Adventures at LifeHouse

As the Executive Director of LifeHouse, I have an amazing job and have been blessed with a wonderful staff, supporting board and a fantastic group of givers - financially as well as with their time.  One of the coolest parts of my job is that I am involved in almost everything that goes on - some more directly than others.  This past month has been filled with some amazing adventures! The first three adventures came about as a result of the April "showers" in Houston.  Our house mom left to go to the grocery store with a couple of residents one Saturday and the streets were dry.  While shopping (which takes a couple of hours as we use that time to teach the residents how to shop frugally) a good old fashion gully washer came up and the streets began to flood.  This is not the first time for sure and usually it never floods too bad directly in front of the homes...until that weekend.

As our house mom turned onto our street to go the last 100 yards, it looked like they were going to make it home safe and sound.  Well, the groceries and all the passengers arrived safe but the van was not quite as blessed!

The wonderful thing is that we are being fully reimbursed for the van (it was totaled) and are actually receiving more for it than the ministry  originally  invested.  Only a God like ours could make that happen!

The next weekend brought more rain and an unwelcomed guest to the front door....

Here's a picture of the snake that greeted Anthony, our house dad,  as he looked out the door after dinner one night. When he opened the door the snake was leaning up against it and almost came in the house! When, according to Anthony, he SCREAMED it slithered away and started climbing up the side of the house!!  The rising water had driven him up to our front porch.  

Lastly because of the heavy rains, we had a flood in our administrative offices.  Here I am pushing the cart of wet, moody ceiling tiles out the door.  

Thankfully, all equipment (except our little refrigerator) was saved and the rugs will be back from the cleaners in a few weeks!

Between the snake and the flood in the office we did have GREAT weather for our 2nd Annual Golf Tournament.  Over 100 folks played, volunteered and supported the ministry of LifeHouse on April 21st.  It was a fantastic time!

Finally, just last Friday night I had an opportunity to speak t0 75 or so 6th - 8th graders about LifeHouse.  They were having a lock in and had collected canned food for our homes.  

I was a bit nervous walking into the gym at Lutheran South Academy!  What do I say to a group of 12-14 year olds about a home for pregnant teens? I don't even want them to think about that kind of stuff but the reality is they are faced with it all the time.  It is just a part of our culture today.  

I had 5-7 minutes to speak and after giving just the basic facts of LifeHouse, I asked a donor's daughter if she had any questions.  There was an awkward pause and then she asked her question.  Her courage to ask led others to start raising their hands to ask their own questions.  After 20+ minutes, the assistant principal had to stop me but there were still lots of hands in the air.  It was a magical time as the girls had the freedom to ask tough questions (i.e. has anyone ever left LH to go have an abortion?)  and I had the freedom to give them sometimes tough answers (i.e. yes - not a resident but an interviewee.)  

I have the greatest job in the world!  Challenging. Adventuresome.  Life-saving.  And life-changing for all (including me) involved!  What kind of job do you have?