HOPE

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! SO... I am feeling some kind of way and I am not quite sure what the feeling is... I went to do some community service on Sunday. I went to Hope Cottage which is a women's shelter, a place for abused women to find solace...shelter from the outside, food for the body and food the soul. At this shelter they provide a warm bed, food prepared by the ladies in the shelter or by those in the community, like we did, and ministry...church, discipleship and fellowship. Food for the body and soul! I was surprised by the ladies I saw in the Cottage. They have the capacity to house about 45 women, 20 single women and the rest is for families. I saw some women who appeared to be in their late 60s early 70s...and I saw a 3 month old baby with her protective mother. I believe I even saw 3 generations of women there a mother, her daughters and her daughters children...young men are allowed up to the age of 13...BUT the whole time I was there I felt uneasy kind of out of place and the thought who am I kept repeating my head. Who am I that I have what I have and these ladies don't? Who am I that I have all that I have and all these women have is what they can fit in the small space they have been given in this place. Who am I that I am able to go to the bank and pull out money and get a hotel room or place to stay and these women can't afford to do so...if things had turned out differently I could be one of these women. I could be in this place....I could be depending on the kindness of strangers for the bare necessities of everyday life. Although I was feeling out of sorts the women there seemed happy and were grateful for everything. I went on a tour of the facility and the lady who was walking us around was talking of how she KNEW she was BLESSED to be there she had been there 4 or 5 years before and even though she found herself there again she knew it was where she was supposed to be. She talked about how she had been running away from God (her blessing) for 56 years and that while she was running she was willing to serve herself to extreme and did it well. BUT she said what she knew was that despite what she was doing and how hard she ran, she knew God was there waiting for her to stop running. She said she felt HOPE and BLESSED to be there. BLESSED...I guess blessing come in many ways and what is being blessed to one may not mean or look the same as being blessed to someone else. BLESSED to be in a shelter... When I was a kid I thought of running away a LOT! BUT I didn't know what to do or where I would go...I was thinking Hollywood would be good but where was it? How would I get there...where would I live? I wonder if there would have been a shelter like the one I was now standing in to help me? I wonder if I would have made it pass the woods in the front of the house before my parents found me. At the time as a kid the thought of being homeless didn't seem to be a big deal to me, but looking at the faces of some of the kids in the shelter it showed me that my thoughts on the matter may have been misguided. There were some elementary school aged boys who were just happy to have each other to play with and then there were some teenage girls who seemed unhappy to be there. Some people were devouring their food and timidly asking for more while some barely took any and only pushed it around on their plates. I wonder how far I would have made it? I wonder what would have happened if I tried...what seemed to be impossible circumstances at home to me may have been no big to the women in here. What I took away from the experience is the overwhelming gratitude these women had for all that they have. As we were cleaning up and preparing to leave the ladies called us up front and as we stood there they expressed their THANKS for the food we had prepared and gratitude for us taking the time to prepare it and share with them. Then they gave us an angel to put on the tree at church and said...'We HOPE YOU have a BLESSED holiday season'... in spite of where they are currently they wanted us to be blessed. WOW...situations and circumstances do not define you they MAKE YOU! The question is who are YOU?! I was happy that I walked out of that place with a better sense of what should and shouldn't be taken seriously...what should and shouldn't occupy my time, my thoughts and my being...if it is not doing anything to make me a better me then there is no room for it. I was also happy that I walked out with JUST the ham bone from the ham I made...instead of a whole family or group of women to bring home with me. Bringing them home with me wouldn't have really changed their situation or their circumstances it would have just changed the location. I pray that I am worthy of the blessing that have been bestowed on me and that I used these blessing to bless someone else. I pray that God truly BLESES those women and children in that shelter and those who have taken on the responsibility to help those in need. May the needs of those in the shelter be filled and may they continue to be grateful. Bless those who are still displaced from the hurricanes and without homes. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. May you be truly THANKFUL for all you have and may you make 2018 the year you help another human being who may not be able to help them self.

See ya when I see ya! Peace! Mattie

It's Just Mattie: In the Twinkling of an Eye

It's Just Mattie: In the Twinkling of an Eye: So somethings have happened that cause me to have to write this message about how quickly life can change. I have two friends who were take...

