Raising the Roof Workday

We are preparing to have a work day for the roofing project at Chrysalis House Oct. 30th with a preliminary meeting Oct. 29th at Chrysalis House starting at 8am. Linda Meek and Lesley Williams along with some other friends are putting this work day together. If you would like to be a part of helping with the remainder of putting the shingles on, please come on the 29th for complete instructions for the work day. Food and drinks will be provided for all those that are wanting to help. Please come out and support Chrysalis House. If you would like for your church to become involved with the work, please comment to this post and leave an email address or you can email me at tammy@chrysalishousetexas.com for more information.

I LOVE ROLLER COASTER RIDES

Wow, what a roller coaster ride these past couple of weeks have been. I started out the month with a wonderful trip to San Diego to visit my son and daughter-in-law who I hadn't seen in a year and 6 months since he returned home from Iraq with the Marine Corp. Upon my returning home, I had my last class in Austin for Non-Profit Leadership and Management, I got home from Austin on Saturday evening with the mission group from Little City Baptist Church in Madill, Oklahoma coming the next day on Sunday. I met them at the Cross Country Cowboy Church in Sulphur Springs where they would stay while they worked on Chrysalis House the whole week. This fabulous group from Madill rose bright and early every morning ready to work hard and give 110%. They broke up into 3 groups splitting up the work, while the women were working hard inside, the men and half of the youth worked on the outside. Through the week, Little City Baptist Church having only 10 men and 5 youth to work on the roof replaced close to 50 sheets of decking, 22,824 shingles and 72,000 nails. They finished 2 wings of the building with 2 wings left remaining and did all of that in a week. We didn't get the help we had hoped for with the roofing, but what this little group did was AMAZING. God used them to teach all of us a valuable lesson....it doesn't matter who He calls or the number of people He calls to do His work, He WILL accomplish His perfect will, inspite of how big or little the person or number of people is.

The whole week reminded me of the story of David and Goliath....David being a small and unknown boy, yet God called him to do great and mighty things inspite of himself. God used this small boy to kill the giant of a man, Goliath. I love that God loves doing extraordinary things through ordinary people and using small people (in our case, a small group) to do big and mighty things. We should never question what God is doing or how He chooses to do it. He gets all the Glory that way, I Praise His Name for doing it exactly the way He did it...using a small church like Little City Baptist (a place my GPS couldn't even find) to do something so big and blessing us in the way they did.

I didn't mention that in the middle of the work week, I finally graduated from my Non-Profit Leadership and Management classes and went back to Austin for my graduation and had to say goodbye to so many close friends that I had grown to love and respect throughout the last year. It was a very sweet and touching ceremony. I grew so much as an individual and learned so much about myself, not to mention all of the knowledge that I gained managing a non-profit organization.

I wish that I could post every single picture of almost 400 that we took throughout the week, but unfortunately I can't...but I hope you enjoy looking at what I have posted. One of the neatest things about this group coming was that we all felt as though we had known each other all our lives, it was a sweet kindred spirit. They blessed all of us who got to know them.

There are so many people to thank for helping with this group that came. The Cross Country Cowboy Church for hosting them; Greg and Debbie Price's Sunday School Class along with Bobby Daniels class for providing food Sunday evening; Brashear Baptist Church for feeding them Monday evening; Ron and Pam Bowden (my board treasurer) for buying dinner at Jaun Pablos Thursday evening; Center Grove Church of Mt. Vernon feeding them Wednesday evening; Lake Country Neighbors who provided lunch on Friday; Bruce and Sherri Burks Women on Mission group feeding them on Friday evening; Sulphur Springs Athletic Club for allowing them to use their facilities throughout the week; Nazarene Church for providing ice throughout the week; and many individuals, Tommy Glenn and John Powell for closing their business down and working on the roof, Paul Clement for working on the roof, Trey Norris for allowing us to use his trailer for hauling shingles, Jimmy Bailey and Don Sapaugh for allowing us to use their tractors, Shane McCormick for allowing us to use his nail guns and decking nail gun, and those who provided food, water, ice Scott and Shirlee State, Robert and Aldona Pazin, Al and Susan Bettis, Jim Barnes Sunday School Class of FBC Mt. Vernon, Wendy Bridges and I know there were others, but my memory is fading...I am sorry if I forgot who you were, but we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for making this wonderful group feel welcomed and well fed while they were here. We love you all!!!

