Being the resident manager at a transitional housing program for Addicts and Alcoholics can be an interesting job, and often very rewarding. Today was one of those days where I have to be very thankful for what God has allowed me to be a part of.
Red the Garden Lady
We have a master Gardener from Michigan State University that comes to help us plan and grow our community garden every year. She works closely with our house manager to run the garden and provide fresh vegetables for our guys all summer long. Her name is Rebecca but she wants to be called "Red" as she is a redheaded lady. She is super cool, and she does flower arrangements for one of our local hospitals to give to patients in intensive care. Once a year she also brings a bunch of cut flowers and gives our guys a little class on arrangements and the benefits of flowers in general. Today was that day.
This is the famous "Red"
Some of our guys don't really want to be there at the start...
But most of the guys are willing though skeptical...
When Red begins to teach...
She tells the guys how flowers can relieve stress...
The guys start paying attention...
Even the little ones...
So we started with a vase full of water...
And a wide variety of flowers...Snapdragons, Zinnias, and St. Catherine's lace...
We also had greens such as Lime Basil, Sweet Basil, Peppermint and Sweet Anne...
We get started on our arrangements...
And they start coming together...
And they start coming together...
Even the guys that didn't want to be there at the start were having fun and getting into it...
As well as our guests...
Red took a picture of me taking a picture...Like some matrix stuff!! Whoa!!! Ok just kidding...
Here is the former Resident Manager, one of the Pastors that is involved in our program, Red, and our House Manager...
One of our residents and his Mother...
Our former Resident Manager and his new wife (That's how I got the job...he got married)
One of our residents and his wife...
One of our residents and his Daughter...
Yours truly with one of the residents...
Even the hard heads came around...
You think shes happy her son finally got sober? I bet she is...
This guy...Former resident...then manager...now a master in Social Work...Miracle? Yeah...
These are the guys from our Ministry... Sure looks like some former hard core drug addicts and alcoholics huh? God is working here for sure...
As Always...
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Image Credit: Mine...All Mine!!!