Various Events

This past summer...Dave Finkle and Jonathan Camacho took some of the Junior High School boys on a weekend trip backpacking in the Sierras. They backpacked into Spicer Meadows and did some fishing, hiking, and swimming. It was the first time for some of the boys to go backpacking and of course there was a lot of complaining!

July....After a trip to Lake Tahoe for Patty and I, we took some kids to San Francisco. Started in Daly City by taking Bart into the Civic Center and then waiting in line to take a Cable Car over to Fisherman's Wharf. After walking around the Wharf we walked down to Ghiradelli Square for some ice cream. Then we took the same route back to the car. We all loved the Cable Car! The other pictures are of our visit to The Planetarium in San Francisco, a drive up in the mountains and the Junior High girls on a beach trip.

Homework Club Kicks Off

We've kicked off our new fall season of Homework Club. Another set of full groups with kids on waiting lists. Pre-Kinders started off with a new teacher this year as Margaret Coutts stepped down last Spring. We are very excited and happy to have Dawn Escobedo oversee the class!

Monday and Wednesday we have the younger kids - 1st thru 5th grade. The picture below is of the kids on their first day at Homework Club.

After we all meet together, we break into small groups by grade and work with the same leaders every week. This small group model has proved very successful as it allows us to develop deep and meaningful relationships with the kids. This is Lee and the 2nd graders. Then Gretchen with the 4th and 5th graders and lastly, the Pre-Kinders.

Hillside Fall Kick Off Picnic

Sunday September 11th was the annual Hillside Church Picnic held at Oak Meadow Park in Los Gatos. It is always a fun time of sharing food, playing games, and spending time with friends. 4 of the Farm Drive kids helped with the food preparation and below you can see them cooking sausages.

The watermelon eating contest by church staff was the most popular spectator event. Below you can see our fearless director Gary sucking down the sweet red melon!


Of course going to Oak Meadow would not be complete without a ride on the small steam train that takes you around the park and the neighboring Vasona Park. Here are some of our kids enjoying the ride.

Another contest is the ever popular Kajabi Can Can. One of our younger girls is making it tough on the boys. Go Samantha!

Help Wanted, or better Help Needed!

Farm Drive Neighborhood Center

The Pre-Kinders Class and Homework Club started back up the week of August 29th. We have many volunteers helping kids. This is the schedule for now but changes could be made as we see how many kids sign up. If you can help even one day a week, we can use you! We had about 65 kids between Pre-Kinders and High School that were a part of the Center last school year.

Pre-Kinders: Monday & Tuesday, 10am - 11:30am
1st-4th Grade: Monday & Wednesday, 3pm - 5pm
5th grade - High School: Tuesday & Thursday, 3pm - 5pm
All Grades evening homework help: Tuesday & Wednesday, 5pm - 7pm
We can always use volunteers to help the kids with homework, work on flashcards, learning to tell time, etc.
If you are interested in giving two hours per week, and in return, we will promise you a BIG blessing, please email patty@hillside.org or gary@hillside.org, or call Patty at 408.781.5984 or Gary at 408.807.6809.

Trip to the City

Took 5 kids to San Francisco. Started in Daly City with Bart to the Civic Center. Then took a Cable car to Fisherman's Wharf. Then walked to Ghiradelli Square. Had ice cream and took the Cable Car back. Here is a little video of the day.

A RECENT UPDATE

		This is a recent update to the Farm Drive Prayer Team. It gives you a very good update of the goings on around the Center:

Prayer Team, I apologize for not giving a Hume Lake report sooner. I have been really busy. Below are 2 emails I sent Gary and 1 that Pete sent to Gary and I. I know this is long but it is oh so important, esp. for those of you that know the kids that went to Hume Lake . It gives you a glimpse into what went on the day the kids got back from Hume Lake (last Saturday). Take your time and see how prayer works!

What a whirlwind. Just got back from taking 2 trips of kids home along with all their stuff. So, Jose suggested we go out and talk. What we are going to do is meet back here at 5 (Dawn, Pete and I and kids) take them out to eat (sit down…they are tired of fast type food and they want to talk) and then we are going to your house to swim. They were all surprised that you weren’t here. Sergio said he wanted to touch your bald head. Jose was disappointed too. Kinda cute. You are loved.

