I know it’s been awhile since I last blogged—we have been super busy at Hope House! Sometimes so much is happening that while I may tell myself in the moment “blog this!” I completely forget by the time I get to my computer for some quiet time. One recurring business is the “new” Hope House we are hoping to build this year. Lots of time and energy, presentations and meetings have gone into this lately and I have been so excited at the progress being made. I am putting my faith in the only sure thing I know—prayer. I am not giving up on a new Hope House this year and neither is God. In the meantime, I am also focusing my thoughts on the wonderful memories this Hope House has given me. When I think of Hope House, this is what I think of:

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From the Hope House Neighborhood–

Fridays can be stressful at Hope House. I don’t know if it is because everyone is trying to make sure they have enough supplies to last the weekend or just because it is an afternoon time slot, but if we are going to have arguments over who was in line first or who is being rude—it will be on Friday!

So today is a pleasant surprise to me at the end of a busy week. Even though we had a huge line when we opened the doors at noon, everyone has been in such a good mood! As I sit here in my office, I hear children playing, moms chatting and staff interacting with our clients as if they are family (which they are). The atmosphere is so great today—to go along with the sunshine outside.

A big part of this wonderful day is one of our volunteers (well, all of them are wonderful, but Matt stands out as a beacon of light). As I walked by him to my office, just after opening the front door, he came out of the back room singing “it’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood…”  A Couple of clients joined in with him and we all had our day brightened up!

Another element of the happy day is Chris, a longtime client and Friday regular. She is always at the door, with a smile on her face and spends her time chatting with other waiting clients—it becomes a real party atmosphere on the front lawn Friday afternoons. I need to remember to get some new sidewalk chalk for the kids to use while waiting.

Come see our family at Hope House—better yet, donate some diapers or food, then stay to chat with our family.

I’ve got to go—someone wants to play musical chairs!

With much love from my amazing grace filled life!

A Problem for Sarah

“A raccoon ate my Cheetos, “she said with a frown on her adorable 4 year old face.  Her mother sighed and told me she never wanted to go camping again in her whole life. She and her 2 girls had been homeless all summer and living in a tent, and the raccoon was the least of it—one night when they went to bed, they found a snake in the older daughter’s pillow case! (I’m snake phobic, so I would have been gone at that point!). As far as the girls knew, they were spending a fun summer camping, because their mom made it fun for them.

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Giving

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” An admirable sentiment and true in many situations. At Hope House we see people who are in need for many reasons and not being able to fish is usually not one of them. I am often asked by people who don’t work at Hope House what we are doing to “teach our clients to fish”. I think this bothers me for several reasons:

• It infers our clients are too lazy and/or not trying to “fish”.
• It assumes everyone can “fish”.
• It also assumes there is a level playing field out there.

 

Teaching

The truth is that we don’t attempt to “teach” our clients anything.  That would indicate that they have something to learn. Since when is being  Continue Reading