New Beginnings

June 8, 2011

Life has a way of ticking by and my blog entries go unwritten. I have decided that tonight I will write though because I promised that I would keep my blog up to date. One week ago today I began my job at Mom’s House of Lancaster. For those who do not know, Mom’s House is a pro-life ministry that provides free childcare for single parents who are still in school be that high school, college, nursing programs, or a vo-tech school. The motto is: “Choosing life should not mean choosing poverty.” I realized my first day there that I do have a lot to learn but thus far it has not been overwhelming. I am overseeing the daycare and staff, the volunteers (none at this point), the parents involvement (including their service hours and parent group), and the kitchen. One of my first tasks was to come up with the menu for June.

Because I have been going through files and trying to figure out the capacity of the daycare and how many more children we should bring on for the summer, I have not gotten to spend lots of time down with the children. There will be times when I fill in and cover one of the three rooms: Pre-K, Toddlers, or Infants. I did make it out to the play and garden area my first day on the job and rejoiced with the children in walking through the sprinkler. That was the same day that I covered down in the infant room for a few minutes and had time to read a book entitled, Snow. I loved the conclusion of the book which was, “I like snow!” The children helped their teachers and some volunteers plant a garden in one area of the little “yard”. I will be excited when we can harvest the fresh vegetables to serve to them for lunch.

On Friday when I met the Administrative Assistant she felt like she knew me from somewhere. We eventually figured out that I had led Mom’s House staff in teambuilding activities at Black Rock Retreat five and six years ago. It is a small world! There seems to be a great staff in place which is always a good thing for any organization. I know that I have a lot to learn from each one of them. As September approaches I will be preparing for the parent groups with all of the parents of Mom’s House. Every Tuesday we will meet for an hour and I will bring in resource people as well as lead at times the group time. Little by little I have been meeting some of the parents but many are on break over the summer so their children are not back in until August.

Last weekend I moved into the city with Kendra and so I am getting use to that. I still have not heard Spanish outside on the street in front of my window which has been disappointing. On Tuesday I walked the mile to work and I plan to try to do that regularly. Tomorrow might be a little miserable come afternoon if it is as sweltering as today but since it is street cleaning day on Queen St. where Mom’s House is, parking is hard to come by without walking anyway. I notice much more when I am walking such as places to rent, a Spanish Christian bookstore, and tucked in gardens. My goal is to walk as much as possible and leave my car sitting.

I am very thankful for both my job and current place to live. They are both a blessing. I know the housing is just for a season but it will be a good season.