My precious British daughter in law Claire...we toured the Carrier Ship Midway

My awesome son, Aaron and wife Claire...they took me to a British Pub where I ate British Fish and Chips...he is always happy and laughing like this
The ship my son works on...I couldn't tour it
My wonderful Non-Profit leadership class receiving our certificates
We are all crying, happy day, happy day!!!
Me walking, receiving mine!!!

My wonderful friend, Candyss Bryant responsible for helping me being accepted into the program addressing our graduating class

The awesome and talented Barry Silverberg, President of Texas Association of Non-Profit Organizations...loved using his cane on us

My wondeful cohort group, Christine Torres, JoAnn Swahn, Jane Murray, me, Heather Eilers and Daniel Guerrero...missing our conference calls already

Taking a quick break

Pastor of Little City Baptist, Kenny Stacy and Tommy Glenn

Look at the sweat, this was the hottest job in town that week

Cooling off

Hi there

All of that old wood is now brand new

I think they are having a Bible Study...naw, just talking strategy

Wow, Praise the Lord, no one was injured

Working on the room

These kids were so awesome this week

Corner work

Half way down the roof

Further view from the end, but not all the way...I got really scared on the roof top...but had a great perspective and made me appreciate all they did

Back at the Cowboy Church, John Powell and Jerrod doing a little roping

This big group having a nice dinner out at Juan Pablos

Just one of the tractors

The group being fed

The beautiful finished room that will one day house a mom and her children

The Roofing crew

Have you ever seen a dirty pastor like this? Pastor Kenny Stacy with the pastor of the Cowboy Church, Stephen Leach....2 awesome men!!!

REMOVE SHINGLES

We need help removing shingles Saturday May 29, if anyone would like to help take out some frustrations by shoveling off shingles, come on by to Chrysalis House. We are trying to give the group that is coming to install the roof a head start on the work....it will go faster with more than a few people helping to remove the old shingles. We would really appreciate it very much!!!

Roof starting May 31 - June 6

Little City Baptist Church from Little City, Oklahoma will be arriving on Sunday May 30th and will be staying at the Cross Country Cowboy Church in Sulphur Springs, TX. The group from Little City made 2 trips down to Chrysalis House for a site visit, and I (Tammy) made a trip to their church to give the whole body a presentation of our ministry. After my visit to their church in Little City, they gave us a nice brisket dinner with all the fixings. They are a precious group of people who will bless our community while they are here.

The group will start the installation of the roof for Chrysalis House the following Monday on May 31st. We have purchased all of the roofing materials needed in the amount of $21,029.36 from Lowe's of Sulphur Springs, and we would love for anyone who knows how to use a hammer to come on out and help. We are going to try and strip the old shingles off which is only one layer of shingles the weekend before the group from OK arrives, so that when they start on Monday, they can just start with the roofing. Trey Norris is letting us use his dump truck to hall all of the old shingles to Sells Recycling in Yantis. Don Sapaugh and Jimmy Bailey is allowing us the use of their front end loaders to carry shingles from rooftop to dump truck. There are many others who will be participating in helping us out, and we are so excited about this next step.

We are really praying that we have enough help to complete the entire roof installation instead only a portion of the roof. If you or someone you know would like to help, please contact us. We will have all of the materials already purchased for the entire roof.

New Roof Coming Soon to Chrysalis House

I haven't blogged since last August. I am sorry to those who have wanted to check on how things are going with Chrysalis House and the ministry. I started school in Austin in August of last year for Non-Profit Leadership and Management...I will graduate from the course in June of this year. I have not only been busy with classes, not to mention the 5 hour drive to Austin, but I have been very busy with our ministry. I have been working from home, but in reality, my office is probably more in my car than on a desk.

