This One’s for You

This one is for our leaders. Austin said it best, standing outside praying in the freezing cold rain, he stated “I am glad we are not just three crazy people standing outside in the pouring rain, but a whole group of crazy people.”  Everything in me screamed YES!

As families arrived for the Easter egg hunt bundled in coats and huddled under umbrellas, we told them they were troopers. But you guys, our leaders and volunteers, are the real troopers. When we wake up on an event day and it is freezing, or raining, or snowing when it is not supposed to be snowing, we really don’t have a choice, so it is easy, we will be there.

But you, you wake up with a choice. You roll out of bed to see the rain turning to snow or the radar projecting the coming storm and you have a choice. I cannot express to you how grateful I am, for some reason, you continue to choose the freezing rain. Because, not only would we look crazy standing by ourselves, I believe, going at it alone enough times, we would start to feel crazy too.  You keep us sane, you keep us going, you keep us together, you are our fuel, our glue, our fabric.  Without you, our ideas would be, well, just ideas.

We could not hide 2,000 eggs by ourselves or sort four truck loads of clothes or keep 25 racing kids safe or provide Christmas for so many families. One of the scariest parts of stepping into House of Hope was knowing that we could not do all these things ourselves and trusting God would provide an army of dedicated leaders to come alongside us.  I cannot tell you how blown away we are at His army. Alyssa and I have sat back in awe, countless times, again and again. Nothing says dedication like standing in the freezing rain on your Saturday morning.

It sounds cheesy to say we couldn’t do this without you. But the truth of that statement becomes more and more apparent to me every day. We really could not do any of what we do without you. So thank you, for hiding eggs, donating Christmas gifts, sending kids to camp, cooking a meal, filling our blessing box, sharing a prayer, helping with homework, folding clothes, raking leaves, vacuuming grass, thank you for the countless times you have made the choice to show up and move out with us.  Without you, our ideas would be, well, just ideas.

-Brooke