A week in the life of a Christmas card

Someone picked a name off of our tree and lovingly and generously filled the boxes with gifts and wrote a card. It was intended for Todd in it's origin, but God had other plans.

December 16th the card and the gift were brought to IHOP and were added to the many we had already received. It was brought then to my house where it sat waiting patiently to be given away. It was jostled and moved, rearranged and piled over and over again as we tried to organize and make sure that it and all the other gifts and cards like it got to the right place.

Monday arrives and the party is planned and preparations are underway. While the turkey and ham and everything else yummy was being made, the presents and cards where moved once again to the living room of my house and soon transported to the IHOP shuttle to make it's way down town.

From the shuttle to church, the card waited. As we gave out the presents we realized that Todd was not there, but there were some men that we didn't have a gift for. Todd's gift was given away, but we kept the card. While cleaning up, we threw the card in another gift bag that was being held on to for a lady who didn't come. Once again it was thrown into the shuttle, and back to my house.

And there it sat until Thursday. We took the presents for the people we missed to the park on Thursday. It was taken from my house to Ronna's truck, and forgotten while we ate chili in the park with our friends.

One of the ladies we haven't seen since the "goldie" days (Goldie died a number of months ago) came down to see us. She has been in rehab and is doing great! She graduates in a week and is coming to hang with us again. As we talked to her, and hung out, Lisa felt like she was to go and get one of the presents (again intended for someone who wasn't there). It was a specific gift she felt she was supposed to get. She went and got it.

We laughed as Todd's tag was inside the bag. She then pulls out the card. Todd's card. We laugh again. Because we haven't seen Todd for awhile, I decided to open the card and Lisa says "if there is anything in it, it goes to Ginger". I opened it, and out falls $50.00. We hand it to Ginger and she is moved to tears. That card could have ended up anywhere, but the Lord intended it for Ginger to bless her and encourage her in her new life.

So again, thank you to all of you who so generously gave to the "adopt a homeless person" event. The Lord orchestrated every gift and it was an honor for all of us at Hope City to be the hands through which the gifts were distributed!

I love it!

Christmas Pics!

this was a common sight: thankful hugs all around!

Marsha and Ronna... presents everywhere!

getting into the holiday "spirits"

I have a funny story to tell.

Monday, we had our Christmas party that was a HUGE success! We had enough gifts for everyone and all were blessed with way more than we could have done on our own. Thank you to those of you who helped out to make it possible. The Lord truly made it work!

Part of those gifts were giving a little extra cash in an envelope for some of our "regulars" and faithfuls. It wasn't alot, but it was enough to just give the folks some holiday cheer.

One took that literally. We pick up 3 people from a nursing home to come to the "pinics in the park" on Monday and Thursday and to go to the prayer meeting on Tuesday that we hold downtown.

We picked up 2 of the 3 yesterday. Now one of these fine people is a large man. He came caring a large glass of water and was happy to be there. He is a vocal man to begin with and often responds to everything with "all right" and makes us laugh.

Well, yesterday, it wasn't water he was drinking. Yesterday it was straight up Gin. He was fine we he got there, but as he drank his "water" things slowly began to change. His "alright" became "awwww wigggghhht" and soon became "aaaaaaaiiiiiiii" as he got louder and louder and the "water" began to hit his bloodstream. It didn't take long and he was falling asleep, stuttering awake and was completely under the influence of the"holiday spirits"

I mentioned that he is a large man, right? It took a couple of us to get him out to the van to get him back to the nursing home. In the van he told us he drank a whole pint and should probably go to the hospital. In between his "sorrrrrrry maaaaaan" and other drunk babble, we got him home and got the staff to help us get him where he needed to be.

My favorite response to all of it was one of the nurses looked at us and said "You took him to church like that?" We didn't feel the need to tell her we had actually funded the "party" for him. haha.

Afterwards, we were not sorry that we gave him the money. It was how he chose to spend his Christmas gift. He enjoyed it for a bit, and well, I'm sure he isn't as happy today as he was yesterday. Merry Christmas!

I'll share more about the party and post pics very soon. It was an amazing night!

Christmas is upon us

For the last two weeks, Hope City has had an "Adopt a Homeless Person" tree up at Forerunner Christian Fellowship. The idea is to take a name from the tree, spend around $30.00 on some warm clothes, socks, and a bag of candy and bring it back to us to hand out to the homeless people we know.The response has been amazing. The drop off date is the 16th, but already my room is filling with large bags of Christmas presents for our friends.

This is one Christmas that we will truley be able to bless the people through the generosity of God's family! We are so grateful!

