The city is an exciting place to be, but as I've learned, after a few weeks that excitement settles into the comfortable routine of every day life. There is one thing about Chicago, however, that has yet to cease exciting and enlivening me, and that is the kids I've gotten to know and love while living and ministering in the neighborhood of Wicker Park. Most of these kids live in apartment complexes nearby and spend much of their days at the park or out in the streets. Our church has held a series of kids' clubs at the park in the evenings, and through these events we've gotten to build relationships with the free-spirited, independent, and sometimes wandering children of our community. I wish you could all meet these kids in person to experience just how irresistible they are. I am in love. That being the case, I thought I'd take this opportunity to share some photos and a few snipets about these faces that help define Wicker Park for me and undoubtedly add some spice to this church staffer's life.
One of my favorite photos: meet "Dooka" (nickname) whose real name is much prettier but much more difficult to spell.
Dooka's big sis "Toochie", whom I just call "O", and their one-year old cousin. She looks pretty angelic in this shot, but let's just say that O will keep you on your toes.
This is one forward little toddler. She approached a sweet Ukrainian grandmother at the park (who didn't speak English and whom she had never seen before) and began demanding the woman's personal stash of cherries. The soft-hearted grandmother conceded and gave her the whole bag and...well, you can see what happened when she tried to fit one too many in her little mouth. Priceless.
A little dancing during music time and then a back-to-back shot of O and Tee-Tee...(as you can see O is incapable of doing anything without a little bit of attitude)
Meet the four year old love of my life, you can call him Richi. He loves to ask me: "Who I is to you?" To which I whole heartedly reply, "You're my boyfriend Richi. Who am I to you?" To which he slyly smiles and says, "My girlfriend". You can't even see the grills on his teeth from these shots, but take my word for it, this boy has to be the coolest four year old ever.
There's no better way to end a day in Wicker Park than pushing Richi and Tee-tee on the swings before walking them home.
One day children were brought to Jesus in the hope that he would lay hands on them and pray over them. The disciples shooed them off. But Jesus intervened: "Let the children alone, don't prevent them from coming to me. God's kingdom is made up of people like these."
Matthew 19:13-15
No comments:
Post a Comment