To Jamaica and back

At Granny’s House, we love mentoring the kids in giving to help them understand that living in public housing does not exempt them from being a blessing to others.

Annually, our friends at Kent Willett Dentistry travel to Jamaica to provide dental care among the poor. Because they always encounter lots of children, we jumped at the chance to have Granny’s House kids experience the joy of brightening someone else’s life by making jewelry for the mission team to take with them. Members of “God’s Precious Jewels” and “The Princess Academy” made bracelets and cards to send.

I cannot even begin to tell you how thrilled I was to hear all the “Ooooohs,” and “Aaaaaaaahs” and “Isn’t this one cute?... Hey, look at mine!” that echoed around the room as we worked together on this project all while telling the girls about the difficulties of growing up in such deep poverty. I don’t recall ever witnessing such extreme joy coming from this group of wiggley-giggley little girls as they eagerly created gifts for Jamaican children! The, literally, turned into little “jewelry-making machines” and cranked out several dozen bracelets to send off with the missionaries.

Upon their return, the kids were visited by “Granny” Linda (Ealey) and “Granny” Libby (Grantham) who shared stories and pictures of patients who had received the Granny’s House children’s custom-made jewelry. What a thrill to see the smiling faces of those who proudly wore the jewelry created with such love and joy by their new friends from Granny’s House. It really is more blessed to give then to receive! –Granny Pam

Transformed by Love

When our little African friend came to Granny’s House from Burundi last year, we could scarcely get her to look at us, let alone squeeze out a smile.


But along came Granny’s House volunteer, Mary Kate Loring. Mary Kate heaped huge, sticky doses of God’s love on her almost every day and as the days turned into weeks and weeks into months, a dramatic transformation took place. A picture really is worth a thousand words…

When I Grow Up…

“When I grow up, I want to be a movie star… I’m going to the NBA… I’ll be a rapper…”

Anyone who works with inner city kids frequently hears these kinds of responses when asking children what they want to be when they grow up. At Granny’s House, however, we’ve started hearing different responses from kids:

“I plan to be a doctor… a teacher… a fashion designer… a paralegal…”

When we hear these kinds of desires, we take advantage of opportunities to connect Granny’s House kids with mentors whose professions mirror their own educational and career aspirations. We recently arranged for two Granny’s House kids to spend time with mentors at Stephens College and the Barton Law Firm.

Seventeen-year-old Vernita is interested in fashion design so we jumped at the chance to introduce her to Monica McMurray, Dean of Stephen’s College Fashion Department. Dean McMurry gave us a tour of the department and Stephens’ world-famous Historic Costume Collection. Vernita learned about the rigors of fashion design school and the real cost of combining a love for fashion with educational excellence.

She learned about the transition from “student designer” to professional “fashion designer” as she sat in on a session with senior students and fashion designer Camille Palmer, a Stephens alumni who now designs for GAP Clothing. In the midst of all those creative minds, bolts of glitzy fabrics, and too many dress forms to count, we had to keep reminding ourselves that we WERE NOT on the set of Bravo TV’s“Project Runway!”







Recently, fourteen-year-old Mary extensively researched the path to becoming a paralegal. After searching out the educational requirements, the accreditation process, and then designing a professional-looking business card, Mary spent the afternoon with Elaine Asmus, who has been a paralegal at the Barton Law Firm here in Columbia for more than a decade. After their two-hour visit, Mary could more easily envision the pathway that leads to becoming a successful paralegal.






At Granny’s House, it’s a joy to see the kids’ faith and their lives blossoming with tokens of God’s kindness and favor as we walk alsongside them. We know that one day, many of these precious kids will, indeed, say, “Because of God’s help, I completed my paralegal training… I got my degree in fashion design... I’m a doctor… a school teacher.” -Granny Pam

Two Hearts

There they were… two hearts. One bruised, stained, and broken. The other one was glittery red, and gorgeous enough to join the knickknacks in anyone’s curio cabinet. Thus began our recent Precious Jewels’ lesson on the “Heart.” Not the one that pumps blood, but the one that is the seat of all of our affections and emotions… all that we love and hate and struggle with. At this “Precious Jewels” meeting, we had one mission: to help these 1st through 4th grade girls understand the immeasurable gulf that exists between our hearts and the pure loving heart of the One we so love: Jesus.

“Look at all this stuff that was in Granny Pam’s heart before she gave her life to Jesus,” I said as I pulled out one after another crumpled little wad of brown paper from the tarnished heart. “Stingy… jealousy…Pride…Disobeying Mother…” I read. “Do you know that Granny Pam did some of these ugly things every single day of her life before she had a relationship with Jesus?…”

“I loved living this way and had no power to change,” I said as I unfolded and read from each little wrinkled piece of brown paper.

I so wish you could have heard all the “Ooohs” and “Aaahs” that slid out of those sweet little girls’ mouths as I revealed the beautiful, red, glittery heart. “Now this is how Lord wants to change ALL of our hearts,” I said as I unfolded each neat little slip of paper inscribed with red, swirley-lettered words that filled this heart. “Now there’s Comfort, and Friendship with God, Peace, and Generosity... Only God can make us radically different.”

With the God’s Precious Jewels group, our meetings are, typically,“3-D” to help the girls understand and get a clear, visual picture of the Bible verse or principle we’re sharing. And during this particular lesson, they learned that “hearts” are about a whole lot more than those little pastel-colored candies they pass out on February 14.
Happy Valentines Day!!