Greetings! As we continue to celebrate Easter during this Eastertide, may the resurrection of Jesus continue to bless all of us through our own paschal mystery of daily deaths and new life. To update you via this blog has been on my mind for some time lately.
Here at Point of Hope, we have had our share of transitions and changes, our “letting go’s”. I mentioned in the last blog that Miranda and the Stain Glass operation were moving to the Head Office and it has. We had a farewell dinner for Miranda with the Point of Hope volunteers and friends who came to wish her well. It was another big turning even since Stain Glass has always been part of who we were at Point of Hope. In the early years of Point of Hope becoming, outreach ministry was done from here with Larry being the main person who visited families. Sr Bernadette provided clothing vouchers for the Thrift stores and gave out food to those who needed these. Once the warehouse was finished and opened for business, the outreach office was moved to the Mission head office where it is now.
The farewell for Miranda went well. The morning of the party I was not sure how my cooking would turn out since, I am not a practiced cook. It was Miranda that always cooked for our parties but I did not want to ask to cook for her own farewell party. I prayed and told God that he was in charge and that I would the best I can, but He (God) had to make it work if it was going to. Well God provided Cindy, a volunteer faithful help who gladly stepped in to do the cooking when she saw my dilemma. The food was good and the fellowship was good. God always makes things work.
Point of Hope has now been very quiet without Miranda’s jovial voice and laughter. Again trusting God, it was lucky for Miranda and the good decision from our Director of Operations, but with all the rain we have had, the roof of the old stain glass trailer is leaking quite badly and it is starting to smell of mold inside. The birds though seem quite happy and are having a grand good time building nests between the ceiling and the roof. One morning before I got out of the car, I watched them coming and going, busy bringing twigs into the opening and disappearing in and out. I hope their eggs hatch before anyone begins the work on that trailer. We would not want to evict those little babes.
On Thursday, we had a welcome party for our newest and youngest resident, Kegan, who weighed only 7 lbs and 3 ounces, born last week. He is a happy, healthy baby boy. Again God provided a much needed cook for our party. Dominic, the Director of Operations pitched in to help. He had a delicious and tasty meal ready for twenty people in just one and a half hour.
Our work here at Point of Hope continues to educate, teaching life skills, and trying to effect lasting change in the lives of the young families. It is often difficult for one to see their need for change as it can happen to most of us and our blind spots. For people who struggle with addictions and lack of basic living skills, life becomes a major challenge. Often all people want is a quick fix to life problems but it is not a lasting solution. My favorite quote has become, “you can give a hungry person a fish to eat and they eat for the day, but teach a person to fish, they always have food to eat”. That is the challenge in our work here and we are so grateful to have friends like you supporting us with your prayers, your friendship, your volunteer work and your contributions to keep this work going.
Next month we will have kitchen cabinets installed and a minor or major detail I overlooked was trying to acquire a dishwasher. That is one of the appliances we had on our needs list when Kaija and I were determining the cost of this project. A dishwasher was needed for proper sanitation since Point of Hope is a gathering place. I hope that you might know someone who is in a position to donate this to us. We are very grateful that these cabinets have been donated, with the exception of a corner addition to this set, which some of you already helped us purchase with your donations. It is only through you that we can continue the work we do here. I pray that God blesses you and your families with all good. For those of you who get this via email, the website for this blog is http://pointofhope.blogspot.com or it can be accessed through http://fatherbeiting.org/ at the bottom of Point of Hope page. Please share our blog with your friends and acquaintances to expand our horizons. Thank you and may our Blessed Mother Mary fill your hearts with the love of her Son Jesus.
No comments:
Post a Comment