It’s a girl!
January 25, 2009
Written for pharaohsprotege.com
10:10 AM
The excitement here at the Southern Maryland Hospital is so thick in the air, it’s palpable. In a moment, my cousin would give birth to what we hope would be bouncing and screaming baby girl.
Today is also my sister’s birthday. A twist of irony (albeit an unfortunate twist of irony) is that my mother is currently at the same hospital at which she gave birth to my sister 26 years ago.
Back at the hospital in Southern Maryland, friends and family are in the waiting room, at the edge of our seats, with bated breath, waiting for someone, anyone to come through the over sized double door in front of us with the news we’ve been waiting for- she’s here!
LIVE BLOG
12:05PM- Still waiting…
12:08PM- They’re seeing the head
12:12PM- The baby is here
12:16PM- A little over 7lbs
12:30PM- Just saw baby Rene’
12:54PM- Rene’ is taken to the Nursery to be cleaned, etc
1:20PM- All is well with baby and mother
4:05PM- Signing off
Life in a bag
January 12, 2009
Written for pharaohsprotege.com
All of the possessions of a Winterhaven Guest
Close to 30 men were hosted on the campus of my faith community, New Hope Adventist Church in Fulton, MD; we provided food, fellowship and a warm place to spend the night for the last seven days through our Winterhaven Homeless Ministry.
I took the above picture of the bag of one of the guests during the final hours of Winterhaven. The bag contains all of the possessions of one of our guests. All of his earthly possessions. Over and over again, I keep coming back to that picture.
During the next seven days, our former guests will spend their nights at the Emmanuel United Methodist Church (UMC) in Laurel, MD, after which, they will spend another seven days at another church, and another through to March of this year.
Pictured below is New Hope’s Winterhaven Homeless Ministry Leader, Paulette handing over the Winterhaven Ministry documents to Nancy, the Winterhaven Homeless Ministry Leader of Emmanuel UMC.
Paulette of New Hope and Nancy of Emmanuel Church
Click here to view pictures of the final night and transfer and preparation to transport the possessions of the Winterhaven guests from the New Hope Campus to Emmanuel UMC.
Akhenaton
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Winterhaven Homeless Shelter
January 9, 2009
New Hope Volunteers at Training Session
God showed up marvelously in the past week in the New Hope Community- in more than 150 ways! More than 150 members volunteered their time to be Jesus to the 30 homeless men New Hope Seventh-day Adventist Church in Fulton, MD hosted on their 17 acre campus through it’s Winterhaven Homeless Ministry.
The primary objective of Winterhaven is based on the Isaiah 58:7 passage: “provide shelter to the poor and homeless and feed them”.
New Hope volunteers spent close to 200 hours in fellowship, serving and sharing meals, watching movies and playing board games with the appreciative guests. Volunteers also took time to converse with many who were eager to share their life experiences and talk about current events, do their laundry and provide transport.
On Sunday, January 11, the sun would set on this year’s Winterhaven Homeless Ministry at New Hope Church. The following words, however, to God’s pleasure would forever reverberate through the hallways of New Hope’s campus:
“Thank you for that delicious meal”
“Thank you for the blanket”
“Thank you for providing a place to stay”
Volunteers serving dinner
“Thank you for listening”
“Thank you for praying with me”
God was pleased by the work done at New Hope and until we can figure out a way to end homelessness and poverty in our community, let us continue to be His hands and feet to the less fortunate through our ‘Sharing our Pantry’ Ministry and other initiatives.
A moment must be taken to thank all of our grace-filled volunteers. Large and small, their acts of kindness wrought upon our guests and church community rich blessings. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
“Because they were hungry, you gave them something to eat. They were thirsty, and you gave them something to drink. They were strangers, and you welcomed them.” Matthew 25:35 (paraphrased)
Click here for more pictures from New Hope’s Winterhaven Homeless Shelter
