WHEW!!!! What a week!

Ok, so my life has become absolutely CRAZY as I have begun to learn the ropes of working at The Vine. The Vine has 4 thrift stores called Blessingdales (fondly known as B1, B2, B3 & B4) that is the basic income for The Vine. It's really cool because when you get to see an organization like this in action, you realize what all it takes for it to run for just one day!!!! It's absolutely incredible.

Monday, I had off so I could get organized and stuff before I actually started working. Tuesday and Wednesday I worked all day in the thrift stores, B2 and B4 respectively. It makes for a really long day, but when I think that my work is going to support girls who are learning to be responsible moms by the time they deliver, it really humbles me and know that I'm not working just for the sake of working (which is really fulfilling in itself). Today I had my first real house shift. Today it included making sure the girls went to their exercise class, sewing class, and parenting class; help them make dinner; go with them to a spiritual growth class; and pray with them before they go to bed.

I really wish I had time and space to share everything that has happened this week already, but alas! But basically, there are 6 pregnant girls that live at the Vine. There were 4 when I got here on Sunday and we were supposed to get 3 more on Monday and Tuesday, but one of the girls' water broke on Tuesday, so we only got 2. But the other girl was 21 weeks along when her water broke. Thankfully, they stopped the labor but she is on bedrest, I think she may be coming in a couple weeks, but I'm not entirely sure. I have heard rumors from the people in charge though, that they expect a full house (12 girls) by July. So that will definitely be interesting!

I do want to share my favorite thing that I've seen since being here. Being in a non-profit organization, you get to really see the Body of Christ functioning like it ought to. While The Vine does have an income, they don't make much and we heavily depend on donations for everything. Not including working at the thrift stores, there hasn't been a weekday that I've been here that we haven't received some sort of donation for the house. You should really see the amount of pizza from Pizza Hut that is in our freezer!!! But that's how it is supposed to be! Also, yesterday, working at B4, a couple came in and they purchased a few pairs of pants and some good shirts for a homeless man that they had just met and they even mentioned that they were helping two really good causes, which is true, and totally awesome!!! I love seeing people serving other people so selflessly.

I'm going to go ahead and wrap it all up for tonight, but here are some prayer requests (especially now that I know more about what I'm doing):
1. Pray for the 6 girls. They've all gone through so much and they're finally in a place that they know is safe, but in just a few short months, they will be heading back into the world they came from and they need to really absorb what they've learned at The Vine if they are going to survive with a baby
2. There is a girl, I'm going to call her 'D', she is due in less than 4 weeks and she's trying to figure out what she's going to do once she has her baby. She's trying really hard to get on the right track, but being an unwed mother with only her GED and other circumstances makes it hard to do that.
3. For me, my biggest goal for this summer is to learn to pray, and especially for others. I look at these girls and realize how much they need prayer and how unfaithful I am in that.

Thanks for all your love and support!!!
Melody
1 Peter 1:7