See ya when I see ya!Peace! Mattie

In the Twinkling of an Eye

So somethings have happened that cause me to have to write this message about how quickly life can change. I have two friends who were taken away from us way too soon! I attended their memorial service yesterday, it was somber and balloons were released after the service to 'send messages up to Mike and Nora in heaven'. It was AWESOME but also HOT in the Valley for those of us who had just experienced snow earlier in the week. There were lots of people family and friends came together to say good-bye to their loved ones. The Pastor of the church was saying that we all needed to remember that this family is about to experience a LOT of FIRSTS in the coming year, first Father's Day without their father, first Mother's day without their mother, first birthdays...holidays...actually each day is the first day without their parents because each day is new, the date changes things change but the pain will remain. People say time heals all things and in time you will feel better, my Daddy died 14 years ago and it still hurts. My Daddy died of congestive heart failure, Mike and Nora were killed. Someone decided that these two people no longer deserved to be on this earth so he took them out. And in a twinkling of an eye lives were changed for good. Scenario after scenario has been discussed, the whys have been asked and still Mike and Nora are not here. I have been trying to make sense of it myself, to understand why two people I had seen recently, and saw regularly for the past 16 years, who I told I would be back to see them are no longer here for me to see. It is absolutely crazy to me that I won't hear Nora's laugh or Mike won't be brushing Stinky's shoulder off, then Stinky brushing Mike's touch off and then they are on with their touching game. I showed Stinky a picture of Mike and Nora and I said, 'who is that?!' She got the biggest smile on her face and pointed at their picture and started laughing. Every time I would say who is that she would just smile and laugh. Nora would always point to whatever Stinky was pointing at or take the cards Stinky would be playing with that they gave her and say'HEY that's my card...you can't have my card!' Then they would both laugh and laugh until Nora had tears in her eyes...I would just shake my head 'cause it wasn't that funny to me but it was their connection and I didn't have to get it. One night when we had first moved out to Spring Valley Gary and I were invited to a Rodeo at the Coconino Fair Grounds (Fort Tuthill) and Mike and Nora offered to watch my sister for us, so we could have a night out. We went to the Rodeo which was 45 miles and a hour away. When we got home Mike and Nora were sitting in the living room watching TV (Forrest Gump or Ray or some video), we asked them how 'babysitting' went and they were 'Oh it was great! We ate dinner, we watched TV then put her in the bed and she was great, we haven't heard a peep out of her!' I said really? Then I walked over to the stairs and said Stinky come here, at that point my sister who had been sitting at the top of the stairs walked down the stairs in her pajamas. No one knows how long she had been sitting there. We just said it's a good thing she is not a kid cause you guys would not have passed the babysitting test! They were actually the best and since Nora was a nurse we knew if something happened she would know what to do. Outside of my sisters and brothers and my mom, Mike and Nora are the only people who have been left alone with my sister. (My sister has brain damage and is unable to speak so leaving her with anyone outside the immediate family is a big deal. After all if she were to get hurt she wouldn't be able to tell us what happened so we have to be able to trust the people around here.)You could trust Mike and Nora, especially Nora with your life. It is hard to believe they are gone. I haven't cried for Mike and Nora. I haven't cried for my Daddy or my Uncles and Aunts who have passed away, its like I can understand the 'why' they (My Daddy, Aunts and Uncles) had to leave...congestive heart failure, cancer, long illnesses where them leaving makes sense because you know they are no longer suffering or in pain. BUT Mike and Nora's leaving makes no sense to me, they weren't in any pain, no one had cancer or was suffering from any illness, someone for some reason decided to play God and felt it was their time to go. Why? '1 Corinthians 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.' Changed in the twinkling of an eye. Sad to say I think I have been changed by this violence, I felt the change when I saw the house where the crime took place...I saw it when I saw the children walking around dazed, confused and lost...the friends who were inconsolable and in the grandkids who 'just wanted to know why they did this to us'....I know that sadly this kind of thing happens everyday all day, but this is the first time it's happened to me. I hope that we all find a way to cope with the loss of Mike and Nora (they were dad, mom, aunt, cousin, friend, nurse, confidant, etc., etc. to us)and that instead of being changed for the worst by them leaving us, we are somehow changed for the good, by remembering the good they did! Until we meet again my friends.... See ya when I see ya! Peace! Mattie