Last Fall, W.O.W.S. was accepted onto the North American Mission Board where people all over the nation could look at our project for a possible mission trip for their church groups. I listed one project at a time, beginning with the roof. We have money in our building fund for all the roofing materials, but did not have enough for the labor, this was just one of the reasons that I wanted to be approved by the NAMB, so that we could get help. Our organization had a few hits from churches in South Texas, Tennessee, Kansas and Missouri...the project was either too big for what their group or we didn't meet their needs as a group. A few weeks ago, we finally got a church who was very interested, I sent them pictures and even gave them a satellite view of the building just to give them an out in case they wanted it....but Praise God, they committed and now a church from Oklahoma is coming May 30 - through the first week of June to start the roofing of Chrysalis House.

We are looking for other churches at this time who might want to help...volunteers who will help cook, bring food, drinks etc. for this group of people. As our community is doing the One Month To Live, our board ask that you prayerfully consider if this might be a spot that the Lord can use you. You can email me through this blog and let me know if you are interested. If you can't help physically, monetarily, we ask that you please lift us up in prayer. Very Sincerely, Tammy

Donations

Recently, we have been working on accepting donations for our roofing building fund. Bro. Pepper Puryear from First Baptist Church of Mt. Vernon, presented Chrysalis House with a $2000 check from their mission's fund. This was added to our building fund giving us a total of $14,000. We are so thankful and grateful to the Lord for this generous donation in helping with our project.

Mylissa Bailey presented Chrysalis House with a check for $500 from the Key Club....the Key Club uses Chrysalis House as a connection for those kids that are in school that need to know more about what we do and get them involved with our organization. We are so thankful for the Key Club of Sulphur Springs for their generous donations and support through the years.
Lowe's has also started a new program called "Lowe's Hero's"....I interviewed with them last week....they are looking at helping other organizations, but we pray that they will choose our organization to help, so please pray with us that they choose to help with the roof. This would be such a blessing for us.

Update On Chrysalis House

Wow, it has been awhile since I have updated on my ministry blog....lots of things have been going on since I last posted....and sadly, I had gotten out of the habit, I am sorry to say....it is sad that our lives get so busy that we don't take the time that is necessary to update friends and those that support us. First, I am sorry and ask that you please forgive me.

I have been working from home, and just went through the anniversary of losing my dad....I have to admit that I was very sad and depressed as those of you who have lost loved ones know that anniversaries are hard to go through. It has been over a year now and it has taken me awhile to get back to normal, whatever normal is. Now my father-in-law has been re-diagnosed with lung cancer again, inoperable....he is 78....it has returned in the same place that it was before in his lungs and so I am trying to be there for my husband. It is how my own father died.

As Spring approaches, it brings with it new life and I feel that God is giving me new life to celebrate in Him. There have also been some hard challenges and trials that I have faced, but how could we appreciate all the good that God does if we don't experience some of the bad. God has been so merciful and gracious with me and I am full of gratitude for what He has done in my life even in the midst of my sin and disobedience.

I have just completed the Esther Bible study and have realized that God's timing is always perfect. Though God is not mentioned in the book of Esther, He is all over it and in it....meaning, although it looks like nothing is going on with Chrysalis House or me....He is all over us and is working behind the scenes to bring things together for the opening of Chrysalis House to one day house the women and children God wants there to help give them new life.

Now for the update....we had received the money to buy all of our roofing supplies from a company in Houston through a friend that got us a good deal on shingles and felt. We had bought and paid for the materials last year....and in the meantime, we were looking for volunteer roofers who would oversee the replacement....we finally found a retired roofer who would oversee it and I called to have the materials shipped to us....as our friend called the company, the company told them that they had sold our materials after Hurricane Rita hit....we DID get our money back, but unfortunately the cost of materials have gone up and we cannot get back the materials for the same price that we had received them....so we are busy looking, calling and asking for help with supplies. We are looking for volunteers or a church that would be willing to do a mission trip to replace our roof. If you know of a church or you would like to be a part of helping, please contact me.