Keep watching for pictures of the party and the "drop offs" that will be coming this week!

hello (hello.... hellooo, hellooooooooo)

okay... so I start blogging again more consistantly, and no one comments anymore? I know you are reading because the number keeps getting higher of hits on the blog per day... but ZERO comments? What is up with that?!

The "kids" have a house! God is so good. The Lord just continues to provide for their needs and for Hope City as well. We had a "Adopt a homeless person" Christmas tree up at church and the people responded! It will be so fun this Christmas to run around the city and hand out presents and more presents to the folks we know and love! woo hoo!

LEAVE A COMMENT! ANY COMMENT! (but be nice... hee hee)

:)

whoopsie

Ahem....

found them

Yvonne and I are the victims of a pre-dryer thieving.

and I'm right ripped off.

Ever lose a sock in the dryer? That my friend is nothing. Tonight, I put a load of wash in the washer, jeans, sweats, and all of Yvonne's t-shirts. Go to switch the load and discover that only the jeans are left... Yvonne's response?

What kind of pysho Nazi socialist would steal wet clothes from the washer? Don't they know WHO I AM???

We must act with caution... (says Jason in a half asleep stupor)

Because if the enemy took your clothes, who knows what he'll do next!

Interesting... I'm more upset about my favourite sweats and Yvonne's clothes than I was about my computer.. interesting indeed.

So what now? A 1:00 am jaunt to the Wally Mart. (Once Yvonne's Jeans are dry...) After we follow the drip marks...

Do you know where your socks are?

the "rest" of the story

Hope City has been busy!

I've given you quick updates, and asked you to pray for different ones, always abbreviated because of lack of time. Today I want to bring you up to date.

Awhile ago, I blogged about Frog and Michelle, their wedding and their goal of feeding other homeless on the street. It was an exciting time and we were introduced to the "family" as well, which were 3-5 people who were hanging out together and looking out for each other on the street.

Well, as we have learned and knew, not everything we hear is truth. Without putting all their "stuff" out there, let me just say that not everyone was on the up and up. That's reality when you work with people who are addicted, who are hurting, and who are simply surviving. I want to say too, however that we wouldn't have done anything differently, because we simply responded in love.

The "family" has become our "kids". There are three that have captured our hearts and in more ways than one consumed our time. They are 18, 21, and 27. They are vibrant, fun, struggling, hurting, coming off of drugs, and seeking truth. We have had the privilege of taking them in to our homes (2 at Ronna's and one at Lisa's) and walking out the journey with them. And God is moving in them and on their life.

Again, we aren't niave to the fact that everyday is a struggle for the addicted, formily addicted, and the ones trying to quit. We want the best for them... safety, acceptance, and unconditional love with real and true boundaries. I believe they have been given a chance that not everyone gets and we are praying that God moves in them to take hold of it. There are lots of challenges, lots of laughter, and lots of "walking it out".

It came about because as winter was bearing down, we struggled with simply feeding and dropping them back onto the street. It was breaking our hearts to see how they were living just to survive. God moved on Jane especially, to say, we MUST do more.

Well, three weeks later, we are still hanging out with them and seeing God bring changes and light into their lives and ours!

Remember Suzanne and Ray? Well, Suzanne got on a bus and headed home, equipped with a new relationship with Jesus and a new Bible, glasses, and coat to keep her warm and busy on the long trip. We are waiting to hear how she is doing.

Today, was another exciting moment.

There are three people that live in a nursing home, very close to where we used to bring food. Barbara, Butch, and Randy have been coming for quite some time, and Barbara especially has come consistantly to the prayer meetings as well. Today, Barbara accepted Jesus. She is Jewish and understood today who Jesus really is, and how much He loves her. I love it! God is truly meeting us in SO many ways!

So, that is the current update. Pray for us. We really believe that God will give us a building so that we can move ahead with a capability of helping the many "kids" on the street. Christmas is so close, and of course we are doing the Christmas party with food and presents, but we need to figure out what is next. Lisa says all the time, "I believe God is pleased" and I think that too, AND we want what is best for the future... so status quo, or a building... whatever he wants to do!

Continue to pray for Pat as well... he is still in the hospital with little change.

i got it! I got it! I got it!

it's a pretty silver Dell Inspiron with all sorts of things on it that I don't even know what they are! Ha ha... but it is freedom again from the lines at the coffee shop and the pressure of the line up behind you!

I'm looking forward to many more updates now! :)

Later...

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Wednesday... Ice Storm...
Thursday... snow storm
Followed by mass hysteria and panic... state of emergency in Kansas... for 6 inches of snow... Canadians... stop laughing.