A Letter to our Council Members

Dear Council Members: When my sister was 18 months old, she came down with a really high fever. She was taken to the Doctor and then rushed to the hospital where they immediately submerged her into a tub of ice. They continued to give her ice baths and wrap her in cold towels trying everything possible to make her fever break. In the midst of her fever and diarrhea she fell into a coma where she remained for a week. After a week my parents were informed by the Doctor(s) that they had done all they could do and they were going to 'pull the plug' on her (remove her from the equipment she was attached to while in her coma state). The Doctor told my parents they should go in and say their last good-byes, she is 18 months old, she is in a coma and her fever still hasn't broken. My Dad went in to see my sister and when he did she moved. My Dad went out and told the Doctor(s) that she moved, the Doctors came back in and hooked her back up and eventually got the fever to break and her to wake up. THANK GOD! Unfortunately, the fever had essentially 'cooked' her brain ultimately affecting the side of her brain that controls her speech. My parents said that at the time she became ill she was more advanced than children her age, she was walking and talking and could do things other children couldn't. I have this memory of my sister when we were little, I can see her with my Dad and he is putting her coat on and she is kind of limp and she says to him "Daddy I don't feel good". I can't really remember what her voice sounded like or if it is an actual memory or something I imagined, but I cling to it as a real memory of my sister before she could no longer speak. My parents were also told by the Doctors at that time that they should "put her (my sister) away and forget about her, she will just become a burden to your family" they said. My parents refused to do so and she has been in our home from birth. The only other place my sister has been as much as our home, is Hozhoni Foundation for the Handicapped. Hozhoni is as much apart of our home as anyone else in the family. The staff and the people who have worked with my sister over the years have all been amazing human beings. I am sure you all know that not everyone is cut out to do such work, and those who do should be APPLAUDED! I am aware that the current rise in minimum wage will affect all of the working class, prices will increase and those increases will be passed on to the consumers. For those living in the residences provided by Hozhoni and other facilities, the increased costs can't be passed onto their clients, because those clients are receiving their funding from the Government or State. Those of us who have loved ones with disabilities are also aware that the funds being used to provide services for those with disabilities will not increase since those funds are being provided by the Government, or the State. Hozhoni will be getting a 7% increase to help defray some of the costs of the initial wage increase (Prop 206). However, the current rise in minimum in Flagstaff is set to increase 50% since January of this year (2017) 25% due to Prop 206 and an additional 25% due to Prop 414 in July. An additional increase Hozhoni will not be able to bear. It has never occurred to me that Hozhoni would not be there for my sister or any of its other clients, it is to me something that is needed and something that I thought would surely be there for those who need it. Sadly this may not be the case for Hozhoni and other facilities in Flagstaff should Prop 414 be implemented. Prop 206 which raised the minimum wage to $10.00 per hour was a much needed increase in the wages for those who are making minimum wage earnings trying to support their families. However, the additional increase of Prop 414 bringing the minimum wage up to $12.00 per hour in less than 6 months (July) will bring a hardship on Hozhoni that will force it to close. I have a niece who has Down Syndrome, she is currently attending Coconino High School, she LOVES school. I am her legal guardian and I have been trying to decide whether or not to let her continue at Coconino until her 21st birthday, or take her out after her Senior year. I was thinking once she completed her vocational training she could start at Hozhoni and be apart of one of their work programs, based on her skill level. But, if Hozhoni is not there she will have no place to go in Flagstaff to continue her efforts of becoming independent and making a contribution to society. My sister is one of 862 clients currently using the services provided by Hozhoni and other providers here in Flagstaff. That number is only going to increase as those with disabilities currently attending the local high schools (Coconino and Flagstaff High School) age out or leave those schools. I am sending this email in the hopes of encouraging you to put a new initiative on the ballot in May Concerning the above mentioned Proposition. My plea is on behalf of my sister and my niece and all the other clients who depend on Hozhoni and other facilities here in Flagstaff for a place to live, or a place to go during the day where they can be with others of similar disabilities and socialize. If Hozhoni and the other facilities in Flagstaff are forced to shut down because they are unable to comply with the current propositions these additional people will become apart of the State run facilities. Or families will be forced to move where facilities are available, which may not be an option for all who are affected. I am sure the majority of the State run facilities are at maximum capacity, as they not only house the disabled but also the mentally ill. I could be mistaken but this seems to be putting a strain on a system that is already being cut and marginalized. I hate to think of another Willowbrook State School popping up, or worst. Prop 206 which raised the minimum wage to $10.00 per hour was a much needed increase. However, the additional increase of Prop 414 bringing the minimum wage up to $12.00 per hour in July will bring a hardship on Hozhoni and other facilities that will force them to close. I hope this is not the case. I would love to have my sister continue at Hozhoni and my niece is looking forward to riding the bus with her Aunt when the time comes. Thank you for your time, attention and consideration of this request to add an initiative to the May ballot regarding raising the minimum wage in a modified form that will allow those businesses like Hozhoni and other facilities an opportunity to try and comply while keeping their doors opens for those they serve. -- See ya when I see ya! Peace! Mattie