Crawling Out of a Pit to Share HOPE

Wow! It has been some time since I have gotten on this blog to give an update on what's going on at Margaret's Hope Chest--sorry about that.

I have become caught up in my own personal life and it feels as if I am starting to crawl out of a deep pit--I know that sounds dramatic but it is true.

Our family moved out of Toronto two weeks ago 

and that was so much more work than I thought it was going to be.

I worked like a dog for 10 days--12 hours a day--cleaning, organizing, supervising the packers, hauling junk to the dump, selling some large items on Craigslist, cleaning our entirely too huge house from top to bottom.  On top of that I still had 4 kids and a husband to tend to--the kids were leaving the only school they had ever known and I wanted to make sure everything was done well.

Then we arrived back in Michigan and it started all over again--this time unpacking and organizing our house here.  Oh, and all of the wonderful Michigan summer things that we love to do--sunset walks in Grand Haven, trips to Grandma's cottage, strawberry picking, flower planting, firefly catching....

I finally feel like I can pick up some fabric and sew.

And it's a good thing because we have so many hurting people in our community and in our country.

They need to hear our story of forgiveness and HOPE.

Maybe some of you heard that we had a bad week in Grand Rapids last week.

There was a man who went on a shooting rampage and killed 7 innocent people in a matter of hours.

Our city is hurting.

These families need HOPE.

We are going to try and give some of the surviving family members a quilt.

Here is one that is going to be sent tomorrow--a beautiful quilt that we had in our stash-we are praying that our family's story of what came out of my grandma's tragic and senseless murder will bring them a measure of comfort in the months and years to come.

I also wanted to mention something that might be of interest to the Wrapped In Hope volunteer quilters....Starting on Monday of next week all of the kids that are on the list from Georgia will be gathering at Camp Hope--outside of Atlanta.  All of the kids who attend Camp Hope have at least one parent in prison.  If you quilted for one of these kids and you believe that God can transform that child's life please pray for the following things:

Prayers for Camp Hope

July 17-22, 2011 

"For I know the plans I have for you; plans to give you hope and a future."  Jeremiah 29:11

Pray that the power of the Holy Spirit will fill the camp for the week.  Bind Satan from approaching the camp.    
Pray that campers and volunteers who do not know Jesus will accept Him as Lord and Savior.
Pray that campers and volunteers will know that God protects them and has great plans for their lives.
Pray that campers and volunteers who need renewal of life in Christ will repent, ask, and receive.
Pray for safety for all traveling to and from camp and for all during activities during camp.
Pray for fun for the campers, that children will have the freedom to be children.
Pray that staff and volunteers will recognize when DFCS needs to be called into a home.
Pray that additional campers will come forth to fill the camp slots available.
Pray that the attendees of the upper camp, Leadership Training Academy, will sense a higher calling for their lives.  
Pray for discernment in assigning counselor and camper matches and for discernment  for the staff and volunteers for the week.
Pray that each of the daily Christian themes will be engraved upon on the campers' hearts.
                Monday-Love
                Tuesday-Forgiveness
                Wednesday-Trust
                Thursday-Joy
                Friday--Forever              

Thanks to all who come here to read--I promise to be back soon with more news about God's awesome work through us!