Tons of kids coming up and giving them hugs and it went the other way around too. Our guys were going over to cars of kids and giving them hugs, fist bumps, etc. Laney, Greg Begum, Elise, Josh, Bryan and Greg K. all said our kids are amazing. Very fun to be around. Josh did tell me he had the guys (am guessing Alan and Kevin) clean up trash because they weren’t listening in chapel. Marlene commented that they are not now “the Farm Drive kids” but they are Hillside kids. There were 2 kids that don’t even go to Hume but they knew someone at Valley so they signed up. They said (Laura and the guy...he had a nick name) that they are now going to go to Hillside . They made big-time friends with our kids. Lots of people were saying “are you going tomorrow? Brent is speaking and Mark (Stickler) is speaking in high school. All our guys said yes, they will be there.

Alan said he and Kevin were the only hispanics. Javier said pretty much the same thing. But they all said they had a blast, that there was so much to do, the speaker was so so but they loved the band. They bought CD’s.

Greg Kompelien said they did great and he loved being their cabin leader. Sounds like they really bonded with him. Greg Belgum loves those guys too. They are all chums now.

They were hugging kids like the Scianna boys, Martinez kids, etc. Rocky said they are all amazing. I told Marlene “now you see why I live where I live?” She said no, you have to let go and let them come over to our place. Great idea!!!!

I will give you another report tonite when I get home. We will try to keep the cost down but I want to do a sit-down because then I know they will talk. If we just did fast food, we wouldn’t have enough time for them to really open up.

Patty

Gary, ok…so we went to Applebees. Good time. Heard lots of stories. Then we went to your place and swam. Jose Robert and Javier stayed inside and talked with Pete and I a long time about the trip. Was good. Then we all jumped in. Nice and warm. Just got back. Alan said at dinner that he accepted Jesus into his heart. Cool. He also talked a lot about jr high things boys do. He and Kevin had fun being jr. high boys. We will follow up on Alan for sure. Need to have a one on one talk.

We asked them what they learned. At first, most were mainly silly things (at least from Alan and Kevin) but Jose said that God loves me. Javier said something about God is even with you in the bad situations. Later on at your place they got deeper. Made us think that when a bad situation happens, Javier knows God will somehow work it out. Had a little talk about that. Was good. Had a long talk about Catholics, Christians, baptism, difference between the 2, forgiving of sins, very good stuff real laid back at your place while sitting in the living room.

Someone made the comment that “we need to tell all these stories again for Gary ”. Sweet.

They kept singing (or trying to) parts of songs they heard. Christian worship songs, esp. in the pool. They baptized each other in your pool…a lot of dunking! Justine Morrow I guess was baptized in the lake at the end of the week. They liked that. They were asking about getting baptized again.

You can really tell they were away at camp. Doesn’t sound like any of them missed their phones or ipods. Robert said it was hard to use the touch pad at first. They talked about Ruben and how they need to get him out of the house. They all agree that it was a great time.

TTFN, Patty

This one is from Pete sent Monday morning all about Sunday sent to Gary and I

Busy day and I thought I would give you 2 an update on the day. Of course most of the Hume kids went to church except Kevin and Robert. I guess I was a little surprised at Javier and Anahi, actually making it to Hillside . I had to make 2 trips to get them there. (Patty one trip). Total of 14 kids!

Jose and Anahi sat in church with other highs school kids. Jose actually was "grabbed" by his new friend and taken over to their section. We did not take them to lunch - too many. Greg Belgum came by at 1:30 and he picked up Javier, Jose, Sergio, Alan and Javier's sister. He had to watch her and the only way Javier could go was if I brought her back at 4:15. Greg invited me earlier at church and I planned to go anyway. We went swimming. James Martinez showed up also. I came back at 4:15 since I was going to go to the homeless ministry anyway. They boys said that since Patty was gone if we could do a movie night and I said sure come over at 7:30.

