Single Mom, Special-Needs Children
We were able to help a single mother of three children, and Domestic Violence Survivor, who was having “a heck of a time making ends meet”. With a long history of violence in her life, starting with her childhood and continuing through young adulthood and into marriage, this woman was able to break free from the cycle of abuse and is now going to a local junior college. God bless her that she was finally able to break free. Needing shoes and clothes for her children, as well as nutritious food for two of her special-needs children, we were able to help her with gift cards from Safeway, which are good for purchases of both food and gasoline. Although she volunteered to help our organization, which many of our clients do, we felt that she has enough on her hands at this time. Another local organization was able to take care of her clothing needs. Thanks again everyone who has helped Care 4 My Lambs. We can’t do this type of work without you. - Charlie
Domestic Violence Shelter Grant
We made our first grant in our “Grants for Graduates of Domestic Violence Shelters” program. We are working through Shepherd’s Gate on this effort. They selected a woman who has about 2 months left in their program. The woman is working, budgeting and saving, and needed some additional funds in order to acquire a car. We were able to provide a $250 grant toward her effort to get a car. I would love to share more details about her story, but I am not able to for confidentiality reasons. I can say that God has blessed her and has blessed us as well by providing us with the opportunity to help her. I also thank our many sponsors for providing us with the resources to do so. - Charlie
Grants for Graduates of Domestic Violence Centers
Thanks to a few wonderful donors, we were able to allocate funding to our program “Grants for Graduates of Domestic Violence Centers”. These grants targeted at “graduates” of domestic violence shelters in the Tri-Valley Area of Livermore, California. We’re working closely with Shepherd’s Gate (www.shepherdsgate.org) to identify women either currently “graduating” or who are ”recent graduates” from their domestic violence program. Victims of domestic violence have always been dear to my heart, so we set up this program to help them start their new lives as they go out into the world again. Thank God that there are programs like Shepherd’s Gate and Tri-Valley Haven for Women. At the moment, we’re only working with Shepherd’s Gate, but as we get additional funding we’ll be expanding our program. You can help by sending donations, even $10, $25, or $50 can make a difference.
Client Support
I’ve been traveling a lot this month for my regular day job, but we have received a few calls from clients. Earlier this month were able to put together a couple of bags of groceries for one client and give a couple of $25 Safeway gift cards to another client. Just this morning we gave two $25 Safeway gift cards to yet another client - one I knew from BasicNecessities.org. Sometimes I wonder how people continue to get by, given their situations and the difficulty of improving those situations. We’re also starting to get calls from potential donors wanting to give us furniture, however we just don’t have the space for large furniture items. Maybe someday we’ll have a warehouse.
Client News
I received a call from one of our clients today. She is doing well, and told me that she had contacted one of our dentists who do volunteer work for us. She said that she really needed the dental work, and that they did a good job. It’s nice to get this kind of feedback, to know that the system is working and that our clients are being helped by volunteers supporting our organization. She also told me about a friend of hers who needed help, a disabled woman who was barely getting by and didn’t have any food in her refrigerator. She said that she was taking her some dinner tonight. I am amazed at how the needy can find the resources to help someone else in need. I talked with her friend tonight and it sounds like she really needs help, but is reluctant to ask for it (as most people are). Tomorrow we’ll see what we can do for her.
Divine Meetings
I attended a men’s retreat at Redwood Christian Park in Boulder Creek, California this past weekend, with my home church Cornerstone Fellowship. I haven’t gone to many of these, but I always go with an open mind looking for God’s direction. Men are a strange bunch. Most are challenged with in comes to being in touch with their feminine side, so it’s no surprise that part of the focus of this retreat was relationships with women. This is a topic on which Ted Cunningham, their guest speaker, excels. Over the course of the three days, God put me in touch with three people. The first was a man in crisis; his wife had lost her job, and he was struggling to feed his wife 11 year old child. The other two I can’t really discuss for personal and confidentially reasons. The bottom line however is that God put me in touch with these special people for His purposes, and I will do my best to understand and follow His guidance, praying at each step of the way. What I find most interesting is how God orchestrates these meetings, these divine meetings, and the thing that I love the most is that you never know who is supposed to help who. Most of the time each of us benefits. What an awesome Lord we have.
Living Our Ministry
Wow, the Lord has called on us to do some things that are definitely out of our comfort zone. We’ve been letting two young adults stay at our house, one 18 and the other 20. This, in addition to our 18 and 20 year old children who are also living at home, has given us a house full. What a difference two more kids makes. It’s been a learning experience for us all, and very trying for Mary Jo and I. The blessings in this obvious for the two kids, one of whom moved on already (after two weeks), and got a job within a few days of moving out. But the blessings are not so obvious for our children, and for Mary Jo and me. We’ve had to structure things a bit differently, setting quiet times and visiting hours, otherwise it’s like we’re having company every night. Also, we’ve had to make house rules to get everyone (including our kids) to pick up after themselves a lot better. A few dishes in the sink were not so bothersome before, but now with 4 young adults, plus their friends dropping by all the time, the clutter and mess can get out of hand quickly - to say nothing of the food bill and keeping the refrigerator stocked. I thank the Lord for providing us with this opportunity to make a difference in the lives of two young adults, and for the learning experience for us and our children.
Supporters of Mission Belize
I want to thank all of you who provide continued support to the Belize Mission founded by Julia R. Your support and unfailing faith are uplifting in these turbulent economic times. Due to privacy concerns, I won’t list their names here, but there are several individual donors, plus San De Fuca Community Chapel in Coupeville, WA. Here is a recent picture of the children who visit Da Wata Fountin’ Christian outreach center in Punta Gorda, Belize. Our prayers for the children is that their hearts and minds will be changed and they will start to assist in Da Wata Fountin’s efforts to reach those on the street and others for Jesus Christ. Gideon and Maylin, who run Da Wata Fountin’, are so grateful for how the Lord has gone before them to bless their efforts. - Charlie
Not Sure Where This Is Headed
I’m not sure where God is leading my wife and I this time. My 18 year old son has a large group of friends, and most of them are what you would call ”fringe” kids. They are good kids, very respectful, but somewhere in their background there is a broken home, or parents who lack even the resources to send them to junior college, or maybe they have parents who don’t care - we don’t know the whole story, only one side of it. One teen doesn’t have a place to live, that’s the one we took in temporarily. Another’s mother is moving out of town, not sure where she’s headed, possibly leaving the son behind. For the moment, we’re offering to pay this one’s tuition at the local junior college. We’re asking God what he wants us to do in this situation. Funny, I was expecting to have a quieter house as my kids became of college age, but now it seems we have a house full of teenagers every night. Sometimes when I leave for work in the morning there are two or three kids sleeping on the floor in our living room. I guess the good news is that they’re in our house, instead of out drinking or smoking somewhere, or doing worse. Pray for guidance and strength for us.
Yesterday’s Donor, Today’s Client
We were able to help a client today, who was a donor not all that long ago. It’s interesting how our circumstances change. Last summer the client donated a couch, furniture, and other household items that we were able to pass on to a Shepherd’s Gate women’s shelter “graduate” who needed the items for her apartment. Now the client is struggling to make the rent, and is disabled and hungry. We were able to point out some local legal resources, deliver a couple of bags of food, and (thank you God for the Internet) able to order a cell phone charger for next day delivery. Perhaps this latter items seems small, but all of the client’s contacts, and sources of potential help, were in the phone memory. At the moment, she’s struggling to stave off eviction, and we’re all praying that she’ll be able to come up with the additional funds needed to stay in her place. I pray Lord that you will find a way for our client to stay in her apartment. - Charlie
