Bethel Mission...But what about the single father's?

So this weekend was a little bit of a hectic weekend in our house. Saturday morning was the AWANA Grand Prix which was just fun in general to go and watch what kids did with their cars and see them race them. Our AWANA kids are so darn creative with those things. It was so fun to see how excited they were about their cars and to race. We even had skype viewers all the way from Scotland. A few of our kids were just visiting family for a few months on their parents "leave" from work and had to return recently. But they had made cars and wanted to see how they would do so their grandma brought in her laptop and had skype up the whole time so they could watch the racing. It was really neat. The rest of Saturday consisted of us doing normal chores/cleaning around the house and some grocery shopping all while trying to maintain our sanity and composure with a 2 year old who clearly was on a sugar high and had WAY too much sugar. Imagine a rubber bouncy ball put in a room made of rubber. So once it starts it would just never stop. It would keep going...and going...and going...like that energizer bunny. Yes folks, that was our little miss Aspen. Trying to corral her, keep patience with her, and keep up with her in general was a task all in itself. Sugar also seemed to make Aspen have some poor judgement choices. So we did have a few timeouts as a result.

Sunday was a normal morning of our church going and hanging out with the youth for Sunday School and then our church service. After church is when things got busier. There was a fundraiser for the band at the high school, they were putting on a Valentine's breakfast of pancakes, eggs, sausage, coffee, milk, etc. So we head up there to see some of our youth and enjoy the delicious food. It really was good. Then it was a matter of getting Aspen down for a nap and Randy and I finishing preparation for the trip to Bethel Mission (a part of Hope Ministries) we were taking the youth to last night. People in our church and in the community were SO generous with giving us things to take with us for the women and children. When randy planned this trip he learned of the moms with children living in one of the facilities and wanted to do something special for them for Valentine's Day. So as a church/youth group we collected items for the moms and kids to give as gifts. We wound up being able to make gift bags for each mom that included 2 boxes of chocolate, a lotion, and a single red rose. Then for the kids we decorated a bunch of shoe boxes to make them look like valentine's boxes you make in school and filly them with candy, valentines, little toys, etc. And one of our youth girls actually sewed a bunch of bags together as well so each would also get a homemade bag with some goodies in it and have something to carry their stuff in. We also were able to take a bunch of craft supplies and coloring books that would be hard to divide into boxes that they could pass out to the children themselves.

When we went it was to a different facility then where the women with children stayed. It was the center for men. Jordanne the women who helped us get set up with a time to go and all was there and told us about the different centers they have, the people they cater to, the needs they have, and gave us a tour of that particular facility. She also told us about the special year long to 2 year long programs that they offer to help people get back on their feet, by offering schooling, helping them get jobs, etc. Throughout her whole spiel she accepted questions and there was one I had to ask...I was a little wary of asking but I did muster up the courage to ask, "What about single fathers who have kids, do you have a place for them?" I wasn't completely surprised but at the same time my heart sunk. I don't understand why centers for the homeless will provide housing for single men, single women, and women with children, but they can't take men with children. I know it is not something seen often but it is out there. I always think back to when I was living with my dad. What if one of these programs would have had a place for us to stay...a single father with a daughter. How would a program liked that helped my dad and changed him. Would I have had to move in with my grandparents? would our lives have been different? There are so many what if's that run through my mind and all I can think about are the children out there to single father's that are in need of help. I hope someday there will be a place for them to turn where they won't get turned away and they can get the help they need before it's too late and their kids are taken from them. A child should never have to deal with the heartache of being taken from their dad. I truly hope someday there will be a place for men with children and who know's maybe I will be a part in it's creation.
thankfully for my sake I had wonderful grandparents who raised me and became my "mom and dad' but what if they wouldn't have had too! That's alL I have for today!