Robbie's church was feeding the homeless so I invited him afterwards to come join the movie night. He and Jeremiah came over. When I got back from the homeless ministry the boys were downstairs in apt. 2 with James Martinez and Anahi. I found out that James came over to practice / go over some worship music with Anahi and the boys joined in. According to James he worked with Anahi who wrote a song but needed music. So James helped out. They then just played and practiced worship music together for a couple of hours!

The boys chose 2 movies they were interested in. Both were R and with Alan there I said we needed a PG13 so we watched the Prestige. Near the end of the movie - Robert showed up. Then a little later Robert Escobedo and Brandon Gross showed up. At 10:30 pm these guys were hanging out in our apartment just being guys: Jose, Sergio, Alan, Javier, Robert, Robert E., Brandon, Robbie, James, Jeremiah, Greg Belgum! (and me). Robbie pulled me aside and said it was so cool to see all these guys mixing it up!

Pete

Prayer Team, last night Dawn and Ruben Escobedo , Amanda Schader , Pete and I and I took a bunch of kids to the drive ins, a first for pretty much all of them and we invited the Gathering guys small group. A bunch of them came and we had a blast! Probably 30 of us total. Relationships. Time. Relationships. Time. Relationships. Time.

As you can see from the emails Hume Lake was life changing time for the kids. They are still talking about camp, the friends they met, the high school group on Sunday and love they felt, the staff, the music, on and on and on. People like Ruben, Dawn, Amanda, Robbie, James, Greg, Ian (don’t even all go to Hillside but are involved here at The Center) really have built relationships with the kids and that is what makes the difference…that and all your prayers! God is so so good and we are really seeing a difference in the way these kids live.

Keep praying for Sergio, Jose, Javier and Robert that we will get one on one time with them to see where each is spiritually….and of course that they will make a decision (if they haven’t already) for Christ. Anahi is a believer. Pray for Junior Highers Alan and Kevin. Alan turned his life over to Jesus and we will talk with him.

Thank you for reading this long letter and please keep praying for all we do here at Farm Drive ! We are busy. Sometimes I get a bit tired and weary and then stuff like this happens and it reenergizes me for sure!

Patty, Pete and Gary for the whole Farm Drive Team

July Update from Gary

Hey Everyone:

Wow………….God is so good!!! There are so many good things happening at Farm Drive. The activity is enough to keep anyone young!!! We are in the middle of summer and are having a great time with the kids. Lots of good stuff!! I want to give you a little glimpse into some “God sightings,” and some praises and prayer requests here.

· Most of you know that a few of our kids expressed an interest in going to Hume Lake. That few has blossomed into TEN kids-----five high schoolers and five junior highers. Four of the junior high kids are on the waiting list, so pray that it will be possible to get them in. I sent out an email asking for prayer for our kids and Hume Lake, and I must say, I was elated that so many of you have committed financially to making it possible for them to go. Many of you have come up to me and said, “This could be life-changing for these kids.” Thank you so much for your generosity!!! We had the kids working at the Center today to earn their deposit money. They did an awesome job!!!

· We have kids regularly going to our Hillside youth groups on Wednesday nights. This is an answer to prayer and it is so awesome to see them so eager to go!!! Tonight, as we were dropping them off, one of the kids (Jose) took a phone call from someone, and I overheard part of it. He said, “…..I’m at my church……” Wow!!! My heart soared!!!

· And speaking of Jose…………….. he and Sergio just got back from a Sports Camp put on by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. When I picked them up, Jose asked if he could talk to me about “something personal.” Of course, I said yes, and after some prompting, he said he needed to talk to me about Jesus. On Monday morning, I met with Jose. He told me about the camp, and about the times of testimony and worship that they had. It was obvious that he was touched by what he had heard, but he said he was “confused.” He did, however, have a really good grasp on what they were talking about, and about sin, and about who Jesus Christ is, and about his need for a relationship with Jesus. I told Jose that a lot of people have been praying for him for a long, long time. After we talked, he was not ready to make a commitment just then, but we prayed that God would make Himself real to him. Please pray for Jose and for the different leaders here who minister with him.

· Two of our kids, Elian Rivera (3^rd grade) and Eric Torres (5^th grade) both prayed to receive Christ during Bible Club!! Sweet!! There are so many people who had a part in these boys’ lives, and each one has been able to let them see a piece of Jesus through them!!! I guess Paul was right when he said that some planted, some watered and some harvested. A perfect example!!

