An update on my Q scrabble tile...

One of my kids I've nicknamed "Q" (the scrabble tile that's nearly impossible to use, but once you do, it's worth a lot!) just got all As, Bs, and Cs on his report card! I couldn't believe it! Thanks for praying!

The other student is still on the verge of being disenrolled. Please continue to pray for him.

"When I came to By The Hand and heard about Jesus...

...it was the best thing..."

-One of my boys said this to me today.

Some more info on "Christmas in the City"

Christmas In the City

On December 8^th-10^th we will be taking all our kids (a different site on each day – see below) downtown to Old Navy on State St, giving them a $25 gift card to shop as well as $5 for dinner at McDonald’s. This is a really unique experience for the kids, especially because everything is decorated for Christmas. The window displays at Macy’s are always a big hit! We are looking for people to donate gift cards for both Old Navy and McDonald’s.

Tuesday, December 8^th – Cabrini

Wednesday, December 9^th – Austin

Thursday, December 10^th – Altgeld and Englewood

CBK (to Water Tower)

If you would like to volunteer, please let me know! I definitely could use the help for this day! You need to be an approved volunteer to help out, but I can get you a volunteer application or you can apply on our website. If you don't want to volunteer weekly and only want to do special events like Christmas in the City, please just mark that on your application. Then you can just join us for events when it works in your schedule (ahem...siblings--can I get anyone any applications? :) )

This Week at By The Hand

There are only two days left until Thanksgiving! I can't believe it! Here are a few things to be praying about this week:

This Wednesday night: We provide an opportunity for the kids to symbolically nail their sins to the cross like Christ was nailed. Chapel will touch on holiness, closing our TORCH series (we've been doing a series called TORCH that stands for: Tell, Obey and Pray, Read the Bible, Church, Holy Life). In chapel, we will give the kids a minute to think of some things they have done that is not pleasing to God. Then during homework time they will write those things down on small pieces of paper. We will tell the kids not to put their names on the paper so no one knows who wrote it. But we will tell the kids that later on as we take the sins off the cross, we do read them so we can pray for them even though we don’t know who goes with what paper. These sins also gives us a better idea of what kinds of issues our kids are dealing with and what topics we can be teaching on the rest of the year using our other Bible study curriculum.

We will have a lesson about Christ, sin, and grace on Wednesday night. The kids will have an opportunity to nail their sins to the cross while we play part of the Jesus film.

This is definitely a powerful night, and a night that Satan has definitely attacked in the past. Please pray for this "Nail Your Sins to the Cross" lesson, which begins at 5:30pm on Wednesday night.

Recap from Boxes of Love: This past Saturday, some staff and volunteers delivered boxes of Thanksgiving food to families in our community. It went really really well, and I was really excited to have my brother, sister-in-law, their kids, my boyfriend, and a friend from church come and help out. They got to meet some of my kids and their families, which was really fun for me. There will be pictures coming soon!

Other prayer requests: Please just pray for this week with the kids (Tuesday and Wednesday). It's always crazy with the kids right before they go on a break for school. Satan also really attacks at times like this when we're going to do a lesson like the nail your sins to the cross lesson.

Also, please just be praying that I can get all my tasks done that I need to get done. We have quite a few things due by Wednesday, including write-ups on each of the students. I'm a bit overwhelmed by all that I have to do and I would really really appreciate your prayers.

As always, thanks for your prayer and support!

Love,

Sarah

Fall Fundraising Drive Update

Thanks so much to those of you who have generously donated to the Fall Fundraising Drive! Because of your generosity, the Green Team at Cabrini (my team) is in the lead for raising the most money! Our kids are working hard to earn money. For example, an anonymous donor said they will give $1 for every kid who finishes homework while at By The Hand. This can potentially add up to $2000! Students on my team can also earn 25 cents for every journal entry they write. Some students take the money that they have and may spend on the store or elsewhere and decide to donate it.

In case you don't know about the Fall Fundraising Drive, here's some info about it:

Vision:

To help kids in critical need have abundant and eternal life.

Goal:

Our goal for the Fall Fundraising Drive is two-fold: to teach our children about stewardship and God's faithfulness and to raise a total of $1,000,000 for By The Hand by the end of the year. Every dollar given will be matched by an anonymous, generous donor up to $500,000, bringing our total raised to $1 Million. The goal for the children's coin drive is to raise

$50,000 and each individual team goal is $2,000.

What is the Fall Fundraising Drive?

The Fall Fundraising Drive is a collective effort of our kids, staff, volunteers and donors to raise a total of $1 Million in scholarship money for our children to attend By The Hand. Every $1 given will be matched.

When does the Fall Fundraising Drive begin and end?

The Fall Fundraising Drive was launched at Take a Child By The Hand on Saturday, Sept. 19.

The drive runs for fourteen weeks, ending on December 31.

Where will the Coin Drive be held?

Each team has a jug to collect donations. Teams can be creative in placing jugs at local businesses (Starbucks, Chiropractor, etc.), dorm room floors, Sunday Schools, volunteer's homes, etc. Donations can also be made through check or cash. Just designate which team the money should go towards (my team: CG-Green Team).

Will there be a team competition?

Yes, five team competitions will be held: By The Hand C-G, A-G, AU, EW and
CBK. The team which raises the most money in each competition will win a field trip to the movies. We will report team standings every week in Chapel.

How will we teach our kids about stewardship and monitor our progress?

In chapel, Meg will give several lessons on why God calls us to be good stewards. Team leaders will discuss these teachings with their kids.

Every week each team's standings will be displayed. To encourage the kids, the team which raises the most money (every other week) will receive a small prize. When we reach our final goal of $50,000, we will have a party to celebrate the success (most likely in January).

Culture Elective

Every Tuesday and Thursday, I teach a culture elective for a few of the kids at By The Hand. We learn about different people and places around the world. A couple weeks ago, we had my friend Emily from Wheaton, who also now volunteers at By The Hand, teach an elective on Zambia. She taught elementary school in Zambia for several months last year.

Here are a few pictures of the kids wearing Zambian clothes and learning a Zambian dance: