Almost There!
I hesistate to speak definitevly, but I think we're almost finished with our move. A few more boxes to get from point A to point B and then a cleaning of our old office, and we're out of that one. Of course, we still have all the boxes to unpack at our new office and find a home for all of our stuff (where did it all come from??), but at least we'll be working out of one location this week. Just in time for our 6th birthday on Friday! Yep, six years ago this coming Friday, Committed to Freedom incorporated and formed an independent 501(c)(3). What began in the early 1990's under the umbrella of Teen Challenge of Arkansas finally grew to become independent then. We've come a long way, but still have a long way to go. One trend I'd like to end is that this is our 5th office move in 6 years. Ugh.
www.committedtofreedom.org
Mother's Day 1998
It was ten years ago this Mother's Day that I was in
Sedona, Arizona, in the desert with my beautiful daughter. It was the end of a long, hellish experience of broken family and shattered dreams. Through many days of walking her trails, meeting those who were in the desert with her, and getting her Jeep ready to come home, we prepared to come home together and begin the difficult process of repairing our relationship, our home, our lives. Before we left
Sedona, my daughter and I went to church together. It was Mother's Day. I have never had a more extravagant Mother's Day before or since. Today, I thank God for our restored relationship, our second chance.
www.committedtofreedom.org
Lightning and Moving
Last night, just as we were moving our office furniture, a huge thunderstorm moved in - terrible lightning. Our new office is on the 2nd floor of a downtown historic building, and we thought we had the parking situation covered, but that plan fell through when our spot for the truck was taken. Everything was soaked - us, the great guys from Teen Challenge who helped us move, and our furniture. Nothing's easy I guess. Today, we move boxes of books, supplies, and work to get our office back in some kind of working order. This office is smaller than our last one, so we've got a challenge as to where we store much of our inventory and retreat equipment. One challenge at a time. Computers, our network, and our internet situation should be back up to speed by tomorrow evening.
www.committedtofreedom.org
Nashville and Moving
I returned from Nashville after I taught a Beyond Abuse seminar for Midtown Fellowship. The seminar went great and I was so happy to see a room full of both men and women who were determined to learn important new tools for their own journeys or those of their friends or partners.
We started packing a bit yesterday in preparation for moving our offices this week. Today is the heavy packing and preparation day and tomorrow evening, a moving crew from Teen Challenge will swoop in and get our furniture up to our new office. We have been deeply moved by the sacrificial financial support we have received from great friends of our work. It is expensive to move - to get services and utilities changed over, etc. We are so encouraged by those who have join us in making this possible.
Well, I've got on my jeans and Tshirt on and will probably put in a very long day for the next few days. We'll all be glad when this is over!
www.committedtofreedom.org
Emergency Move
Ugh. Due to circumstances beyond our control, we're having to move our offices next week. This puts a much greater burden on us financially, and we're already strained as it is. I leave for Nashville, TN in a few hours to teach a Beyond Abuse seminar for Midtown Fellowship. I get back late Sunday and then we move next week. All this in the middle of grad school, preparing for a retreat in June, working on a new retreat manual, and putting together information for the publisher of my new book, Connected Voices.
Oh! That's a really big development! I have a contract with NavPress to publish my book!! It's a deal and we hope this will be on bookshelves (or at least released) by March 2009. It's going to be a full year, to say the least.
The new office space will probably work much better for us, but right now, the idea of moving an entire office (AGAIN!!) just makes me tired! If you can help us with monthly support to offset these additional expenses, we could really use the help. Thanks!
www.committedtofreedom.org
