Turkey, Target Center & the Timberwolves
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I hope this most recent blog finds you all well rested and rejuvinated for the week ahead! In what was this Thanksgiving holiday season, Ace Hoops has LOTS to be thankful for: a generous base of supporters, a strong network of prayer, and amazing kids! Over the Thanksgiving weekend, Ace Hoops had an awesome opportunity to enjoy, with our kids, own little Thanksgiving celebration. A bit revised from what you may be accustomed to, but it went something like this:
Instead of turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie, we enjoyed platefuls of pizza, doritos and oreo cookies. (Not the usual fixings, but for many, equally as good!) And instead of sitting through and having to watch another year of disasterous Detroit Lions football on Thanksgiving Day, we visited Target Center on Saturday evening and watched (in the eyes of some, still disasterous!) the Minnesota Timberwolves take on the Warriors of Golden State. (We lost by 12 or so…..)
While the venue and the style in which we celebrated Thanksgiving with our kids may be unorthodox, many of the same elements nonetheless existed. Thanksgiving is a time for food, fun and fellowship. It is a time to remember and reflect upon all the ways we are blessed. (Because we are blessed!) It is a time to be thankful!
Before leaving for the game, we enjoyed our Thanksgiving feast at Kristen’s house in South Minneapolis. Crammed around a few couches and a table, we enjoyed each other’s company. Laughed, told stories and jokes….but one particular side-comment struck me very powerfully. One of our kids, in looking around Kristen’s house, noticed pictures of the Ace Hoops kids on her walls and fridge.
Before leaving for the game, we enjoyed our Thanksgiving feast at Kristen’s house in South Minneapolis. Crammed around a few couches and a table, we enjoyed each other’s company. Laughed, told stories and jokes….but one particular side-comment struck me very powerfully. One of our kids, in looking around Kristen’s house, noticed pictures of the Ace Hoops kids on her walls and fridge.
“You mean, you actually put up pictures of us?”
The comment seemed like a simple one, but it had, I think, some signficant undertones: (1) a hint that he had not seen this before, maybe that his pictures were not up one the walls of his home (who knows…) and (2) regardless of the exact home situation, this young man came to a realization that we were proud of him. In this place, in the Ace Hoops family, he was a somebody. He was loved and he was valued.
Maybe the greasy pizza and handful of oreos didn’t sit in the stomach as well as my Turkey feed did days earlier. And maybe the Timberwolves will never replace the tradition of Thanksgiving Day football. But the experience of our unique Ace Hoops Thanksgiving was equally as meaningful.
Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate with loved ones the bonds that unite us (even basketball!).
We’re pressing on in our investment with these kids, seeking to show Christ in our actions, attitudes and words and, in doing so, thankful (and humbled) as we watch our family grow closer to each other and closer to Him. Continue to pray for an openness in the hearts of these kids to feel loved and accepted.
Even with something as simple as a picture on a wall….
We’re pressing on in our investment with these kids, seeking to show Christ in our actions, attitudes and words and, in doing so, thankful (and humbled) as we watch our family grow closer to each other and closer to Him. Continue to pray for an openness in the hearts of these kids to feel loved and accepted.
Even with something as simple as a picture on a wall….
