“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. ^“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”   Isaiah 55:8-9

So, there we were back in late February 2020, ordering 1000+ empty baby bottles to prepare for our Annual Baby Bottle “Change-ing Lives” fundraiser. This is one of our major Camp fundraisers…last year raising $18,000 (amazing right?!!!!) to send teen moms, teen dads, and their babies to Summer Camp. By the time the cases and cases of empty baby bottles arrived at our office, the office was empty and the doors were locked – COVID-19 had hit the United States in a big way and we were all sheltered at home.  

The baby bottles went into storage (hello to being ready for 2021 – haha!) and we took the fundraiser online. We got the word out to friends of YoungLives, to church partners, through social media, and emailing. 15 people set up their own personal fundraising pages as part of a contest to win a Mini Family Porch Portrait session (thank you @katchmoments). And we prayed. And guess what? Together, we raised more than last year…almost $20,000!!! The enthusiasm of current friends reaching out to their friends was so beautiful. Stories of people hearing from friends they hadn’t heard from in several years kept coming our way. It’s God’s way to not do things the way we plan. I know this and yet am still amazed when He does it bigger than I could ever imagine.

Can’t wait to tell you in our next blog how we were able to immediately put these funds to work with our first ever YoungLives Virtual Summer Camp! 

~Myrna Bittar, Area Director

“If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right.” James 2:8

I realize that we are months into COVID-19 now and we’ve adjusted some things in our lives to protect our own health, that of our families, and our friends. Amongst many other things, there is a lot more handwashing, less time in crowded spaces, and sometimes, the need to wear masks. 

A friend and volunteer of ours here in YoungLives, Elaine, asked early on in the COVID-19 stages if any of our teens needed masks. Elaine was sincerely concerned for their safety. This was early on…when masks were a little harder to find, the virus statistics were rising, and the days were just overall a bit scary. And she thought of the teens. Elaine went on to make many, many masks and delivered them all over Huntington Beach, Westminster, and Santa Ana. This is one of the things I love so much about this ministry. People going out of their way for the teens. People loving their neighbors, just as we are called to do.

~North OC YoungLives

It started with Maria, one of our YoungLives leaders reaching out to us.

She wanted to replicate the flower bouquets the teen moms would typically receive at the May Club Nights in honor of Mother’s Day. How to do that when we weren’t gathering would be hard. She offered to personally put together 20 bouquets along with some really pretty jewelry (donated by friends that have online shops), and a handwritten note. She then reached out and asked if we would be able to gather volunteers to help deliver the special surprises to 20 of the young moms. We were overwhelmed with the sweetness of the offer and thought, could we get others to step in and make some additional bouquets? Well, that idea of 20 bouquets turned into 85+ bouquets and notes gathered and delivered by 25+ volunteers to at least 10 different cities in Orange County! I mean come on!!! How INCREDIBLE are the hearts of these volunteers we get to be involved with?!!! Hearts that move by the love of Jesus. Hearts that desire to be light, bring smiles, and say, “Young mom, we see YOU and we think you are AMAZING!”

During this pandemic, the already challenging circumstances of being a teenage, single mom has elevated to a whole other level. Juggling 24/7 child caring, high school distance-learning, in some cases jobs, and the ever looming economic hardships are just a few reminders of their fragility. Please pray for these brave + strong young women.

We are truly humbled to serve alongside so many selfless people.

~North OC YoungLives Staff

“I needed clothes and you clothed me…” Matthew 25:36

When the Coronavirus started gaining ground and we knew we weren’t going to be able to have Club Nights with the teen families in the month of April we thought that the plans we had with an organization called His Little Feet were going to have to be set aside to another time. So much for all the shoe sizes we had collected. 
 
But, then, everything fell into place. His Little Feet wanted to go ahead and get all the NEW NAME-BRAND tennis shoes they’d collected for approximately 60 of the YoungLives teens and little ones into their hands, ummm – I mean, onto their feet. A lot of communication and logistics had to happen (everything is just more complicated with the social distancing) and then, we were able to go pick up the shoes. Once in our possession, they were bagged individually for each family, and since we felt it was about time to get a second round of diapers and baby wipes out to the teen families, we added these logistics into the mix as well! All of it done keeping within the social distancing guidelines. Oh yeah, one more thing, these shoes were already sorted by each recipients name for us AND a special little hand-written note of encouragement tucked into each pair.

