Poverty and AIDS

I met a wonderful Momma of I am not sure how many children today.  I met her 27 yr. old daughter who has 5 small children and just lost her job at a  local egg farm, I met the 15 yr old daughter who is about to become a momma at Christmas time.    Through her children being homeless, living in shelters, foster care and group homes her family had become disjointed.   I never would have known this today.  There has been reconciliation in this poverty stricken family.  Not the happy ending kind we would hope to see, but the trial stricken we have each other kind.  This momma, the one who's now grown children are living poverty trying to do the best they can will be watching on of her own die this week. Her 29 yr. old daughter was molested at a group home when she was just a young girl by a man with full blown aids.  Heartbreaking.

Curtis and I went into their home to pray for them and it turned into such a sweet time of encouragement for me. Not what I was expecting. This 27 yr old jobless momma, not knowing how she is going to go on in life is praising God for me.  Praising God that we came over to pray for them.  Praising and thanking God for the young man that has come into our home.  

The results of poverty are overwhelming, how does this happen.  I don't know the whole story but I can imagine.  Single parenting, no money, working all the time, kids to much to handle, no resources, and the list can go on and on.  This family is holding on to each other right now and to God.  To watch them this afternoon was priceless and heartbreaking.  I have heard so many complain about our welfare state.  I would strongly suggest they take the time to really understand what this kind of poverty is like.

We will hopefully be staring a small group next week.  We officially have a plan.  They want to come.  I can't wait to see what God is doing.

Please pray for Crystal she is dying from AIDS
                       -  Erika the jobless momma of five beautiful kids and seems to be the glue in the family
                       - Karen the momma of them all
                       - and we'll call her "Anna" the young lady this about to become a momma herself

Church family

Lately I have been really longing for a church family.  We go to church every week but very few speak to us besides the pastor. There is one couple who have sought us out every week to see how we are but that is really about it.  We have invited families over for dinner on numerous occasions but always get the same response. It is very disappointing as at times we feel like God dropped us in the middle of a spiritual war zone without any backup.   Nice, praying, spirit filled friendship is greatly missed these days.  There was a time when we could walk into church and someone would just walk up to us, or vice versa with a word from the Lord, or feeling the need to pray.  It was refreshing for the soul.

I was particularly feeling this over the weekend.  We are going through a lot of changes at home, and a friendly word, or kind gesture would have been so welcome.  As we were driving home from New Hampshire on Saturday I received a text from my dear friend who lives a couple hours away.  She texted me and said that I had been on her heart lately and she wanted me to know that she was praying for our family.  She has absolutely no idea what we are in the midst of at home.  A divine stirring from the Holy Spirit just for me.   Thank - you dear friend for paying attention to the Father's voice. It was  a gift for me from my Father.   So I don't get the things I think I need from my local church,  the text reminded me that the Church is so much bigger that a building or a state.  The church exceeds all of our imaginations.

I can't really talk about what we are going through but you are all welcome to stop by for a visit.  Life is good and God is good.

We ended up finding an older suburban with less miles than ours has.  We are going to sell the newer one we have to gain a few more inches of car space and a needed extra seat.  Please pray that all goes well and the vehicle ends up being a good investment.

Thanks to all of you who read this and are praying for us.

Fostering

The long and short of it. We went to an Experiencing God conference last weekend. It was a nice refresher.  We've been praying about what God wants for us and really want to help homeless youth.

So.... I'm grocery shopping on Wednesday morning with my two little girls and get a phone call from a friend and she asks if we would like to to emergency foster care.   Thursday we get a kid.  CRAZY!   No training, no experience, and feeling just a little bit overwhelmed.  Talk about getting thrown into the fire.

My question is ... How do you say no?   Pray for us... Thanks.

At Least He Threw It in the Trash Can

My day started off well.  I did wake up with a migraine but it was getting better.  I had my cup of coffee, load of wash in the machine, kids semi-happy, no one bleeding, pretty good start to the day.  I realized I didn't give Curtis back his debit card this morning so I called to warn him to stop at the bank if he needed cash today.  As I was sitting on our front steps I noticed a young man leaving the apartment next door. You get the idea.  They partied a lot last night.  You know you're average respectful young person.   

