Scrapbooking and Gerrek’s reflections

After a few days of not seeing the kids, I finally got to meet up with them and spend just a little more time with them before they left.  The kids were finishing up with breakfast, and  the moment Vlad saw me, he grabbed my hand and ran me downstairs to the scrapbooking basement.  Each of the kids had an area all to themselves with an empty scrapbook, their name, a ton of pictures, and three hours to make a perfect scrapbook.  There was a frenzy for the colorful pages, stickers, scissors, and glue for the first hour.  All the kids and their helpers got down to business filling their book with memories from the past three weeks.  After the kids got the hang of how to do the work, they were flying around the room getting all their things in line.  I saw kids pulling their helpers, helpers pulling their kids, kids showing the other kids, and pictures being exchanged for keepsakes.  Vlad loved the Spiderman, car, and animal stickers.  He cut out photos, pasted them all over the page, and covered it with stickers.  All the kids let their artistic juices flow and kept busy for hours.  At the one hour mark, books were started, and memories were being cherished.  At the two hour mark, the kids were about ready to be finished with their books (Vlad was counting pages and putting only one or two pictures to a page as opposed to the seven or ten on the first half of the book) and running amok in the Roge house.  As the kids began to finish their books, they showed everybody how well they had done; They all were such proud kiddos!  Anna looked like a professional scrapbooker as she was working!  The kids got all fed and pushed into cars that would be soon en route to the airport.  I gave my last good byes, hugs, and high fives as I wasn’t going to the airport to see them off.  The fact that I wouldn’t see some of those children again didn’t hit me until I saw the pictures of their last stop in Colorado, DIA.  These kids made great friendships, made some families realize their calling to adopt, and most importantly, they truly found God during their trip with the help of all the people who donated their time, money, and resources.  As sad as I was to say good bye to these kids, I was happy that they accepted Jesus as their Savior, and I am already asking how I can help for next year and a whole new set of lives to change.  I took away more than just friendships, pictures, and memories from this camp.  I found a whole new way to show God’s love, a new serving heart, and a realization that the world is harsh and needs as much help as anybody can give.

-Gerrek Zwickle

One Response to “Scrapbooking and Gerrek’s reflections”

1. Christy Howell (Ty Howell's mom) says:

   July 21, 2010 at 8:19 pm

   Gerrek -

   It is nice to know that you and Ty are friends!! You sound like you are building a real heart for the things of God. Please catch up with him when he gets back to Loveland 8.10.10.

   Keep up the good work!

   Kind regards,
   Christy Howell