Honestly, the people that we get to meet along the way in this ministry continues to blow us away. I mean really…new shoes for each of our teen parents? Who does this???? Thank you His Little Feet – you have really made an impression on us!

~YoungLives Staff

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”  Genesis 50:20

This pandemic is no joke. We all see the rising numbers of confirmed cases, and the deaths. It is hard to not let sadness set in. For some even harder to not let it settle into hopelessness. 

But God. 

We are weary of being inside, thinking about the missed opportunities, disappointments of unmet expectations, and the overall unending changes that are by-products of the Coronavirus. 

But God.

Here at YoungLives, just like everyone else across the world, we have had to learn new ways to reach out. New ways to remind the teens that we are still here for them. That can seem overwhelming when a ministry such as YoungLives consists of so much contact time with local teens and their kids, one-on-one time, group events, etc…

But God. He has His eyes on these families and just as He has always done, He has provided a way for us to continue to tell them they are seen and loved.

LET’S GET HIM BACK TO WORK!

Just a few days ago this photo was sent from one of our alumni teens. A young man working hard to provide for his family, his truck was broken into, and all his tools were taken. Feeling pretty defeated, he cancelled the jobs he had lined up. Thankfully though, he reached out. Then we reached out. Then God reached down, showed all of us He sees us. Within two days, thanks to so many people, tools were given, monetary donations, gift card to the tool store – and just like that, this young man is back in business. But God.

~North OC YoungLives Staff

“And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19

Some of our YoungLives families are really struggling. Lost jobs for multiple people in their households, fear of the unknowns, bare cupboards, and hungry little ones. We live in a wealthy county compared to many places around the world with access to food pantries and free meals which is honestly a gift that does not go unnoticed by any of us. Nonetheless, not everyone in this wealthy county has had the opportunity to “save up” or have “extras” on hand of other necessities that the pantries may not provide – the day-to-day here in Orange County is costly. So, when this virus pandemic hit and practically overnight EVERYTHING changed, some of our friends were catapulted into really tough circumstances. Not everyone can wait for the virus stimulus to show up…there are immediate needs. You may wonder how we find out about the needs. Actually in a lot of different ways. In the last couple weeks we’ve heard from three high school teachers that had concern for some of their teen parent students, we’ve heard directly from teens themselves, sometimes it’s been a mentor that’s heard of a need, and sometimes it’s what we see being shared on social media. Here are just a couple examples of what we have got to witness in the last week with church partners and other friends of YoungLives.

First Christian Church in Huntington Beach allowing families to fill out their own on-line shopping list, with their specific needs has been a tremendous gift. On top of the list being fulfilled, the items are then being delivered to the family’s doorstep. Talk about respectful ministry – wow…so beautiful!

Several mentors and volunteers of YoungLives have been excited to get to help out with some immediate needs as well…and the thing about these that we always love hearing about from the recipients is the extra love that was thrown in…a handwritten note of encouragement, some unasked for treats for everyone, or maybe a larger package of an item. Extra love that reminds them that the Lord is showing up for their family. When they ask, “why do you guys do this for us?”, the answer is simple – Jesus in us.

Thinking of you while we are all following “stay at home orders”

North OC YoungLives Team

I learned about YoungLives through the school I work at. Volunteers from YoungLives come and speak to our high school teen moms and they love it. My first involvement was last year at the Prom they hold for local teen moms and teen dads – I helped out with childcare. From there I dove in and went to Summer Camp at Lost Canyon in Arizona and helped with childcare for the week. I initially signed up for the camp hoping to get the young moms at the school to go – you know, help them to feel a little more comfortable with going and bringing their children since they know me from school. Summer camp was an unbelievable experience! From then on, I knew I wanted to get more involved in this wonderful organization.

I attended the YoungLives Fall Kickoff (volunteer interest meeting) back in August. I figured I could step in and help with childcare since that’s what I know. Well, until lunch  when I sat next to Myrna. She put a little bug in my ear saying that the Santa Ana Club was in need of a craft person and she heard that I like crafts. Myrna asked me to think about it and pray about it. I was unsure and nervous. I felt like it was a big job and I just wasn’t too confident. I came across this quote and it fit:

My journey with YoungLives started almost eight years ago. I became a mother at the age of 18 when I gave birth to my son. Right after I turned 21, I decided I wanted to encourage and work with teen mothers in some way. I knew first-hand how important it was to have a strong support system when bringing a child into the world at a young age. YoungLives fell into my lap and after attending the first barbeque I knew this was something I had to be a part of.