· CRAM is going strong. This is our mentoring program for high school kids. We are probably adding five new 9^th graders to the program this fall. We were able to award our second laptop in June, when Dariela Salazar graduated from Gunderson High School. Very cool!!! There is one of our fringe kids, Elizabeth, who has all but dropped out of high school. School attendance isn’t important to mom, and so it isn’t important to Elizabeth. Enter her CRAM mentor, Paty Sayre. I saw Elizabeth a few weeks ago and she said that she was going out with Paty in the new few days. I asked how that was going. Elizabeth said, “She gives me homework.” “Homework??” I asked. “Yeah. She gave me math to do and last week she had me write an essay.” “Did you do it??” “Oh, yeah. I want to do it!!” And this is from a kid who doesn’t like school!!!! All it takes is someone who is committed to helping these kids a bit. Our end of the year reward for making grades was a trip to Six Flags up in Vallejo. The high school kids and the big kids who got to drive them had an awesome time.

· We attended four graduations in two days, handing out 20 balloons to our proud kids!!! It is so neat to be a part of these special events in the kids’ lives.

· Our Bike Ministry is still going strong. We have several committed guys----Brian Zylka, Jeff Moore, Dieter Haas and Dave Belgum, who try to get here every week to keep these kids rolling through the neighborhood. One of our ABF’s, Salt and Light, came down on a Saturday, worked on bikes, hung out with the kids and cooked them a hot dog lunch!! Very cool…………..

· We were able to get free tickets to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the De Anza Planetarium this summer. Both of these trips were very educational. We had 22 kids and five leaders go to the Aquarium, and ten kids and two leaders go to the Planetarium. I still can’t see those constellations that they show………the Hunter, Orion, etc. Whatever…………I just have to believe!!! We went to see fireworks the other night and one of the kids lay down on the ground and looked up and said, “I see Orion.” Whatever………….. But I do believe!!!

· We had seven kids go to our “Reward Breakfast.” These are the kids who went to every Homework Day, from January to the end of May. This is the first year we have done this, and I already know that we will have a bunch more than seven next time. Hometown Buffet can be tempting, huh???

· Most of you know that my sister-in-law, Dona, passed away in June. She had been on our Farm Drive Prayer List for many months, and the kids would regularly ask how she was doing. The kids here showed real compassion when Dona passed away. I got hugs and many sincere “I’m sorrys” from our kids. They are sooooo cool. Dona’s death really opened the door for us to talk to the kids. Most kids don’t understand deep subjects like this. Some of them have already experienced this type of loss first-hand. We were able to talk to kids like Marcus Barajas, who lost his mom to cancer just two years ago, about such things as why some people die from cancer, and some don’t. God does open doors……..

· This weekend, we are taking two groups up to Camp MayMac to support Iglesia during their Family Camp. Our kids will be working with the younger kids from Iglesia so that the parents can be involved in the camp program. It is so neat to see them serving. This is why kids like Jose say, “I’m at MY church.” Isn’t that awesome????

Thank you for your continued support of Farm Drive. Your prayer for the kids and their families is vital to the ministry here. God is so good, and we keep seeing it over and over!!! May God bless you much!!!

Gary

Update From the Director

Hello Everyone:

For a long, long time, we have been hoping and praying that our Farm Drive high schoolers would join in and become part of our Hillside High School group. This past Sunday, three of our guys went to the High School group and someone invited them to a beach party that was happening today. “Can we go,” they asked? Of course we said yes!!! This afternoon, six of our kids joined the Hillside High Schoolers on their beach trip. They had an awesome time!!!

Well, we picked the kids up at Church tonight, and got another question----“They were talking about Hume Lake. Do you think we could go??” Most of you know that our high schoolers go to Hume Lake every summer, and it is one of the most awesomely fun and spiritual times that one could attend!!! Four of our kids are drastically serious about attending. We get the feeling that at least two of these kids are on the verge of making a decision regarding salvation. Isn’t that awesome??? Do we want them to go to Hume Lake this summer?? Of course we do!!! Camp is in about three weeks. There is a minor stumbling block----the cost of the week-long camp is $495. None of these kids will be able to afford camp on their own, but I know that our God has a way to make this possibility into a reality.

