April at By The Hand

So the last few months have gone extremely quickly! I can't even believe it! It's been quite a while since I've last sent an update, so I thought it was about time.

The kids at BTH were on spring break in March, and I had the chance to hang out with some kids while they were off school. On March 29, we did a special event for some of our girls called "Color Me Beautiful". We talked about beauty, self-image, being African-American (sadly, many kids make comments that they wish they weren't black), etc. We talked with about 10 girls about how models don't necessarily look the same way when they get out of bed as they do in the magazines. We also showed them this video, created for Dove's "Campaign for Real Beauty". I HIGHLY encourage everyone to watch this short video. It's an amazing reality check for real women to see how people in magazines look the way they do.

April 8th was the By The Hand Spring Benefit. It went EXTREMELY well, despite the lack of enough valet parking staff. :) We enjoyed listening to student testimonies, hearing the choir sing, watching the Super Bowl Shuffle, and hearing about the students' 2009-10 newspaper writing project. Each student at By The Hand wrote an article on the Chicago Bears and winners were chosen from each grade.

We also had the opportunity to listen to Lovie Smith, head coach of the Bears, speak to us. Several Bears players came that night and benefit guests were able to meet Zack Bowman, Tim Shaw, other Bears players, and Staley the Bear (the mascot).

I'll post pictures from the benefit and from Color Me Beautiful as soon as I can. Please keep praying for By The Hand. It's really difficult towards the end of the year, because students want to run around outside rather than be in the program. Pray that students continue to come to the program so that we can pour into them. Also pray about many fighting issues that are going on in the neighborhood. We've had to disenroll quite a few kids lately because of fighting issues that were becoming a danger to other kids in the program. Also pray for academics. Towards the end of the year, it'd difficult for students (and teachers) to be motivated, and we really want students to continue learning and improving academically. And as always, please pray that students will come to know Christ and grow closer to him, because it is that relationship that will influence every part of their lives.

Thanks so much for your prayer and support!

-Sarah