We had the most perfect weather for our resurrection sunrise service this year! Some other highlights of the celebration included batting balloons around to keep them aloft as we sang and a message from community novice Brenda. Her sharing included many challenging questions for us that we continued to ponder and discuss later in the week, for example, “How can we let God lead our time alone with him, instead of us controlling or directing those moments?”

In the last three weeks, we’ve had the joy of welcoming three new households from South/Central America and one teenager from Mexico. All of these individuals have recently left dangerous situations and have a lot to process. We would appreciate your prayers for wisdom on how to best walk alongside them and to also receive the gifts that they bring. One family includes a young child with a developmental disorder, and the family hopes to provide help to him through special education as soon as possible.

Several of us have enjoyed weekend outings with this family to the public library and an awesome local playground. Another step towards building relationships with new families is to restart the Women’s Circle time that we have held in the past with an emphasis on personal reflection and sharing (as individuals feel comfortable) facilitated by questions and crafts. 

Traditionally, we have had two housing areas—one for volunteers and community members and another near the school for the families that we host. As we now have families coming to us from a range of situations—newly arrived refugee staying shorter term, asylum seeker, trafficking or domestic violence survivor, or unaccompanied minors who stay longer—we’ve realized that our needs have changed. And in response, we now have staff and guests living in both housing areas.

In the School Area, as we now call it, we’ve continued to make some improvements. A stone retaining wall to hold back the earth behind the basketball court and a small gravel parking area near the main housing section have been completed in the last few weeks. The first steps (including grading or leveling the land) toward a new consolidated recycling shed and picnic pavilion are also finished. We have decided to rename the houses by color rather than number, which involved painting one of them a medium shade of purple!

Blessings to you as we all continue to enjoy the spring!