Would you do me a favor??? Would you begin praying with us for Anahi, Javier, Jose and Sergio?? Pray that they will follow through with the camp applications. Pray that if it is truly God’s will, we can find a way to help these kids go to Hume Lake this year. And of course, if God lays it upon your heart to help financially, that would be awesome, too. Just let me know!!! This would be a true investment in the Kingdom!!

May God Bless you much!!!

Gary

PS: I hope to have a more complete update out to you this weekend. Watch for it!!! There is a lot going on!!

Weekend Camping Trip

In May we had our annual camping trip to the coast. We have gone the last few years to Memorial Park but it was closed this year. We went back to Portola State Park near La Honda where we have been to in the past. It turned out not to be a very good weather weekend being cold with a chance of rain. We actually left Saturday night with a storm coming in. We spent the night at Gary's house and cooked breakfast there. But we did get over 24 hours of true camping. Below is Gary leading a talk around the campfire about what our fears are. Great discussion.

Some of the different things that we did were play board games.

The campsite as we prepared a meal. Everyone took part in helping cooking and clean up.

Saturday afternoon some of us went on a hike. Exploring the redwoods and the creek is always fun.


We found a rope hanging from a tree along the creek not far from our campsite. Although the water was extremely cold a few brave souls went for a "swim"! Brrrr!

This is the hiking group.

This is one of the best trips we do every year as it is a great time to build relationships and get away from the grind of every day life. The kids always love it. It always builds memories for everyone!

Comments from Mentors

I have shared in the past about our CRAM program. We have just completed the 2nd school year of the program and here are a few comments about some of the work that is going on.

This first one is written by Patty (Havens) telling about a mentor, Paty S. and her relationship with a mentee:

I want to add one thing to all the mentors and that is that Elizabeth is feeling the love from Paty. They are meeting regularly, Paty is giving Elizabeth homework, and Elizabeth is actually doing the homework. Elizabeth is one of our harder to reach students. She is doing individual studies, only goes to school one day a week. We had no clue that Paty would be the perfect mentor for Elizabeth. Elizabeth feels love and care from Paty and for Elizabeth, that is huge.

The following comments are f rom Betty Watson, a mentor.

I also want to share with all of you some amazing and wonderful info about another Elizabeth, or as she prefers to be called “Eli”. Eli has had a very hard year losing a close friend about a year ago to death in a gang “drive by shooting”. She tells everyone in authority that I am her “advocate” and her Mom has actually signed papers legalizing that position for me in Eli’s life which has given me opportunity and open doors in both the school and the medical field with her doctors and counselor. It has been a long haul this year with Eli, up and down – in and out of school – meetings, appointments with doctors and counselors, school nurse, attendance personnel, etc.

But, finally in the last few weeks there has been a significant turnaround in Eli choices and attitudes. Yesterday when I picked her up after school she told me she was sorry the year was over and she was going to miss school. She also told me next year was a new opportunity for her to make good choices and have a fresh start. In the last month I am seeing a new Eli, whose attitude has changed; she smiles, talks, shares her feelings, made a cake to take to her class two weeks ago to share in a party there, took her camera to take pictures at the last Frosh pep rally, etc. All of a sudden she is coming alive in a way I have never seen before. Yesterday when she came up to my car to get in, she was glowing!! I told her she was beautiful. After school she told me others noticed and commented on how pretty she looked. I told her it was because she was smiling – even her eyes were shining with life. That her beauty was coming from inside her. (She tells me she has given her life to Jesus.

I will continue to take her to her weekly counseling appointments this summer which will keep us connected the next two months. We will do lunch along with those trips as well as some other little things. I pray God will continue to bring hope into Eli’s life as we continue to talk about what a relationship with Jesus looks like.

