomplish goals that had before seemed “out there somewhere”.  Would you please pray for these young families?  After all, they are an important part of the future of our community and precious daughters and sons of our Creator.

            Summer is upon us!  As I write this, the Memorial Day holiday is just before us, bringing a promise of sunny days, lots of children in the Forest Park neighborhood, summer missionaries to help with ministry, and construction projects down the pike.  Here are some tangible ways that you can plug into the ministries this summer at Forest Park Ministry Center:

• Pray:
• for Allison and Victoria (summer missionaries), and for Donna and the volunteer missionaries at the center during a wonderfully hectic summer!
• for the children who will attend functions, and for the Reading on Wheels staff as they visit the center every Thursday for the benefit of the Forest Park neighborhood.
• for classes both for Mixtecan families and for the moms of newborns.
• for the mission teams coming to assist with construction and ministry.
• Give:
• fans for families who do not have sufficient air conditioning this hot summer.
• lumber – need 10 ▪ 2x4x8 to construct the closet for audiovisual equipment and storage in the new classroom.
• sheetrock – need 4 – 6 sheets for the closet wall being constructed.
• trim – need shoe moulding and 2 thresholds.
• doors for the closet – double doors or bifold, preferred.  Size of doors donated will determine size of opening when constructing the closet wall!
• a new shredder for the center– the old one has bit the dust, literally!!!!!

In May, we saw a 20% increase in guest traffic over April, and saw many more large families, so the number of pounds of food nearly doubled.  We are so grateful for partnering churches and their members who faithfully donate food for the food pantry, and we are excited about receiving fresh produce from Heritage’s container garden this summer!  Thanks to all; may God bless your walk with Him.