Day 9 - Awoo, Secrecy and Texas-Sized Burgers

Today, we were all refreshed. Though, we still prayed hard in the morning, the overall feel was less somber. We did devotions in our vans, and headed to Turn Key Boys and Girls club. we are arrived a little bit early so we decided to play on the playground for a bit.We soon went inside, and took a tour. On a personal note, it was amazing. I used to be a girls and boys club kid; it taught me computers, pool, cheer, how to write, play music, DRAMA...this place made me...me.

The sound team got set as the mimes got situated. The kids giggled excitedly when the mimes came in with their white makeup. One lady, Mamma Bear, was going to have some church. Even at the very beginning she was calling out.  "amen! Praise Jesus!" Mhm! That's the truth." The kids really enjoyed the white faces and the box skit was probably their favorite. They giggled and smiled during most of it, and at the end, Mamma Bear praised the Lord when Ben got out of the box.  It was good fun.

Afterward, we played dodge ball with the kids. That was their favorite game. And man were they good. Of course, our boys went in with a gentle spirit and were going to play easy. those, kids were so good, being nice was no longer an option. We played hard, we lost hard. We met a girl named Christy, who was a very proud five years old and wanted to make sure we knew how to "awoo."

So cute. Her sister (that she kept
fighting with) and her were foster sisters and there was a third somewhere that had grown up in the system together, and just recently got adopted together. Super amazing. After a group picture and goodbyes, we loaded up and headed to lunch at CiCi's.  There we laughed, we joked and had an overall good time.

Our next stop was Bryan's house. Byan's house is a safe-house for medically needy kids, such as HIV babies. The secrecy is so intense and protected by law...the law placed by the government...that is separated from the church. Since it is a government facility, we could not say God, Jesus or make the cross. That got rid of most of the songs...and most of the  moves. Needless to say, creating this set was quite difficult. They actually created a new song and taught it right then and there in the room. To make things even more difficult, they had a high ozone warning (too much pollution in the air) so we couldn't go outside to play (the kids lungs aren't as strong) so we were stuck inside. But the team got ready. The youngers worked on listening to the music and checking songs. We had to sign in agreement to aside by the house rules...three pages. There were some obvious rules that we certainly wouldn't break as Christians, but really everything had guidelines. We couldn't talk about their lives, focus on one child (it had to be a group playing) no giving them presents (like the candy) nothing.

The kids mimes were awesome. Just even making things up as  they went. They made everything so gentle and sweet. Tanner got the most props for his silly "If that's What It Takes" even one of the staff, who was a believer, said God's Word won't return void. Even if we can't say the name of Jesus, we can live it. Amen. After, we got to play with the kids for a bit. Not too many of them, just enough to have some face time. The boys were so good to the little  ones. They played monster and chard and climbEd our boys. We went into their classrooms in teams of three, as to not overwhelm the kids. It was a good time to play and mix with the kids.

Our next stop was dinner at Fuddruckers. After a long and stressful time getting lost by  Wendys and Whataburgers ;) we made it. We  had good fun over buffalo and giant Texas-Sized burgers. (Like a full pound with toppings) Chris and Tanner were brave. Poor Ben just shook his head the entire time...he was sharing a room with Chris. "He will be in a corner," Ben promised after Chris finished the monstrosity and got a large milkshake. After that, we headed to the Grapevine Mills mall. We only had an hour. So we girls got ready and started to mall-walk. Actually, Caroline mall walked and we tried to keep up. We actually made the loop and hit all the stores we needed.Everyone left satisfied with what they got.