Pancakes
“Do you think I could make them pancakes?”
The question spread a smile across my face. We have always known that a time would come for a shift in energy at House of Hope. After seven years of calling Mockingbird home, it was time to share the experience with someone new. A fresh energy with ideas and passions of her own.
For clarity purposes, because we had received a lot of questions about the transitions taking place this summer- I am not going anywhere. I am taking some time to recharge and rest from the demands of the “boots on the ground” aspect of living in the neighborhood, but I am still involved in all the happenings and love, love, love all things House of Hope. In June, Olivia Thomas moved into our Orion neighborhood as I moved out. Olivia has been a very loved part of our House of Hope family since day one and we are so grateful to have her on our team. In addition to the transitions at Orion, we were able to expand into a neighborhood in Clarkston, thanks to a very generous grant from the Lutheran District of Michigan. In July, Joshua Glenn moved into our Clarkston neighborhood and is beginning the process of putting down roots there. More on these exciting things to come!
“Do you think I could make them pancakes?”
It was phrased as a question, but it rang in my heart as a reassurance.
Olivia had just moved in. Our time had overlapped and we were able to spend a month living side by side in the trailer. It was the last day of school for many of the kids in the neighborhood, and Olivia wanted to wake up at 6am to make them pancakes in celebration of their last day. I had been driving a crew of them to school each morning, so our house was already a prime morning gathering spot.
I could hear the clanking in the kitchen as she got them ready. There was fruit, chocolate chips, and syrups, the whole deal. I watched as the kids in their early morning grogginess came to life when they walked in the door and smelled pancakes. Olivia had an excitement that nobody should naturally have at 6am, but it was a contagious energy that spread like wildfire across every child who walked through the door.
I am not sure who the pancakes meant more to- me or the kids. It was seven years calling those four walls home. The decision to move, and open up to someone new coming in, was not one easily made and it came with a flood of feelings. “Is this the right thing?” I was confident in what I heard Jesus telling me, and the ways He was leading us as we made the decisions. We trusted and moved forward, but it was the smell of pancakes that finally allowed me to exhale.
“Do you think I could make them pancakes?”
It’s more than a question. It’s a wave of fresh energy. A taking of the reins. The start of a new chapter full of new and exciting stories. When we went through the steps of becoming a nonprofit, a large part of it was because we wanted to create something that would last, a promise to our community that we weren’t going anywhere. It is a reassurance that our promise is still good.
Yes. Yes, you can make them pancakes.
-Brooke