We also had a film crew that came from Florida to do a documentary on Chrysalis House and they are now in the editing phase of getting it done....it will be a great tool for us to send to churches, and organizations so they will know what we are all about....we need some volunteers to hand deliver these DVD's once they are here to churches and give them to those that might be able to help. If you are one of those volunteers that would like to do that, please contact me.

We are also trying to get an annual event going on Mother's Day in all the local churches....we would like for each church member to donate a dollar for helping add to our building fund....since working at home, I have turned off a few things at Chrysalis to save money.

At this time, we just ask for your prayers and that God will give us His wisdom, His heart, His desires for this ministry to help single mom's. We know that He cares about them and we want to help do our part in helping them....and in this tough economic time, they are suffering....we have been getting so many calls from women that we cannot help, but rather have to refer hundreds of miles away. It is heart wrenching when you realize that innocent children are involved and are helpless in their situations. We know that God will provide for us just as He always has in the past and we know that we will open....but we cannot do it by ourselves....our board members give on a monthly basis as well as Chris and I to the ministry because we believe in what God is doing....He is working but He is also preparing us. I believe that when God does something like this, He has to prepare and it is in His timeframe, not ours. I am reminded of Moses and how it took 40 years in the desert to prepare him for what God called him to do...reminded of how long it took Noah to build the ark....reminded of how long it took before David took the place as king....God is not in a hurry and unfortunately, we live in such a fast paced world that we want things done fast and we miss what God is doing in the moment. We want to worship God while we wait, wait and wait longer if we have too.

Everytime I get discouraged, my husband Chris always reminds me that we are still ministering to people....we have so many opportunities to be Jesus to people that come through the doors....we have community service workers that have to work off hours. Just last week, we had two teenage boys that dropped out of school and to the world, they may seem scary and lost causes....but God has given me a great love for these kids....they were both homeless, but still having to work off hours....I was talking to them about their bad choices and one of them said, "that is why we all come here and all of our friends say to come work off hours at Chrysalis House because you are so nice to us and treat us like normal people"....it broke my heart, thinking that they are not treated normal in other places....I told them that I loved them, they reminded me of myself when I was their age, I was a good kid, but just made a lot of stupid mistakes and made bad choices but that God brought me through it and redeemed my life. I can see they really want to try and do good, but the world has beaten them down enough to make them think they are losers. That is the difference we want to make....so if we are not open now, it is okay, we have an even greater opportunity to LOVE on people....we want to truly LOVE those people that are unlovely to the world....and until we are open, that is what we will do.

We covet your prayers.
Tammy

Garage Sale This Weekend

As you might have guessed, we are having yet another city wide garage sale this coming weekend....October 9-11, 2008.....if you would like to help out or just come and shop and spend money, we would appreciate either one. We need help with setting up on Thursday and help tearing down on Saturday if you would like to come and help and have nothing else to do.....our parking lot at Chrysalis House will be full.....if you need more information, just email me at tammy@chrysalishousetexas.com/

Working From Home These Days

I have had a few calls lately wondering where I am and what I am doing since I am not at Chrysalis House....I will catch you up and let you know. I have had several things happen since last November that is keeping me home these days....in November, I began to have severe abdominal pain, I put it off as just stress. Me and a few people who volunteered cleaned Chrysalis House up and then decorated for our weekly Christmas tour, we had open house every Thursday serving cookies, hot chocolate, wassill, and coffee. We wanted people to come through to see all that we had done, catch them up on what our ministry was doing.

