Little things.....

I love my job so much! You are all probably tired of hearing me say that I have the best job in the world, but it is true. Even when we are crazy busy and ramped up for the holidays; when my stress level is on maximum overdrive—I love this job. Today God reached down to show me, once again, what Hope House means to people, and how little it takes to change someone’s life.

In the midst of the Christmas carols playing, the tree in the corner and the bustle of the end of the week, God showed us the way.

There once was a girl……..who drove us all crazy with her quirky, and often demanding, personality. She had decided over the last weeks to focus her passive aggression on me—to the point of driving me nuts! Which I kind of think is what she was trying for? Every visit (and there were many!) turned into a tug of war over what she could and couldn’t do/get. She pushed, I stood firm, she pushed again, I got irritated and she won. What was consistent in her requests was the need for a phone. Homeless, not welcome in many places and often alone, she wanted a phone more than anything.

Last time she was in, I tried being overly solicitous and helpful and she left in a good mood with a minimum of trouble. Today, I was on intake duty when she appeared. As she sat there looking despondent and wondering how she could get a phone, the Holy Spirit said to me “give her a phone”. Knowing that our Assumption Financial Assistance people had given out almost no money today, I approached them with the idea of calling Fred Meyers and seeing how much it would cost.

Long story short, it was reasonable and Fred’s takes our vouchers, so we broke our rule about no phone help and wrote out a voucher for a phone from Freds. You could hear her crying all through the building. She was so touched and so happy and promised to call her mom as soon as she had the phone in hand.

We’re hoping a call to mom will lead her home……in more ways than one!

Well, we’re here—in our new “home”. In a bright, clean, open and welcoming new building on the site of the shabby, old and familiar one. People keep asking me if it is all I expected it to be and my answer is “yes, but…..”  Don’t get me wrong—we are so unbelievably blessed in our new space and thankful for everything we have, but……

Do you remember being a child and looking forward to your birthday or Christmas or a family vacation? So much anticipation, so much excitement. Then it comes (and goes) and real life is left in its place. That’s where we are—settling into life in our new space. In our church we call this “Ordinary time”, time between the exciting and special times of the year. Since this special event was 18 years in the making, we have a lot of anticipation “high” to come down off of!

In the meantime, we are dealing with learning how to use this beautiful building to its best purpose. It is a constant work in progress, as we arrange and rearrange all the furniture, the shelving and racks, even the coffee cart and sorting tables. Learning how best to clean restrooms has been fun!

We are busier than ever, as our clients, old and new, learn how warm and welcoming our new place is. As I sit here in my office on a Monday morning, the place is bustling with adults talking and children reading books and watching cartoon movies on our new television. The wind is blowing hard outside, it is a gray and rainy day, but we are here in our bright, shiny new home with hot coffee and cookies.

Come visit us sometime! We love to show her off.

“The more things change, the more they stay the same”

We are changing big-time at Hope House!

·        Our bright, shiny new building will hopefully be open in October (I’ll let you know for sure the date before then!). RAM Construction has been so faithfully there every day putting it together for us—they are wonderful partners for us in this endeavor.

·        We have been working out of the shed—or, as we affectionately call it—the Hope Shack! Luckily, it is summer and we are not suffering too much (although runs to the church for the restroom make you re-think your coffee needs in the morning!). Our clients have managed to find us when they need to, and we enjoy the time to just visit and also take time with our families this summer.

·        Our new building will have all services on one floor and in a much more open floor plan. We are also excited that we will have public restrooms for our clients. Those who are in wheelchairs or walkers will be able to access Hope House through the front door, and find it easier to maneuver through the space.

How are we staying the same? Our clients. Our wonderful, caring clients who take care of each other. Just last week we had an elderly gentleman who accesses our hygiene services show up one morning with a bag of canned goods to donate. He said the food bank gave him more than he needed so he wanted to share it with others.

That story says it all—Hope House continues to be a magical place!