Over the years I have attended many clubs. I have played games, sang songs, eaten lots of delicious food and watched mothers grow up alongside their babies. The most important thing I have witnessed month after month is the lives that have forever been changed because of messages shared and love shown through volunteers.

This past month was no different. Every month YoungLives club has a theme, and the month of February is obviously the month of love. When talking about February and love most people think of valentines and the romantic kind of love. While those things are great, there are many other kinds of love that can be celebrated: love for a friend, love between a parent and child, and the love shown to us by our Heavenly Father. All of these different kinds of love were celebrated at YoungLives this last month.

I am still overwhelmed when I think of all the volunteers who showed up to make this night so special for our teen moms and babies. Hair stylists came and offered to give the children haircuts. I watched as some of the babies I have known since birth received their first haircuts ever. After eating homemade tacos and hearing an important message on what sin is, the moms were asked to split up into small groups so the fun could begin.

My heart melts thinking of the mothers walking out of club with their hair braided and smiles on their faces holding handfuls of flowers and heart shaped cookies. All of these gifts were such blessings, but at the end of the day the best gift we can give to every mom, dad and baby who walks through the door is the gift of God’s love showing through us. I have personally seen this love poured out month after month and because of this my life will never be the same. I am so grateful to be a part of this ministry.            ♥ Cassandra Snook ~ YoungLives Mentor

Cassandra (in the center) with two of her YoungLives friends.

My story starts out as a 16 year old girl, who is about to go on a journey of a lifetime in the world of parenthood. I had no idea how many amazing things the Lord would do on this journey, but looking back now is both breathtaking and miraculous. When I first found out that I was going to have a baby at the age of 16, well before I felt I was ready, I was scared to death. But God knew the plans He had for me and for my little one.

Virginia as a teen mom with her little boy Eli

I believe that we do the best with what we have, but I feel like I didn’t have much back then. I was terrible at communicating to others how I felt, I didn’t really know how to be a selfless, good mom, and I had so many things that I still needed to heal from, from the first 16 years of my own life. And yet, I was given this beautiful responsibility of being a mother to the most beautiful little child named Eli.

“How in the world am I going to raise this little guy?” I thought. Scared to death of being put in the position of this little ones welfare and safety just about knocked me to the ground. I wanted so badly to be able to do well. But from the get-go, I knew I didn’t have the tools I needed to do the job I really wanted to do. But God saw me and He knew what I would need. So, in the faith step of choosing to trust that God had my back, I remember telling the Lord, “I know that I can’t do this without you so please do it for me” “this child is yours, I commit him to you.” From that day forth, the Lord’s hand was in every detail of my life and my son’s. He placed people who I respected to come alongside us and unconditionally love us in our sweet little world of being mom and son. It didn’t matter that I was young. All that mattered was that we were loved, encouraged and taught new ways of doing things. The most important key of all was the unconditional love. There were many people in the last 19 years that were crucial in raising up such an incredible young man, and to them I am beyond grateful for all the love they poured into our lives.

Today, Virginia with her grown up Eli!

In life you come to find out how important and what a gift it is to have tools in your tool belt. Some of these tools are faith, compassion, the gift of communication, forgiveness, healing, knowledge, and most importantly, unconditional love. When we are given these tools, and when we see how valuable and absolutely necessary it is to have them to build the life we want and dream of, we have the natural inclination to pass on and give these tools to others.

Virginia with one of the teen moms.

This is what YoungLives does.  They come alongside and love and support however they can. We take the tools we have been blessed with and we hand them down to amazing teen parents who will in turn be master builders of theirs and their children’s lives and futures. Let us be those who share our gifts and knowledge with those so precious.

I am so blessed to be a part of such an incredible ministry. Virginia Vargas ~ Mentor 

Virginia, Area Director Myrna Bittar, and Cassandra (another of our amazing mentors!)

♥ Virginia and her husband currently pour in to teen moms and dads as mentors as well as running mixer games at the club nights for the young parents.