Followup to previous post

We ended up driving 4 neighbor girls to Hera’s funeral. It started late so we got to talk while waiting outside the church. The funeral itself was all in Spanish so it was hard to understand. It was sad and the whole thing felt so senseless. 20 year old young men should not be dying of shootings. Our girls were crying off and on. They knew Hera way better than I. There were a lot of people from the neighborhood there, even some older kids that have not been around at the Center for several years so it was great to see them and give them a hug. It was good to see and talk to Hera’s brothers and even his dad as well. I am sure as time passes the girls will open up more about their feelings. Today it was just a day to cry.

Tonite I was out in the neighborhood hanging with kids and got to talk more about what happened. It is all the buzz in the hood. We talked about how sad it was, how Hera’s family has lost so much, about gangs, choices, and more. One girl Ellie said she didn’t think she’d be able to sleep tonite.

So it was a hard day but in the end, a cool thing happened. All the Barajas kids walked down to our apt. and they invited Pete and I to their house to have cake and celebrate Maria’s birthday. It was mainly the family and a couple friends. We had a wonderful and fun time. Enclosed is a picture of Maria and her dad and as you can see Maria was all smiles. That was so good to see. Her mom Elizabeth died June 28^th, not even 5 months ago. So, God turned our sad day into a very happy day.

Thank you for your prayers. God is so good! Patty

Part of What We Do:

Here is a prayer request Patty sent out today - an example of how important it is to just being here:

This morning at 10am Gary and I are going to a funeral for a young man that used to live in the neighborhood. His family (7 kids) moved away around 2 years ago. 3 of the 6 kids (Jose, Junior and Victor) were involved at the Center. The funeral is for the oldest 20 year old son Hera who was shot and killed outside his house last Tuesday. Could be gang related, we don’t know. Hera had been in a lot of trouble in the past. He had just come from the Farm Drive neighborhood where he visited so a bunch of neighbor kids had just seen him so his death came as a shock.

Yesterday afternoon Pete and I drove 5 of our older neighborhood girls to Hera’s house where they had the rosary and Hera’s body. A very sad and hopeless sight. Lots of people there, all in black, crying and praying the rosary. The girls all got to see and touch Hera’s body. We got to see Hera’s 3 brothers that used to be involved at the Center and that was nice. The sad news is that Jose who was the oldest of those 3 has changed a lot and seems headed down a dangerous path, just like his older brother. A lot of anger there.

Pray today for Gary and I as we go to the funeral. We want to support the family and we want to be available to the kids that go to the funeral that live in the neighborhood now like those 5 girls that we took to Hera’s yesterday. Maybe we will have time to take them to lunch after. We know it is important to the kids to show them we care for Hera and his family. This has shaken up some of the older kids and it has opened up some great opportunities to talk about choices, gangs etc.

Thanks. Patty

Halloween week at Farm Drive

On Halloween morning at Bible Club the Junior High girls and Rosa and I decorated cupkakes and then we gave them to the older girls and all the leaders. We had a great time. This is Briseida, Jessica, Rosa and Angie.


This is Zareli who came over Halloween day in the afternoon to show us her vampire costume. She lives right across the driveway from us.


Halloween night we had a party and opened the Center. We bbq'd hamburgers and hotdogs and then played and later we made s'mores out on the patio on the fire pit. A fun night. Kids came in and out all night and we got to see lots of fun costumes. This is the view from our apt. balcony.


Making s'mores and enjoying the fire with neighbors

The week of Halloween we took the younger kids to a pumpkin patch. They played on bounce houses and got a pumpkin to take home. This slide was a favorite! Samantha and Alexis sure seemed to think so.

A bunch of kids showing their pumpkins.

Rich and Samantha, Briseida nd Eveline

One other night we took the older kids to a corn maze. The corn was so high! We all had a blast getting lost in the maze. Here we are getting our wristbands.

A typical scene in the maze. Which way to go? The sunset was beautiful that night.

The kids got to feed this cow. What a great week of being with the kids. And that's what it is all about.

Kids Club at Canoas Elementary

For the past 4 years I have been a part of Kids Club at the local elementary school where most of the kids in the Farm Drive neighborhood attend. Every Tuesday from 12:15 till 2:15 we play games, have a snack, hear a Bible Story and get to know our small group.

I love 5th grade girls so I have them again this year. I have 7 girls and that is a handful but we have a lot of fun and I am already getting to know them. They are an awesome group of girls.

My prayer is that they would learn more about who God is and they would take what they learn on to middle school next year and it would make a difference in their lives.

Giselle, Itzayana, Gaby, Jacky, Jazmen, Zobeida and Tiffany.

Disneyland with family

Pete, Jessica and I went to Disneyland last week for my brother-in-laws 50th birthday. My sister Mel, her hubby Mike (birthday boy) and their 2 girls and their kids all went. We had a great time. This is Pete and I right outside Disney California.




Princess Pete...so very pretty!



Jessica and her cousin Cherlyn's little boy Bobby.

Think this was on the Matterhorn

Patty's Trip to Scio, Oregon

My sister Mel and I met up in Scio, Oregon where my mom and dad live, for 5 days of relaxing and seeing our family. This is a picture of us 3 girls (my sister Becky lives in Corvallis which is close by) with our 94 year old grandma. We love visiting her every time we visit.

Mom and grandma.



My dad mowing the lawn. They have a huge lawn so he uses a riding mower. That is a great place to just sit and talk and relax. They have a porch swing out there and one morning we all sat out there for almost 3 hours and just talked. That was a treat!


This is my mom and dad's garden. Even at 75 they still have a huge garden and like to can things like tomatoes, pears, apples, etc.

Dad on his mower listening to his ipod.

Us 3 girls on that swing I was talking about.

Mom and dad.

All of us with the dogs of course.

Small Groups Fall 09

In order to have a successful Homework Club, we feel small groups are the best way to go. The kids get help with their homework from their leader and the leaders build relationships with their kids as well. We don't have more than 5 kids in a group. Each group has a name that they give themselves. They do their homework together, they go to our "store" together, and have snack together. Every group has the same age kids in it and same sex too (at least for the older kids).
Our older guys group call themselves "The Jackson 5"



Our older girls call themselves. . . The Purple and Green Butterflies

Las Mariachis for the younger girls


Here's The Great Green Party Sharks (anything having to do with Sharks)

My younger girls group is called "Cosmo's Chicas" (after Cosmo our dog)

We have11 small groups for the elementary age kids. That's the most we've every had. My group on Monday's and Wednesday's meets upstairs in my apt. The kids love coming here and we love having them!