Also, Lupe just completed two entire years at Broadway yesterday. She just kept saying on the way home – “I can’t believe two whole years have gone by.” This is a huge accomplishment as she had only 30 credits toward her graduation requirement of 240 credits when she began at Broadway. It looks as though she may be able to graduate next February. She has also been getting special after school reading tutoring in the “Barton Program” two afternoons a week since February and this summer it will increase to 4 times a week. She is working so hard to learn to overcome her learning disabilities and to raise her son well! And she is doing it. Mikey is a bright little boy nearly 2 ½ years old. It is a joy to watch how much he is learning at school also.

I just wanted all of you to be encouraged at how God is working in these three lives. As my long time mentor always told me while at Farm Drive – “Keep pressin’ on”. God is faithful, He will use us if we show up. That is what keeps me going when I feel overwhelmed.

Have a wonderful summer in the Lord!! Blessings, Betty

Love and Faith Celebration Dinner

On April 1st, Hillside Church had a Celebration Dinner starting off their Love and Faith Stewardship Campaign. They asked Ruben to cook the meal so he had some Farm Drive kids help with food preparation but more importantly, to serve the food. Below is the group getting last minute instructions.


We had two lines of people getting food.

Cristina was doing an outstanding job of serving. She was talking to everyone by name. Many were surprised that she knew their name not realizing they were wearing name tags!

Cristina and Jessica were in charge of drinks for the dessert.

Lupe and Dariela like to bake. They both would like to make a career out of baking. We asked them if they would like to bake the desserts for the Celebration. They did lots of different types of cookies, cupcakes, and cakes. They did an excellent job.

Since Farm Drive is one of the recipients of some of the money raised during this campaign, they asked if we had somebody who would share about their experiences. Jose, below, shared how the Center has made an impact on his life and on his family too!

Group picture! We had a very long and hard day with preparation, serving, and cleaning up. But it was well worth it! What a great team!

A Couple of Park Days

A couple times a year the kids have a day off due to a holiday or a teacher in service day. With the kids not having much to do, we schedule different events. Even with the lousy weather this past winter, we had a couple of park days where we got fortunate with the weather. The next two pictures are from Alamaden Park.


The next group of pictures were from another day at the park. This is at Hellyer Park. Beautiful Park.

Played a little Bocce Ball. A few of our helpers - Lee, Kay, and Amanda with Michael.

The whole gang. Taking the picture is Gary's friend from Kosovo who was visiting him. He is currently in college in Texas.

Crystal's Quinceanera

Crystal who is a part of the Center had her Quinceanera last week. A few of us were involved as Padrina's. Below is Crystal with Ruben and Gary. One of the things they do at a quinceanera is Crystal picks kids to be a part of a special dance. They are called chambelanes. They practice a special dance, in Crystal's case, a waltz, with the birthday girl. Below is some of the chambelanes actually performing the waltz during the ceremony. Two of the chambalenes were Sergio and Jose who are here pictured with Rocky Martinez. Lesley, Jose, Sergio, and Crystal's brother Fidel were all Chambelanes. The next little guy is Crystal's other little brother, Danny. Rocky and Crystal. Rocky is Crystal's mentor in the CRAM program at the Center. It was a fun evening down in Morgan Hill. Us American's are not used to a slow relaxing pace for an event! It is supposed to be a time of just enjoying the moment with friends and family and if it takes a long time to get through the planned events, that's ok. Just need to be out of the place by one in the morning!

Special Education Certificate

I just realized that we have not posted here in about a month. Kinda get busy and forget to post some updates of the goings on around here! Last night Gary, Patty, and I (Pete) went to an awards presentation of a community Advisory Committee who started 3 years ago recognizing people and institutions who do outstanding work in the area of special needs in the San Jose Unified School District area. Someone nominated Farm Drive and we were recognized at the awards ceremony last night! Each person/group that was recognized had a short little tidbit on what they do and why they were nominated. Many were teachers from the district. It was truly an inspiring night! Below is our certificate! Good job Gary and Patty!

Update From the Director

Hey Everyone:



I want to start by saying thank you for your continued support for Farm Drive. Things are happening down here. It is so neat to be part of such a vital and vibrant ministry. It is evident that God is on the move in the neighborhood. I hope that you are all doing well. I am currently in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, for a gymnastics tournament. No, no………….I am not competing!! I am a total spectator. Even trying to get up on that balance beam would be treacherous!!! We just wanted to update you on a few things happening in the neighborhood.



