An Early Morning Super Bowl Party

    The change in the weather has been a really nice blessing the past few days.  During the day the weather is still warm and sunny, but the nights are cool.  I am reminded of what August feels like when I am in Holland, Mi.  All I can hear right now are the few conversations that are taking pace throughout the house and the crickets outside.  The fact that I have not had to experience more than a month of the Chicago winter this year was really a bonus.  I was able to appreciate the cold and snow for a short time and then come right back to the summer.
    On Sunday we had a super bowl party at Deo Doxa, one of the churches that we are involved with.  The party started at one in the morning!  Each cooking team made two dishes to share, and we all climbed into the vans with our pjs on and our pillows in hand.  Many people on the team took naps for a few hours but I could not get my body to fall asleep.  This was probably the first year that I really paid attention to the super bowl, probably because there were a few of our African friends who were not sure what was going on.  When the game was finished the sun had already risen, and it was time for us to go to bed.  A few days later we are still a little thrown off from the lack of sleep but it was a good time.
    I have fallen in love with the kids even more after being gone for Christmas.  The thought of leaving them in a few months is really hurting my heart.  I am not sure how that adjustment will go.  It has also been hard to get to know the kids more because they have a very little hope in their lives.  There are very few parents that are good examples for their children.  Yesterday we were talking about forgiveness in my class and the kids have no idea what that looks like.  We started to talk about fights and how the kids should forgive each other and walk away.  Walking or running away from a fight is not an option.  The kids said that if they run home to their parents, they will send them back out to fight back.  How can I teach them to forgive when they have never seen it done?