At the same time, my dad was about to have minor surgery.....the doctor's said that he had lung cancer and his emphysema didn't allow him to have just a biopsy and then surgery...so he could choose either or, or both...he chose to have surgery....he came out of surgery great, and found out that he did not have cancer, but a virus that most East Texans get....he was awake for 4 days and talking before he received a breathing treatment.... while having a treatment, his lung was ruptured and totally collapsed, he was put on life support and there was nothing that they could do to save him, his lungs were too bad...my sister, step mom and myself had to make the tough decision to take him off of the life support.

I lost my dad December 26th 2007...I praise the Lord that I know where he is and that I will see him again.....although I miss him terribly.....I still had severe abdominal pain, but put it off as stress again after losing daddy....I was very sad, couldn't sleep and felt so totally lost without him....I was close to him and he was my daddy and an example of what a dad should be, teaching me to love the Lord....one of my favorite memories of him was of him every morning, sitting in his chair with one leg under him, drinking coffee and having his quite time with the Lord reading his Bible....what a legacy to leave me and my sister.

At the same time that we were having Christmas tours, and right after losing my dad, I had been planning a huge two day special event with Best-Selling author, Shannon Ethridge called, "Completely His" which had been planned since the following October....it was a great success, but was very stressful getting things together because of the pain and the lack of sleep that I was not getting....but was a beautiful event indeed. I was still having severe abdominal pain, but putting it off as stress.

In February, my son came home from Twentynine Palms California just to say goodbye before he left for Iraq...leaving his wife in California and his baby (boxer) with us....I was still having severe abdominal pain, but thought with all that I was dealing with, it was stress....I really didn't feel stressed, because I felt as though I had left it up to the Lord, but you never know how your body reacts to stress.

I awoke in the middle of the night with severe pain one night and my husband had to take me to the E.R. in Mt. Pleasant and doctor's said it was just a virus...I knew better...yet they released me.

We had also been planning yet another fund-raiser with the High School Powder Puff game...it is where the Junior girls play flag football with the Senior girls and the football guys dress up as cheerleaders...I purposefully left the guys pictures off....they were dressed pretty bad and didn't make very pretty girls.....they would be really embarrassed if they knew that they were on a blog.

In May, I was having such severe abdominal pain that I finally called my doctor and he told me to come in right away....I had been bleeding internally since November and it was now May, I needed to have major surgery, and am now at home recovering from that...it will be a 6 month to a year of recovery time...the thing that has been amazing is this....I realized from home, I actually get more work done, I don't have as many interruptions as I did before, not that it was a bad thing, but I just didn't have enough time to do work. I have been busier giving presentations, I have been speaking to state representatives, congressmen, raised $27,000 for the roof, and am now at home working on grant research which takes up a lot of my time. I have researched close to 700 grants so far, and have about 600 or more to go and that is just with foundations, not including federal, state and corporate....but at home, I can do that.

I am also working on getting some men to place our roof on....I have bought the materials and am meeting and speaking to the Baptist Men of Texas in a couple of weeks to see if they are interested in helping out...I pray so, if not, at least we will have another contact.

Since the conception of the ministry, we have raised close to $500,000 in money, materials and equipment for Chrysalis House, we still need another $450,000 in case any of you would like to just donate the money :) Here is a breakdown of what is still needed....you have seen what we have done, here is what is left...if you or anyone you know that has any of these abilities and qualifications, wants to do a mission trip and can help, please contact me. The first three things that need to be done is the roofing (for which we have all the materials), the electrical throughout the building and then the fire alarm system, with those three things completed, we can then open one wing at a time.

Electrical Bid= $217,500

Plumbing = $52,920

Construction= $43,991

HVAC= $39,664

Fire Alarm System= $25,250

Roofing= $27,000 (which we have)

Outside Doors= $24,000

Insulation= $12,500

Sprinkler Heads only= $5,000

This is my dad, my mom, me (the baby) and Tammy Renee Parker of whom I was named after....My dad was stationed at Fort Hood and was in the Army....I was born there and cost my parents a total of $5.25 and that was for my mother's meal.

