Grace and Grit

Last week I had the experience of going to court for one of our moms. We will call her Nadia.  I was asked by our legal advocate to testify as to the character of Nadia and what she had been doing since she joined our program.  Her abuser laid some pretty heavy accusations against her and was petitioning for sole custody of their 17 month old daughter. Statue outside Cumberland School of Law called Justice and Mercy Having observed, counseled, and lived with Nadia for two months I felt comfortable speaking on her behalf. When she entered our shelter she had the appearance of a caged wild animal. She was wide-eyed, wound up, and terrified that her abuser would find her. As managers we had some very real concerns he would continue to pursue her as well. He showed up at her school and domestic violence class looking for her and contacted all her friends and family asking about her, even after the restraining order was served. Nadia weighed less than 100 pounds and smoked...

It's been two months, but I'm back! It began with some soul searching. I asked God to reveal areas that I was fighting Him for control or had given up on, needs I was ignoring, desires and dreams I had thrown away because I saw no progress, stress triggers, why my sleep wasn't restful, why silence was something I tried to avoid, etc. Over the past two months I have been learning how to make time for respite. Respite means an " interval of relief ." It's the calm amidst the storm, the break between semesters, the good night's sleep after a long hard day, the cold glass of water after a walk through the desert, and the hug and loving words of a friend in a crisis. Taken from http://thoughtfulcaregiver.com/ This past season has been a difficult one for me at the shelter. A pregnant mom left us to return to her abuser which, even though I know statistically a woman leaves 7 times before it's for good, it was beyond my comprehension. How can someon...

I am coming to the tail end of my longest shift of the work week. I've been at the shelter since Wednesday afternoon and I will be leaving tomorrow (Friday) morning, after debriefing with the incoming manager. It's always a challenge for me because I start to loose energy around 3 or 4 pm on Thursday, long before bed time. :-) But today was a little different from the normal Thursday running around. This was for several reasons: 1) It's the last day of school and our kids are ecstatic. 2) I spent my morning attending an hour long Kindergarten graduation... I didn't know it was a thing, but it is, complete with diplomas, professional pictures, a slide show, flowers, gifts, etc. 3) A mom who has stayed with us almost a year is moving out (a stay is typically six months so this is unusual and also hard to say goodbye). 4) Our youngest baby of the house has HFMD (Hand Foot and Mouth Disease) 5) The mother of aforementioned baby is a new mom battling some pretty heavy anxie...