Our Story

A LITTLE SOMETHING ABOUT IT ALL

When you take a second to look at the past from the outside looking in, you realize that everything seems a little different. Over time we learn more and more about the world around us, the people we are close to, who we are, and how amazing God is. Sometimes you wonder how you missed the precious details that once lay directly in front of your face.

It was an average Girl Scout meeting in the sanctuary of my home away from home (the church that I grew up in); we were practicing for the Rededication and Investiture ceremony that we did every year. This year Kayla was getting inducted as a new GirlScout. Kayla was your typical “new girl.” She was shy, reserved, and watched what was going on around her instead of joining in our group of girls. I figured that she was just worried about what we would think about her, so I went over, sat down with her, and carried on whatever conversations little kids have. She seemed nice, but even as I was talking to her, I couldn’t understand why she was so quiet. New people are quiet, but they weren’t ever this quiet.

After the Girl Scout year was over, she became a little louder and a little crazier around us. Some of the other girls had gotten to know her and they become pretty good friends. As far as I could tell, she fit in. After a meeting, I overheard my Mom talking to Kayla’s Grandmother about Kayla’s situation. They were carrying on about how Kayla’s Grandmother had received custody of her and her siblings. It didn’t make much sense to me and when I asked about it, I was simply told that Kayla lived with her Grandmother because her parents made some mistakes in their life. I didn’t see that it was a big deal, so I just moved on and forgot about it all.

Over the next few years Kayla became more than my best friend; she was practically my sister. She went on vacation with my family, spent almost every weekend at my house, and of course we could talk on the phone all day. When she talked about things in the past she would normally bring up some funny story about an adventure she had with her siblings. Sometimes it seemed like there were gaps in her life. The parts of my life that I thought were normal were missing from hers. Little bits and pieces of bad experiences would come out from time to time, and some of them didn’t make any sense to me. So I finally asked about them.

When I learned her story, I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t really grasp it. How could my best friend have gone through everything that she went through? After many nights of pondering on everything she told me, the pieces of the puzzle fell together one at time. The shyness, the bad stories, the gaps, the conversation I overheard. It took years to gain her trust to be told the parts of her life that she tried to block out.

I was talking to Kayla about some stuff we were doing in Girl Scouts; I wanted to convince my troop to do the Bronze Award and I figured I would give Kayla my list of ideas. They ranged anywhere from making kits for families who lost their home in a fire to helping out with the animal shelter. She thought about them and said that they were great and she even had an idea of her own. She wanted to show up at her old Foster home on Christmas and give those kids the Christmas they had never had but always dreamed of. The only thing was she knew that she could never do it.

In middle school my Girl Scout troop (which now only had three girls because in middle school it is “not cool” to sell cookies in front of Wal-Mart) decided that we were ready to take on the Silver Award. We were all ambitious, and we had our own lists of ideas. My list was short, but there was only one project that I really cared about. After hearing all the different horror stories of what Kayla went through, I wanted to give the children who were forced to go through the same thing something that was theirs. I wanted to do what Kayla wanted to do.

In one meeting we looked at each other’s ideas, threw some to the side, came up with new ideas, and dwindled the list down to just a few projects. Before we left, we voted. The unanimous decision was to do Kayla’s Kits, and a year later 128 kits were delivered to the Barrow county DFACS to be given to all the children who were forced to walk through those double doors leaving everything they had ever known behind them.

Kayla taught me so much about life. Before I knew her story, I didn’t know that when my parents said, “You are lucky to have everything you have,” that they were right. I thought that every kid had the same, great life that I had. Besides that I can’t even really try to explain everything else that she taught me, because it is more than words can even attempt to describe. When you meet someone like her, you will understand what I mean.

Kayla’s Kits is the least I can do for her, and every other kid who goes through even a fraction of what she went through. I dream really big (probably bigger than for my own good), but I want to see Kayla’s Kits become huge. I feel like a little kid who wants to become President of the United States when they grow up when I say this, but I want to see Kayla’s Kits become a nationwide thing one day. That day isn’t going to be today or tomorrow, but I plan on making that day a day in my future. I will give every foster child something that is theirs.

Thank You Kayla!

478 HEARTS AND COUNTING

Last year before all the Kayla’s Kits were packed, my mother gracefully took on the tedious task of hole punching the tags that go on each canvas bag. She used my heart shaped hole punch to punch each tag one at a time, and when she finished, she was left with a little pile of hearts. All the tags were different, so the hearts were all different; some had polka dots, some had stripes, some were solid colored, and some had weird designs. But even though they were all different, they were all hearts. These 200 unique hearts represented 200 different hearts that I would impact in the coming months.

I spent that entire summer to make sure that those 200 hearts would know that someone loves them. I poured everything I had into making sure that these children would receive something amazing, something they can carry with them, and something that will give them comfort. I watched the kits start as change in an offering plate and turn into bags of toys, car loads of stuffed animals, boxes of school supplies, and then 200 completed kits. After countless hours of work, I was able to give 200 children who were lost and confused something that they can have forever.

I have never met these children, and I doubt I ever will. Even if I cross paths with one of them, they will probably never know that they were one of the 200 children who stole my heart, the hearts of the people who donated their time and their money to the project, and the heart of Jesus Christ. They will never know that I prayed for them. They will never know that I believed that they could overcome the obstacles in their life and accomplish great things.

Thus far, 478 children have received a Kayla’s Kit and I can only hope that this year, I can create 250 more kits. They aren’t much and they can’t fix all of the problems that the children in foster care face, but they do remind the children that someone is there for them and someone does love them.

Those hearts from the Kayla’s Kits tags are sitting in a jar in my room so that I can see the difference I am making every day. I hope that one day that jar will be too small and I will need a bigger jar. But until that day comes, I will look at that jar of 200 hearts and pray that these children can feel all the love that has been poured into each and every Kayla’s Kit. But most importantly, I pray that they know that Jesus loves them.