9 Mockingbird

Earlier this year, our trailer at Orion underwent some serious damage brought on by a bad mix of below-freezing temperatures, heavy snowfalls, and loss of power. This unfortunate mix led to pipes breaking and flooding both the inside and outside of our trailer. We have worked diligently to make sure the damage was minimized and steps were taken toward repair. However, after talking with our insurance company, contractors, and trusted friends, it became apparent that there was too much damage to get it back to a place where we could safely gather again. 

The back story however, is that we have had many discussions as a team over the past year about where we feel God is leading us and what the future of Orion would look like. For a multitude of reasons, we have had the sense of being called to move our resources into another neighborhood. These were hard conversations, Orion was our beginning. Our story, our roots, our early years of many lessons learned, they all happened there on 9 Mockingbird. We talk a lot about expansion and the dreams of reaching more people, but the conversations about retracting were new and tough ones. So we prayerfully asked God, if He wants us to let go, please make it abundantly clear, because my heart doesn't want to say goodbye. 

So really, I guess we shouldn’t have been all that surprised He sent a flood… 

However, even though our trailer made an abrupt exit, we feel it is important that we as an organization transition out in a way that honors the neighbors we love so much.  We plan that Olivia and our team will continue to host weekly youth nights through the end of the school year. Kensington church has been so gracious as to let us use their space to gather together until it’s warm enough for us to meet outside in the neighborhood park. We have already planned dates for special events and camps at Orion throughout the rest of the calendar year and plan to honor all of those and then we will invite our families to join us at one of our other locations to stay connected. We also believe there is so much beauty in gathering at the local church during this transition. As House of Hope begins this transition out of Orion, this allows us to introduce them to a safe space within walking distance of their homes. 

We believe this relocation of resources is the path we are supposed to be on. We are hopeful and excited about the things we have in the works for the future of House of Hope and the families we have yet to connect with. We plan to be in a new neighborhood before the end of this year which is beautiful and exciting. 

But grief is not something we can simply skip over. We grieve because it is worth grieving. Because goodbyes are hard. The life change that happened on that street over the past 12 years was nothing short of miraculous. If only those walls could talk. We grieve because it’s worth grieving, and how beautiful it is to have held something worth grieving. 

If anyone has any pictures of Orion or a story to share, maybe you visited, you attended an event, you volunteered, you were one of the families on our street, we would love to collect all the pictures so we can remember our time there and the beautiful beginning and stories it gave us. You can email pictures to contact@houseofhopeministry.org or comment them below.

We also want to thank all of you for your endless support. The beautiful thing about what we have created together is that the stories and life changes don’t end here, we get to keep going into new neighborhoods and the seeds that were planted over the past 12 years on Mockingbird will continue to grow. We are forever thankful for the honor of loving our neighbors. 

-Brooke