When asked about what it’s like to be house parents, Jenn and I often hear comments on how it must be difficult to work with teen girls. Big emotions, big tears and big tempers are often the images that people entertain in their minds when it comes to living with several girls, and those scenarios can certainly be spot on. However, we more often experience big laughter, big smiles and big joy, so I’d have to say that working with teen girls is a great experience!
Jenn and I strive to teach the girls real world responsibilities such as cooking, cleaning, house maintenance and lawn upkeep. We have come to find that while most adults believe that teenagers hate doing chores, they grow to love the sense of accomplishment when completing a big job and reaping the rewards that follow. While projects sometimes begin with rolled eyes and sighs, these attitudes often succumb to giggles, jokes and teamwork that make the experience enjoyable. At times, the young ladies will even ask to wash and clean the van when they have energy to burn! |
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| Last week we quietly realized one of our goals of our capital campaign as we completed the purchase of the nearly 10 acre tract of neighboring land. This is a milestone as I remember several years ago walking our property and dreaming of being able to purchase this piece of land which would be important for future development. This will one day in the future be the home of our new administrative/counseling center. It also will be critical for being able to provide more security for our residential program. This now expands our campus to 40 acres. There are no immediate plans to do anything with the land as we are completing the other projects associated with the just completed capital campaign. We praise God for His continued faithfulness in providing for the ministry. |
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Get out of the kitchen!! That’s not a rebuke from your mom, but it’s something you may hear during a pickleball game. You also will learn about the dink, 3rd shot drop and, of course the slam. I’ve become an avid pickleball player over the past 3 to 4 years along with other great friends in Pickens. Let me briefly introduce you to the fastest growing recreational sport in America and share some reasons myself and others love this game.
First, what is it? It has nothing to do with a pickle. Here is a great definition from pickleballexperts.com
“Pickleball is best described as a combination of badminton, ping-pong, and tennis. You can play indoors or outdoors on a badminton-sized court with a net similar to a tennis net. Players use a paddle that is reminiscent of ping-pong paddles but is bigger and usually made of more advanced materials. The ball used is very similar to a plastic whiffle ball with holes covering the surface. Pickleball can be played as singles or doubles, just like tennis.”
For me, it’s like life-size ping pong with you on the table. On either side of the net is a 7-foot area non-volley zone, sling name “the kitchen”. You must stay behind this line to volley unless the ball bounces in the kitchen. This is where all the action occurs. |
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At this point we’ll be welcoming at least 70 pickleball players to Bent Tree on Saturday August 14th for our inaugural Jammin for Joy pickleball tourney. We’ve had a great response from both sponsors and players. All of our sponsorships have been sold and we’re planning the details for a great day of fun, fellowship and competition as we raise money to make a difference in the lives of those we serve.
Our 3.5+ level afternoon session is full, but we still have five slots available for our 3.0 level morning session. We hope to fill these remaining spots. If you are a 3.0 level player that would like to participate male or female but don’t have a partner please email me (steve@thejoyhouse.org) and we may be able to pair you with a partner as we have other single players that are looking for partners. Please also share about the tourney with pickleball players you may know. I’m including the registration link below.
We’re going to be giving away door prizes to our players. For any of our partners who provide a door prize we’ll recognize you at the tourney during the prize drawing. We’ll also recognize all of our door prize donors just after the tourney on our Facebook page which has 3400+ followers. If you are interested in donating a door prize please contact Maralie (maralie@thejoyhouse.org).
As an avid pickleball player myself I’m super excited about this event and look forward to tournament day. It has been a lot of fun planning and working on this event. Please be in prayer for this to be a great day for our sponsors, players, volunteers and staff.
Registration Link: https://thejoyhouse.kindful.com/e/joy-house-pickleball-tourney |
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| Our new girls home construction is moving along slowly, but we believe is about to pick up. As you can see from the picture the basement is now dug out and we’re waiting the pouring of the foundations/walls to occur any day. It will then be the slab plumbing, slab and then the framing. We’ve just received good news that lumber prices are dropping in August, so that works in our favor. We actually needed the prices to fall in order to meet our budget. Please be in prayer that things can move along steadily now. It is my hope we can have the home complete near year’s end or 1st quarter of 2022. |
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