one year of mentoring.

A year ago we started mentoring a girl through Ezekiel Ministries, a local non-profit that connects adults with kids in mentoring relationships.

David and I are friends with the director of Ezekiel, and our church has supported this ministry almost since we began. I’ve watched several friends mentor over the years, and love hearing about their friendships. I have wanted our family to mentor a child too, but one thing I respect about Ezekiel is they ask for a long-term commitment, so I didn’t want us to take the decision lightly.

At the beginning of last year, the director let us know about a girl who needed a mentor, who I’ll call A., and I immediately began wondering if the time was right for our family to pursue her. Well, it was! There was a several-month delay due to the pandemic, but she and I finally had our “match day” in June, 2020.

She’s been a weekly part of our lives since then, but I’m not able to post pictures of her online. It’s felt strange not to include her on the blog, but we take plenty of pictures and have them as part of our family story.

A. comes over after school on Thursdays for a couple of hours. She is 11 years old, and enjoys reading, Pokemon, playing games, and being outside. She has some special needs, and so this has been a really good opportunity for our kids to learn to love someone who’s different from them. A. has told us that she’s been bullied in school, so I’ve always prayed for our home and our family to be a safe place for her to let down her guard and be herself.

I’d say it took a good 6 months for the kids to all mesh together and A. to begin to feel comfortable with us. But now she does! If the weather is nice, they play outside. Often it’s a trampoline game or dress up. Judah is a teenager now, of course, so he’s kind of in and out with the younger kids. Sometimes they’ll play games, or we’ll go to the river. Last week we went to Pelican Snoballs. One of my favorite things is when A. just kicks off her sneakers, finds a book, and lays on the sofa to read it. As you see photos of the living room in my last post, this is truly my heart: that, more than being pretty or creative, it’s a place where people feel at home.

I enjoy connecting with A.’s foster mom and building a friendship with her, through snatches of conversation at pick up or drop off, attending A’s birthday dinner with Amie, asking about her kids and grandkids and work.

We feel honored to be a regular part of A’s life for as long as the Lord allows us to.