· In January, we took 10 of our older kids to the snow. Thanks to Mike and Terry Sodergren, we had a great place to stay. I don’t particularly like snow, but for some reason the kids love it!! We decided to “tell our stories” to the kids, and Patty, Pete and I each shared our journeys in life---all very different, but all with a consistent theme----God is in control and we can trust Him. Afterward, we gave each of the kids a time to share, and there were some very intimate moments, including broken families, families with substance abuse, split families due to deportation of a parent, etc. One of their consistent themes was that they find love and respect at the Farm Drive Neighborhood Center. No matter what our situation, God loves us and has something better in store for us. This was a highlight of my time at Farm Drive!!



· Earlier this year, we decided to open up the Center for homework extra homework assistance on Wednesday evenings. We started slow………..one or two kids and four or five leaders. For the last several weeks, we have been having 8-10 kids show up for help. Not bad when we are dealing with 3rd and 4th grade homework. Know what these kids are learning now?? Try graphing equations, figuring out which elements have negative ions, solving quadratic equations by completing the square, etc. Remember that stuff??? I remember hearing about them!!! Math was a really easy subject for me in school, but I tell you what---a lot of that is gone from my memory now!! If you have math and science skills, we could sure use you!!! Talk to Patty or me for more details. One of our most recent attendees is Ruben T, who has kind of written school off…..it’s just not important. For the last few weeks, he has been attending and I admire him for the strides he is making!!



· Several of our kids are helping out at Hillside on Sunday mornings. For several months, Sergio and Jose have been ushering for the first service. Now Alan has joined in the usher ranks!! These three guys are also helping in the nursery when needed, and are joined by Crystal, Jessica and Inez. It’s good to see the kids in “serving roles.” Oh, talking about serving-----we have about 12 kids who are going to be serving at the Faith and Love Beyond Ourselves Celebration banquet on April 1st. Normally, our resident caterer, Ruben Escobedo HIRES the kids to work events and pays them for their service. We asked them to consider helping to serve at this event with no pay, to give back to Hillside for all of the things our Church has done for them. EVERYONE OF THE KIDS WE ASKED IS EAGER TO SERVE!!! Isn’t that neat??? Please mark your calendar----this is an event that you won’t want to miss. One of our kids will be sharing his experience with the Farm Drive Neighborhood Center. I’m eager to hear what he has to say!!!



· Our CRAM Program is moving along. We have seven kids who “made the grade” for this past grading period. This is AWESOME. Some of them are just below the mark, and are trying hard to get their grades up. Each of these kids was given a gift card to Panda Express as a reward for achieving their goal. We have a Hillside member who is contributing $5 for every “A” during a grading period, and as soon as our wandering CRAM Director (Becky Kompelien) comes back from Africa, we will be giving out $100 for “A”s. Very cool. I do have to tell you about Omar. Omar had pretty much straight “F”s at the end of the first semester in December. I had a long talk with him about the importance of education and all that. He did tell me he would try harder this semester. About a week before the end of the grading period, Omar texted me and asked if I had checked his grades. I told him that I had not had a chance and asked what his grades were. He told me he had four “A”s and two “B”s. I remember looking at Patty and saying, “I don’t know if he’s messing with me, or what.” Well, he wasn’t!!! When I asked him what changed, he said, “I gave you my word that I would try.” Talk about commitment!! Isn’t that awesome???



· We recently had a momentary slip in judgment and scheduled what we called “19 Hours of Fun”, an overnight experience lasting, duh, 19 hours!!! What were we thinking??? We had 23 kids and nine leaders (five stayed all night!!). We played in the park, we BBQed, we played Wii, Farkle and Wii, we made cookies-----and several of the braver kids even swam!! What fun these kids are. We made it through all 19 hours, and had all 23 kids at the end………….and they were even the same kids we started with!!! This is the stuff memories are made of!



· A few of our older kids have expressed an interest in participating on a short-term missions trip to Kosovo this summer. They have heard me talk about my experiences and the work we do that, and are interested in checking it out. I know it would be an eye-opener for them. It is a bit more costly than other trips we take with the kids and we will need some divine intervention to work out finances. Please pray with us about direction for this trip. If it is something that God wants us to do, He will work it out.



