Veronica's Blog

The Other Half of the Story | August 1, 2009

One of the things Eric and I love most about Oakland City is the opportunity to be in relationship with the kids across the street.  We feel most alive and most like a team when we are spending time with the kids together.  As Eric has said many times, if you told us two years ago we would have the relationship we have today with the kids, we probably would not have believed you.  It has exceeded our expectations.

The best way to communicate how precious these kids are is to just let you fall in love with them too.  I’ll start with “D” (DeAngelo).  D understands the value of just being together.  Every day he comes over multiple times to see what we are doing and if he can be with us.  Whether we are working, studying, cooking, cleaning, combing the dogs, watching TV, etc. he wants to join us.  I have literally put him to work helping me stuff envelopes for work, sweep the floor, or make a salad.  He is happy to do anything just to spend time with us.  He can often be found during the summer days in our study, learning to draw from books my mom gave him and drinking cranberry juice (his all time favorite). 

Last week D went to summer camp for the first time.  Liz’s brother, David, paid for him to go to the coolest camp in Georgia – complete with skiing, dirt bikes, and every lake activity you can imagine.  He just got back home today, and I asked him to write about his experience.  This is what he said:

“What I like about camp is that I like to do the ZOOM (zip line) and waterfront with all the activities in the lake and riding the mini bikes and playing in my cabin.  Every night we pillow fight and that was the best camp I ever went to.  I want to say thank you so much to David.”

D presents Eric with made-to-order dinner

D Learns to Make Balloon Animals