Sometimes it just keeps raining… and no matter your attitude, you keep getting pelted. Often, we trip and fall… and even though we get up, injuries happen, and the bruises are prominent. Always, we can choose the path we take. Sometimes it just keeps raining. This week, while in the ADK, the only chance I … Continue reading Sometimes It Just Keeps Raining
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Choose Hope
As a volunteer for refugee resettling for the past 2+ years … you get into a flow with a crew of ‘happy helpers’ … With the shared intention of making a house a home, each person brings their best self. It makes the time fly by, and no matter the blips that present themselves along … Continue reading Choose Hope
Keep Watch with Me
I went back tonight to the spiritual community of my young adulthood. I went back to say goodbye, as yet another church in the city of Buffalo is having its doors closed. I went to offer support, and was taken aback by how it hit me… Memories flooded over me… this was the church of … Continue reading Keep Watch with Me
Little Bits of Light can Illuminate the Darkness
The last week or so saw an uptick for me as the group I volunteer with finished our 29th home for a refugee family of 6. It takes me back to Spring 2022, when it was suggested that I "check the group out…” When I did, I learned that ‘they’ accepted every aspect of support: … Continue reading Little Bits of Light can Illuminate the Darkness
Invite Small Moments to Inhabit Your Heart
Inviting small moments to inhabit my heart… that is my challenge this Thanksgiving… my beacon of light in a world that tends to point us to the darkness. Yesterday, it was a grey, dreary day in Western New York… the rain had stopped, but the dampness had pasted the land with flattened leaves and a … Continue reading Invite Small Moments to Inhabit Your Heart
Thy Kingdom Come…
So many hands and hearts touching so many lives… This week, another marvelous experience of people making the world a better place. 4 trucks... 1 trailer...11 pick up and drop-offs...50+ volunteers... 1 home... 3 apartments, and reorganizing our storage unit, (paid for by generous donors) ~ THIS was our charge, as we answered "yes!" to … Continue reading Thy Kingdom Come…
Away…Towards…With…
The gift within the pain...
Presence
It is never easy to pack up and move; the emotions that slip into each suitcase, plastic bin, and aged box hold a lifetime of memories. When the choices are limited and feel like they’re less than our own, the mix of gratitude and hesitation is palpable. Establishing resettlement homes for refugee families has groomed … Continue reading Presence
There Will Come Another
Today marks the 17th anniversary of the Western New York October Storm. The lessons I learned during that unexpected storm have guided many a decison over the past 17 years. In memory of that event, the book There Will Come Another, A Lesson from the Trees, is again available for purchase at a special 'Storm … Continue reading There Will Come Another
What Was Hard About Today?
It was one of those teacher days… in the class I was observing a lesson in, the co-teacher called in sick and would be out for the rest of the week. A little one vomited in class and that made other children feel sick. The class, though rich in goodness, has their fair share of … Continue reading What Was Hard About Today?