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Saturday, August 1, 2009

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.


Tuesday, April 7, 2009

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

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

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/

Thursday, September 4, 2008

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.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Pepperidge Farm Prayer Luncheon

As a group of us women met and prayed today over each other, we always make sure that we have food. We met at my friends Shirlee's house and we all brought items for the meal. My good friend Aldona brought the Pepperidge Farm cake. It was her daughter's first day of school and she was very emotional as we all have been, sending our young one's off to school for the first time. I sent mine off and cried so hard, my boss felt sorry for me and sent me home (that was over 11 years ago).
Bless her heart, as we were sharing, she couldn't hold back the tears, and as we were eating the Pepperidge Farm cake, she realized she hadn't bought one since her mother had passed away in 1991 and didn't realize it. It was always a staple with her mother and she always had a Pepperidge Farm cake. With Aldona's daughter going to school for the first time, and then remembering her mom on this special day through the cake. the tears wouldn't stop flowing. It was a special time, she felt as though her mom were there with her comforting her and letting her know that her daughter was going to be okay just in choosing the cake. I know it may sound silly to most, but to us as mother's and daughter's and losing a parent, it made perfect sense and soon, she had the whole room crying and tearing up. We were all privileged to be a part of it, as she realized that God was in the details in making her day of taking her daughter to school a little easier.
God really takes joy in the small things that we go through, though sending your child off to school is a big thing and Aldona was very upset and concerned, God knew that she needed her mother to comfort her, and how great of God to provide something as small as a cake to let her know that He cared about her. This was what was left of the cake.
This group of women, Aldona, Shirlee, Cindy and Kim have all been such a huge part of Chrysalis House in helping me get things together. They have gone above and beyond on all that they do. I appreciate each one and wanted to give special recognition to all of these wonderful ladies. I love them all very much. Kim somehow avoided the pictures but is at the table of women.
I pray that God will bless each one of these women for all of the hard work at Chrysalis House and their encouragement to me personally.




Thursday, August 21, 2008

We Covet Your Prayers

These are just some of the rooms that have been completed or close to being completed. Chrysalis House still needs much more work, but you can see a small portion of what we have done. Some of the pictures that you see are still a work in progress. To date, we have put close to $500,000 into renovations, but still need close to $450,000. Please pray for our organization as we continue to stay debt-free and persevere in getting Chrysalis House opened to serve the Northeast Texas area, housing 108 homeless women and children.