Parenting Tips

 

 I'm blown away tonight after looking at an array of photos that showed all of the teams serving in Chesapeake this week with World Changers. My kids have been part of a World Changers trip every year since we started coming to PCC.

I am convinced that their investment in these trips (and mine) has been one of the most formative experiences of their lives. They have learned things and experienced things that I never could have taught or shown them.

They are better people for it.

It's been tough. The first few years, especially, when I'd yet to experience that acquired parental ability to trust that they'd be safe (and alive) while they were out of my sight. See, as they have grown, so have I. Trust and patience and peace have grown in me as I let them slip out of my sight.

They have have transformative experiences on these trips, and it's made a huge difference in the young men and women they are becoming.

This year, only Syd and Daniel were able to go to the local trip; they served this week in Chesapeake, working 10-hour days to put on roofs and weed flowers and fix landscaping and whatever else needed doing. They served people who needed a hand. Next week Sydni will take another World Changers trip, accompanied this time by Shannon, going to Macedonia in Eastern Europe to serve the Roma people.

My kids are world changers, but they've been changed, too. And I firmly believe it's one of the best things I've done as a parent.

I looked at the pictures and was blown away; out of the 16 groups that served this week, you can find PCC faces in every group. We sent 90 people to Chesapeake this week, and they changed the world. But they're changed, too, and they're coming home.

I imagine they're bringing some change with them.

Daniel's World Changers Team

Syd's World Changers Team