Thank you so much for all you do to support the ministry at Farm Drive. Kids and families are being touched on a regular basis. We could not do it without your prayers and financial support. May God Bless you as you have blessed the families in the neighborhood!!!



Gary

19 hours of fun - praying for dinner

Another video shot that night. Turn up your volume...pretty cute.

19 Hours of Fun - Wii playing at Gary's

During the week of February 21st, the kids were out of school for the holidays. Numerous events were planned but the first one was called 19 Hours of Fun. From 3 pm on Monday afternoon until 11 am the next day, 20 kids plus a few adults spent the time at Gary's house. From playing at the local park, to swimming, to playing different games, playing cops and robbers at the park in the dark, the time was packed with fun. Here are a few videos I took. More pictures later.

When 1000 Grandmothers Pray

Gary, Patty and I went to a CCDA Regional Conference (Christian Community Development Conference) this past weekend. At lunch Gary and I met Loretta. She goes into various girls homes and foster homes and just hangs out with the girls. She has also met a lot of women like her that are older and society tells them they don't have much to offer. But she says we can pray for these girls. She started a blog and sends out emails to grandmothers who sign up for her blog to pray for different girls every week.


The blog is called When 1000 Grandmothers Pray.

She sure was inspiring to talk to. I hope and pray that I can be that focused and determined at that age!

Check it out.

Extra Homework Assistance

A few of us guys who work during the afternoons but who would like to help out with homework assistance are coming to the Center on Wednesday evenings to help anyone who needs extra help. We are there from 5 to 7 pm and we are open for all neighborhood kids, which is different than Homework Club where kids are in a small group and have to sign up.

We still have about 10 kids who are on the waiting list to join Homework Club so this is a perfect time for them to get homework help. Also the older kids have a lot more homework every day so this gives them extra help since they only come 2 days a week to Homework Club. This allows them to get more time on a computer to do the reports that they need to get done.

A big thanks to Dieter Haas, Art Hori, Danny Read, Becky Kompelien, plus Gary, Patty and myself for volunteering their time to help out. Every week the kids keep us all pretty busy. We started out 2months ago with maybe 2 to 4 kids showing up but the past 3 weeks we have had 8 to 10 kids show up! If you have 2 hours on Wednesday's from 5 to 7, see Gary, Patty or I or just show up! We especially need help with Junior High and High School math, algebra, geometry
and science. Also kids are always needing the computer to write things, research and do reports. It's nice to have someone sit by them and help them out.

It's the little things that help and add up. I helped a neighborhood college gal last week by helping her with her taxes. She got her first job last year and needed help filling out the tax forms. She is going to be getting money back! Actually because of Obama's work credit program she is getting more back than she paid into the system!

Older Kids Snow Trip

The last couple of years we have taken kids to the snow to play and yes, to get cold. This year we decided to divide the older kids from the younger ones so we will be going twice. Using a cabin so graciously donated by some friends, we took 10 junior high/high school kids up near Pinecrest Lake. Below is one of the car loads on the way up.

We got up early Saturday morning and headed to a spot along the river near Strawberry. We were the first ones there but the snow was like ice and it was cold. Great tube run...a bit dangerous but super fast!

Angie, Inez, Briseida, and Crystal all looking pretty... even in the cold.


Jose catching some air! Of course it hurt!

As you go through these photos notice the smiles.

Who needs a sled or tube? It was fast enough without saucers or tubes.

Here's the whole crew minus Patty who took the picture. A large crowd started to show up so we moved on over to Pinecrest Lake for lunch. They had picnic tables on the beach. Snowy, not sandy.

The lake was mostly frozen. Everybody likes to try and break the ice. Notice the rocks on the ice. A few of the kids even tried to step out onto the ice despite our protests.

We came back to the cabin for dinner and a chance to kick back.

We had some times together where we shared our "stories". Patty, Gary, and myself (Pete) each shared why we were at Farm Drive but also where God has led us over the years of our lives. We encouraged the kids to share their stories too. It was really a neat time of bonding and building of relationships.

The team