Grace and Grit

Confession: This post has been sitting as a draft for almost six months because I haven't had the emotional energy to dwell on this subject (goodbyes). Although I've known I wanted to tackle it for some time, I also wanted to write it from a peaceful frame of mind and it's taken awhile to get there. With the recent passing of The Sheepfold's founder, Fran Lundquist, I have been spending more time thinking of the thousands of women who must have walked through The Sheepfold's doors over the past 30+ years. Just in my short time working here I have known, loved, guided, served, and been blessed by at least 30 women and 50+ children. Some stayed just a few weeks, others months, and some even a year. That's just at my house, not including the hundreds of women I've met at the Sheepfold's other shelter houses and alumni gatherings. As I have written here before, domestic violence does not effect one demographic more than another. We have young women and ol...

So I am in the middle of the longest break I've ever taken from the shelter. Nine consecutive days off feels very strange! I find myself thinking about the moms and kids several times a day and wondering what is happening while I am gone. Has there been conflict? Sickness? Growth? "Aha" moments? Will everyone still be there when I get back? Has anyone found a job? Started school? Has the baby started walking? Is the toddler finally talking? This "job" is so NOT a job to me. I love these people...really love them! It's overwhelming at times to realize just how much of my heart is wrapped up in the shelter. I remember the names and faces of the families who have left and I ache to know they are doing OK. I recently found out one of the moms who left us prematurely has gone back to her abuser along with her children. Ack!! It's so frustrating to hear things like this. The victim of domestic violence lives a complicated life and the process of moving on ...