Another favorite memory....my dad and I made this costume together for a church event that we were having....if you couldn't guess, I am a pumpkin.
I have always loved this picture of my dad.....looks like he is in deep thought.
My dad was such a great grandfather to my kids and they loved him very much....he helped me every chance that he got with them....he is getting them ready for the day for me....I loved catching a picture of them.
My dad was a great fisherman and won this huge event winning a few thousand dollars....we were all so proud of him and were all there celebrating the day with him.....he LOVED to fish among other things.
My dad was so proud of my son, Aaron....the Marine...this would be the last time that Aaron got to see my dad before he passed away.
This was set up at my dad's funeral....a picture of his wife Sherrie, his racing helmet and a picture of him inside his race car....he also loved racing....that is where I get my lead foot and have to take defensive driving so much that I could teach the class.

My baby son Aaron who is just 2 here and so precious....the time has flown by so fast and you never think of them ever leaving you....I am so proud of my son...the Marine....he was a beautiful little boy.

Aaron at a birthday party at McDonald's....he was so precious and loved it.

A sure sign of Aaron getting older and putting up signs for his sister's to stay out of his room.....I had to save it.

Aaron with me and his sister at his 8th grade graduation....what a proud day for us....I couldn't find one of his graduation High School pictures....I am sure that I could if I looked hard enough.

Aaron went hunting for the first time during deer season....having never been before and shot his first deer....it was huge....he was so proud and we cried for being so happy for him....he didn't have his dad to show him how to hunt and had no one....my step-dad took him on this day and h cried like a baby himself....Chris had just had his bicycle accident and was in critical condition but was recovering from home.

Aaron loved going on mission trips....the men bragged on how hard he worked....he went with Chris this particular year to Milwaukee on a mission trip....he is building a wall that was needed at a church.

The first thing he wanted to do after coming home from Bahrain was go to the Dairy Queen and get a Blizzard....every time I talked to him, I would tease him about getting one....this was one of the first things that we did.

The day he graduated from Boot Camp in San Diego....we went to watch and then bring him home....we were so glad to see him....and he was just as glad to see us.

One of the few, the proud, the Marine....my son, Aaron Chase Welch.

The next few pictures are of the Chrysalis Christmas tour that we had every week of December and then on the Sulphur Springs, Christmas Tour of Homes....it was an honor....we actually had around 16 trees up that were decorated and all 40 bedrooms had decorations in them.

This is the "Completely His" event with Shannon Ethridge....you can visit her web-site to see what new releases she has coming out....she is a best selling author and speaker.....this was an awesome event....women are signing in at the table receiving their shirts, name tags, books, pins, etc.

Shannon Ethridge....great speaker and author.

This was an actress (Patti Lovelorn....looking for a wedding as a bridesmaid) that was hired to come and be a part of the program.....she has been a life long friend to Shannon....she was great....if anyone would like to hire an actress for an event....I can hook you up.

Shannon's book table with her mom on the left and Skyla on the right....Skyla graduated from Teen Mania with my daughter Ashley....they both were taught under Shannon....Skyla now works for Shannon.

My two good friends, Vicky and Cathy.

We served the women a 4 course meal....served by Judy's Kitchen.....it was a great dinner....and I had a lot of help with the serving.

Starting their meal with a salad and parmesean bread....waiting for the rest of their meal.

Flower arrangement that my friend Aldona made for the reception.

The Wedding cake....the theme of the event was on being the Bride of Christ and knowing what that entails....so our decorations revolved around that.....it turned out gorgeous....the cake was donated by our dear friend Kara Petty.

I had just gotten my daughter's wedding dress out of the seamstress and thought it would be a gorgeous prop for the dinner.....it was a surprise to everyone, including Shannon....my dear friend Kim let me borrow the manican to place the dress on.

Taking in money for the Powder Puff game.

Cindy who helped us at the concession stand was actually holding up the door and inviting you to come and buy at the same time.

Aldona working very hard at selling all types of items....dragging the people in as they walked through the gates.

The actual game that we never got to see....and I forgot who won....I am thinking it was the Juniors.