“I wanna come home”

After returning from a fabulous weekend in NC with my family and friends, celebrating my friend Annie’s marriage, my sister-in-laws new niece from Uganda(!), and my Dad’s 60th birthday, I was greeted by freezing weather and snowy mountain tops. (and sweet friends at the airport!) My flight into Denver was cancelled and I was re-routed to the Springs, which seems more convenient but actually caused me to be 3 hours later than I thought to work and left my car stranded at the Denver airport.

On the ride home from the airport, Kallie and Stephanie caught me up on the drama of the weekend. There are some things I will just never understand, such as the following.

One of the residents tattooed “crips” on his own thumb using a staple and ink from a pen. He is not even affiliated with gang. He claimed he has had it since he arrived at the DHP 5 months ago. He is not a good liar and we are not blind. :) He now has to try to wash it off, or pay mega-bucks for laser removal.

They also informed me that my primary almost ran away. It was heart-breaking to hear. He is not my son, but I love him like that and I cannot imagine him not being there. It hurt me to hear that he was hurting and wanting to leave. Thanks to my amazing co-workers and bosses and the Lord, he is still here, and we are still able to love on him. He moved into a “transition” apartment and is just loving it. He showed me his room yesterday and I was so proud of how he had cleaned it so well and was wanting to take care of it. He also had a picture of cats that I had colored for him hung on the wall. That was special.

Now to the point of this blog…Last night one of our current residents “Ben” was gmail chatting with a former resident, “Karen,” who just emancipated 2 weeks ago. She was so ready to go! She hated the DHP and was ready to be on her own. She even moved down to Pueblo…a town about an hour away, to start her brand new life. Ben invited me over to talk to her, so of course I did! I was excited to see her and asked her how everything was going. Her smile turned to a more serious face and she looked into the camera and said “I miss you guys…I wanna come home.” She didn’t say she wanted to “come back” or any other wording…she said home. She was talking about the DHP. The building is her house; The people are her family; and she wanted to come home where she felt the love of Christ that is truly unlike any other love.

I am so fortunate to have a home like Karen was talking about. I am thankful for trips home, like I had this past weekend. I am also thankful for the Lord and the way he uses the DHP to give neglected, forgotten, homeless kids…a home.