Grace and Grit

'Twas the night before Christmas... and they were praying for YOU. My Christmas Eve is just coming to a close. It's been one busy day trying to balance time between the shelter and family, but it has been a fantastic day full of tradition, joy, and reflection. At the shelter this evening we attended a candlelight Christmas Eve service. I had never been to one at this church before. For those of you that don't know I recently transferred to another shelter location (still with The Sheepfold but now a different city). I have been adjusting to all the changes and now feel settled into this new home. The service was beautiful and rich with meaning as we reflected on the significance of the best gift we could ever receive, Jesus. It is especially intriguing for our moms to think of God choosing to enter the world as a baby...who had a mother who changed His diapers, watched Him learn to walk, talk, and introduced Him to the world that He created. After church we came ho...

The following is from one of my moms. It's always better when you can hear their story in their own words rather than mine.  The face of every mother and child is imprinted on my heart, including this one.  These stories continue long after they leave the "sheltered life."  Although not every woman that enters our shelter leaves with her life in order and her kids healthy and happy, it is good to remember that each of them experienced Love while they were with us. That is my purpose: Love God, Love People. By the way, I'm ok with spending my whole life perfecting that pursuit.  <3 “A new command  I give you: Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.   By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” - John 13:34-35 ________________________________________________ When I was asked to write about what led me to The Sheepfold my mind started cycling through old memories. I began ...

Ironically, a couple weeks after my last post " Goodbyes ," I experienced my most difficult goodbye yet. The grief knocked me off my feet and onto my knees crying out to God. My heart is still aching from it. Sometimes the process of letting go and allowing God to mend a broken heart can take awhile...especially because I have a tendency to work over the past in my mind as if I can change history. Silly Me. I don't really feel like relaying the events of the last goodbye. Maybe at a later date it will come up, but not yet. Forgive me? In the mean time I am re-reading my last post because I need the reminder that God is the mender of all things broken. A little while ago two of our moms made us a beautiful scrapbook that they filled with pictures of them and their children as well as notes of things they were grateful for. It is so precious to each of my fellow house managers, especially after an emotionally difficult week. I am going to share with you one of the note...

Today marks the anniversary of Grace and Grit's first blog post ( you can read it here ). In some ways it is hard for me to accept a year has passed already, but in other ways I feel like I've been a shelter house manager for years. My desire to be here is just as strong, if not stronger, than it was a year ago today! A few of you have asked me how I feel about my job, "now that the shine has worn off." Well, there have been days when I've come home and needed to be alone to process an experience or to come to terms with a mom's choice that I thought was wrong. There are days I've had my plans thrown out the window because someone had a crises of some kind (ER visits, moms in labor, emotional breakdowns, new moms arriving, families leaving unexpectedly, court appearances, bike's and wallets being stolen, kids going missing, earthquakes, power outages, etc, etc, etc). There have been days I've cried, I've felt my heart break, I've bee...

One of our moms decided to write down her thoughts and experiences since coming to The Sheepfold. I thought I would share with you what she had to say. This is in her own words. English is not her first language, so please be understanding of grammar and punctuation. (The following is used with permission. All names and indentifying information have been removed.) ********************************************* Being @ the Sheepfold The Sheepfold is a big blessing from GOD. When I and my daughter first came in here we were welcomed with true love. I remember when (House Manager) showed me my room. There was a small bag with lotion, body spray, and a welcome card that made me cry that there's good people in the world and it's not just on T.V. or movies. I've been going through a lot of emotional stress because of my big fear of the court dates. Every one of the house managers were ready to leave everything they are doing just to give me the time and hear me out. ...

I had the privilege of working Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at the shelter last week. Rather than switch shifts out Sunday at 7am like we managers usually do, we decided to wait until 9am so that the early morning craziness would be over and the transition would be easier. I had mixed feelings at first when I saw my schedule would fall on Christmas eve and morning. Christmas is one of those holidays that is full of tradition. Christmas Eve was always (ALWAYS) spent with my mom's side of the family at my Grandma's house. It is my favorite gathering of the season. Singing carols, opening gifts, eating Mexican food...ahh the song "Tradition" from Fiddler on the Roof comes to mind. :-) My cousin Kim and I have a running tradition of filling an old pringle can with mementos and notes each year as a make-shift mini time capsule. It's a great opportunity to catch up on the extended family's lives and encourage each other. Not to be a part of that, among other...

Personally, Christmas is my favorite holiday and I love that the season seems to stretch from Thanksgiving to New Years. The longer the better! I'm always the last one to throw out the tree. :-) I've already spent weeks listening to Christmas songs and developing a strategy of how best to string up my lights. But for many of the women and children that enter The Sheepfold's doors Christmas has not been something they have looked forward to each year. Christmas has been just another day to feel alone, neglected, wounded, and broken. Last Saturday a group of 5 adults came to the shelter for a couple hours. That's not unusual as there are frequent volunteers and interns who sacrifice their time to invest in the lives of our moms and their children. But this group brought a little something extra with their hearts full of love. They brought our house a live Christmas tree, lights, a cake, carols, and the Christmas story. They spent their time jumping right in and ...