This weekend Devin and I made some breakfast and coffee, had some friends over early Saturday morning, packed them into 2 cars, and went to
do some work at
Lifehouse Houston.
Lifehouse Houston is an organization I've talked about a lot. It's a home for girls ages 12-24 who are pregnant with no place to go. They can live at Lifehouse throughout their entire pregnancy and up to 3 months after they have their baby.
I wish I had pictures, but I didn't feel right about walking around snapping shots of those sweet girls and their baby bellies. Most of them aren't exactly thrilled with the situation they are in.
Which is heart breaking.
Because when I think about the time when I am pregnant with our kiddo (in eleventy billion years), I see it as a really sweet and exciting time. I think about my mom and Devin's mom teaching me lots of things about it, our families being really really thrilled.
I can't imagine it being anything other than that.
I can't imagine being kicked out of the house by the very people I would hope to be the most excited.
But these girls are living that situation. And they move in with 2 house parents they don't know, into a room with 3 other girls, into a house full of rules they're not used to.
I'm positive that it's a very lonely feeling.
But Lifehouse also teaches them about God's love, about their options, and helps them make a plan.
It's all for good.
But that doesn't mean it's easy.
Our group split into guys and girls on Saturday. The guys worked their hind quarters off in the yard. With only 2 guys on the property (both house dads), that yard has to be overwhelming. D guessed it's about 2 acres. Raking, gutter cleaning, edging, weed whacking, weed killing. It was a LOT of work.
The girls decorated both houses for Christmas. Yesterday Lifehouse had an open house for board members, past residents and potential donors. We helped get the homes ready for that.
That was really fun for me- talking to the residents while they cleaned (They have cleaning chores on Saturdays) and we decorated. D and I are in a smaller space- we don't have room for a tree or many decorations for Christmas, so it was fun to have a place to decorate to the max.
This year, Devin and I sort of decided to wait to buy gifts for our
Angel Tree kid to see if we could do anything for Lifehouse.
I asked one of the house dads how we can help the residents for Christmas.
He said they each have a sponsor who will get them a gift.
I was happy to hear that. But I still have this pull in my heart to help them out with
something.
So we're going to give this a try and see what God does...
When the guys were working in the yard, they only had one small lawn mower (for 2 acres!). Lucky for them, they had 5 guys working, but like I said- there are only 2 house dads living there and they have tons on their plate already. Not a lot of time to do yard work.
One thing I would love to do for them is give them another / new lawnmower. Maybe one that mows a little more at a time. Ideally a riding lawn mower, but we'll see what we have to work with. It's a lot of grass to cut.
Another thing I heard them say is that they used to be able to do "family nights" where the house parents and residents would all go out and do something. Specifically go out to eat or go to a movie.
And so if you would like to help with one or both of those things, I know they would be so so thankful.
The best way(s) I have seen this done - you can either email me (top left corner has a link) for my home address and send things like gift cards, etc. or you can donate to my paypal (email me for the account) and I can provide the gifts for Lifehouse, or if you have a lawnmower laying around I'll come get it.
I am sure all of you have a lawnmower laying around.
Unfortunately, I am not crafty, so I don't have anything you can buy to "donate" to this.
I don't have anything to give away for this if you donate.
It's just going to have to be a donation, and while I realize this is far fetched, I am just trusting that God will do what he wants with this.
Much love and Happy Monday!