As I was talking to Curtis he glanced my direction, climbed into his Ford Focus with Alabama plates and proceeded to blast his music so loudly that I couldn't hear anymore.  He was about 20 yards away.  As he started to move down the street he stopped in front of my house and so graciously opened his door making my ability to hear even worse...(no joke it was that loud), and proceeded to throw away  McDonald's trash in my empty trash can.  For those of you who don't live in an urban area....my trash had already been picked up, my can was now empty waiting for me to fill it myself.  His had not been taken yet.  His building had a pile in front waiting for the landlord's trash people.  So, I did what every self respecting Christian woman does who wants to make a difference in her neighborhood.  I yelled at him.  And then took his trash and dumped it on his pile all while my blood pressure went up and I started to get shaky.  Yep, today I failed.

I told this story to Renee and what a great kid she is...her comment to me was "Well, at least he threw it in a trash can."  I love that kid, Renee!

Anyways, we got a crazy couple of weeks ahead of us.  Justin goes back to school,  boohooo! and two days later Renee and Barbara go back to school, and somewhere in between that Bob and Joyce Roundy come for a little visit, I start babysitting Elizabeth again, and   lots of school prep to get done.  Never a dull moment.

Pray for us as we are still working on the house.
Curtis fell off the ladder last night and if that wasn't bad enough he did it again at work today. Lots still to be done to get the back of the house insulated and sided for winter.

Also pray for us as we are still seeking God for what direction he wants us to move, we are getting to know our neighbors but it is slow moving. We really need a heavenly breakthrough, it would be so encouraging.

My garden is going well. I am having lots of fun playing in it. This week we ate cuke and tomato sandwiches, and we had some sauteed kale with dinner last night. I have/had  tomatoes, kale, cukes, spagetti squash, watermelons, carrots, beets, swiss chard, lettuce, peas, herbs, onions, and brussell sprouts.

Thanks for your prayers.

Urban Gardening

Curtis told me a while ago that for Mother's Day this year he was putting in a vegetable garden for me.  Well, when he decides to go for it there ain't no stopping him.  We had 18 yard of loam delivered on last Tuesday.  I thought it was a bit much, and when he got home from work so did he. We shoveled, shoveled and shoveled, flattened, hilled, shoveled in some organic compost, found some cheap fence from craigslist and voila... this is how we ended.

We have more than 20 apartments that look down on our backyard.  It has taken some getting used to but I  am okay with it now most days.  I hope that things grow well, and the neighbors can enjoy seeing life sprout from out their windows.  

We have some new neighbors now.  I am not sure if we recruited them, or if God directed.  I am hoping for the latter.  Either way it is nice to have friends and believers on our street.  They have daughters as well and it has been wonderful for our little girls to have someone that they can play together with on a regular basis. They also have older girls so that has been nice for our family all around. 

We usually go to church together at East Auburn on Saturday night and after we all get together for a meal, we talk about the service, the kids play etc..   I guess you could say, I don't feel so alone at the moment.  

I wonder what God has in store for us, I watch and wait, I listen to the Spirit,  I pay attention to everything on the street.  I'm waiting for the opportunity.  Maybe, I have been having them in the regular day to day , I am not sure but something in me says to be watchful and ready for God is moving, is here, is working and is going to do something more.  I liken it to preparing the garden. You do a lot of work getting ready,
(maybe like the work we did on the house),  you move in (like planting the seeds), you take care of what you have, you tend it , weed it, careful to not step on the seed rows.  And then you wait, you wait to see what comes up.  What new life is going to spring up on Shawmut Str.  Only God knows and I want to be ready.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.  Jer 29:11

You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.  Is. 55:12

Homeless to Homeowner....We made it into the Sunday paper

Overall I thought it was a good article.  Although, I can't believe how many read the Sunday paper.  We made a couple phone calls today and when we said our names they responded with .."Oh are you the Roundy's from the Sunday paper?"  It is a little bit embarrassing having our stuff out there but if it will help someone I guess that it's all good. A writer from the Sun Journal has been doing a series on homeless youth in Lewiston.  A mutual friend contacted the writer from the paper and said she should interview us because we had teenage children and were one of the families that the school had worked with that was giving back to the community.  I was honored that this person felt that way, how could I say no.

If you find yourself reading my blog and wonder how we did this we would be happy to get in touch. Just leave a comment.


http://www.sunjournal.com/news/lewiston-auburn/2012/04/22/one-familys-journey-foreclosure-homelessness-back/1164216