Sorta OT: My Announcement/Long

Well, I don't want to be responsible for anyones blood pressure as a result of suspense, so I am going to try to make my announcement without ALL of the info and statistics I hoped to have......

1. You have seen my mention of the need for employment and my lack of interest in returning to 40+ hour a week "Corporate America". I did that for too many years, for a really big salary and a miserable existence and I have dreaded the possibility of having to return to that.

I have known in my heart, ever since I left Corporate America, that when it was time for me to return to the workplace, and when the time was right for me in general - there would be "something" that I was meant to do.

During my time of unemployment and after the finalization (mostly) of the legal struggles with my ex and for my children - I was able to do some serious soul searching. I also discovered, again, my love of sewing and creative arts and expression.

1. My most near and dear friend, through both my previous life with ex and my new life since ex, has been my friend Todd. He was the minister at the church where I was a member when I was married to the ex and he is the minister who married John and I. He has two children, close in age to both of mine and has been through far too many of the same/similar struggles in his life that I had.

About the same time I was leaving my ex and that town - Todd was also leaving that area and moving back to Houston to start a new church. He has been following a calling, answering his heart and waiting to see where this ministry would lead him. In the time he has been back in Houston, he has become very actively involved with Houston's overwhelming, homeless youth population. He started a group within the church called Project R.I.O.T. "Reaching In and Out Together"

This is an outreach program that goes OUT to the streets to try to get kids off the streets and into programs that can rehabilitate their life, get them off drugs, complete their education, bring them back to mental and physical health and get them involved in a positive and productive life.

This outreach program has outgrown the boundaries of his small little church. It has been becoming clearer and clearer that it was time to grow, time to move up and time to make changes that would reach more youth, offer more assistance and get more kids off the streets.

Todd has just recently been offered an opportunity to invest, with help, in a new location - a REAL church with additional building space and outreach space!

I have worked with Todd over the last few years in small, voluntary capacities when and where I could - but it just never seemed like I could get really involved with the legal issues and the issues my own children were going through.

This past year, a lot of that changed. And, this past year it started get closer to me needing to get back to work.

I presented an idea to Todd recently (thank you Pat) that I had come up with, as a result of Pat suggesting I make quilted greeting cards. These youth are outstandingly artistic and creative. Art provides them with an expressive outlet for a lot of the abuse and troubles they have been through in their lives. I suggested to Todd that he create an art center in the new location. Provide fabrics, art supplies, music supplies, craft supplies etc. and let the kids "express themselves". This would provide art to decorate the new location, but also, we could set up a "gallery" and have an Art Fair to help raise money for the new location and the program.

Todd "one up'ed" me. He suggested that the new Foundation contract with ME to be the Director of this new Art Center! It was just an idea, a suggestion - but it started to "bloom".

Today, we spent the day with the Founder of My Friends Place in Los Angeles, CA.

Todd visited there last week to see their Center, how it was set up, how it was run, etc. Today, they came here to meet with us and talk about how WE set up our Center. Today, we talked about the creation of our Board. Today, my heartfelt dreams were answered as to "what am I going to do with my life". I have been told for years (took all those high shcool and college "Placement" tests, what you should be when you grow up tests, etc.) that I should be in social work or be a teacher. I just couldn't see it. If I worked directly with abused/troubled kids day in and day out - or put up with the "system" day in and day out, I knew I would just go crazy! I get too emotionally involved and it would just destroy me. Nope, everyone kept telling me it "was my calling" - I would be perfect for it, etc. So while this is the "planning and creating" stage - I am about to embark on not just a stupid new "career" but a future of more than just collecting a "paycheck" every month. I am about to embark on a dream, a vision and an answer to a prayer. Doing something to give back to humanity, to touch peoples lives and still be able to eat dinner and feed my kids.

I can't begin to tell you what an exciting, and at the same time frightening, opportunity this is for me. To work with these kids, to give them a chance at expressing themselves and creating something they can be proud of - is just beyond my wildest dreams.

Oh, and the first thing Todd wants me to do is get the "Stitching Circle" back up and running at the new location. It was one of the few things at the old location that brought the older members, together with the younger people. I am just in a head spinning, whirlwhind daze at the moment.

This hardly isn't the "whole enchilada". There will be more information, lots of work to do, lots of begging to do (please contact me before you send all your stuff to FreeCycle! LOL) and lots of hard thinking, planning and praying - but I feel like a weight has been lifted off my heart - my life is starting over again in a whole, brand new light!

Thank you to those here, who new a little "behind the scenes" and supported me so faithfully and whole-heartedly!

Hugs, Tina