Early in the ministry, we had 2 sets of brother/sisters living directly across the street from each other in a trailer park outside Midlothian, Texas.
M and B
M was a 7 year old girl and B was her 5 year old brother. They lived in a rental singlewide with their alcoholic father and his various girlfriends. They started in my group early the summer of 2012. As part of the summer activities I took them to, I took them several times to the Arlington Texas water park Hurricane Harbor with our youth group.
The following December, I had M and B on a Saturday morning for a Mcdonalds breakfast when I noticed M was wearing the plastic swimming shoes that I got for her at Hurricane Harbor… it was cold and I fussed at her for wearing summer gear in the
winter. Her brother B then told me that those were the only shoes she had and that she had been using them for school shoes. Their father used all his money for beer and cigarettes and had little left for clothes, shoes or food for his children. I immediately took them both into the local Payless Shoes and got them proper shoes.
The following year, in a drunken rage, their father pulled a gun on one of his girlfriends… he was arrested, convicted and sent to prison. M and B were sent out of state to some distant relative and we never saw them again.
E and D
E was a 10 year old girl and D was her brother. They lived across the street from M and B. Their mother was mostly a responsible adult but she had poor choices in
boyfriends.
E was very very smart, made straight A’s in school and was a very kind and
sharing person. D had some bad past experiences that caused him a lot of problems, including anger management.
I will always remember a Friday evening visit I made to the family when I dropped off the weekly food pantry groceries to families in need like theirs. All 4 of them came out to greet me and insisted I join them in their playground area. This playground area was simply a weeded lot that they had made into paths and fortresses…. the families could not even afford the cheapest swing set.
It became dark by then and it was time for me to leave, the 4 children begged and
pleaded for me to stay…. the four adults were inside the singlewide getting drunk as fast as they could and had no time for their children. Little E hid in the back of my truck and said that if I could not catch her to get off the truck, then I could not leave… it was sad how desperate for adult care all of them were. I finally corralled all 4 and took them inside where the adults were. E’s mother was the only one of the four sober enough for me to leave the children with.
Their mother and then current boyfriend split and she moved with no notice even
though I had cared for her children for almost 2 years