What's Up at WillowBridge?

 

It's the second Wednesday of the month again, which means...it's time for the monthly "What's Up at WillowBridge" post! Since our update last month, here is a peek at what's gone on around here. It's been a BUSY month! (And fun fact - yesterday marked three months since we moved to Grabill.) 

* First of all, Tim and Ryan decided to fix the air conditioning in the WillowBridge car. I walked out into the yard and discovered the car was in many more pieces than it had been! But let the record show, they put it all back together - AND the air works! I'm sure grateful these two guys are so handy! They save us a lot of money with their sweat equity.

* We had the privilege of seeing another of our tenants baptized! This is the second one since we arrived this summer. We were actually off duty the day of her baptism, but we still went because we wanted to support her!

* Our tenants planned a community night for the staff - a staff appreciation night! The tenants worked hard to fix all the food, and they even created awards for the staff! We appreciated their thoughtfulness and all the time they put into planning this evening and making it happen!

* Ryan and I got some pumpkins and mums and decorated the outside of the building for fall. Looks so cute! We also shared some of our indoor fall decorations with the community room, just to bring a little warmth to the space. (Can't wait to decorate for Christmas!)

* I took photos for one of our tenants - and had the best time with it! It's always fun to put on my photography hat for a few minutes. We're actually working on adding "family pictures" to the community room, so this will give us a chance to have fresh pictures of our tenants for that, too!

* All the WillowBridge team worked together on doing inventory in empty apartments so when our new tenants arrive, we will be all set to receive them. Ryan and Tim also worked on touching up paint and doing other repair/maintenance in those apartments.

* One of our tenants was able to be part of a video shoot for WillowBridge - and they did all the filming in our apartment! It was a pretty fun day to have mics and cameras everywhere! And I was so proud of our tenant. She did a GREAT job articulating her thoughts about life at WillowBridge.

* We had a community day outing this past weekend, where we went to a pumpkin patch, had fun with the activities, and then picked out pumpkins to bring home and decorate. Their creativity was off the charts!

* This past weekend, the WillowBridge team had the chance to represent the building at a booth at a church. It was our first such event, and we had fun! We were especially thankful that a couple of people signed up to be volunteers for us. Huge blessing!

* We also started doing our devos differently this month. I began writing them for our team and tenants - and it's been a joy to hear their thoughts as they share what they're learning along the way. And as you read yesterday, it's been a good thing for us as a staff, too!

* We've been working on some different ideas to try to help with goal setting and accountability for our tenants, too. Trial and error! (And trial and success!)

How can you pray?

* Continue to pray for us as we seek to bring new tenants into the building! Our biggest prayers are that they will find this to be a place of hope and growth as they prepare for independence AND that even though the community within the building will change with each addition, that those changes are beneficial for the whole group! 

* Continue to pray for us as we learn how to reach each of the tenants where they are. What works or matters to one may not with another. (Same with parenting, I hear.) We really pray to keep our hearts open for the Lord to lead us toward what works best with each of them. 

* Pray for our tenants as we head toward the holiday season. We all know (no matter who or where we are in life) that holidays and family gatherings can bring about interesting dynamics and stress levels. This is our first round of holidays with our tenants, and we hope so much for them that the season proves to bring joy to them, not wounds. 

Thanks so much for all the kindness you've shown us and checking in on us randomly to see how we're doing!! We appreciate you!