Four: this just might be the new normal

This week, I’ve been missing Seattle a lot more than I did the first couple of week. I miss my family & friends, I miss starting school so late in September, I miss the thought of missing seeing the colors of the leaves changing as I walk to class, I miss the crisp air of fall, I miss the refreshing rain. I can go on and on in my mind about how much I miss home.

But, I recognize the great GROWTH in each of us as we continue to miss our family and dearest of friends!

There is a natural tension in our house as we are continuing to know one another better. We all come from different families, different experiences, and are different people. We all recognize this and it has helped us become a healthy team. Personally, as I am learning about what I can be doing to love, motivate, and encourage my team through ups and downs, I’m also learning a whole lot about myself that I ignored because I was too comfortable with myself (if that makes any sense).

This week I’ve been challenged in leaning into what God has for my life. Above all the things that I ask God to reveal to me, I find myself craving just to draw close to God. The closer I feel to God, the clearer my days become. Don’t get me wrong, clear doesn’t mean perfect. Clear means that even in my ups & downs, I know God is with me, has a plan for me, and I have deep joy that has me craving to go forward with my days. This is the most evident in our morning devotions as we are all desire to learn together and challenge each other to learn as individuals.

As we are entering into our second month living on Francis St., I am excited to see the amazingness that come out of all that God has in store for us.

These past couple of weeks, we’ve been planning a way to engage with our neighbors as we continue to fundraise to meet our goal of reaching $42,000 ($7,000 each) by Thanksgiving. Our team needs to fundraise $72,000 for the entire year. If it helps to donate in a tangible way, our team is fixing our community garden with our neighbors and asking friends & family to sponsor portions of the garden! We have six garden beds and a lot of work ahead of us! To sponsor a plot of the garden our hope is to find 100 sponsors who will contribute $25 for a plot. We’ll be planting lots of vegetables and as the harvest comes, we will be sharing it with our neighbors who work on it with us!

To donate go to www.missionyear.org/donate and in the name portion type: Francis St. Garden.

We need your help! Please please please consider supporting us AND sharing this blog with your family, friends, coworkers, church groups, and EVERYONE you know! We’ve already witnessed God connecting us with the neighborhood kids who are excited to help us on Saturdays as we are cleaning up the garden. Please pray that there is a great turn out for our work day on October 13^th and that we have the right tools (truck, soil, lawn mower, garden gloves, and green hose) to get the job done!

More about Change Happens…

At Change Happens, we’ve been working closely with the HYPE (Helping Youth Prevent in Engaging in Risky Behavior) program (32 hours a week!). The program facilitator is Raashanda and the director is Quashanique. They have been supportive by helping us learn the material and get accustomed to the Change Happens work environment. For the past three weeks, I’ve been working alongside James in contacting middle schools & churches in the Houston area to offer the free pregnancy prevention workshop to 5-8^th graders in an afterschool setting. I assumed at first that anyone who heard free would jump on the opportunity. A lot of schools have been receptive, but at the same time it has been hard to get a hold of the right people who are in charge of making the decision. This Monday we’ll begin going to schools with Raashanda to assist her in teaching the curriculum to about 40 kids. In the spring time a lot of our time spent throughout the weeks will be outside of the office.

I have to admit that I am nervous about talking to kids about sex. But the approach to talking to them about abstinence is very gentle and genuine. We begin by talking to kids about what their goals and dreams are for their future. Once kids have the opportunity to identify that, they are able to recognize the consequences of engaging in sexual activity and how that can change their goals and dreams.

Please pray for the HYPE program and for us. We want our interaction with the youth to be natural. I’m sure if you’re a parent who has had to have “the talk” with your child, you know how uncomfortable it could be. But, I think since we are closer in age with the kids, we can be natural and tell them about why we have made the choice to be abstinent until marriage. If nothing else, we’ve joked that this is training for us to know how to talk to our kids in the future. That’s to say that in all that we do, even if we don’t understand it in this season, God will use us now and reveal the purpose later.

Much love & blessings from Houston,

Red

P.S. Dodie White – I LOVE the fact that you are reading this blog. I’ve been begging Shealy to be a guest blogger. Give her some time and she will step up to my challenge. Shealy has a beautiful and generous heart and I know how much of that reflects the home she comes from! Thank you for raising her so well and sharing her with me!